Battles video by UVA

A video for the band Battles by UVA

UVA do some nice work linking visuals with sound in real time, you might want to check out their website for some more bits and pieces they have done.

United Visual Artists (UVA)

A Portfolio

The above images are from the portfolio site for Mike Tucker.

I've posted the site on here as I feel the interaction is quite interesting, in particular on the photography pages. It seems quite intuative to use and feels very natural as a method of navigation.

www.ludosabato.com

Once

Starring Glen Hansard from the Irish band The Frames, this is a beautiful little low budget film about friendship between a Dublin busker and Czech immigrant. Although it slips at one or two moments, in general it comes across as a pretty honest impression of Dublin. If you want to catch it, The light in Leeds are currently screening it. Jim said it seemed too sentimental for him to go and see, screw Jim I'd recommend it if you want to take a break from all of your work at the moment.

Postsecret

PostSecret by Frank Warren is a blog and a series of books. People are invited to decorate a postcard with their secret and post it in. In one sense it's a release for some secret burden people have been carrying around, in another it's a nice visual insight into the lives of those who post their secrets.

You can purchase the books from amazon

Or you can visit the blog PostSecret

Penis Pokey.

Apparently this book has a die-cut hole in the centre of it, the principle is that men can complete the picture on each page.

If you wish to buy it as a christmas gift you can find it here www.quirkbooks.com

Pop-up Video

Strange cross between pop-up-book and music video. I like it. Do you?

Water based TV remote

The above image is a design for a TV remote by Philippe Kindelis, it uses the conductivity of water to function. This is part of his project Order & Chaos. Below are some extracts from his rationale;

"A recent trend in interface has been usability. It meant depriving the products from layers of interaction and introduced readability in everyday use. This has been the major trend in interface design for high-tech products."

"It was the “how’s” and “why’s” of the first use or sight that used to direct the amazement of user. It seems that we are entering an era where the dreams of the performance are more important than the actual use of the product.

The choices made pre-buying are based on technical specifications, not on how to use the product. Technological advances, even at an abstract level, are what we are looking for when making our choices.

The amazement is now contained in the dreams of the performance rather than in its use. Technical specifications have won our souls. The dreams of performance induced from the abstract specs pages have placed technology in the designer bags of the throw away culture."

To find out more you can visit his website www.philippekindelis.net

AMO Atlas

This is quite an interesting atlas from the Office for Metropolitian Architecture (OMA), it's a project from 2002 but still well worth a look. It visually represents some hard data about trends in society throughout the world.

www.oma.eu

Get your carpet skates on

These might come in handy for you guys who are running around all the time trying to get projects done (They work on carpet only)

You can get your very own carpet skates from x-tremegeek

Boris Hoppek

‘lavagina’

Boris Hoppek
You will probably be familiar with Hoppek's work from the Corsa ads, which feature his bimbo characters.



Hoppek's work is varied and interesting and definitely work having a look at. You can see more work at Helium Cowboy or visit his site www.borishoppek.de

Anyone know a Cyclops?

This is some work from artist Jamie Pitarch.

It's quite an interesting visual, I found it very intriguing in the sense that it made me think about clothing and accessories, and how their forms are dictated by our form, seeing this connection visually distorted made it me think about this relationship quite a bit.

If you want to see more you can visit Spencer Brownstone Gallery online.

Shoot with style

Have you ever wondered if there would ever come a time when you could get your rifle to tone in with that pink cadillac you had your eye on? Well thanks to Jim your dream could be a reality, shame you can't get pink rounds too, oh well guess the blood is gonna be red no matter what.

jims gun supply

Strange but interesting

For some reason I find myself liking this video, I think it's the simple editing and strange visuals that seem to mix well with the music. Maybe you have another opinion?

I LOVE MY MUM t-shirts

James loves his mum, do you yours????

New T-Shirt design from James&Joe, available in all sizes Girls and Boys, £25. If you would like one please send an email to info@jamesandjoe.co.uk

T-Shirt design competition

If your interested and have time (I guess your short on that at the moment with the current briefs) there is a competition to design a t-shirt, the brief is once upon a time... I'm sure that could give you some interesting ideas to work with.

If you win you get €1 for every t-shirt printed, so the more popular your design the better.

You can get the detaisl from here Allmightys.com

Make sure you read the details, good luck!

Harvey Nichols 'backstage' by DDB London

Harvey Nichols is launching a campaign to promote its Fifth Floor Foodmarket, with a press and viral campaign.

The viral takes a satirical look at the fashion, with a series of jaw-dropping sights such as an anorexic goat vomiting in a toilet and a drug addicted cockerel snorting lines of cocaine.

In the provocative viral, farmyard animals replace the fashion models, while the humans in the film are played by staff from DDB London, Harvey Nichols' creative agency.

First Aired: 21-Sep-07
Country: United Kingdom
Agency: DDB London
Client: Harvey Nichols

Brylcreem 'effortless' by WCRS

Brylcreem is returning to TV screens for its first marketing campaign in three years, with an ad featuring the winner of a MySpace competition.

The 60-second TV spot, created by WCRS, began on MySpace through a competition challenging MySpace users to send in clips of themselves performing "effortlessly executed" tricks.

The ad was directed by acclaimed director, Fredrik Bond, who has directed ads for Adidas, Smirnoff and Lynx in addition to Moby's 'Bodyrock' music video.

First Aired: 07-Sep-07
Country: United Kingdom
Agency: WCRS
Client: Brylcreem
Creative Director: Yan Elliot and Luke Williamson

Thoughtful tombola draw

Manchester based design studio Thoughtful are running a D&AD supported competition aimed at students. This is a fantastic opportunity to win a D&AD 2007 Annual.

Thoughtful tombola draw

Pantone Mugs

I thought it would be appropriate to post something about this set of Pantone mugs. As the new academic year is almost upon us, I can't imagine a better receptacle for your late night coffees when you will be working hard this new semester on fantastically works of graphic design.

You can purchase your very own set at w2products.com

Scam competition

This is a competition to create a piece of graphic design containing or describing a scam in any way is the basic idea. It seems quite open and the brief is interesting, I would suggest having a go if you have some time. The format is A2 with a 3mm bleed at 150dpi. You can get all the details here http://filmsokolov.cz

Weather controlled video

This is an interesting concept piece, it's a weather controlled dynamic video. Apparently when you go to the site it logs your location, checks the weather there and using this information the video will change in some manner.

By the way you need a pretty decent machine to view it properly otherwise it will stutter a lot.

www.theunseenvideo.com/

Call for Art-Think Entries

For those of you who might be interested Howies are running their Art Think photographic competition again, this time they have two categories students and professionals.

The brief is "sport is good" and the prize money is £1000.

www.howies.co.uk

Advertising will destroy the world!!!!

This is something that I've found on the Brandrepublic website and I thought that it would be a good subject for opening a new debate........

kostry

This is a portfolio site for Krzysztof OStrowski, showing his comic creations videos and other projects. The main navigation of the site is based around the video of hi, you need to punch him to navigate through the menu options. The mix of video, sound and interaction is kind of interesting, have a gander and see what you think.


www.kostry.net

Why not digital??

One of the issues that currently concerns me is that students don't get too much involved with the digital side of design. Nowadays digital skills are a must for designers, as more and more companies demand this kind of knowledge from creative graduates.

Out there, there is a huge appetite for all things digital in design but unfortunately new graduates seems slow to grasp innovation and put on-line communications on their agendas, failing to develop these skills that would accommodate a new demanding market. The reflection of this new trend is the demand and consequent pay structure for digital designer in comparison with traditional design. Higher wages are paid to designers that are able to translate their creativity into a digital outcome.

The main problem in my view is the approach from students to all new technologies in which due to the lack of understanding and interest are failing to familiarize and get involved with this area of design. Students often see digital as a not so cool "must do" in order to complete their education without understanding the potential that these technologies could offer.

As creatives, students, should be able to produce work for a variety of outputs, understanding that digital is just a part of the design proposition. The question to pose at this point is; why do students see their portfolios just as a collection of printed material spanning from advertising and branding to typography or copy based graphics? Surely any of these areas of design have a place in the digital market and should then be reflected in a student's own portfolio.

New graduates, should be more concerned with the communication aspects of design and embrace digital as a medium, not to replace, but moreover to complement all other traditional outcomes. If designers feed their creativity from knowledge and understanding of current trends and issues why digital design isn't adopted in their learning, and developed as a "must have" skill? Do students really understand what digital is all about?

I guess, most students differentiate the kind of learning according to the outcome and fail to see digital as a tool to stimulate their creativity. If it isn't studio based, it is not design, if it isn't taught in a seminar or lecture it must not be part of the design process. I wonder what students really think about their approach to digital and why this discipline isn't part of their main focus as a designer.

Dream for everything

If you liked that last post for IKEA then you might just like this one. You need to rollover either the left or right side of the image when it has loaded then click and hold to move.
Dromkok

Nudie

This is a great little stop motion animation for Nudie Jeans. I love the roughness of it and how they have managed not to go too far and become amateur, the editing is pretty nice too. Have a look Nudie Jeans

Come into my closet

This is a nice little site to promote IKEA's storage solutions. Great use of video, it gives a voyeuristic feel to the site, its beautifully simple in its execution.

http://www.kominigarderoben.se/

Benjamin Cove

Benjamin Cove is a London based visual artist with a background in architecture and art. He has regular exhibitions around London and I think he recently had one in Manchester, worth a look if you happen to be passing one. www.benjamincove.com

Teenage Bad Girl - Album art

I haven't posted any album art up to now, so I thought it was time to post something. This stuff is from a french electronic outfit, I've heard their amazing live althouth the sound is a bit niche the album art is interesting in my opinion.

4Talent Competition

4Talent are currently running a competition to design a 15 second sting, the prize is £2500 and a chance to professionally develop your piece with 4Creative and special effects company MPC (they have worked on Harry Potter and other high profile things).

The proposition; "4Talent is the future"
Requirements: Written statement, storyboard and/or a rough animatic for the 15 second sting, and your showreel.

For more details go here competition

77 Million Paintings

This is a concept piece by Brian Eno, mixing music, light and computers. All very interesting, there is more information on the website www.77millionpaintings.com

phone | not phone

This is an interesting joint project between Interactive media design and innovative product design Level 2 students at the University of Dundee The project re-examines of the possibilities open to the most ubiquitous electronic device of today...

To see the full project go to http://www.idl.dundee.ac.uk/phonenotphone/index.php

The Magic Flute

Kenneth Branagh has produced a film adaption of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. I have not seen the opera or the film but I've checked the website out, it is interesting in that there are some differnt touches to it, I like the bit with the three ladies because when you play one it seems the other two listen to her. I would suggest a visit to see what you think. The Magic Flute

Refresh illustration competition

The AOI are running a competition for students and graduates, if you have some illustration you feel you would like to enter, then check it out.

The Smalls

If your interested in short film then this could be interesting to you. The smalls is an organisation dedicated to discovering and promoting new talent in the area of short film, they occasionally run events and call for work to showcase.

If this sounds interesting to you then I would highly recommend you keep an eye on their site from time to time.

Photography Annual 2007 - Last chance to enter!

Today the 22 June is the last chance to enter photographic work for consideration in Creative Review's Photography Annual 2007.

The categories are;
Personal/non-published
Advertising
Design
Editorial
Conceptual

You have to pay £40 for the privilege of entering a single piece of work and £60 for a series of works.

http://www.photographyannual.co.uk/

RED BEE MEDIA

THIS SITE HAS LOTS OF INFORMATION ABOUT DIRECTORS/INTERACTIVE/MEDIA/ETC

'CUBS' by Tom Harper

A short 10 minute film about a gang of inner city kids that have discovered a dark new sport...urban fox hunting.
click to view film

Bob Monkhouse cancer ads

dailymail.co.uk

A very moving/powerful ad considering the history of Bob Monkhouse.

Created by: The Communications Agency (TCA) & Red Bee Media
Directed by: Steve Cope

Shock Advertising

VLCC Face scrub



Agency: M&C Saatchi, Delhi, India
Creative Director: Vaybhav Singh, Anand Swami
Art director: Chaman Singh
Copywriter: Vaybhav Singh

Ambient Media

CANCER PATIENTS AID ASSOCIATION



Agency: Everest Brand Solutions, India
Creative Director: Milind Dhaimade
Art Director: Nishant Jethi
Copywriter: Sundar Iyer

New Media

Agency: Jung von Matt/Spree
Creative Director: David Mously / Jan Harbeck
Art Director: David Mously
Copywriter: Jan Harbeck

Ambient Media

Jobsintown.de





AGENCY : Scholz & Friends Berlin GmbH / Berlin

Strange Maps

There are some interesting bits and pieces to get your eyes on here.

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/

is it funny?

Okay you might ask me why I'm posting this, well I found it funny but also it's worth knowing what's going on in terms of video sharing sites and social networking sites. I guess you could see this as a you tube for a specific type of video clip, comedy in this case. It will be interesting to see if any other youtube type sites start to spring up.

MUTE

This is a magazine which discusses social and cultural issues with an emphasis on the relationship between technology and the production of new social relations. There are some really interesting and varied articles, it could be a good source of inspiration for your research or a project I would suggest checking it out from issue to issue.

The current issue is about climate change and how it is not easy being green.

3D in flash

In the next year I think you might start see alot more 3D on websites due to this development for flash, it's a clever piece of software that enables you to render objects in "real 3D". At present it's in private alpha testing, and I know that alot of top interactive agencies have their hands on it testing and building stuff. however, the public beta version should arrive in the next couple of months, I'll keep you posted.

until then there are some demos here http://blog.papervision3d.org/tag/demos/

The AOI

The Association of Illustrators is currently calling for entries for the best British contemporary illustration 2008. So if you have done something you think is worthy check out their site;

The AOI

Tigerprint

Tigerprint has launched a new competition, if you fancy it there is a prize of £250 and the chance of a placement.

Tigerprint is a part of Hallmark cards, supplying Marks and Spencers.

Frost Design Website

http://www.frostdesign.com.au/v2/

Check this out!!!! This website offers many good features, one of which is the possibility to view the information full screen. The navigation is really simple and the work takes the central focus of everything about it.

Last.fm

This is apparently the last radio station you will ever need. The concept is based around a clever little piece of software called the audioscrobbler which "scrobbles" tracks from users to a server on which a map is created. This map links artists based on what the users of the site listen to, so if you search for someone you like it should give you a suggestion in line with your musical taste, it is pretty accurate.

Check it out for yourself. Last.fm

This was setup by a group of guys in London who love music, they started with it as an idea of what they as music lovers would like and it grew from there. Last week they were bought for something like £140,000,000 which is pretty good going for doing something they love.

Music Map

This is an interesting music search, it links albums together graphically, worth having a play with.
http://www.dimvision.com/musicmap/

La Linea (the line)

This cartoon animation is part of a series of old italian adverts for "LAGOSTINA". These adverts were created by the Italian animator Osvaldo Cavandoli that became famous for his "La Linea", a simply drawn cartoon, first appearing in 1969 and broadcasted until 1977. This amusing character has appeared in a great many Lagostina advertising films and later independent films, which were broadcasted in over 40 countries, and have been awarded many times. Cavandoli made a comics version of his character for Il Giornalino in 1974. 'La Linea' reappeared on Italian television in 1997. In 2001, Cavandoli made a series of 20 films with his character for Universal Studios in the USA.

La Linea reminds me of my childhood when these cartoons appeared on our "black and white" televisions everyday in a special programme called "Carosello".

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!!!!

Here is an adult version.......

Brutal toys

Design, the next generation

I spotted this at my local train station, it was part of a project local school kids did in order to create awareness of drugs and drinking too much. Check out the rhyming!

Floating signs

This is a project by artist Matt Siber, it looks like a photoshop effort but interesting concept if it was possible.

Go for a think

For those times when you might want to multi-task.