Monday 27 September 2010

MAN CRISPS

http://www.mccoys.co.uk/

McCoy’s has launched a brand new website their crisps. They are targeting their products at 'real men', calling the crisps 'the ultimate man crisps'. The website has been designed around an interactive pub targeting male consumers. They use humorous and engaging elements to raise brand awareness of the crisps. The website includes a 'Man Quiz' for men to test their manliness. The website is beautifully designed and so interactive that it makes you want to stay on the site. Although are thy cutting out half their market by not including women? Maybe they should have a section, even if it was a small section, which could include women in the campaign.

Wednesday 22 September 2010

Marmite - love it or hate it

Marmite - love it or hate it, the same goes for the advertising camapign. Marmite have released spoof adverts of the brand branching out into new ventures. The campaign features all of Marmites most shocking product ideas, including a fabric softener, a shower gel and a perfume.

The ads, created by DDB UK, are not actual products which will be released although the campgin is selling a new Marmite Cereal Bar. It will be the world's first savory cereal bar. The ads tell you to tell you to log onto their facebook page and tell them if you love them or hate them.

Wednesday 15 September 2010

Impressive flash portfolio design

Beautiful illustration by Rowan. Lovely way to present your portfolio online.

www.rowanimation.co.uk

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Monday 13 September 2010

Google ball game




http://www.pcworld.com/article/204923/whats_up_with_googles_bouncy_ball_logo.html?tk=hp_new

Friday 10 September 2010

Pottery town

In my family's hometown of Stoke-on-Trent, there is an amazing pottery heritage. I recently visited the Clarice Cliff pottery museum. It was brilliant to explore my home town's vast history and visit the museum of a designer whom I adore. The shapes and designs of her pottery were the most unique of its time and still are today. It is undisputed that Josiah Wedgwood is the biggest Legacy in Britain's pottery industry but for me Clarice Cliff is by far the most creative.



Dinner for schmucks



After seeing the advert for this film I didn't really have high hopes for it. I expected the scenes to be limited to a dinner table and the comedy to be predictable.


I was pleasantly surprised.


I thought the comedy was exceptional. Very simple, silly kind of humour but I thought Steve Carell's role was perfect. The all-star cast starred not just American comedians but British too. It had Steve Carell (American Office), Chris O'Dowd (I.T crowd), Paul Rudd (Friends), Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover), Jemaine Clement (Flight of the conchords), David Walliams (Little Britain) and Kristen Schaal (Flight of the conchords). Before the film I thought that the film would end up being a battle for stardom, but the roles worked exceptionally well together.


My favourite thing about the film were the opening credits. The credits waa beautifully shot following a taxidermist creating and placing designs of two mice that are in love. The mouse scenes are magical and made the opening credits beautifully captivating. The song The Beatles "the fool on the hill" plays so suitably over the scenes that it would seem you were watching a romance film.



Thursday 9 September 2010

Paper pictures

CHRISTIAN HÜCKSTÄDT


I Really admire these wonderful pictures. All of Huckstadt's pieces are created from colourful cutout cardboard. They are fun geometric creations with an unique look and stunning 3D effect.

Monday 6 September 2010

The secret Leopard

In my family's hometown of Burslem, the mother town of Stoke-on-Trent, there is a wonderful heritage which can be found in many of the town's buildings. Burslem's town centre pub the "Leopard hotel" serving since at least 1765 was a local for my great-great grandmother, my great grandmother, my Nan and my Dad. The hotel is steeped in history boatsting that Britain's greatest pottery producer Josiah Wedgwood and James Brindley met here to discuss building the Trent and Mersey Canal in 1765. This was a large stepping stone for the industrial revolution.The Leopard hotel has an amazing secret.

Recently the pub rediscovered FIFTY hotels rooms which had been bricked and wallpapered up and left completely unused since 1951. They also found 19 underground tunnels which led to other of the town's landmark building's including the town hall and the local brewery. The hidden gem unveiled wonderful photos of the rooms which reflect the style and decor of the 1950's.

I've visited the hotel on a number of occasions and would have never guessed that the rooms ever existed. It makes you wonder what else you can easily miss!









the oldest building in Leeds City centre

Lambert's Yard, the oldest building in Leeds City centre. It is just off Briggate. This is not what I pictured the oldest building in the City to look like! It was built in around 1600 and is the last three rise building in the city. The photo's are old and new captures of the building.

Rusty building - one of the best in the world?

This Broadcasting place is the centre of much discussion around Leeds. Everyone has an interesting fact about it, a rumour they’ve heard or, in most cases, their own opinion about it. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) have suggested it to be one of the best structures ever created by man.

One deduction of the building, rife in symbolism, is that it represents the state of human life in the urbanised environment. Fragile and decaying but completing the process gracefully. If anything this building, designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, is more popular with the public than the other handful of banal structures that appeared around the same time.

I prefer it to more ultra-modernised structures which tend to be garish and futuristic. The geometry, colour, and texture of this building suits the old-world style building around it much more than the sea of mediocrity surrounding Leeds city centre. It is a bold design decision but one which I think has worked very well.

The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família

One of my all time favourite pieces of Architecture is the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, in Barcelona.

This translates as "Expiatory Church of the Holy Family". In Christianity, expiatory is a theological term for removing sin. The building is a privately funded Roman Catholic church and has been in construction since 1882 and is not expected to be completed until 2026. In the years of construction, Sagrada Familia has seen many architects come and go but by far the most proclaimed and successful has been Antoni Gaudi. He created the original concept and started work in 1883 and devoting the last fifteen years of his life to the project. He is to date, the only person to be buried in the grounds of the church.

The whole build is religiously motivated and when questioned why the construction plan was so time-consuming he responded "My client is not in a hurry". The most striking religious symbolism are the eighteen spires each representing religious figures. The tallest is Jesus Christ featuring a cross, then in height order follow the twelve Epolostles, four Evangelists and the Virgin Mary. Each featuring a symbol representing them. The tallest spire features a cross but stays 1 metre below the highest hill in Barcelona as Gaudi believed he should not surpass God's natural will.

The design is inspired by Gothic architecture and is a great representation of Gaudi's unique and fascinating style. One of his other ventures, the Casa Milà looks like it has appeared straight out of a Salvador Dali painting. His designs are really like no other and are so out there that it is a wonder they were commissioned at all. What I love about the designs are Gaudi's use of flowing organic style and the attention to detail. The intricate nature of his architecture is wondrous and today, rarely seen.

I was lucky enough to visit the Sagrada Familia and took a tour around the inside of the Temple and up some of the spires. The height of the building is truly unbelievable. You have to walk along a narrow stone path between two of the highest towers and there are even wide holes in the floor to allow to see pedestrians below. It was a breathtaking view with stunning and inspiring designs.

Why is Hugh Grant riding a horse?

Its not a horse!

It's Sarah Jessica Parker, in her new film... Did you hear about the Morgans? I didn't really have any expectations for this film (mainly because Avatar 3D had sold out and there were no other options) and so whatever the outcome, I could not be disappointed.


The story is about a recently separated married couple who, because of infidelity on the husbands part, are no longer on speaking terms. Paul Morgan is 'dreadfully' sorry and begs for forgiveness from his wife, Meryl. She reluctantly agrees to meet him in a swanky uptown restaurant and as they leave they witness one of Meryls clients get murdered .


After the murderer finds Meryl and nearly shoots her they are asked to go into a witness protection programme and leave New York. At this point you really see how small Sarah Jessica's acting spectrum is: "Leave New York? I was BORN here, I grew up here, I AM a New Yorker, I don't want to, I CAN'T leave" I expected to see Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha come onto the shot and ensure her that all men are pigs and anywhere out of Manhattan doesn't really exist. Meanwhile, Hugh is in the back of the shot being a bumbling British idiot and not really saying much except for classical British quotes and blinking occasionally. I can't be sure he even tried to act at all as at parts I thought I was watching an actors commentary and not an actor in the film.


Don't get me wrong, I love Hugh Grant, but he just didn't seem to care for this role much. He cared for his role as much as Parker seemed to care about him. The two main characters are well-known for their fame but for this film they seem to sleepwalk through a flat-line comedy in which old jokes can be seen a mile away.


If you dont like change this is the film for you. For everyone else, if youve seen the Trailer, youv'e seen the film.

Sunday 5 September 2010

New interior design at Leeds University Union

I have been lucky enough to collaborate on the complete re-design of the Leeds University Union brand and interior design. This is just a sneak preview of our new Vinyls which will be going up on the walls shortly.

It's all about loving your time at Leeds kids!

Frightened Seller

CD packaging and merchandise for New York drum and piano duo Frightened Seller by Mikey Burton. Stunning duo colour effects.

Welcome to Yorkshire

The re-brand of the Yorkshire tourist board produced by Elmwood design is a wonderful example of modernisation. The re-brand was necessary to make Yorkshire a desirable places for many audiences not just people interested in the traditional countryside aspect of Yorkshire. This is truly the identity Yorkshire deserves.

The campaign uses the Y to answer WHY Yorkshire is the place to be. "Discover Y" works on two levels the question (whY) and the answer (Yorkshire). A very clever and complete concept. Local newspaper Yorkshire post used the headline "Yorkshire tourism ready to show the world Y" which was a beautiful way of forwarding Elmwood's concept for the brand.
Before and after logo designs for the Yorkshire tourism department.

Social media is for people, not brands

Interesting view point in Marketing week by Mark Ritson

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/disciplines/digital/social-media-is-for-people-not-brands/3017669.article

A passport to a vintage Britain

Britain's new passport designs proposed for next year have now been unveiled. There has been opposing views on the new designs some impressed, others disappointed.


Agency De La Rue collaborated with the Identity and Passports Service's product design team to produce the new designs. It features picturesque qualities of Britain such as seagulls, acorns, butterflies, choppy seas, ferns and cottages. Another recurrent theme is the weather. It features weather symbols depicting page after page as a cloudy day, with patches of sunshine day. This seems very peculiar to me... it almost seems like an advert for the british holiday for people that are leaving the country. "Hey, I know your'e going to Majorca for the sunshine but look what Britain's got for you, good old traditional stormy weather"

It also includes famous places like white cliffs of Dover, the Gower peninsula, Ben Nevis and the Giant's Causeway. The row of houses can easily be a scene from a psychedelic drug trip in the 70's but it's actually the opening page of the new passport. There are no references to modern urbanised Britain rather the nostalgia of a good old remote British village ,where everyones know each other's names. How sweet.

Screen-printed illustrations

Stunning screen-print effect design by Jamie Wieck. The three colour limitation adds to the beauty of the illustration.

Thursday 2 September 2010

Guardian Illustrations

For a newspaper the Guardian has some exciting illustrations. This brand concept for the Guardian's presence at the Hay festival literary event is beautiful. The work produced by Sian Everett design and illustrated by
Joel Holland
works well over a number of deliverables.

Regulating social media marketing


Social media marketing is becoming increasingly popular with marketers and this has increased the popularity with the bodies governing the marketers.

The Advertising standards authority (ASA) has announced that corporate use for social media will come under the same rules as TV, press poster, radio and newspaper ads. The ASA has stated that it has "protection of children and consumers at its heart". The decision was made after they received over 4,500 complaints from the public which they could not deal with as it was not in their responsibility.

The new rules will come into effect 1st March next year. The ASA will regulate marketing in all areas of digital marketing, including the company’s own website and microsites. More attention will be given to social media marketing on sites such as Facebook, MySpace or Twitter. The new rules will mean that all online marketing will have to be responsible, legal, honest and truthful. They will concentrate on adverts which sell products rather than ones with editorial content.

Virgin Media's broadband speed advertising

Virgin Media have stood up against broadband speed advertising claiming that audiences find the advertised speeds misleading. Only 9% of respondents in a survey for Virgin Media said that they believe that broadband advertising is accurate and 93% of audiences believed that they should only be able to advertise the average received broadband by the majority of customers. All broadband providers tend to advertise speeds “up to” a certain speed. In July, Ofcom found that only 46% of the advertised broadband speed was being received.

The ASA banned an advert by BT, which claimed that the 20Mbps service was consistently faster than its 8Mbps, after they found it to be misleading. Virgin media have now promised to advertise to customers exactly what they are receiving on average each month.

Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media, stated: "People are paying for faster and faster broadband but being ripped off by unscrupulous providers who can't deliver their promised speeds to even a single customer”

Well James, I bought your virgin media services last month and you advertised the fastest broadband around… any chance of me receiving this soon?

49 objects lurking in my kitchen drawer...

Beautiful illustration by Jamie Wieck: "49 objects found lurking in my kitchen drawer".