Donate Your Corneas

Interesting campaign from the Mexican Red Cross and National Transplant Centre to encourage the general public to donate their corneas to allow others to see. The campaign was executed through outside billboards, print and ambient media channels by agency JWT, Mexico. The use of braille and written word juxtaposed next to each other clearly communicates the benefit of donation to someone and tactile nature of the braille adds further interest for the audience.

Greenpeace

Advert for Greenpeace from an agency called Imagine in the Netherlands. The change made to the recognisable barcode initially caught my eye - the visual association between consumerism and it's impact on the world's natural resources using a symbol as synonmous as the barcode is really effective.

Dove "Onslaught"

New viral from Dove and agency Ogilvy & Mather to follow on from Dove Evolution'. Entitled "Onslaught", the viral once again aims to exploit the pressures from today's beauty industry in an attempt to ensure the next generation do not become slaves to achieving this so-called perfection. It makes quite an impact when you watch it, not perhaps as effective as 'Evolution' but it is interesting to see how the brand engages with the issue and is using it to differentiate itself within the beauty industry and create a positive brand image.

More From The Economist

Two more examples from The Economist's new campaign to follow on from my previous post. Art Director Paul Cohen from agency AMV BBDO explains the approach to the change in direction for the new campaign:

“The success of the ‘white out of red’ campaign was based on the idea of feeling that you were a member of a club. This is an attempt to broaden the appeal of that club and engage with a new audience. The Economist is not changing the magazine in any way but they do believe that there’s a new, perhaps younger, group who would be interested in it.”

MTV Base

Unusual campaign from MTV to advertise it's MTV Base Channel; concept based upon the notion of avoiding the hassle of going to watch your favourite artists live, watch your favourites at home on MTV Base instead is simple and expected but the execution was what caught my eye. The style of illustration and interesting use of typography is arresting and conveys the tone of voice of the channels 'brand image' well.

Decorating Urban Landscapes

Unusual piece of work from a New York based graphic designer - WeWorkForThem.

I found it particularly interesting to extent to which a section of our urban landscape can be so radically changed by an image, an element integral to any urban landscape. It is attention grabbing, people stop and look - entering into the regularity of any urban landscape, changing it, removing from or adding to it can be an effective way to communicate to the general public.

Czech Dream (Cesky Sen)

Czech Dream, documentary released in 2003 being aired tomorrow night on More 4, 9pm.

Czech Dream follows two recently graduated film students as they perform a massive hoax on the entire Czech general public and explore the power of consumerism.

" Czech Dream documents the largest consumer hoax the Czech Republic has ever seen. Filip Remunda and Vit Klusak, two of Eastern Europe's most promising young documentary filmmakers, set out to explore the psychological and manipulative powers of consumerism by creating an ad campaign for something that didn't exist.

The campaign (designed by a renowned advertising agency) involved television and radio spots, 400 illuminated billboards, 200,000 flyers promoting Czech Dream brand products, an advertising song, a website, and advertisements in newspapers and magazines.

For two weeks, the streets of Prague were saturated with advertising for the fake hypermarket. The ads proclaimed: Don't Go, Don't Rush, Don't Spend drawing over 4,000 people to turn up on the 'opening day'. On the 31 May 2003, they arrived at a green field where, instead of a hypermarket, they found just the dream hypermarket's façade (10m high and 100m wide).
Czech Dream is a funny and provocative look at the effects of rampant consumerism on a post-communist society. Czech Dream has also caused some controversy, provoking extreme reactions in the Czech people and media and even being discussed in Czech Parliament"

Create/Reject

London based practice set up by James West "after deciding that he needed to be involved with every step of the creative process from inception to delivery, he set up Create/Reject, a flexible and responsive practice". Some interesting projects from this recently started practice, for me, his editorial and book work being the strongest examples having a simple elegance with some nice typographic detail.

Robin Howie

Portfolio site for designer Robin Howie - A simple, functional site which allows all attention to be focused on the work itself. Some interesting ideas, subject areas and concepts explored within projects included. Worth a browse through.

Saturday - Ian McEwan

Saturday, a book from one of my favourite contemporary authors Ian McEwan which I have just finished reading. Set on Saturday February 15th in London when almost a million people took to the streets of London in protest of the impending war in Iraq, the narrative which takes place over just 24 hours, uses this as a background to a more personal story, following a series of unforeseen events which occur in the life of main character Henry Perowne.

In a way not an awful lot seems to happen within the novel as it follows Perowne's normal Saturday routine, punctured with several unexpected happenings on the way. However, McEwan gets past telling story and into the thoughts of Henry Perowne, presenting a distinctly British view of the modern, one where terrorism has become part of our everyday lives.

McEwan's writing is rich and vivid and he has a skill at going into the minds and thoughts of his characters and making a far deeper examination of our minds and lives. Not an 'action-packed' book but recommended!

Nothing Escapes The Ear

Agency: DDB Worldwide Singapore
Creative Directors: Neil Johnson, Terrence Tan
Art Director: Khalid Osman
Copywriter: Priti Kapur
Photographer: Allan Ng
Digital Imaging: Eric Foo (Miracle Factory)

Witty approach to selling hearing aids and hearing care - for me the campaign works because in each case, the scenario created in the ad is one people can easily relate to and think, I'd want to make sure I could hear if that happened. However, considering the primary market for hearing aids will be older generations, I do wonder how effective the campaign would be in reaching them?

What's In A Word?

Book from design studio Lippa Pearce, which takes 26 well-known sayings, replacing one workd with 'design' in each case. A fun, engaging concept that has resulted in a great book to flip through and consider the re-made meanings of these recognisable sayings, that surprisingly still provide some thought provoking statements.

Reusable Calendar

Jean-Pierre Vitrac looked to develop a calendar could be used, not for the conventional twelve months, but repeatedly, year after year. This imbroglio calendar disguises the dates, numbers 1 to 31 through a clever piece of intricate typographic design and negative space; by moving the magnetic counter over the numbers, the user can make legible the date as required. Functional - not particularly, but visually a stimulating piece of design that offers variation from the conventional calendar.

The Economist

A new campaign from AMV BBDO for The Economist which has taken a new approach from the copy-based campaigns we are all so familiar with. Illustrations from Non-Format, Mick Marston and Geoff McFetridge form a series of print advertisements that although have adopted a similar concept and tone of voice to previous campaigns, offer a refreshing change of execution and visual style. The campaign was recently reviewed in Creative Review.

It would be interesting to hear peoples' reactions to this new campaign; is it more or less effective and will the change of execution effect it's success - will the visual style appeal and attract the attention of the target market?

Thoughtful Tombola

Check out the link below for a fantastic opportunity to win a D&AD 2007 Annual from Manchester-based design studio Thoughtful!

More details to follow

http://thoughtful.squarespace.com/journal/2007/9/14/thoughtful-tombola-draw.html

My Amoy

A promotional interactive site for My Amoy cooking sauces someone recently told me about and that I then discovered had received recognition for it's design/concept. Intrigued I visited the site, MyAmoy, to find I had to cook my own stirfry online; the visuals arent great but I can see the concept behind it - a new way to get the customer to come into contact with the brand and product in a hope they will then put this into action and purchase in store. By making the user, the potential customer, 'make a stirfry', choosing their preferred ingredients and using an Amoy Sauce, it encourages the customer to consider how they can use the product in tune with their own cooking habits and tastes. It's interesting to see how digital media outcomes can be used for everyday products, but then I do wonder the effectiveness of this promotional site - would the target audience of Amoy products really spend ten minutes pretending to make a stir-fry online?

Wire Design Studio

London-based design studio Wire Design, encompass all aspects of graphic design, brand identity, campaigns, digital media, illustration and photography - their portfolio is one of the most wide-ranging I have seen recently and offers examples of some inspiring and thoughtful work. I have included some of my favourites above.

Jen Stark

Really unique and refreshing portfolio from US-based artist Jen Stark. Her work includes both three and two dimensional exploration through sculpture, drawn and animated mediums, all flourishing through her skillful use of paper and colour. I felt this work had real commercial potential and her approach and techniques could be pushed in graphic and environmental design. I also found it particularly interesting to see how she had approached an animation using her recognisable approach to work.

Graphic Picture Warnings

A recent news article I noticed reporting the government have decided to print gruesome images depicting the effects of smoking on all cigarette packets from next year. "The graphic images, which include pictures of diseased lungs, must be printed on all tobacco products made in the UK by the end of 2009, under the new regulations. After public consultation 15 images have been chosen to accompany text warnings about smoking related diseases, including lung cancer and heart disease" (Guardian).

It is claimed the reason for the move was due to the diminishing impact of written warnings on cigarette packets and I have to agree, these have almost become part of the conventions of a cigarette packet and once you've seen one you've seen them all. It would be interesting to hear peoples' responses to the use of images - it is said an image is worth a thousand words but will an image have any prolonged impact in this context. If a smoker is repeatedly reminded visually of what he/she is doing to their insides, would it deter them or will this merely merge into the conventions of cigarette packets aswell?

Visit London - Oscar Wilson

Agency: RKCR Y&R, London.
Art director: Neil Durber
Copywriter: Ben Hartman

Designer Oscar Wilson has created a series of illustrations for the Visit London campaign designed to draw tourists to some of London's best attractions and places to visit. This campaign really appealed to me as it broke the conventions of usual tourist advertisements; the hand-drawn type and bold colours make for striking visuals and seems to inject energy, excitement and intrigue into our capital city.

Oscar Wilson's personal portfolio site is also worth a look if this style of work appeals.