Smokin' Pictures

From October there will be picture warnings on packets of cigarettes to illustrate the health risks of smoking. Initiated by the department of health. The aim is to be more effective than the text warnings that is there currently.

The pictures portray the grim reality of what smoking really does to your body. However the pictures will be only on the back of the packaging, thus not being shown from the shelves, so maybe not having the a big a impact as needed. Most people already realize that smoking is bad for them, this then is just a hasher reminder.

The design of photographs are also a bit dull, comes across quite amateur and dated I feel, especially with the harsh blackness, and the red type. They obviously want to make a statement whilst being realistic, but I think even the photographs themselves could've been done to look a bit better.

Spotting 'Geoffrey Todd Smith'

The Pearly Pits of the Peeled Poisonfruit, 2007 - ink and gouache on paper



Flick the Groom off Your Cake Topper and Turn up the Cyndi Lauper, 2007 ink and gouache on paper

His trippy hand-made drawings are inspired by activities of his youth—stickers, jigsaws and doodling. Great use of patterns and colours for your eyes to interact with.

Geoffrey comes from Chicago.

The Frijj Shakes

Seriously worth checking out this website. Hilarious short films emphasizing the thickness of Frijj milkshakes. love them.

www.fourridgesmustbedestroyed.com/watch-the-films

David Callow

David Callow: Illustrator.
Particularly like his hands on approach, cutting out card/paper and assembling it. It help creates texture and depth to his delicate pen line illustrations. Nice.

Plastic RIP

So I was having a think the other day about the whole, 'lets cut down on plastic bags' movement to help save the planet. -which i totally agree with- However I was mulling over the other uses we have with these plastic bags, for example what would we line our small bins with? what would we put our dirty smelly trainers in? what would we pick up dog poo with? and so on.
Surely this is a problem and a gap for a few nifty inventions; or perhaps just time for some personal environmental changes.

Take Me Home

http://thetoysociety.blogspot.com
They make toys and drop them off all over for people to pick up and take home, all they ask is that you report it found via their blog. A sweet idea to create stories from.

Time for Tea

You'll either love 'em or hate 'em. Some great British handmade teapot designs, to get us in touch with our roots.

Days With My Father

www.dayswithmyfather.com
Spotted this website in a magazine, its a photo journal about Phillip Toledano's relationship with his father. After viewing it I was a bit unsure as to the purpose of the site, is it for his father?(who has no short term memory), for strangers like you and I? or for himself? Either-way its a very emotional and compelling insight, with heartwarming photographs which speak for themselves, accompanied by quirky bits of texts. A simple, beautiful, elegant piece.

The choice of navigation on the site is also worth checking out, slightly different from the norm.

A Glass Half Full?

Theres been a lot of debate surrounding the relaunch of the Cadbury adverts which were created by Fallon. Basically they have changed the songs to them, and many view this as lazy as the footage is the same and dosn't link up perfectly to the actions.
(If you play the 2 clips below at the same time, you can see how similar they are, one is basically longer than the other and thats it.)

The original advert with the Phil Collin's "In the air tonight" song...




The more recent version of the advert with Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart"...



Personally I prefer the Bonnie Tyler version as I find the song much more dramatic and audibly powerful, however it's a shame they didn't manage to make the ad slightly more different to the first one, to create more of an impact.
Which one do you prefer?

DIY Google

Twas searching through some blogs and saw this fab idea.

a BIG ad

A big powerful beer ad for Carlton Draught.

The Metal Collector

David Buckingham
Works and lives in LA.
Collects metal from around Southern California and welds them into fantastic pieces of sculpture. I love them. He doesn't paint any of it, the colours are the original colours of the collected metal.

Nate Williams

Nate Williams, aka Alexander Blue, an artist, illustrator and designer.
You can gather his South American background within the style of his illustrations. I like his lettering/typographic style, an alternative hand drawn style, with a quirky edge.

Weight Ads

With reference to my previous post on advertising for diets, i've managed to collect a few weight related ads. From looking around a bit, I have to say there aren't many about, perhaps this is down to its sensitive topic? But isn't it about time it was addressed properly?

I wanna be like you

I feel I need to comment of the recent adverts surrounding "stop smoking" as i find it a great powerful campaign. It particularly targets the area that if you smoke you children are more likely too. They've successfully made it so the children mimic what their parents do. I've also found a similar old smoking ad which is a nice comparison.

I Wanna Be Like You, Anti-Smoking Advert, 2008

(The bright chirpy music makes it seem like a happy ad and keeps people's attention from drifting, but the underlying message at the end is deadly serious and brings viewers back down to earth. The music plays an important part in this ad for sure.)


Like Father Like Son - Anti Smoking PSA 1967

Look how shockingly similar these two ads are. This one was obviously a source of inspiration to the more recent advert. It just demonstrates how ideas become reused again and again and that issues like smoking will continue to be around for a long time.

Love the UK

Found this on the internet, it plays on the famous heart NY symbolic identity, modified specially, kind of appropriate for the recent weather...

Sandra Juto

A few bits of work by Swedish Illustrator and graphic designer, Sandra Juto.
I enjoy how she uses flat pieces of paper/card to formulate the core shape of her figures, adding soft details with pen and ink. It gives a flatness which i like in illustrations, yet still manages to hold points of interest.
www.sandrajuto.com

A Fat Diet Advert

Natalie Cassidy's Diet Secrets, BBC Three, Wednesday 25th June
A while ago now I watched a television program hosted by the actress Natalie Cassidy on fad diets. I found a lot of it covered what i already knew- diets like maple syrup diets don't work!
However it covered some deeper topics such as children's influence on parents dieting, and why poeple yo-yo diet.
I can remember one powerful ending message Cassidy gets across to her viewers... "FAD DIETS MAKE YOU FATTER"

I thought this could be an interesting topic to base my independent topic on. How can we advertise the negative impacts of dieting? Especially in today's media and celebrity controlled world?

Send me a Polaroid

From all the news surrounding Polaroids recently i came across this site www.postcardpolaroid.com
I think its a pretty funky idea, might give it a try. It reminds me when a friend sent me a plank of wood through the post, people love it when they receive something unexpected.

A Face in a Place

Had a look at the Faces in Places blog mentioned on the GLOG page, and it reminded me of a photograph I took previously. Its amazing what you can find in natural environments if only you look.

The Senedd

Went to Cardiff a little while ago and had a look inside the National Assembly for Wales aka The Senedd situated on the waterfront on Cardiff Bay. It's an amazing piece of architecture which was made to symbolize an open democracy. The building also represents sustainability, through the materials it uses (traditional Welsh materials such as slate and Welsh oak), to the way its heated and naturally ventilated.
There's a lot of detailed information available online here; it seems a lot of time, money and effort was plowed into the creation of this building, and it shows.

Anyone interested in architecture, its worth a look.

SNICKER: Get some nuts

Closely related to my recent post about the banned Heinz Ad. This advert promoting snickers was brought off air because of complaints that it was negatively targeting gays.
Personally I think this ad is a lot less offensive, and the complaints surrounding it seem trivial.
Created by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO – (The same agency responsible for a Heinz Deli Mayo advert- withdrawn last month after showing two men kissing.)
Includes Mr T, not my cup off tea, shouting ‘Speed walking. I pity you fool. You are a disgrace to the man race. It’s time to run like a real man.’
Apparently most of the complaints came from America, where it wasnt even showed. Really America's views shouldn't influence what occurs here in the UK.
Humour is of course subjective, however i dont think this ad comes across as being targetly offensive. Seems that the view of a few are being portrayed as the view of the many.
Surely shouldn't Mars stand their grounds over these minority complaints and ...GET SOME NUTS!

A Traumatic Book

Trauma by Patrick McGrath, cover design by Peter Mendelsund, 2008

Bicycle

An abstract way of displaying an object. Nice.

Styrofoam Robot

Created by Kevin Kelly.
Start collecting your styrofoam now!