Du Vin

Thought this branding work for the hotel chain 'Hotel Du Vin' was very clever with its copy, playing with the words on its menus and promotional material. Simple, clever branding.

.....It's a Unicorn

Clever little buggers, I remembered that Johnny Hardstaff mentioned back in November he was working on a (top secret) project with agency DDB. Well the clever clogs (along with the RSA) commissioned Johnny and four other RSA directors to produce a response to a very unique script. The (short) script goes...

What’s that?
It’s a unicorn
I’ve never seen one up close before
Beautiful
Get away! Get away!
I’m sorry

what would you do?

Check Johnny's response below.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue55SLIA3tc

Out of the five films I think Johnny's is my sure favorite in second would be 'The Gift' by Carl Erik Rinsch and then 'El Secreto de Mateo' by Greg Fay. I didn't really connect with the other two - but check out these bespoke boxes which carry through the visual language of the films.

Krakow

The opportunity to go to Poland came when my flatmate was going over for research on her dissertation. I decided to go with her (just for two nights) to Krakow, whilst there we went around Krakow, to Auschwitz-Birkenau and to the Jewish quarter to the Galacia Jewish museum. Whilst over there I did a bit of photography I was concerned that my SLR may be affected by the cold weather, condensation/moisture but I luckily managed to avoid that with the cold temperatures! On one early morning the light was particularly beautiful. Here are a few of my favorites,

Venizia

In a recent trip to Italy we had a quick stop in Venice and I've always found it such an inspiring place. Last time I went it was the Canivale and so busy with tourists you couldn't even move and yet it was buzzing with culture. This time the place was almost deserted....quite creepy! Walking through Venice I saw some delicate and beautiful type.
I also came across this tiny little bookshop with some incredible handmade books and diaries.

...And hen he created Islington Wharf

We received this Christmas card through our postbox the other week - a nice piece of promotional work printed on lovely stock with overlaid text. One cover its subtle and uses some great old images of Manchester whereas the other side contrasts in colour and juxtaposes a modern image of Islington Wharf with bright yellow type.

Going West by Anderson M

I came across this stop frame animation on the CR Blog. It just stopped me in my tracks - I can't believe the entire story is carved from a book. The Art Direction of the piece and the style of animation are beautifully complementary. You can almost touch the page the textures and shadows play into the story. The patience and precision that has gone into this is hard to get your head around. Brilliant piece of work by Andersen M Studio in London. "The entire film is handmade, using only 10A scalpel blades and paper," explains Martin Andersen. "It was photographed on two SLR cameras and lit using Dedo lights."(CR BLOG)

Just came across this blog showing some collage record covers, love the idea for this and the art direction. I suppose this idea could be applied to almost anything, photographs, film, postcards etc.

ISO50

I came across Scott Hansen's blog on FFFFound, these works really stopped me dead, they are beautifully constructed. I love when images appear out of shadows. Or when the shadow creates the image. They remind me of the James Bond opening credits. Here is his blog with lots more work on...

http://blog.iso50.com/

If eyes are meant for seeing then beauty is its own excuse for being

Hand made by some creative students in the States this video breathes life into the perceived lifeless nature of type. I love this little video put together for an intro for a film festival. It is obvious a great amount of work and care has been put into this piece. See it in full on vimeo...

http://www.vimeo.com/6382511

Aeroplane Jelly!

Been wanting to post this up for a while, Its a vintage postcard I picked up in Sydney, I love it!

Fawns, unicorns and Tea parties

When I was in Australia I saw this at an event. I love the Art Direction of this photograph. It cracked me up. Living in OZ It was fascinating to see what the people there think of Britain and Europe. The whole idea of Britishness, this advert definitely reinforces the stereotype....

Stick around for a while.......

Love this print! Saw it a while ago but I thought I'd share. I believe its by 'Skinny Ships' also known as Richard Perez, a designer in San Fransico his website is here

Sluiz 'creative shopping in Ibiza'

http://www.sluiz-ibiza.com/

SLUIZ....

came across this amazing shop in Ibiza it had everything! great collection of books, it was a cafe, clothes shop, furniture, smoothie bar, outdoor furniture, games gadgets and loads more! Very Inspiring

These are some photos of a little cafe with hanging birdcages, disco balls, feathers and coloured ribbons

Toilet Talk

Whilst out I papped this incredible toilet graffiti. Some of it is quiet shocking. The toilets were covered in it. Lot to read in there but these were some that stood out.

Clouds in my Coffee

So Sydney had a huge coffee, tea and chocolate festival - The Aroma Festival
A feast for the senses! As a giant installation Grinders Coffee created a replica of The Mona Lisa. Using around 4,000 cups of coffee, it was pretty impressive! You can see a video here....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-RBG68Nimg

The Rocks were transformed thanks to Sydney being such a multicultural destination there was a great amount of Oriental, Lebanese, South American and Turkish influences. So I was even able to add a camel ride in there, score.

Illumination

I actaully can't believe I finished Uni today, My exchange is done!
Wow! well on top of exams crazy deadlines and hand-ins I managed to squeeze in a few more talks at the Creative Sydney Festival as part of Vivid, and even some more films at the Sydney Film Festival. (By the way Bronson won the best film award!) I ended up seeing 'Five minutes of Heaven' and 'An Education'. James Nesbitt and the Director of Five Minutes of Heaven were there to talk with the audience.























As far as the Creative Sydney talks I went to 'Come Together: The New Creative Networks', and 'Copyleft, copyright and the in-between'. It interesting to hear the crazy methods creatives are using to connect and socialize. The Copyright talk tackled the art of ripping tunes and art off other artists. There was one woman on the pannel who was an illustrator/street artist and was on net-a-porter and saw her illustration (from her website) on a designer dress for £300! poor woman. This designer in the States had ripped it off her website and duplicated it exactly - even ignoring her invitation for collaboration on her website.

Also went to go see the World Press Photography Exhibition at the State Library - I love this global touring exhibition and make a point of seeing it in London every year. Such a variety of shocking, educating, revealing and strange photographs! all with amazing stories.


And yesterday evening I spent under the Harbor Bridge at Sydney's Firewater (part of Vivid) I'll upload some images/video. There has been a 'Light Walk' on for the last few weeks we did that too! Its a walk around the harbor involving several artists installations that are based around light. (Images taken on the lightwalk)

mini Sydney

Keeping with the Sydney theme and continuing procrastinating I thought you guys may find this guy inspiring. This photographer is amazing! Keith Loutit has manipulated his photography skills to produce intimate stop frame animation/stills of life in Sydney as if it looks miniature! Its so wierd, here is his website.....

http://www.vimeo.com/keithloutit