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See The Light

Olivia Cheung, a student from Brighton University who studied a BA in Product design wanted to incorporate packaging into the selling of light bulbs avoiding excess waste of the earth’s resources. She managed to create these beautifully stylish and ecological lampshades (seen below).

“I began to explore the concept of 'reuse', as some objects take on other, more interesting and diverse roles. I then endeavored to make reusing packaging more appealing - due to the sheer amount that is thrown away.”
Olivia Chueng

She focused on creating packaging that had an added function, and complimented the product at hand as well as meeting standard packaging demands like protecting and keeping the product secure. With her designs, the packaging transforms on to a beautiful lampshade, not only re-suing the packaging, but also it means she no longer need to by addition products like a lampshade.

To see more images pf her work visit:
http://www.jointhemediacircus.co.uk/mediacircus/2007/09/student-gallery.html

Clever Bean

Looking at a small icon of this image, I wondered why, what looked like a giant rusty burger was on a poster. On closer inspection, I was amused to see the simple line "Mc Cafe", and the fact that I was not looking at a burger, but a coffee bean in the shape of one. It is a particulary clever advert, as it certainly gets your attention and due to it simplicity, once you piece the advert together you can't help but be impressed. However, the best this advert can do is make you aware that Mc Donalds now serves coffee, for it says nothings about the quality or product itself - but maybe it doesn't need to due to the nature of the establishment.

One Comment I read was, "Either looks like the ugliest coffee bean in the world, or the creppiest burger of all."

Dancing with the Devil

I just thought I'd mention this piece of Album Artwork I have always loved. I actually got this piece of art on a postcard from our student Union, only later to find out it was an album cover. The musical artist is Ray Lamontagne, as folk singer in America. I love the clever illustrative use of the popular phrase "dancing with the devil", in other words doings something you really shouldn't be doing, thus strengthening the idea of Trouble, the name of the album.

"Rules Are Meant To Be Broken"

Last week I was lucky enough to have a portfolio viewing with the Creative Directors of Branding and Packaging Design Company, ‘Blue Marlin’. While providing me with priceless advice and information on the industry and my own work, what I found particularly interesting was their suggestion for changes within my own work. Both guys I spoke to were very much of the opinion that rules are meant to be broken, and that pieces of work shouldn’t necessarily be stuck to a grid or strict layout where everything should line up. I thought this was quite ironic, as in terms of my personal thinking, when designing a piece of word, grids and guides are one of the first things to be broken out n Illustrator and Photoshop. By speaking to them, they made it clear that maybe breaking out the grid (and I don’t mean in extremes) it would allow your work to stand out that much more and not seem so rigid and caged. Whether “breaking the rules” is something to take forward into our final year, it is nonetheless food for thought.

The images below are of one piece of work that I had done for the faculty brief and my development of this particular image based on the advice I was given at Blue Marlin. Apart from the colour change, they said to make more of a feature of the foetus, by increasing the size, and then join and re-size the faculty and university logo to make them a much smaller, key feature. This immediately meant that my initial thinking of separating the two logos to “balance” out the page and by having them larger so the viewer would know more immediately which University was being advertised, was what seemed to them what was holding the poster back.

AquaFresh; Remake of 1989 Advert

I recently noticed that the toothpaste "Aquafresh" has begun to promote themselves on TV once again, by resubmitting an almost identical advert to their original one launched back in 1989. It is a fantastically clever move on the marketer’s behalf, for without a doubt, it stands out among all other adverts on TV today. Its 'fuzzy', old appearance just adds to its appeal, reminding you of an advert you once witnessed back in 'the old days', promoting a simple, happy and idealistic family unit we all crave. By tapping into peoples past, you almost immediately can't help but think of memories of 'life back then' and it is this association that would encourage people to pick up the product, to have a little bit of their past back.

Mc Donald's Re-Design

"A comfortable armchair. Cool hanging lights. Funky graphics and photos on the walls. Wi-Fi access. Premium coffee. Isn't Starbucks great? Except...this is McDonald's. McDonald's (MCD )? That's right. After 30 years without a major design overhaul, the 51-year-old fast-food giant is adopting a hip new look. The world's largest hamburger chain is redesigning its 30,000 eateries around the globe in a 21st century makeover of unprecedented scale."

BusinessWeek

I went to London for the day yesterday and couldn't help but notice throughout the capital, Mc Donalds has been going through a bit of a face lift. In several of the branches I passed, it would seem the Mc Donalds brand is beginning to evolve. The universal colour palette that people across the globe would associate with Mc Donalds is red, and the infamous yellow arches, but things have begun to change. After coming back from London and looking on the official Mc Donalds website, it would seem the bright red background that graced their brand for decades has been replaced by a more chic, sophisticated and ‘sensible’ black. Mac Donalds are clearly trying to rebrand themselves, away from the childish, playful and more ‘in your face’ tone that set the company with the use of red, by choosing a colour which is a lot more fashionable and mature. The use of black is more likely to appeal to a wider, older and more sophisticated audience to match its new menus that include salads and wraps – dusting off the once fatty, unhealthy image.

By changing just one colour, it can’t be disputed that Mc Donalds looks all the more better for it. From just looking at the outside of the branches, the shop looked immediately more modern, cleaner and inviting – a job well done. The image of Mc Donalds has certainly begun to change, and is clearly going to be a gradual process throughout the global stores. With all these changes happening Mc Donalds could risk the possibilities of alienating its current and most loyal customers, so need to be careful that by introducing this ‘new and improved’ image, they still manage to maintain aspects of the Brand that make them such a household name in which people know and love.

Maroon 5 Logo

Back with a new album, Maroon 5 are also showing off their new, very clever logo. Using the roman numeral for 5, the "V" has been incorporated as part of the central section of the capital M - creating a simple, united logo that clearly represents the bands name, instead of having to have to completly seperate elements to represent the two words.

Temple Quay Typography

Much like Leeds, Bristol is currently going through huge reconstruction and rejuvenation – a rebrand if you like. This is the new logo for “Temple Quay”, and it sums up Bristol completely. An old, historic city with a contemporary and chic twist beautifully summed up through the use of a traditional style serif font and a clean, simple sans serif font. The colours compliment the aquatic surroundings, and looks particularly eye-catching against the old, historic buildings that create its background. My only issue with this logo, is the kerning between the two words, as there seems to be quite a distance between them, which just doesn’t sit easy visually.

Breaking The Chains

Bristol is infamous for its major role in the slave trade and is currently holding an exhibition marking the bicentury of the abolition of the slave trade. The dominant, bold typography truely highlights the importance of such infamous historic turning point. The kerning between the letters is particularly small, which I feel is of particular relavence, as slaves were jam packed into the ships with little room to move, let alone breathe and this is merely in typographic form. The break within the illustrated chains (the 'i' from the words breaking and chains) is a subtle representation of the exhibition title, without having to be too obvious or in your face.

D&AD Packaging Design 2007; Warburtons

Being nominated for a D&AD award was one of the craziest experiences I have ever been through. One of the most exciting things about the whole saga was actually checking out the competition. It was really interesting to see the different concepts people adopted to deal with the same brief.

I, along with another nominee was awarded a Commendation, there was no second prize, and the first prize was awarded to a well-deserved Sophie Towler from The University College Falmouth. When I first saw the other nominees, Sophie’s work stood out, playing on the popular notion that ‘sex sells’. Below are a few photos I took on my phone of her work.







Playing on the idea that Warburtons were selling a “delicious Italian” the copy fully supported this cheeky concept, with each of the breads having its own saucy line on the back, like “I want you to rub oil on me”, or “I want you to nibble me all over”. This was a fantastically well thought out piece of work, with each element fully supporting and complimenting the strong concept. Where I think my work and Andy’s (the other nominee) may have lacked was the direct appeal to the target market which was women in their 30’s. Both our designs were sophisticated and perhaps more ‘visually interesting’ with the use of photography, but both had a more all round appeal whereas Sophie’s encompassed the specific market so well. According to the D&AD website, first prize winners is awarded “the one outstanding entry; Bang on brief, brilliantly crafted or executed and with that 'I wish I'd done that!' appeal” and Sophie’s work certainly oozed in humour, simplicity and that all important ability to put a smile on someone’s face – basically, a designers dream.

Just on a small note, after looking at other nominees, and especially in my own category, I know I have said it before but the quality of execution was amazing. The other two students had produced real mock ups, something you can go straight into Tesco’s and pick up off a shelf, whereas for my mock ups, I had simply wrapped sheets over pre-made bread packaging, through pure naivety perhaps, thinking this would stand up next to the quality of the other entrants. Sophie had even pushed the brief further, something I noticed with a lot of other entrants, and produced more work in an extension of their brief, in her case she all produced a small ad campaign that could be used in line with her ‘delicious Italian’ concept, which just goes to show that doing extra could potentially be the difference between second prize and first, or an award or no award at all. I guess these are all lessons that you learn with experience, as I now know that I need to pick my game up as I have seen the other competition out there, and its tough.

A Designers Dilema?

My brother found this postcard around Leeds University and gave it to me to add to the postcard museum, that is my room. I personally really like typography and was particularly intrigued by the wording in the left hand corner (shown above). The reason I do not want to write the word that is seems to have caused somewhat confusion amongst the masses. Take a moment to see if you can read it, and then scroll down to see if you are right.

Personally to me, it was as clear as day. The beautifully designed word read, “Be” (confirmed by the website name.) However, to others it wasn’t so obvious, as they read the word “Do”. I thought this was particularly interesting, and I began to ask random friends and family what they thought the word read, with distinct results. To put it bluntly the designers could read the word perfectly, everyone else couldn’t.

Undoubtedly this is a beautifully designed word, with the postcards pattern being incorporated into the text, a design in which anyone could, and did appreciate, however somewhere in the design process it would seem the aesthetics maybe have been more important than the readability of the actual word. I have begun to notice that this is maybe a huge flaw in graphics today. As designers we are trying to create work, which is “subtly genius”, simple yet send a clever message, but in the end the message is getting lost being the single graphical elements that make it up. This has only become clearer to me, when my own work has come under some scrutiny.

The images below are sections of my revised posters for our first year project based on promoting a 2 hour lunch break for city workers.




Several people have seen these posters, and again I have received a mixed reaction. As always the designers can understand and appreciate the movie concept although they are not alone as others, although it may take a little longer also “get it”. When showing my mum, doctors in the making and future economists, they just couldn’t grasp why I had turned a W side ways, but to my sister it was glaringly “obvious”, when clearly it wasn’t as obvious as I thought. These two examples have certainly made me more aware of a huge problem facing a designer. Now more and more we are trying to be clever in our designs, but it seems we are beginning to design work, perhaps not realising it, but for our fellow designers, rather than the people we are aiming for, a balance we need to regain before non-designers are completely left out the loop.

You either Love it or Hate it.

Last year I found this image was on a Guardian Advert for their online dating website and I have to say it is one of my favourite pieces of advertising. I think it is a wonderfully clever image, by taking a product as topical as marmite, with the catchphrase “you either love it or hate it”, and reworking this tagline in terms of relationships and dating within the iconic framework of it packaging is simply genius.

Marmite; you’ve got to love it.