"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.

The Best A Man Can Get

By John O’Farrell

“Michael Adams shares a flat with three other men in their late twenties. Days are spent lying in bed, playing computer games and occasionally doing a bit of work. And then, when he feels like it, he crosses the river and goes back to his unsuspecting wife and children.”

Recommended as one of the funniest books he’d ever read, I couldn’t wait to read “A Best A Man Can Get”. We all know about Bridget Jones and women’s novels bitching about men and how rubbish they all are, so this would be and enlightening read to here “the male side” of the story. As mentioned in the above quote Michael Adams is living what could be considered every man’s fantasy. His double life lets him be a bachelor during the week and a husband and father of two on the weekends. I was half expecting the book to have woman bashing to be a main feature, but I was pleasantly surprised with the narrative is honest and insightful and didn’t fall into such a trap. Was it of the funniest books I’ve ever read, unfortunately not even close, but maybe that’s because I’m a girl. However, as a quick summer read it kept me entertained for a few days, and at the very least put a smile on my face.

Ford Advert; Scaffolding

On the way to London, draped over scaffolding was this huge advert for Ford. The photo above is what I took on my phone, but the basis of the advert, was that they had recreated the outside of a building with hundreds of windows with people climbing out of them to look at a billboard advertising the new Ford car. If you could look at the bigger picture, the image is particularly striking and without a doubt caught my attention, however in terms of promoting the car, it isn’t particularly successful. The building was to my right hand side, located on the side of a motorway – so due to the location, it is likely only passengers are going to be able to view it, rather than the driver thus limiting the accessibility to their target audience. Also with the speed in which people are going, it is easy to completely miss the product in which they are advertising – with my own experience, I could appreciate the concept yet had know clue which car was actually on the poster till I looked back at my photo. This poster is really amusing, but has been let down by its location as the product doesn’t make a lasting impression, if it is even considered at all by the viewer.

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.

Maroon 5; Wake up Call

This is the video for the new Maroon 5 single “Wake Up Call”. Typography has been used throughout the video to highlight certain lyrics and words of relevance like “betray me” or “shoot dead”, which helps strengthen the videos concept. This gives the feeling that you are watching a film, rather than a music video, as the text runs through it like credits. The words have also been individually illustrated, each having its own effect, and emphasising its meaning (examples shown above). Although including the typography was quite an interesting concept, it can’t help ‘lighten’ the tone of the song, which in itself is quite dark, thus maybe not complimenting it as it should, this is especially apparent with the use of the illustrated text, as it seems more humorous and out of place than serious.