Who stole my idea? #copycat

Cadburys 'Dancing Clothes'

The latest Cadbury's video which launched on the 15th May, is most definitely a glass and a half full! Not only have we seen a Guerilla drumming, eyebrow party freak out and now it seems - Clothes Dancing!! The larger than life clothes and props were specially made, and over 2 weeks dancers prepared the moves which would ultimately create the theatrical performance.

A Cadbury spokesman said: ‘They were effectively blind within the suits. They had to rehearse heavily to ensure they could perform without crashing into things.’

Sam Hibbard, from advertising agency Fallon, (who always produce such amazing creative and provocative work) said: ‘People now are so used to CGI so we wanted to create the ad in a traditional very lo-fi way. It’s almost a performance rather than an ad.’

And I love it! As always, you might question the relevance to chocolate - but who cares when it makes people smile, enjoy life and it has the feel good factor.

Read more here.

PROJECT: METRO : FINAL POSTERS

As we are in the second to last week of this term/year, I have been working on finishing and tweaking the poster series taking the taglines. I have developed the concept again and another poster design I had was to great a sign off from Metro - taking the form of Metro literally signing the poster declaring themselves as true to their world.

Speaking to other peers I think that this idea will be my final design as it has potential and although it is a traditional design it has a modernistic approach that makes it more noticeable.
Here are my designs for the sign off, it has developed massively in the space of three days so I am really pleased.



The final posters still have minor tweaks as I have not been working on them for a day or so - I thought this would make me more reflective and subjective to how they will be interpreted.
Any thoughts welcomed!

So the final three posters series are as follows:

PROJECT: METRO : DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

After speaking to Liz I wanted to push my designs into a new direction, and getting out of my comfort zone to produce more energetic design was a must!!!
I have decided that a typographic approach is more suitable for this type of campaign - as it has to visually cut through the everyday noise, it needs to be bold, seen and eye catching!
I have developed the concept into various styles to generate more creative design so that I can assess what direction I want to take!
I have tried to add more of Metro's personality into the campaign and using a background image that directly relates to where the commuters will read the paper e.g. Bus and Train stations.








This poster directly relates to the distribution of Metro throughout the UK, the key decodes the different cities - whilst the shapes are in scale to the size of how many papers are distributed in that particular city. For example London has the biggest distribution, Scotland/North West and the Midlands follow.
I do like this design - more fresher than my other designs, also quite contemporary! It celebrates the newspaper and the success of it rather than just telling the viewer how great it is!!

PROJECT: METRO : DESIGNS

Over the weekend I have been working on trying to complete the Metro brief.
Whilst debating my initial concept I began to think that the approach I had taken was not what I had originally intended so taking a look back over my research I realised that I had overlooked why Metro is Metro!

Metro - USP is bitesized information, so with benefit led advertising could I create a campaign based on one element that shows why people love it so much? With a bit of creativity I began to look at Metro differently and wanted to promote the guessing game taken from the Quiz section of "Who Am I?". For example, "I'm small, but big on information" & "I save you a seat".

Although a great concept and tagline it didn't visualise the way I wanted it to and I found myself over-thinking (as usual!) and trying to create something that truthfully it may never be!!
Then I had a mental breakdown and stupid ideas of "who farted in parliament - Metro keeps you up to date", and "If you can read me in thirty, you'll think it's dirty"!!!

I Finally came to the conclusion of a rhythmic tagline that was slightly more professional and suited to my target audience!!!

"Find me at the station, I am the paper of the nation"
"Find me on the train, I will ease the morning strain"
"Find me on the train, I will always entertain"
"Find me on the bus, we sure have a lot to discuss"

"Read me on your break, I go perfect with cake"
"Take a load of your feet, I've saved you a seat"

I am much more happier and confident that this concept promotes all that I am saying, it is answering the brief...and more!!
Here are my initial visuals:









My visual aesthetic is not there yet but with a bit more work I am sure I will crack it.

PROJECT: METRO: DEVELOPMENT

The other project I have been working on these past three weeks is Metro.

The brief :
- create a strong cutting edge campaign that cuts above the visual noise of the everyday commute
- TA 18/44 urbanities who have a higher than average income, they are savvy tech!
- Promote Metro as the number one morning newspaper, creating more personality for the product rather than the brand.

This type of commercial brief has been perfect for me, it has been fun and challenging something which I need after having quite personal projects on the go, it will also look more diverse in my portfolio!

My initial concept for the brief was to base the design on creating more personality for Metro, so I came up with several ideas and the main one being the different ways you can interact with Metro e.g.

eat with metro
play with metro
hide with metro
shelter with metro
learn with metro






This then quickly progressed into a further stage - after discussing my project in tutorial it was said that I needed to focus more on the USP of Metro, which is BITESIZED news.... something that other competitors do not have.

An other idea I had was 'Metro will take the blame for your stupidity', for example...
you missed your stop, because you were reading the paper, you were late for work...again!
I visualised my idea but don't think it is as strong as could be!
Definitely needs developing.

SSL WORK EXPERIENCE : FINAL DESIGNS

Having had a successful two week placement, we ended with a concept that was executed across posters, flash animations, booklets and promotional give a ways.
The following designs were based on our main concept of 'Seeking the Solution', where we had to cover the three areas of SSL's success including energy, water and waste. The visual style represents a playful and interactive theme which uses the typography to communicate the message.

We presented on Friday and they were very pleased with the final outcome and they are going to use all the designs we did. The experience was great to see how a company works and as it was not design focused it was great to learn from the environmentalists how design really can affect the final outcome.



Posters and Promotional material.

SSL WORK EXPERIENCE : Research

Jemma, Leanne and myself have been at SSL International this week and we are working on a World Environment Day brief, which is to celebrate SSL's progress and make employees more aware of how they can be more environmentally responsible in the workplace and at home. The brief is actually quite good, it is a subject that should be taken more seriously so I have enjoyed working on it.

There are four designers and two environmentalists working on the brief, so its been great to work as a team and produce come good work. We have two weeks to produce posters, information pack, badges, activities to promote the WED day on the 5th June 2010.

The first week there I have been working on research, ideas and designs for our first pitch which we had on Friday, it has been great to be in the work environment (not too mention the free lunch and expenses paid for!!!) which has made it all too real that we are finishing in literally weeks...As a team we all have brought different ideas to the table to produce some nice designs and ideas that they actually like.

Here is some of the research I did for the brief:

NOISELAB 'PANIC' BRANDING

Here are my proposed attempts for the NoiseLab 'Panic' Branding Brief that Alessandra and myself wrote. As I have been endlessly busy over the past week, I only had less than 24 hours to do the designs. I already had several ideas for the branding but struggled to visualise them, speaking to Sarah in the studio really helped and between us we came up with a much stronger concept. I then went off to design them and my response is above!!

As a 'theme' they would obviously need more work as they are not the finished article, but I am happy with the visual appearance. Doubting now whether they would actually work as a branding, I am glad I actually spent the time doing this and I hope to get some feedback as to how I can improve.

Well done to everyone that entered, the deadline was Thursday and we had a handful of various responses, each individual in its own right. The winner has been chosen and we will work closely with them to develop it for the exhibition.

HERE IS A LITTLE INSIGHT INTO WHAT I AM WORKING ON NOW...

From Adbusters:
“Design is at war with itself. We are taught that design is about finding solutions. But the success of these solutions is judged so narrowly – Did it ooze desire? Did it shift units? – that we find ourselves implicated in problems far greater than the ones we solve. The time has come for a radical shift in priorities. We are now faced with some of the most daunting global challenges in human history. These are real targets, worthy of our problem-solving skills, ripe for our intervention. Yet those who have the vision to rise above national and political boundaries still have no symbol to rally under. We invite you to create a flag – free from language and well-worn clichés – that embodies the idea of global citizenship. A symbol that triggers pride and cohesion, whether worn on a backpack, displayed on a door, or flown on a flagpole. A symbol for anyone to declare membership in a growing and vital human cooperative. We invite you to prove that design has a real role to play in the fate of our world.”

Social - Environmental - Cultural Design is a beginning for what will be my final project ending the three years at the Art School. Sounding optimistic I want to plan a research/ experimental project that will allow me as a designer to be more aware and acknowledge my design responsibilities and roles.

HERE IS A LITTLE INSIGHT INTO WHAT I AM WORKING ON NOW...

Amnesty International Goes High Tech with “It Happens When Nobody Is Watching”

Posted by James David Morgan | 30-06-2009 16:27 | Category: Abuse, Design

Billed as “the first poster that responds to people looking at it,” Amnesty International’s one-off domestic violence awareness poster includes an eye-tracking camera that changes the poster’s display when a viewer looks at the image.

The poster, titled “It Happens When Nobody Is Watching,” has been criticized for its being one of a kind (as opposed to a full campaign) and accused of pandering for an award (which it won). Berliners, be on the watch, this poster is displayed at a bus stop in your city. Have you seen it? What do others think of its efficacy?

This is cracking...absolutely brilliant. Just what I've been waiting for!!
Installation, interactive and engaging ads really tick all my boxes on creativity and this is a prime example. The subject matter is a topical/dodgy one that I think has been executed well. Go Amnesty!!

SILENCE RE-VISITED: FLIPBOOKS

I nearly forgot to post the flipbooks that I used for Silence part 1&2.
The images were part of my research and experimentation to develop the project. It has been great to do something with them, making them interactive and objects that you can make move/speak is highly effective.

The images were also used to create an experimentation into stop frame animation.
As I wanted to make my mouth shapes move, this felt like an appropriate method and was a great introduction to the software. As it is give and take, it took no time at all to understand the process of photo - move - photo - move etc etc.

But it has been great to make them move, in theory I would have liked to have used after effects but due to time management this was not viable.

RESISTANCE: Up, Up and away...

Last weekend has come and gone, but for me I really knuckled down and did some very productive work. I already have my final idea and could clearly see the potential in it, but I couldn't help think that I wanted to do something...more...interactive.

This idea of it being more interactive stemmed from ways in which us, as young people can get to together more. Be a community. Be a voice. The brief of 'Resistance' in this particular idea is based on balloons and what they represent. For me, balloons capture my childhood and similar memories of pure happiness, as they aimlessly float and become their own person high above you.

I really liked the idea of people attaching views or memories to them, then they would be released. Symbolising, the need for people to express themselves, resisting against terrorism, graffiti whatever it may be. We don't know where they go, or who reads them...does God?

However, the only problem I had was that they were not Helium. So they flopped and didn't really fly away! If I were to continue this idea I would have to get Helium balloons to get the correct image.

I placed them in the actual environment.
It does look alittle too prepared but the balloons wouldn't have stayed there.


This is the viewpoint through the balloon with the sky/background in situ.
I thought this was beautiful, at this time of day the sun was setting on a crisp and sunny day.

I really like how translucent the balloon becomes.
Very effective.

All the images above were taken in my local park.