D&AD Blog

Behind the Idea: Recode Decode

St Luke’s Creative Partner Al Young has spotted an innovative approach to promoting a major digital art exhibition.

The V&A launched Decode: Digital Design Sensations in collaboration with contemporary arts organisation onedotzero in December – the first time the museum has staged a digital art exhibition. The challenge was to create a campaign that would appeal not only to regular museumgoers, but also to a highly digitally literate audience. 

‘Karl Marx wanted the means of production to fall into the hands of the proletariat so that revolution could occur,’ says Young.  He believes the V&A matched these principles with its interactive approach to Decode, and it’s advertising campaign has followed similar ‘revolutionary’ principles.

Recode Decode was an open source campaign created by digital agency Saint/Y&R.  Recode not only promoted the exhibition but extended participation to the web.  Digital artist Karsten Schmidt was commissioned to create a piece of work that could sit at the centre of the campaign.

‘Schmidt designed the beautiful animated identity for the show and gave open-source access to the coding.  It allowed the masses to re-form and submit their own new design,’ says Young. 

Work was submitted to an online gallery and the best Recodes were then used to promote the exhibition on and offline. The V&A exhibited the best of them on CBS’ new digital screens on the Underground.

Saint/Y&R Creative Director David Gamble noticed that Recode submissions kept improving as the campaign ran on.  His team even noticed digital artists from the Decode exhibition submitting pieces of their own. ‘The work got better and more ambitious as people got to grips with the application and the code,’ says Gamble. ‘Just look at the piece by Matt Swoboda, it’s fantastic, and has raised the bar even higher.’

Young is impressed that the V&A has taken on this kind of exhibition. ‘This is the sort of collective affair you’d expect at the Hayward Gallery, ICA or Tate Modern – not the V&A,’ says Young.  ‘Karl, it seems you’re alive and well in the 2010 avant-garde digital arts advertising space. And so, Victoria and Albert, are you.’

Decode: Recode from directtovideo on Vimeo.

Judging: One week to go

 

One week to go until Awards & Student Awards judging kicks off.  In this film, a few of last year's judges talk about what the experience is like.  Keep an eye on www.dandad.org for daily interviews and updates, and most importantly - the Awards results.  Student Awards results will be released in early May. 

Good luck to all our entrants!

Dipping into design history: Alan Fletcher

Alan Fletcher is an icon of post-war graphic design in Britain.  He spent over fifty years creating stunning identities for clients as prestigious and diverse as the V&A and Reuters.  He was a founding member of D&AD and founding partner of international design firm Pentagram.

His style and approach can be best understood by flicking through his seminal publication, ‘The Art of Looking Sideways’.  Fletcher himself described the book as 'a journey without a destination'.  The book is a collection of images, quotes and comments that provides insight into Fletcher’s inspiration and visual philosophy.

Here's a selection of his work.  A big thank you to Pentagram for sourcing images.

Pirelli cintura: 1961

Reuters Logo: 1965

D&AD exhibition poster, 1963

Designers Saturday: 1982 

IBM Poster Series: 1983

IBM Poster Series: 1983

IBM Poster Series: 1983

Daimler Benz Poster: 1986

Metro Wrap Competition: We Have a Winner

Metro wanted to give creatives the chance to play with their newspaper, so last month they launched a competition with D&AD.  The challenge was to produce a coverwrap that would inspire and motivate commuters on their way into work. The winning work was wrapped round this morning’s edition of the paper.

A diverse mix of work was nominated, but it was the simple, bold images that won over judges. ‘Lots of the entries brought a smile to my face which to me is no bad thing,’ said film director Ringan Ledgwidge.

A team from branding and design agency The Partners came out on top with their simple and beautiful idea to ‘make someone’s day’ – turning the wrap into a bunch of flowers by rolling up the paper.

‘We wanted the idea to have a purpose; getting people to re-use and pass on their newspaper, said Jack Renwick, Creative Director at The Partners. “Everyone likes flowers. You can use them as an emergency gift, to say sorry, or just to cheer someone up. If someone proposes using our paper I hope we get invited to the wedding!”

Thanks to everyone who entered - and congratulations to the winning team!

(L-R): Alex Woolley, Jack Renwick, Samuel Hall & Sam Griffiths

Behind the Idea: The ad your ad could look like

Stuart Outhwaite is a creative at London agency Mother. Outhwaite’s pick is a TV commercial that hasn’t even aired in the UK, but turned into an international Internet sensation, racking up almost 6 million views since it launched in the US last month.

The ad is fronted by actor Isaiah Mustafa, who looks directly into the camera and tells women that although their men may never look like him, they can at least smell like him by using Old Spice. ‘I hate the people who made this ad for many reasons’, says Outhwaite.  ‘They've managed to revive a tired old brand from the seventies that even my dad would be ashamed to use and created a genuinely hilarious piece of thirty second joy.’ ‘They've also succeeded in making me feel pathetically inferior and “lady scented”,’ he adds.

Old Spice historically produced advertising that spoke specifically to men, but they changed the brief, asking agency Wieden+Kennedy to appeal to men and women at the same time.

Craig Allen and Eric Kallman were the team who had to meet the challenge.  ‘The idea came about by sitting quietly in a room and staring at each other for days,’ says Allen. ‘It was hard to do something that spoke to women, but also didn’t turn off men.’

The team knew they liked the idea of a suave, sophisticated tone of voice.  ‘It started with “hello, ladies” and kind of spiraled from there,’ says Kallman.

The commercial was shot in a single take.  Special effects were only used to allow diamonds to pour out of Mustafa’s hand and for the bottle to then rise up through it.  It took 3 days and over 50 takes before everything came together. ‘It was stressful,’ says Kallman.  ‘A take might be acted perfectly, but the shirt wouldn’t fall around Isaiah’s neck or he’d miss the horse.’

A set was built on a beach that created a boat with a bathroom on top.  A giant crane lifts the bathroom away at the crucial moment to reveal the boat.  ‘In theory this should work smoothly,’ says Allen, but on day 2 one of the safeties on the crane failed and sent the 1900 lb (860kg) bathroom set plummeting.  Luckily no one was hurt, but part of the set had to be rebuilt. ‘That was horrible,’ says Allen. ‘Not our idea of a good time, but I guess it makes a good story.’

All wrapped up

In early March, D&AD and Metro challenged UK creatives to design a coverwrap to inspire and motivate readers on their morning commute. Last week our jury worked their way through the entries.  They’ve selected an eclectic mix of work for the shortlist that they think will inspire Metro readers and brighten up your morning. Thank you to everyone who entered. 

Big thanks also to our judges, who gave up their time to pick the best work:

Kenny Campbell, Editor, Metro

Paul Brazier, D&AD President & ECD, AMV.BBDO

Ringan Ledwidge, Director, Rattling Stick

Alex Bec, Director and Editor, It's Nice That

The winner will be posted on our site on Wednesday evening.

And sorry for the strange font sizes - system problems.

Nominations

Outside

Inside

Sam Hall, Sam Griffiths, Sean Rees & Dave Wood, The Partners

Outside

Inside

Matt Statham & Chris McDonald, McCann Erikson London

 

Outside

Inside

Laura Keogh, Handstand Creative 

 

Outside

Inside

Jack Renwick, Alex Woolley, Samuel Hall & Sam Griffiths, The Partners

Outside

Inside

David Rose & Michael Shepherd, Five by Five Digital

Outside

Inside

Clare Théophane, Miranda Bolter, Freya Defoe & Steve Hickory, The Partners 

Outside

Inside

James Théophane

 

Outside

Inside

Jack Renwick, Samuel Hall & Alex Woolley, The Partners

Outside

Inside

Jay Phillips & Neil Clarke, McCann Erikson London

Outside

 
Inside

Clare Théophane, Miranda Bolter, Freya Defoe & Steve Hickory, The Partners

Simply Yes

Domenic Lippa is a Partner at Pentagram, an international multi-disciplinary design studio.

He says a big ‘Yes’ to the look of the Pet Shop Boys’ newest album. Released last year, Yes was designed by the team at Farrow Design. 

‘This is a beautifully understated piece of contemporary graphic design produced at a time when arguably the music market’s heyday may be over,’ says Lippa.

Founder Mark Farrow has a long history with the Pet Shop Boys, having worked with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe since the release of their first album, ‘Please’ back in 1986.

‘A designer can only do great work if they have a great client and in this case both the quality of the work and the longevity of the relationship are staggering,’ says Lippa.

The cover of Pet Shop Boys single ‘Suburbia’ won a D&AD Yellow Pencil in 1987. Tennant and Lowe are credited with Farrow as part of the design team for that work.

The design for Yes came about when Farrow met with the band and they told him that ‘as this was their most ‘pop’ album in a long time,’ they liked the idea of creating something bright and colourful. They were also inspired by 4900 Colours, the kaleidoscopic work of German artist Gerhard Richter.

‘The idea of the tick was obviously inspired by the title Yes,’ says Farrow. ‘Reducing the title to a symbol that included the other elements the band had requested just seemed to work. It’s instant and memorable and pop,’ he says.

The tick is made up of eleven coloured squares, one for each track on the album. Farrow Design also came up with a limited vinyl edition of the album. ‘The album is split over eleven separate records, each in a coloured sleeve,’ says Farrow. When correctly arranged the eleven album sleeves make up a tick, measuring about eight feet in length.

‘In an age of visual saturation it is reassuring to see calm, minimal work, which has an idea behind it,’ says Lippa.  ‘There is no need for cheesy photos of the band, instead the simple tick referencing the title says it all.  The design defies the traditionally superficial ‘pop’ stereotype.’

The limited edition album has made a big impact.  It was nominated for Design of the Year, currently on exhibition at the Design Museum.  It was also voted on of the 50 ‘most collectible’ records of the 21^st Century.

Window On Design

What would you do if you had to design a shop window?  Last year, Tom Carey and his team won second prize at the Student Awards challenge to create an installation for Hamley's shop window on London’s Regent Street.

They came up with the idea of creating an interactive summer environment in the front of Hamleys shop window. Children colour in a butterfly template, which is scanned and made into a digital version of their design. Their butterfly comes to life and flies around the window display, which they can interact with using motion sensor technology. Their design can then be turned into a kite that they can take along to a butterfly festival at the end of the summer.

The story doesn’t end there, though, as Tom needed to find himself a job – and in the middle of what we all know is the ‘worst recession since 1993.’ He maxed out his overdraft by turning down part time work as a shelf-stacker to get experience on four work placements. 'Once I graduated, it really helped having made lots of contacts and having industry experience'. Today he’s 6 months into a job at interdisciplinary brand design consultancy, A+B Studio.    

'Tom stood out the moment he walked in - not only because of his untameable hair-do but his scatter-gun approach to design. On second glance we realised that each piece of work (whether it was jewellery, books, installations and even a multi-functional-festival jackets) was incredibly thought out, thought provoking and beautifully designed. Most importantly - Tom was a person we really liked to spend time with,’ said Benji Wiedemann, Creative Director.

Tom’s journey to A+B Studio has 3 main features

He took a targeted approach; ‘While doing placements I was looking for small up-and-coming companies that might be looking to take someone on. I wanted to jump in at the deep end and get stuck in.

He wasn’t afraid to ask for help: ‘While on placement at hat-trick, I asked pretty much everyone to have a look at my portfolio and asked them about other companies that I might not have heard of. One of the designers mentioned A+B Studio, who I emailed straight away.

And, as ever in life, he had a bit of good luck: ‘A+B Studio were about to move to a bigger place and were looking for someone – I was in the right place at the right time.'

Tom's worked on plenty of different projects since he got started, including the titles for BBC series, Hairy Bikers.  Watch the title sequence here:

Here's Tom working on the shoot:

 

Behind the Idea: Love it or hate it

Geoff Gower is digital creative director at archibald ingall stretton…  

A self-proclaimed lover of the classic and distinctive spread, Gower is impressed by a new campaign to launch the Marmite Cereal Bar. It takes a brave brand to acknowledge that some people may hate its product.  It takes an even braver one to run a national advertising campaign around the idea.  The campaign acknowledges that the cereal bar may be a product extension too far and plays on ‘love us or hate us’ advertising that Gower thinks has done wonders for the brand.

 ‘Spoof ads that play on advertising clichés will always be popular,’ says Gower.  ‘Using them to then bring consumers round to the view that a savoury cereal bar is reasonable is brave indeed.’

Created by ad agency DDB, the initial inspiration for the campaign came from wondering what would truly be a product too far, explains copywriter Will Lowe. ‘The art direction of the ads intentionally played on the advertising clichés that you see again and again; the child on the towels, the man in the shower, and the thin perfume model,’ says Lowe.

 
 
 

Marmite Perfume and Fabric Softener appeared online in early March. The hoax products initially bewildered members of the public who came across them.  ‘A number of the Facebook Love Marmite group members actually thought the products were real and have been trying to buy them,’ adds Lowe.

Meanwhile, two sets of posters launched nationally.  One set reveals the hoax with it’s strapline ‘This may be too far, but how about this?’  A second set is running without the strapline, leading the public to think that Marmite Fabric Softener might well be the real thing. 

The packaging for all three products was designed specially for the shoot and n sits in DDB’s reception in London. The perfume bottle is based on the original Marmite jar from the 1960s, which was translucent rather than opaque to show the product inside. 

‘This is a fun and engaging idea,’ says Gower.  ‘These days it's difficult to earn more than a few milliseconds of customers’ time but these ads really achieve this. Brands have to have enormous confidence to pull off ‘tongue-in-cheek’ so successfully.‘

Behind the Idea: From Couch to Crouch

With the Winter Olympics a thing of the past, thoughts will inevitably turn to summer and the 2010 FIFA World Cup mania that will grip the nation while England battles its way to glory – we hope. 

Alongside any event of this scale come the inevitable ‘big ads’ from sponsoring companies.  Visa has gotten in early with a new commercial that scores a hat trick for Engine's Robin Wight. 

‘Unlike some, Visa has no footballer on their books to rely on.  Instead the clever creatives at Saatchi and Saatchi had a brilliantly simple idea,’ he says.  A slobby couch-potato football fan runs all the way to the stadium in South Africa, getting him into shape on the way.  Like all the best advertising ideas, says Wight, ‘it can be described in a single sentence.’   

‘Visa gets you closer to the World Cup’ was the original brief to Xander Smith and Jonathan Santana at Saatchi & Saatchi.  They decided to literally show one fan’s journey from Europe to South Africa, armed only with his Visa card.

The shoot took nine days across various locations in Morocco and South Africa – home country to both Smith and Santana. ‘Some scenes were shot in a game reserve.  It was hilarious to see lads from Leeds and London, fresh off the plane, running next to real rhinos with lions around the corner,’ said Smith. The main actor was also chased by an ‘obtuse ostrich’ a couple of times, he adds.

Our hero is actually played by three actors – one lead and two body doubles.  The production team also had a movement specialist on set who taught the actors how to run correctly and in the same way to make it look seamless.

Football obsessed director Chris Palmer used the same tracking shot throughout, always moving form left to right.  The runner subtly transforms from zero to hero as he races to the World Cup in South Africa, ending up in Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. 

‘The transformation of an overweight fan to a goal-scoring hero is handled with polish and skill by Palmer,’ says Wight, who particularly liked the goal celebration at the end.  ‘Maybe Rooney will be able to copy this bit,’ he adds.