NOISE FIVE LAUNCH

On Thursday evening of last week I attended the launch of Noise Five, the latest design book from ATTIK who have produced a series of Noise books over the last 20 years. It was an excellent opportunity to gain an insight into how the book was made and the design processes which have contributed to the finished product from the faces behind the book, from the designs, to paper stock to printing. As a student designer it was interesting to hear how much experimentation was involved in producing a book which has been in the making for 3 years and took 3 months to print.

After seeing a preview of Noise Five, it looks spectacular and I'm looking forward to getting my copy when it is released!!

TYPOGRAPHY ARTWORK

DORSET CEREALS

Some more packaging that caught my eye, like the new Jordans range this looks more simplistic and luxurious with the types and colours used. 

THIS WATER

"Our drinks are simple. We source the best quality ingredients and blend them in the simplest way. No fuss."

I like the descriptions on this range of drinks which tell you exactly what is in it.....

This Water is made from;

• spring water
• half a pomegranate
• 17 blackcurrants
• sugar
• 3 crushed lychees
• a dash of lemon juice

Also the overall look of the bottle is fun and fresh.

"Recent work has involved rebranding Innocent's Juicy Water range – a product that owes more to water than fruit which consequently felt awkward under the innocent name. The new brand – This Water – focuses on the ubiquity and versatility of water, and features a hand-scribbled observation and image on each pack. Its fresh and charming personality clearly references Innocent but also has the strength and versatility to move forward as its very own brand." The Design Council.

JORDANS NEW MAKEOVER

The entire range of Jordan's muesli cereal has recently been completely redesigned and launched in the supermarkets. The rest of the Jordan collection will be redesigned this year. The new packaging has a much more modern appeal, the logo has also been simplified to give a more modern touch. The aim of the new branding is to "focus on taste and present a 'unified identity' following an expansion to the range". Heres the old packaging, so you can see that significant improvements have been made.

BARCLAYCARD NEW IDENT

The new logo is meant to project a global and modern image. The new ident will appear in different colours, but it is going to take at least 12 months to phase the old one out.
I think this ident looks much more confident and professional for a bank than the previous.

VITAMIN WATER.

Since being back in the UK I've noticed that vitamin water is slowly beginning to appear on the shelves of cafes and shops. This was a huge product in Australia, and the copywriting on the bottles entertained me immediately. The Glaceau products are designed to address people who are aware of the importance of their health, supported by their slogan "hydrate responsibly". There is a great sense of humour behind the copywriting which is perfect for the young audience that the vibrant packaging is aimed at. The names add to the appeal too, instead of boring flavour names "blackcurrant", each flavour has been given an imaginative name to enhance the personality of that flavour and support the copy.

The look of the product is simple and distinct, making the product not only look good on the shelf but stand out from its competition along side it. The website also promotes the products in a great way, each flavour again has a distinct look (colour) and an animated illustration similar to the "coke side of life" imagery I have blogged previously.

There is plenty of information, and the same amount of humour and good writing packed into each page. The UKs page is slightly different but the same tone of voice is used, and in my opinion is just as sucessful and witty. The whole campaign lends itself to creating a personality for each flavour making for a successful and fun piece of branding.

DESIGNER TRAINERS

Design Agency accept and proceed have designed illustrations for Nike. "Seduced by innovation" and "Recognise the original" were the concepts chosen by Nike. These designs will be used on the trainers, point of sale, and other marketing and promotional items.

GNARLS BARKLEY

The Gnarls Barkley site has had a make over by design agency Rokkan. They used saturated colours and quirky animations throughout to reflect the band's identity.

HELLOVON TYPOGRAPHY

BECKS CANVAS

In association with the Royal College of Art, Beck's Canvas places emerging contemporary artists in your hands. These bottles feature one of a series of four artworks, created by: Charlotte Bracegirdle, Simon Cunningham, Ritta Ikonen and Tom Price. This is a limited edition label and it is the first time the iconic green bottle’s original label has actually been replaced in mass-production since 1952 to give these emerging artists a chance to reach a wide audience.
Find out more on this and Beck's arts projects here.

GIANT SPIDER ATTACKS LIVERPOOL

Ive just been watching the lunchtime news and found that a giant spider has hit Liverpool! Madness! The mechanical spider is in Liverpool this week as part of a street theatre project, and is central to Liverpool's European Capital of Culture programme.


Going by the name of 'La Princess', the beast is spreading its way around the city after appearing during Sunday night to shock the commuters at Liverpool Lime Street on Monday morning. The massive monster is Liverpool's first glimpse of the La Machine exhibition, being held in the city this weekend. The spider weighs 37 tonnes and stands 50 feet high and will appear at different locations around the city and will be manually operated to walk through the streets of Liverpool over the next few days. The spider is made out of steel and poplar wood and will be operated by 12 people strapped to its frame in order to make it move when it comes "alive" on Friday.

Such an original way of informing people and creating interest. Brilliantly ambitious! I look forward to seeing what else the project will reveal at the weekend, rumour has it there is going to be a "spectacular finish" on Sunday.

The people behind the innovative project are the same people that caused a stir in London in 2006 with Sultan's Elephant where an estimated 1 million people went to watch the elephant move around the city.

To see more visit La Machine

DESIGNBOOM: LOVE YOUR EARTH

Savio Alphonso designed an entire campaign when developing ideas for the competition, symbols and applications which you can see on designbooms website. He submitted the first image, "embrace solar power" which was the winning symbol for DesignBooms "Love your Earth" competition.
Talkng about his work Savio says "no individual is capable of changing the world alone;however, it is possible for each of us to facilitate change in a small way. as a graphic
designer,I have responded to these issues by creating a series of universal pictographic symbols to raise consciousness about the social and environmental issues facing our global community. amidst the complexity of our accelerated lives, these simplified visual interpretations act as concise abbreviations promoting awareness. the symbols, designed to mimic logomarks for corporations, subvert the persuasive methods used in branding and advertising.they reach out to the viewer in a clear language more conducive to acceptance and believability."
This project was part of a University Exhibition in California where he studies, you can see more of his work on his website.
The pictograms Savio has created have a very simple aesthetic about them which is appealing. I can see these being successful if they were used to create awareness. As a student its good to see what other people out there in the same field are creating and how successful they are being.

BUSINESS TALK

Some creative business cards for designers, more original than what you usually see. Nice to see the attention to detail in something which seems so simple.

ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE?

Google office in Zürich, Switzerland.






Google like to look after their employees!

THE GRUN COLLECTION

The Summer collection from Adidas has hit the shops, the "Grun Collection", (Grun being green in German), is a new line of trainers from Adidas set to increase environmental awareness. They are made from recyclable and natural materials, with the key values attached to the campaign being 'Made From', 'Recycled' and 'Reground'. When I first saw pictures of the new style 'green' trainers I wasn't too sure what I made of how they looked, all be it a brilliant idea, were they "stylish" enough for Adidas followers. However, after seeing some in the shops over the weekend I must admit that the trainers do have a certain vintage appeal about them and it is great to see a big company like Adidas supporting such an important message.

THE COKE SIDE OF LIFE

BRITISH TRANNY

R.E.M GET DIGITAL

R.E.M wanted a video that was "frantic and dense and not overly polished or fretted over" and that is just what animation and motion graphics agency Crush gave them.

The choreography between the imagery and the music are intrinsically linked through the timing of the beats and the flashes from one image to another. The lyrics, appearing as text on screen almost serve as a parody of previous music videos, for example Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" depicts a man in an alley holding up cue cards which could be compared to the amateurish style seen in Crush's video. Visuals included in the video such as computer file icons and desktop windows almost pay homage to D.I.Y home video editing software and the premise that anyone can create a music video.

All these effects, plus its low resolution pixelated quality and black and white imagery serve to create and enhance an unpolished and seemingly amateur aesthetic which not only fulfills the brief criteria but in itself becomes post modern in that its a music video is for one of the worlds biggest bands.

B&Q BRANDED FOR WOMEN

Design Week announced this week that now under new management hardware store B&Q is looking to project its brand at women. Creative Director Lewis Moberly said that "Traditionally it has had a very masculine image, but B&Q is looking to position itself as more of a lifestyle retailer, recognising the importance of female consumers."
B&Q wants to align itself in the market with other homeware stores such as John Lewis and Homebase. Its unsure as of yet who has been commissioned to do the re design but at the moment Im unsure if B&Q can ditch its image and appeal to a wider female audience in the same way that John Lewis does.