Originally posted by Mark Sinclair on the creative review blog, click here to check out some rather psychological info on the actual colour itself and for some comments that other people have made! Mentioned as mimosa (which is just a fancier name for turquoise, but for some reason it sounds nice, just rolls of your tongue, now say it with me mi-mo-sa.) Anyway this colour is also known as 15-5519 from the pantone collection. According to pantone the guru’s of colour this is going to be the colour of 2010 and we’re going to see it everywhere. How true will it be? Only time will tell. Personally i don’t detest the colour but i’m not crazy about it either, meh all i can say is at least it’s got some green in it lol (if you can’t tell i quite like green but not the horrible dark bottle green a nice light limish green…ahhh…so nice. Anyway just thought i would do a wee post about this, will be interesting to see next year what happens. Let me know what you think. Mimosa yay or nay for 2010?

According to Creative Review’s blog, Turquoise is going to be the hot colour of 2010 (wow its weird typing 2.0.1.0…. eek as if it was decade since the millennium! I feel old!). Anyway… whether it be interiors, digital or fashion I think we’ll be seeing a lot of this beautiful shade in the next year. So here’s a pantone reference for you dorks like me out there; 15-5519 TCX

Giles, Kenzo & Giambattista Valli were doing on the S/S 2010 catwalks too. (Images Style.com)

So, what’s the meaning of christmas?

Take a peek, over this cold festive period at this interesting little Twitter Visualizer, I really love it!  Visually creative, and really engaging way to show what people are thinking feeling and what christmas means to them, it’s warm full of spirit and very clever. Enjoy

“Leeds-based agency Propaganda has produced a haunting animated short in tribute to Sophie Lancaster, the young Goth who was kicked and beaten to death by a mob in August 2007 in Bacup, Lancashire…”      (From Creative Review)

Sophie and her boyfriend were attacked, just because of the way they were dressed. This video has been created to raise awareness.

“It is a collaboration between Propaganda, French illustrator and animator Fursy Teyssier, band Portishead (whose track Roads provides a suitably emotive soundtrack) MTV, and make-up company Illamasqua – who fully funded it.”

“The key message of SOPHIE: Stamp Out Prejudice, Intolerance and Hatred, Everywhere – hence the commissioning of this film.”

Sophie Lancaster Foundation

sophielancasterfoundation.com/

I have been influenced by many different designers and just other peoples work through the project, which has then help me develop ideas and concepts.

I was going to develop part of a workshop I did with David, with our shoe box collection, by creating a screen print of one of our line drawings. Then I remembered a piece of work I had seen by Helen Musselwhite, created by paper folding.

I had seen it in Creative Review and had also read a bit about how paper folding has become popular. So instead of creating a screen print for this certain piece, I decided to try a bit of paper folding.

Then funny enough just a day or two later I read some more about paper folding in the current issue of CR and there was some beautiful work!

Created for the front cover of Form magazine.

For fashion brand Hermes.

For Starbucks ad.

The three above are by Yulia Brodskaya, a Russian born illustrator. They are so intricate and beautiful. I love it because it is a bit more unusual and still looks so well finished. I definitely want to create another piece using paper folding, with more of this kind of style, for my project. I have a few more letters free to create designs for.

Below Jeff Nishinaka. Paper sculptor, who has been working with the material for many years. Most of his work he creates is in pristine white.

Beautifulllllllllllllllll

In this interview for Creative Review a while ago, I explain how I created an opening film title sequence to Sweeney Todd.

This was my another collaboration with Tim Burton who I worked with earlier on Batman.

Monday 30th November

Today I completed a screen printing induction at University. I have previously done screen printing before at Ravensbourne but I wanted to refresh my memory, actually learn how to expose an image onto a screen and learn how to use the equipment at LCC.

Our tutor was great and the induction went well, I just hope it goes well when I go to do it by myself in the near future.

There were just a small group of us for the induction and we chose any sort of image to then photocopy and see how to expose it to screen. All of our images went onto one screen, I photocopied the Christmas tree from the latest issue of Creative Review. I liked all of the small detail making up the inside of the tree. Then we all had a go printing the screen with all these images exposed onto.

I completed the induction as I would like to do some screen printing for my A-Z Pdf project. I am using alot of hand crafted techniques and different processes and want to include some outcomes created by screen printing. Now I will be making some final decisions on what I want to create, in what colour and on what material.

To improve and build confidence, it just takes practice, experience and learning the technique.

Neville Brody one of the most eminent Graphic designers of this generation (The Face. Arena Mag etc) is giving a lecture tomorrow night in London and the audience will all be given flash cards to decide if he is a genius or a wanker!

Bloggers over at Thoughtful have decided that perhaps people would like a few more choices and have come up with some mash ups of the flash cards. You can see them here

Judging by the questions that are coming via creative review’s twitter it should be a very interesting lecture and Q&A session. Hopefully a video of it will be posted online in the near future.

In the talk below he discusses the how designers are losing their human connections and how observation and engagement are the best tools a designer can have

I wonder in the age of instant gratification and reality tv influenced culture..how soon before I will be distributing flash cards to my students at the beginning of a lecture?

CREATIVE REVIEW: The leading magazine in Visual Communication

1. Denominación del medio: Creative Review

2. Tipo de medio: Revista digital.

3. URL: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/

La página web elegida para éste análisis es una revista británica llamada Creative Review, una de las revistas digitales más destacadas dentro del campo de la Comunicación Visual. Es una revista que abarca gran cantidad de campos artísticos actuales, que están relacionados directamente con las artes visuales y las nuevas tecnologías utilizadas en estas modernizadas “formas de hacer arte”. La revista digital nos ofrece en su página web el acceso a diferentes apartados: a publicidad, arte, libros (y libros digitalizados), a lo digital, a diseño gráfico, ilustración, magazines y periódicos, vídeos musicales, películas, fotografía y tiene también una sección de tipografía. Está todo bien organizado, de una manera sencilla y limpia. Al mismo tiempo, la página ofrece una clara intención de conectar con los lectores ya que ofrece varios blogs en los que se puede dejar comentarios, y ofrece también subscripciones, fácil contacto, así como la posibilidad de hacerte una cuenta para acceder como usuario registrado a la página, de manera que puedes acceder incluso a más contenidos. Toda la página está divida en estos apartados según el tipo de forma artística, y estos a su vez cuentan con sus divisiones internas (blogs relacionados, feeds y noticias).

* ¿Qué nos ofrece Creative Review? (análisis de productos informativos):

Creative Review nos permite acceder a toda la información del número de la revista que esté editada en ese momento, aunque para acceder a toda la información y secciones a veces es necesario ser un usuario registrado. También nos permite acceder a publicaciones anteriores a la fecha actual, y por tanto, navegar por su “archivo”. Tiene a su vez una sección dedicada a vídeos, por lo que podemos visualizar entrevistas, pequeños documentales y debates que han sido filmados. Nos presenta también el blog principal de la revista, al cual nos podemos subscribir, y el cual contiene links a otras páginas o vídeos musicales en muchos casos. El blog se divide en entradas, cada una relacionada con artículos similares, y te permite ver lo más leído o comentado. Presenta también información acerca de encargos realizados. Te permite también enviar tus creaciones, y estás se presentan en el apartado de Feeds. La página nos ofrece información acerca de la revista, y nos facilita datos en caso de querer contactar con ella. Tiene una sección de publicidad, tanto de la publicidad online como de la publicidad en su versión impresa, y también nos facilita el contacto si estamos interesados en ello. Permite subscripción a la revista impresa, y tiene un apartado para crear una cuenta de usuario online.

Teniendo en cuenta que estamos ante una revista que pretende difundir las artes visuales, es normal que tenga tantos apartados, dedicados a cada una de ellas de forma extensa. Está bien organizada, puesto que es fácil el acceso a cada uno de los apartados, y a pesar de contener bastante contenido visual, que puede llegar a distraer en cierto modo (puesto que quizás centres tu atención en la imagen y no en la información), ofrece bastantes servicios e información. El grado de actualización es correcto ya que al estar enlazados los apartados con otros blogs, el dinamismo es contínuo, y se agradece por otro lado bastante el tener acceso a publicaciones anteriores. La página principal tiene una estructura repetitiva, puesto que al principio de la página nos muestra las secciones, en medio se presentan las secciones con pequeñas definiciones de tales e imágenes, y al final se presentan todos los campos de la revista de forma breve, en forma de lista, lo cual hace que sea bastante fácil entender la información que la página te ofrece puesto que repite todo el rato el mismo esquema, aunque con pequeñas variaciones de estilo.

* ¿A qué servicios podemos acceder? (análisis de servicios y documentación complementaria):

Creative Review nos ofrece un navegador de búsqueda de la propia página. Ofrece también la posibilidad de acceder a vídeos de entrevistas y debates en diferido. Ofrece un sencillo mapa web en la parte superior de la página, con el rápido acceso a las diferentes secciones de tal. Nos permite acceder a diferentes blogs relacionados con los diferentes campos artísticos, y la descarga o acceso a los contenidos de la revista impresa, es decir, a los contenidos de un número concreto. Permite también seleccionar qué tipo de trabajos queremos ver (en la sección de trabajos enviados por otras personas) y subscribirnos a las secciones. Nos ofrece la posibilidad de acceder a otros canales, como Twitter, y seguir la evolución de la revista a través de él.

Realmente, teniendo en cuenta que estamos ante una página que pretende difundir las artes visuales, la página web de Creative Review debería de incluir más serivicios, como puede ser un apartado dedicado a centros de Arte donde se difundan este tipo de arte creativo, con mapas y direcciones para poder llegar a ellos. Podría incluir una selección de idiomas, ya que sólo incluye el inglés, aunque realmente esto en parte tiene sentido puesto que es una revista británica. Aún así, sería interesante que una persona que no domine el inglés también pudiera acceder a ella, entendiendo los contenidos, así que sería agradable que ofreciera su información en francés o castellano también.

* ¿Cuánta publicidad encontramos en Creative Review y de qué tipo? (análisis de contenidos publicitarios):

Estamos ante una revista digital que tiene su propio apartado de Publicidad, dedicado a los anuncios publicados tanto en su versión escrita como en su versión impresa. Con esto podemos pensar que la publicidad en esta revista digital abunda. Pero no es así. Se trata de una publicidad bastante selecta, y en la mayoría de los casos nos encontramos ante anuncios que tienen una relación directa con las artes visuales, y por tanto, con los contenidos ofrecidos en la página. Esto quiere decir, que esta revista está dedicada totalmente a un público interesado en estos aspectos, ya que no busca insertar otro tipo de publicidad puesto que “sabe” que no sería del todo apreciada, o más bien, realmente no interesa. Por ello la introducción de esta publicidad selecta es algo importante en la página ya que está introducida para que nos fijemos en ella, sabiendo que el público se interesará. Se trata de una publicidad no dinámica del todo, pero sí atractiva, que llama la atención por el uso de colores, tipografías y mucho, mucho contenido visual (más imagen que texto, realmente, en la mayoría de los casos). La publicidad está relacionada con lo artístico y las nuevas tecnologías (ordenadores…). Aún así, también presenta publicidad de la propia revista en otros medios, como en Twitter, o incluso podríamos decir que promociona su propia versión impresa ofreciendo descuentos en subscripciones.

Es correcto el uso de la publicidad que se da en esta revista digital, puesto que ofrece información sobre arte y formas artísticas, y sería bastante molesto ver contínuamente anuncios que intenten vender productos, ya que la información de la página se basa en el arte, en su forma y tipos, y en apreciarlo como tal, no tanto venderlo, por lo que el uso de la publicidad en esta página, que podría parecer escaso (si tenemos en cuenta que la publicidad es esencial en la mayoría de las páginas web), es sin embargo bastante adecuado.

* ¿Cómo podemos intervenir en Creative Review? (análisis de la participación):

La intervención en esta página web está al alcance de todos. Nos permite participar en el blog gracias a la publicación de comentarios. También podemos intervenir en la revista, en el apartado de Feeds, donde, una vez nos registremos y seamos usuarios, podemos mandar nuestros trabajos/fotografías/dibujos… que serán publicados en el apartado de Feeds, y que a su vez podrán ser comentados también.

La calidad de la participación es correcta, puesto que al ser una revista que difunde arte y creación, nos permite enviar arte y creaciones. Pero sin embargo, no se caracteriza por su participación exactamente, puesto que en parte podría ser considerada “escasa”. La revista podría tener más interacción respecto a intervención de los usuarios, por ejemplo, se podrían votar las mejores secciones, los mejores blogs o las mejores noticias ofrecidas.

The November issue of Creative Review (big fan) will come in a revolutionary new biodegradable plastic bag.  Sink it in water and it immediately dissolves to be drained down your sink.  Supposedly it is composed of a water soluble polymer and is non-toxic, free of harmful residues.  Designed by Cyberpac, it poses a look into the future of environmentally-friendly packaging.

Well i officially have twitter! Yay, oh so fun! lol. Yes i caved into peer pressure, but the big push was when i wasn’t able to take part in Johanna Basford’s Twitter Picture. Was so bummed by it, found out about the project on the last day of the entries. So now i have twitter, so i won’t ever miss an opportunity like that again. You can follow me on twitter.com/Wini_shek (not that i have anything exciting on it as i only signed up for an account a few days ago!)

Anyway aside from that i first came across Basford with her amazing CV from the Creative Review Blog (click here), and i’ve mentioned her previously in a post regarding CV’S (click here), but you should check out her site here! Her work is really illustrative and intricate. (Apologies for the landslide of links) The most impressive part is that it’s all hand drawn with ink, she has a signature black and white palette. I love how her work crosses different fields from murals to crockery and can be applied to different subject matters. I hope she doesn’t mind but here are a few images of here work that i like.

Creative Review CV

Midnight Butterfly Wall Paper

Black and white tableware

Twitter Picture

]]> http://urbantaster.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/creative-review-goes-green/ Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:30:22 +0000 jo http://urbantaster.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/creative-review-goes-green/

That’s one up for the design magazine!

Newsstand copies of the November issue of CR come in a revolutionary new bag that simply dissolves in hot water. No waste. No landfill.

Anyone buying their copy of CR on the newsstand this month will find that the issue comes in a transparent bag bearing the words ‘This bag dissolves in water’. And it does.

A new packaging material called harmless-dissolve which was created in the UK by Cyberpac.

Embalagem plástica que dissolve na água? Pois é, a revista Creative Review criou essa ação sustentável em que o plástico que envolve a revista dissolve na água. Esse material hidro-degradável não contém resíduos tóxicos, e segundo a CR, você pode até beber a água.

A embalagem foi desenvolvida pela empresa britânica Cyberpac.

Contribuição Brainstorm #9

A edição de novembro da revista Creative Review, conta com um detalhe revolucionário para o meio-ambiente: uma embalagem plástica que dissolve na água.

Você recebe a revista, tira do plástico e faz o lixo desaparecer ralo abaixo. O material hidro-degradável não contém resíduos tóxicos, e segundo a CR, você pode até beber a água (apesar do gosto horrível).

A embalagem foi desenvolvida pela empresa britânica Cyberpac. Saiba mais detalhes no site da CR.

Mais uma vez copiado e colado do Brainstorm9.

O uso da Tecnologia a favor do meio-ambiente é realmente louvável. E foi bastante extenso o seu uso na embalagem que os assinantes da revista americana Creative Review receberam esse mês.

A embalagem que envolve a revista foi produzida com um polímero diferente, que dissolve completamente na água. A embalagem hidro-degradável foi composta apenas com resíduos não-tóxicos. Segundo a própria embalagem, você pode até beber a água.

Mas aí vem a pergunta, e se a carga de revistas molhar? Bom, aí vem a resposta. Ela só se dissolve em água quente, ou seja, don’t worry com a chuva.

A embalagem da edição de novembro da revista Creative Review virá em uma forma ambientalmente responsável. Basta colocar a embalagem num recipiente, encher de água e pronto, ela se decompõe sem deixar resíduos tóxicos.

Claro que a iniciativa não acaba com todo o impacto ambiental necessário para a produção de uma revista de papel, mas, pelo menos, reduz parte dele. Então vamos torcer para que a moda pegue.

Mais detalhes no site da revista.

Via.

Me siga no Twitter: http://twitter.com/felipemendes87

I am firm beleiver in the thinking that the more creative and stimulating your workspace the creative ideas you will produce. Decide for yourself with Creative Reviews creative spaces photos.

…

We’re always hearing about how Twitter and Facebook and the like are being leveraged for marketing purposes, but Google Maps? I hadn’t seen that trusty navigational resource identified it as a promotional tool until today, when I read a story at Creative Review’s website about Sony’s promo for In This Light and On This Evening, the new album from British indie-rock band Editors. The concept for the unusual online promo was to allow fans to visit, via a hacked version of Google Maps, the London streets that inspired the various songs on the record. The promo also includes panoramic photos of the band.

“The images feature the band and a group of their fans performing surreal activities which have cryptic meanings relating to the songs,” Phil Clandillon, creative director at Sony Music, tells Creative Review. “The locations are normally unavailable on the regular Street View. Our modified version of Google Maps allows users to enter into these locations and make the transition from light to dark so fans can explore the band’s atmospheric vision of London at night.”

..

The promo starts here, and you can click around—as you would with the real Google Maps street view—to find your way. In this case, to tracks from the Editors' new CD.

…

The photographer for the project was James Royall, who shot the panoramas using a 180-degree fisheye lens, stitching together the parts using software. (The story doesn’t indicate which program, but I recall that the Israeli photographer Yuval Yairi used Photoshop for his painstakingly constructed panoramas, which consisted of thousands of images that he shot with a Sony DSR-PD150 video camera set to “still” mode. I wrote about his process for the November 2008 issue of PDN, and Yuval has posted the story here.)

…

One of James Royall's stitched-together panoramas.

…

You can read Creative Review’s behind-the-scenes story here. To check out the promo, visit Editors’ website. Oh, yeah, and the album? It’s good. Dark in that arty ’80s way, melodic, not too ironic. It already came out in the U.K. It comes out on this side of the pond on October 27 January 19 on the FADER label.

..

Just coming soon, work for Creative Review (uk)
photography : Czmil Alexandra

The issue of whether or not the building and area are fundamental in what you produce probably depends on the Agency type (Adland Agency or graphic boutique). Ultimately though your mum was right all along:

Me:

I work as an Art Director within the studio of a 50-100 employee integrated agency. It’s an old converted manure-processing plant, and before that a flour mill from the industrial revolution. It never fails to impress clients and new starters, and the creative team sits on the top floor, a vaulted area in the attic overlooking the station and miles around. It’s stunning, but this is not what makes us great: It’s the like-minded staff, single-minded leadership and the ethos that exists within.

Building:

Some of the best agencies in London work in very traditional office buildings. Okay – so they’re decorated with white walls, fascinating objet d’art and vintage furniture – but the buildings themselves are not inherently inspiring.

Area:

Creative folk need to be constantly inspired and influenced. It’s a complex balance, and it’s often very personal. Most find being in cultural city centers such as London’s East Central best, but many also draw it from the free space of an old farm or countryside dwelling. A good agency will keep and attract like-minded people.

The crux:

All the great creative agencies have had, or still have, bullish single-minded leadership. Behind them are an eclectic array of like-minded staff blended with a cocktail of strategic arrogance and a heavy dose of atmospheric fun.

The second crux, is that all humans need social connection, and for creatives, that means creative connections. No matter where you are, you simply must be, and feel, connected. This connection was recently discussed by the RSA.

Summary:

Ultimately it’s what the agency stands for: It’s leaders, it’s first few new employees, and a conviction and single-mindedness to what it stands for.

The building may help impress a client initially, but after the first meeting, it’s what you stand for, the characters the clients meet, and underneath it all – what you can do for their brand and their career. Good agencies know who they are, and won’t falter from this, even in a recession. Building and mediums may change. But providing a single-minded approach remains. The great creative work will not.

It’s an old analogy, but your mum was right: Beauty comes from within (as does agency profit, inspiring creative work, happy clients, and a career filled with happiness and success).

Although I keep 90%+ blog postings on branding & motion graphics for the screen; every once in awhile, an assignment comes along that really does tickle the creative fancy (London rebrand anyone?).

It has been confirmed that Australia is proceeding with a $20M (£10M) rebrand, with Trade Minister Simon Crean adding, “Building Brand Australia has an unashamedly commercial focus which will help promote Australia as a great place to live, a great country in which to do business, and a great place to invest. We’re trying to sell our goods and services better to the world on the basis of better promoting the full breadth of our capacity.”

In an effort to rival the success of brands like ”100% Pure New Zealand” and ”Malaysia Truly Asia”, the country is seeking creative & advertising agencies to come up with a new Australian image.

Although the creative & advertising assignment details are still being worked out, it looks to include a new logo and tagline to boost Australia’s image abroad. In the past, advertising has focused on positioning Australia as a fun and laid-back place to visit, most famously in ads urging viewers to “throw another shrimp on the barbie”. Officials want the new brand to replace the different logos used in tourism and trade – all of which feature kangaroos – with one consistent image. Australia appears to be taking some cues from neighboring New Zealand’s “100% Pure” campaign that generated an almost immediate 10% jump in visitors to the country.

About $3M will be spent on developing the new brand and tagline, with the remainder to be spent over the following three years on advertising abroad. You can expect to see the new brand rolled out domestically February 2010, and internationally in May at the Shanghai World Expo. As a sidenote, the new marketing assignment does not affect Tourism Australia’s current relationship with retained agencies DDB and Carat.

And finally, as for Australian Creative Agency or not…

Crean appeared equivocal over the issue of whether the brief would be open to agencies outside of Australia.

In an interview he said it wouldn’t be mandatory that it was an Australian agency, but that the country should have “confidence in our own strengths”.

See Bloomsbury are putting out John Irving’s new book Last Night in Twisted River in October. The World According to Garp is one of my favourite books. I bought a copy when it first came out in paperback, but lent it to someone … This afternoon I got round to replacing it with the Weidenfeld & Nicolson special limited edition (published July 2009), one of a series of nine classic books published to celebrate the publisher’s 60th anniversary. Can’t wait to read it again …

Afterword: I don’t usually go for ’special limited edition’ anything, but liked the die-cut cover (exposing the endpapers), designed by Karl Grandin. More on the series design in Creative Review.

In response to this week’s Creative Review Question of the Week: “To blog or not to blog: Do you?” I’ll set out where I stand. And try to avoid the cliché’s.

As I’ve mentioned before – I see blogs and twitter merely as an extension to natural conversation – a way of allowing replay and sharing of what somebody has to say  like a Sky+ for real life.

“Twitter is like Sky+ at a bar, quick bits of info and inspiration saved for whenever. Blogs are like Sky+ for a dinner party evening. Debate, conversation and meaningful chatter or a soapbox to voice an opinion there for replaying or sharing.”

In a life packed with little space, these mediums allow us all a space to have these natural interactions, but with the whole world, and for a like-minded group to engage with it.

Last night I attended the RSA’s talk on connected minds – about the need for social connectivity. I met up with two people I’ve interacted with through twitter too – now that’s real life enriched by a digital medium. As John Cacioppo pointed out; social media can enrich social connections for people who already have good social interaction. But for people suffering from loneliness who’ve not broken out of the mental state, it can lead to further loneliness, fooling the brain into believing it’s connected. That’s where we need to watch out, and not let it take over our meaningful real life social life.

Now many people on the comments, such as Ed, struggle with Twitter’s meaning. He’s not alone, I grappled with the concept for a while too but now find it an invaluable tool.

Why?

Well If you begin to seek out and follow people who are tweeting within a topic, hobby or industry you have passion in – and then you comment, share and re-tweet about said topics – then you quickly begin to entwine yourself in a like-minded online community. All of you can then feed off each other and subsequently extend your real life social network.

It’s no different really to how you find friends when you move house for example: You begin conversation with somebody, who introduces you to somebody else who shares your morals, hobbies or outlook, and you begin to gain a wider group of connections. And in the same way as Twitter should work you loose some you no longer trust or find interesting etc and on it goes.

Granted there are millions of people out there who chat banal tosh like Carolina mentioned in the comments section, and some who just use it to fool themselves into believing others are interested in their lives, but as socialising – the people with already socially-connected minds find good people and form meaningful, interesting relationships.

When twitter is used like this, your ‘Real Life’ gets better, more inspired, further enriched, and more socialy connected as a result.

It’s a life tool like the mobile, email, or a pub bar. Not something to replace life with.

Hope this helps those who for whatever reason see it as ‘pointless’.

Creative junkies take note: The U.K. trade Creative Review is adding content from its archives to their website that will be available for free!  According to the post, they’ve just finished adding 2007, a set that includes personal favorites like the rise of “The New Ugly,” and a piece on Mike Mills’ overlooked “Beautiful Losers” doc.

Recommended reading!