A question that often arises in the life of a print designer is ‘what mix makes a good, rich black?’ and almost every printer will have a different answer; with warm blacks, cool blacks and the classic ‘shiner’. More often than not, unless you have the luxury of a wet proof you’ll find the production has created an unexpected colour cast. To complicate matters further, the stock used can affect the black reproduction… Step forth DayFold Print with their Little Black Book. This handy tool includes samples of black mixes on both coated and uncoated stocks. Every page of this swatch has a useful black base, printed with varying mixes cyan, magenta and yellow and has inset areas that display comparisons along with examples of key line and type tolerances. A designer’s dream!
Get in contact with Dayfold Print to find out how to get a free copy or you can find the Little Black Book for purchase on ebay.
Emerging technological breakthroughs were once synonymous with lab coats, thick-rimmed glasses and dodgy haircuts. In more recent times, (much like the motor industry) the technology industry – especially the ‘gadget’ and ‘gaming’ sectors – have been promoted through the use of pretty woman, often scantily clad or in latex, hired to give products some ‘sex appeal’ and entice consumers to get up and personal on the stand. The gaming and gadget industry may still be driven primarily by male consumers, but does this cheap marketing ploy still work, and is it acceptable with the ever rising female user-base and woman working in the tech industry? What are your thoughts on ‘eye-candy’ at expos? Tasteless? Harmless? Unrepresentative? Would you rather someone who had more than a one minute briefing demonstrate their wares? Are you offended as a male, to be targeted as being a hormonal schoolboy – won over by a pretty lady, or as a female, that women are used as the products themselves?
Some women at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas have expressed their frustration at the scantily-clad “booth babes” hired by some companies to promote their stalls.
The BBC’s Matt Danzico investigates whether this practice is an effective marketing strategy, or merely a reflection on gender relations in technology.
I recently came across this. It was conducted as part of a brain study to see how our brains interpreted words when written with numbers. If you can read it, you have a strong mind:
In a campaign designed by the Seoul branch of advertising agency Cheil, Tesco Homeplus supermarket opened a virtual grocery store in a South Korea subway station, allowing users to shop using their smartphones. A large, wall-length billboard was installed in the station, designed to replicate a series of supermarket shelves, displaying images and prices for a range of common products – with each assigned a QR code.
Commuters scan the code of a product they would like to purchase, thereby adding it to their online shopping cart and after the web transaction is complete, the products are delivered to the user’s home later that day.
The strategy makes productive use of commuters’ waiting time, while simultaneously saving shoppers time spent going to the supermarket. (Design Boom).
A clever awareness campaign or just online shopping with pointless posters? What do you think?
I was Christmas shopping in Exeter at the weekend, popped into WH Smith and happened to glance at a magazine cover that caught my eye. I have always admired the Economist for it’s bold, simplistic approach to design. Quite often using great creative copy and exquisite typography. The cover that caught my eye fell into this category. Simple, yet clever – playing on the plight of the Greek economy. Let me know what you think.
We were recently tasked to create a new set of adverts for one of our luxury brand clients, Ettinger (London). The aim was to theme two adverts – for their Bullion and Pinstripe collections, respectively. Ettinger were after a similar style advert to the successful Travel collection advert we created for them previously (see it here).
The Bullion collection brief was geared to highlight the unique features of the product, namely the gold finishing on corners and buttons. In order to instill the essence of ‘pricelessness’ and ultimate value, we constructed a story around the product. Placing the products within a briefcase highlighted that they were precious and the bank vault setting and gold bullion placed either side enhanced this notion. Photography and post production was done in our in-house studio ensuring the result looked authentic and atmospheric.
A fresh new look has been applied to the latest brochure suite for Princess Yachts, one of DNA’s higher profile clients. We are always looking to evolve and improve their brand presence and this year have looked to specialist print finishes and materials as well as looking at sizes, design and production. DNA were responsible for helping to save significant costs on print as well as adding a more pro-active and structured approach to this year’s brochure suite. The process, which starts around 8 months before the main boat show season, includes art direction on photography, print management, a lengthy design and artworking process, image retouching and inputting copy for 7 languages. However, the most important part of the process is the concept stage, which involves talking to Princess Yachts staff, customer feedback and looking at industry trends. Once the concepts are approved, the design process begins. The culmination of all this hard work is the printed article itself. This year the V Class and Flybridge brochures feature an uncoated softback cover with accented foil blocking and clear varnish elements to the type. The guts of all three brochure types were printed on a high gloss stock with a gloss coating to help lift and add vibrancy to all the images. The Generic brochure featured a hardback cover with matt laminate and silver foil and used a new lifestyle image photographed in Thailand earlier in the year.
I was watching TV a few nights ago when I came across a very cute, clever advert that has since been passed around dna. The new Elastoplast advert features a childish animation style, built from plasters, and uses a voiceover of a young boy telling the story of how he hurt his knee.
Elastoplast have advertised in the past, mainly for their innovative new products and to keep a strong market share (in 2006 Elastoplast held 47% market share), but this advert stands out so much due to the simplicity of it, driven by great planning and strong creativity from TBWA. Throughout the first 25 seconds or so, I had no idea on how the TV ad would come together to make sense. I wasn’t even sure if people would realise it was advertising plasters! However, at the adverts conclusion, the boy recalls that the giraffe bumped his knee and he needed a plaster – the tagline is unveiled (‘Every Elastoplast tells a story’). The entire advert and branding beautifully come to life and flood emotion between you and the product (even though effectively Elastoplast is a plaster, and an expensive plaster at that, compared to competitors). Appealing to both parents – relating the story to their own children – and to children, due to the quirky animation and use of a funny story. Furthermore, it is a prime example of how brilliant effective adverts can be created with minimum expense!
Further research shows this advert was a viral in 2008/2009, before being released as a TV ad this year. Elastoplast has created promotional ties with the campaign. Check out their website here. http://www.elastoplast.co.uk/
McDonald’s Canada and Ad agency Cossette in Vancouver have brought to life an interactive ice sculpture on behalf of McDonald’s Restaurants in Alberta, driving consumer interest in the company’s Dollar Drink Days campaign. Hosted in the town of Sylvan Lake, the stunt saw 8,000 pounds of ice moulded into a seven-foot tall installation, containing over 4,000 sparkling coins, shaped into McDonald’s famous Golden Arches™. Watch the interaction as the ice begins the melt… Thanks to adlag
I’ve been meaning to share this for a while, and after meetings some digital projection specialists at Marketing Week Live a few weeks back, I thought it even more relevant.
This is the Hyundai Accent 3D projection mapping video, not only showcasing the vehicle but the creative possibilities of projection mapping and the power viral marketing. It highlights the new slogan “New Thinking. New Possibilities.”
After Skoda’s tv fantastic advert based around projection mapping (below), Hyundai had to go one further and do it for real.
So I’ve been waiting for my mum to take me to see ‘Take That’ since she promised me when I was 12. 15 years later and we’re approaching Wembley Stadium. Joking as we walked up to the massive building pointing to the top, that we’d be sat right up there and guess what? We were 9 rows from the very top. I had to cling onto the hand rails to even get to my seat, what a view though. You can’t help being overwhelmed by the shear scale of the place and the fact that the lucky people down in the standing area look like ants.
I stumbled across this from 07/08; it’s a nice, brand renewal video from Swisscom, one of the leading brands and a market leader in Switzerland (with more than 60% average share of the market). Swisscom is perceived as one of the most trusted brands by Swiss people and this re-brand was the final step to a major restructuring of the whole Swisscom organisation. “Our concept for Swisscom centres on creating just a cross-platform, dynamic identity. This will form a strong and clearly defined single axis around which every element of the Swisscom organisation can then move”.
It’s an interesting way to demonstrate an overview of the brand-refresh process and goes some way to capturing the amount of work involved. The video speaks for itself but you can see further development here: http://www.movingbrands.com/?category_name=swisscom-work#strategy
Using just hands and a phone, this American phone company creates some amazing advertising. We love it because it’s different and eye-catching but still clearly displays the product. If you look closely you can see that human hands are intricately painted and posed to depict iconic images representing countries around the world. Cool huh?
Almost every business today has a logo. Some are merely text-based, a representation of the company name. Others are clever, memorable graphic devices that try to encapsulate something of the nature of the business.
But what makes a good logo? I’m not an expert but I would say that a good recipe should contain a portion of creativity, a dash of simplicity and a helping of adaptability to ensure a long life.
Company logos have performed the same basic function since they first began to be used. They are applied to a company’s products to make them distinct from those produced by a competitor. Nothing much has changed in that respect, as every business needs a neat graphic device to represent and reinforce its brand in front of the buying public.
Not breaking news this, but it did make me chuckle so I thought I’d share it. A few weeks back I was at my first BBQ of the year when a friend pulled out a solid white wedge from his pocket and professed it to be the ‘Anti Smart Phone’. It doesn’t have a camera, it can’t access the internet, it has one ringtone and can’t even send or receive text messages… The no frills design, devised by Diedriekje Bok is certainly self-aware; there is a physical address book on the back where you can ‘write’ your text messages with the included stylus pen, and even play games (naughts and crosses)…
‘John’s Phone‘ - “The World’s Most Simple Phone” is so anti-fashion, it’s actually quite a cool (if expensive £59.99), slightly eccentric novelty. The official website reads: ”John’s Phone is a no-nonsense mobile phone, it doesn’t pretend to be anything more: no bull****, just a phone to call, talk and hang up on.” Well, we had a good laugh at it, what do you think?
On 18th April, Sarah Thomson joined the DNA team. Sarah has a passion for the industry and has been working in design for over 4 years in both the print and digital arena. She left her previous role, managing a small team of designers to join DNA. We see Sarah as a great and welcomed addition to our creative team and I know she is excited to get stuck into more creative projects and work with our prestigious clients.
Fresh and innovative, this is quite special. In creating its own new identity, the MIT Media Lab developed an algorithm that produces a unique logo for every teacher, staff member and student at the school. Three intersecting spotlights can be organized into any of 40,000 shapes with 12 color combinations, and each person can claim and own an individual shape and use it on his or her business card. As Fast Company points out, that’s enough variation to give each new student a fresh logo for the next 25 years. [Ad Freaks].
Great work by The Green Eyl. I love the concept, method, variations and brand application. I also love the customisation and unique brand it creates for each person, it’s a dynamic, evolving brand identity… but honestly, I’m still unsure about those primary colours :/ Watch the 1:11 video and let us know what do you think. See the applications before you make up your mind.
Children’s author Michael Morpurgo has scripted an animated promotional film featuring Tom Daley, Phillips Idowu and Ellie Simmonds. Olympic organisers have stepped up attempts to generate £1bn in merchandising revenues by launching a flagship store at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and unveiling an animated film featuring the 2012 mascots and a string of Team GB athletes. Committee chairman Lord Coe said: “The film and new website games will continue to engage young people digitally, whilst the mascots continue to visit schools and communities across the UK in the run up to the Games.” Article from guardian.co.uk – read more *** See the video here ***
I personally prefer the stylised and polished look of the much shorter ‘The Best of Us (IOC animation)‘ from 2010 – but each to their own. It’s definitely worth a watch.
This is old news, but I recently rediscovered this gem-of-a-website and thought I’d share it on the off-chance it had been missed. This interactive experience (launched last year) has Dita Von Teese invite you on a private (and naughty… got your interest?) tour of the Perrier Mansion – don’t be shy, but this tour might have you blushing. Beautifully shot and seductively paced, this website is a prime example of the strength of online advertising and brand building over conventional routes to market. It paid off – with the site a viral success. Pooling the talents of Ogilvy (France), B-Rell and Nylon Studios, the site comprises everything I love about integrated online media – great interface graphics and animation, seamless interaction, cinematic film-making & soundscape and risqué viral marketing. A dream job, if one for the boys.
