Can graphics make a car go faster? Is gender bending ok for brands? How come a brand of rotting fish entrails from the first century AD still has a promotion running?
Intrigued? So was I when a review copy of ‘the blue lady’s new look and other curiosities’ landed on my desk and promised to answer such questions. The book has been published by London-based packaging agency jkr as an anthology of their blog, the Design Gazette. The book neatly rounds up core blog articles on industry trends and observations, covering topics around marketing and branding as well as issues such as new/developing technologies and sustainability.
We’ve just helped launch a new online legal service that, as far as we know, is unique and the first of its kind in the UK. The site offers a free, independent opinion on whether or not consumers may or may not have an unfair dismissal claim against their employer – answering all enquiries with a ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘maybe’ within 5 minutes, 24-hours-a-day.
The free-to-use employment solicitors website uses a bespoke employment dispute ‘claim evaluator’, which we hard coded in PHP and MySQL, sitting within a search-engine friendly HTML design. Individual information pages were created to provide consumers with information that would cut through the usual legal jargon, while also enabling the Employment Solicitors team to optimise the site for a broad range of relevant search terms.
The website steers visitors through a number of clear, simple, multiple-choice questions to ascertain the details surrounding the case. Those who receive a ‘yes’ or ‘maybe’ get the opportunity to explain their circumstances in more detail and, should they choose to, can opt for those details to be sent to a qualified, pre-vetted employment lawyer in their area, who will contact them within a matter of hours.
Losing your job has got to be one of the most stressful things that can happen to someone, so we hope you never need to look at this site again!
Being a really big music fan, I wanted to let the world know how amazing the new album is from Adele, titled ’21′. If any of you like singer songwriters, then you’ll love this masterpiece. How often do you purchase an album to find one or more songs not up to par with the rest of the album – not in this case. Every track could become a single. I downloaded ‘Adele 21′ from iTunes a couple of weeks ago and have played it almost not stop since and I’m still not bored with it. It has also prompted me to purchase the Adele 19 album too. This is equally as good. For an artist to create such a great album at just 21 I can’t wait to see what she produces in the future. Adele, you’re a legend!
Here’s a taster of one of my favourite songs from the album titled ‘Take it All’
At DNA we regularly discuss TV adverts we have seen and critique them. One that I have seen recently that caught my attention, not so much for the visual aspect of the advert, but for the script writing was the California – Misconception TV advert. It’s fantastic. It plays on all the ‘stereotypes’ that we all associate with California, but conveys it as a ‘misconception’, when in fact we all know that these things are true, or believe them to be true. It’s very tongue in cheek, but it is delivered in a way that conjures up a sense of fun, excitement and also shows off what is wonderful about California. The only criticism (if there is one), is that the advert is great in itself and would have worked just as well without the need to use so many celebrities. Let me know what you think, or send us links to any adverts that you have been impressed with.
This is the question posed by VW in one of the best and most creative viral campaigns I’ve seen in a while. See more videos from the campain at thefunfactory.com
The site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.
Some of you may remember me posting a link to a YouTube video that I produced from my 9 day Safari holiday in Tanzania, back in September 2010. The video was posted in October 2010 and has now achieved over 1,000 unique hits on YouTube. Having not done anything like this before for my own personal enjoyment, I am amazed that so many people have viewed it. For those of you that did not get chance to view the video last time round, here it is again.
Several members of DNA recently spent two days in London at the Tullett Prebon London International Boat Show (LIBS). It was a rewarding visit, with meetings with several of our clients. There were numerous boats on display that we would love to own. The ultimate boat on display was the 32M, the new flagship product from our long standing client Princess Yachts. As the name suggests, it is 32 meters of pure luxury and opulence. We were fortunate enough to board the vessel on two separate occasions and were blown away each time. This boat has had a lot of PR, due to it being both the largest boat currently built by Princess Yachts and it is also the largest vessel to fit inside the hall at Excel. The boat has been featured by numerous media companies, including the BBC and Boat International.
This shot shows Katie, Matt, myself (Paul) and Tim from DNA on board the flybridge area of the new Princess 32M.
DNA has just launched a new website for start-up company Hire Winnebago. Hire Winnebago, as the name suggests, hires out huge American motor homes for motor sport events, festivals, film and TV use or simply a weekend away. The largest of these motor homes – at almost 40ft in length – sleeps up to 6, is packed full of kit and has a stunningly sumptuous interior. The guys at Hire Winnebago will deliver it to you, stock your fridge, cover your insurance and then clean up once you’re done! So if you’re in the market for a Winnebago get over to www.hire-winnebago.co.uk and take a look at the new site.
DNA chose the popular blog platform ‘WordPress’ to build the Hire Winnebago site. WordPress is a hugely flexible tool which not only includes an easy to use content management system, but also allows users to easily add functionality later via a versatile ‘widget’ system. The main benefits of using the WordPress system is that it gives the client huge flexibility to manage their own site and is found in the search engines quickly and easily with minimal effort while keeping the initial build costs to a minimum.
If you would like to know more about how DNA can help you to get your website started using ‘WordPress’ please contact our customer services team on 01803 616100 or, if you are looking to hire the Rolls Royce of motorhomes for a weekend, visit our friends at www.hire-winnebago.co.uk!
On a recent trip to London to see several of our clients, Katie came a cropper while on the return journey. We have all heard the ‘mind the gap’ announcements at nearly every train station – well, Katie certainly did mind the gap while climbing on board the 4.06 train from Paddington, unfortunately one of her shoes didn’t! Can you believe it. Poor Katie had to travel back to Newton Abbot wearing just one shoe after it fell off her foot while climbing on board the train and fell between the train and the platform. Luckily, Dave her boyfriend met her at the station to carry her home.
After the recent completion of the Rowcroft Sleep Walk website and the application of the cosy, pajama fabric textures throughout the supporting imagery, we’ve spotted similar styles trending all over the shop. With a nod to the fantastic Pixels short, here’s our favorite example, both within the charming game itself and in the accompanying trailer for Kirby’s Epic Yarn…
Another upcoming fabric styled example is Little Big Planet 2. The Comfort ads are well worth a mention too!
While sat in the customer suite at Ocean BMW, Paignton, I was perusing the latest BMW magazine and came across an interesting article on the BMW Art Car. Periodically, BMW commission someone to create a work of art on one of their iconic vehicles. The very first was created by Roy Lichtenstein back in 1977. The latest incarnation of the BMW Art Car was created by Jeff Koons, who is renowned for creating iconic structures and images. The vehicle used was a BMW M3 GT2 and was raced at the Le Mans 24 hour race back in June 2010. As you will see from the images and video below, Jeff has worked his magic and yet again created a very strong statement. The artwork is said to symbolise bursting energy, motion and power and in his own words “These race cars are like life, they are powerful and there is a lot of energy, you can participate with it, add to it and let yourself transcend with its energy. There is a lot of power under that hood and I want to let my ideas transcend with the car – it’s really to connect with that power.” Timing was a big issue, as there was only a two month window between the first design sketches and the Paris world premiere. This is why digital print on car wrapping vinyl was used covered by a double clear-coating to bring out the colour. To apply hundreds of dynamic lines of Koons’ design onto the car, CAD designs were translated from 3D into 2D for the printing process and then painstakingly applied to the entire car as well as onto individual spare parts. Not sure I will be doing the same to my BMW any time soon though.
As it is the festive season, I thought it timely to post an article relating to real ale, as I’m sure many bottles will be consumed (especially in my household). The brewer Shepherd Neame has been running the ‘Bottle of Britain’ advertising campaign for around 12 years now. On occasion they have been taken to task by the ASA for pushing the boundaries of good taste and humour, but fortunately they have always been cleared. A number of the adverts poke fun at the Germans in particular, but are meant as light- hearted fun and are not meant to cause offense. They try to evoke the British World War II spirit, similar to that used in the TV programmes ‘Allo Allo’ and ‘Dad’s Army’ and I feel that they have captured the essence really well. The use of clever copywriting is what makes the adverts work so well. The website is great too – take a look. Let me know what you think.
South Devon’s Rowcroft Hospice is an independent local charity, heavily reliant on the funds raised by the community it has served since 1982. As a company we have been supporting Rowcroft through their charitable events for many years so it was a great honour and a privilege to be selected to create the new campaign website and associated printed media for their latest fundraising venture, The Sleep Walk.
The Sleep Walk is a sponsored night walk open to all ladies aged 12 and over and will take place on the 9th of July 2011. There are limited places, so anyone interested in participating should sign-up online now.
Creatively this was an exciting project, as although the branding had already been created around their mascot ‘Barbara the sheep‘, Rowcroft required a look and feel, that was fun and fresh and unique to this event. We were asked to move away from dark skies and glitzy sparkling stars, as this had been done before, so we came up with a theme based around pink stripey pyjamas, pillows and patchwork quilts.
I recently came across these images for a company called ‘Jobsintown.de‘ while doing some research and thought that they showed some great creative thinking. The set of adverts were created by advertising agency, Scholz & Friends, Berlin, Germany. The creative directors Matthias Spaetgens and Jan Leube decided to take their advertising outdoor and place the adverts in locations that were likely to provoke a response and directly target their core audience. A great idea, well executed. Let me know what you think of them.
Article posted by: Paul Mabin – Managing Director.
I was sent this via email the other day and although it’s not Design related, I thought it was worth sharing with the rest of the world.
You couldn’t make this up!
BEST LAWYER/INSURANCE STORY OF THE YEAR, DECADE, AND POSSIBLY THE CENTURY.
This took place in Charlotte North Carolina. A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against, among other things, fire.
Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company…
Back in April we were awarded the privilege of creating and executing the Somerset County Council adoption campaign. Off the back of the campaign’s success we were asked to repeat the process for the fostering team too. The fostering in Somerset website went live on Friday with printed collateral to back it up. Take a look at the site at www.fosteringinsomerset.org.uk, we really enjoyed the project and are looking forward to seeing a large uptake in the number of foster carers for children in Somerset very soon.
For the last month, a brave few of the DNA men have been undertaking the growing of a tashe for ‘Movember’ – in aid of The Prostate Cancer Charity. We’re now on the home straight (or curly) on the final day of Movember 2010. It’s nearly time for us to sit back, relax and ease ourselves back into life with a shiny face. We’ve been donating our faces to a good cause – please show your support in these last hours and donate just a little something.
The Prostate Cancer Charity will use the money raised by Movember for the development of programs related to awareness, public education, advocacy, support of those affected, and research into the prevention, detection, treatment and cure of prostate cancer.
DNA have successfully completed a project for one of the UK’s leading book publishers, Hodder & Stoughton. Based in London, the publishers awarded the prestigious contract to DNA, briefing them to design and build an updatable website, with features, blogs and news about authors and their forthcoming books for their new imprint ‘Two Roads’, which publishes themed titles focused on animals, emotion and life-stage decisions.
Still a relative newbie to DNA, Digital Project Manager Mathew Riley found winning the major contract when in competition with some of the best London agencies is very satisfying – “The most rewarding part of the project was delivering a site that matches the tone and functionality requested by the client”.
The Two Roads imprint is run by Lisa Highton, who edited the mega successful Marley and Me film tie in, among other titles. Lisa commented: “DNA was incredibly helpful and patient setting up the Two Roads site. We really appreciated the problem solving and after sales service but first and foremost a great site.”
I saw these ads for Duracell Ultra a while back and just thought the art direction was fantastic – I’m sure you’ve all seen them by now but hey-ho. They were created by advertising agency: Ogilvy, Paris, France and support the television ad (directed by Pleix and Digital District), below. Check out a brief Q&A about the making of the ad here.
Things are changing here at DNA. We’ve recently taken on some great new hires which have helped to restructure and refocus our business, so we’ve given ourselves a makeover with a refreshed brand identity! It was an exciting process (we took a few snaps along the way, see below), and we’re really pleased with the outcome. Our new business cards arrived today which was very exciting, although we love them so much it’s going to be hard to hand them over! Watch this space for our shiny new website, coming soon…
DNA chose the popular blog platform ‘WordPress’ to build the Hire Winnebago site. WordPress is a hugely flexible tool which not only includes an easy to use content management system, but also allows users to easily add functionality later via a versatile ‘widget’ system. The main benefits of using the WordPress system is that it gives the client huge flexibility to manage their own site and is found in the search engines quickly and easily with minimal effort while keeping the initial build costs to a minimum.
