faire do's

fimo freddys

2012-03-04T03:40:00.000-08:00

as we all know, a key member of adam & eve is freddy the french bulldog. i've begun a production line of fimo freddy key rings which i'm hoping to send with my cv once i have enough.

fimo freddy

freddy

sunday summary, on a tuesday

2012-02-28T13:34:00.001-08:00

in my defence i have no defence; i need to get back on top of it. one month in, we were asked to make a 1 minute video about our experience on the course so far. i don't really think in film but taught myself imovie (yes yes i know) and made this:

coppola eat your heart out.

this week george boyter, creative director extraordinaire, set a two day strategy project. our task was to help farmers by-pass the big supermarkets and sell their fresh-to-market produce from the local farms. we teamed up into pairs and attempted to decipher a customer profile of the kinds of people who would buy vegetables and meat from this fictitious company. after some eager brainstorming we went to george for some advice, only to be knocked back to the beginning as he coaxed the insight out of us with some well worded questions. we spent the evening getting as far as the proposition only to see george again the next day and be informed that we'd gone off on the wrong route. with two hours to spare before the final presentation we managed to pull it all together having started over for a third and final time.

stephanie and i are currently working on making it shiny and presentable and i'll upload it once it's done. the workshop taught us to get used to turning ideas around quickly, it also taught us not to stereotype and make assumptions when determining the target market - the importance of going out and getting amongst people is invaluable. it was really helpful to have a clear strategy outline to build around.

on friday i polished my shoes and took a few of my classmates with me to the plush offices of dlkw lowe in kensington to meet zoe verrion. we hoped to gain a different perspective on the current state of the industry and to learn more about the role of an account director. zoe spoke to us about the tight timing of pitches and broke down the roles of planners, the accounts department and the creatives for us. she spoke to us about dlkw lowe's current clients and the rewarding challenge of working for a company like domestos in india; targeting women about the very personal topic of toilet hygiene and teaching them the importance of basic sanitation. zoe enjoys being an account director because she's involved right from the beginning of the process to the end. she explained how all the agencies are currently racing to get a clear picture of how social media can actually be profitable for a brand. zoe was very generous with her time, engaging and answered all of our questions.

the course so far is very much to do with what you make of it but i feel that i have a weekly confirmation that i'm doing the right thing.

an agency visit, a workshop and a book walk into a blog

2012-02-20T09:05:00.000-08:00

last week started really well with a trip to adam & eve to meetjames read, one of their young planners. i was particularly interested infinding out about how to create a strategy for a brand; how you come up with anend line from a vague brief. james talked to us about the hunches that lead tohis propositions and how it’s important that he backs up his research withsocial knowledge. he explained about establishing a brand model, summing upexactly what the brand is about, researching the brand’s competitors and abouttapping into a cultural movement, as ben & jerry did with their back to theroots culture. james linked us up with this simon selik ted talk and advised usto check out the royal mail media centre to access the mintel reports. i really enjoyed meeting james and i'm very keen to get a placement at adam &eve.

later in the week rick keisewetter ran a two day comedy workshop forus where we made with the funnies. rick, who’s a copywriter and comedian,explained to us that it’s hard being chinese, because he’s japanese... welearnt about joke structure; the set up and punch of a story but the main thingthat we learnt, which applies to both comedy and advertising is the importanceof editing. less is more. through doing a lot of writing and reading aloud wediscovered how you can make a phrase much punchier and funnier by cutting it,often almost in half, to fantastic effect.

a little snippet from my set:

“This was followed by Dad giving me ‘the talk’ over dinner, usingMonopoly he explained about passing go and not picking up my £200 as Mumcringed into her Shepherd’s Pie.”

rick was really engaging and patient. it was a helpful way oflearning the importance of concise communication as well as having a laugh andgetting to know my classmates better.

i also finished reading dave trott’s ‘creative mischief’ last week.i really enjoyed it, it was accessible, informative and i recommend it toanyone and everyone (for what my review’s worth). some of the main points thati’ve taken from it are:

• purchase decisions are made on desire and permission.

• don’t be right, be interesting.

• people buy a product for what it does but they buy a brand for whatit says.

• the difference between scepticism and cynicism (and all this time ithought i was a cynic).

• “like” is a feeling, not a thought.

• there is a need for emotion and reason within advertising; no grit,no pearl!

• the brief should be the floor, not the ceiling.

read it.

carpe that goddam diem!

2012-02-18T03:01:00.000-08:00

one month of the course already gone. it's a reminder of how quickly the year is going to piss off into the past.

we recently had an induction to use letterpress where rupert regaled us with stories about scalping, nose-breaking and historical reenactments. i hadn't done much letterpress since my last induction in camberwell as it allows me to get tangled up in perfectionism and ends up being a time suck. not so my friend rosie, who is the don of typeset, the master of bookbinding and who has recently gone to norway to do an artist's residency. clever sausage. you can see her blog here and her norway flickr here.

we are not all so gifted so i got on with picking "an advertising related word" and setting it.

on a serious note

2012-02-15T16:55:00.000-08:00

last week we went to anomaly in london where we were lucky enough to have a talk by the herdmeister himself mark earls who talked to us about the difference between independent and social trends. mark's philosophy is that we, as humans, are herd animals who act as a result of other people's behaviour, gaining useful knowledge by being social and relying on other people. never before has this behaviour been more easy to prove than with google analytics where the short and long tail distributions of topics can clearly be seen. the importance of long tail distribution within a brand, especially of the bell curve that comes after the initial peak is the most desirable objective when advertising as it spreads to a much wider audience in the long run and builds through word of mouth.

mark's presentation was really clear and visually explained the crux of what the social element brings to the communication industries. you can see mark giving a similar talk at the RSA here.

after mark's talk, geoff gray, one of the partners at anomaly, gave a presentation about anomaly's principles and the current state of advertising. he highlighted the fact that we must think of media as part of the ideas and not simply as an afterthought. this showed in the campaigns they've run for brands such as diesel, converse and umbro.

it was really impressive to see how, often with very low budgets, how being culturally connected and strategically creative can create hugely successful campaigns, simply by leaning into things that people already care about. this interest and understanding of people is what has drawn me to planning in the first place and it's lead me to believe that the main job of a planner is making sure that it's going to work.

i'd like to alain his de botton...

2012-02-06T12:22:00.000-08:00

alain de botton is my favourite philosopher, he is not from ancient greece, has no defining facial hair, nor is he a smug arse. ever since i read the consolations of philosophy i have loved him. "his stepmother janet is a competition bridge player." what a beautiful fact. he is of course married but let's not hold that against him, there have got to be plenty more interesting, passionate, articulate men out there right? RIGHT?!...

week 3 agency visits

2012-02-05T15:31:00.000-08:00

a picture that serves no purpose
a blog post without an image is like roast chicken without gravy;
a bit dry.

this week we got our grubby student feet into some agencies in order to find out more about how they work, the role of planners and the future of advertising. a few of my classmates and i were lucky enough to secure meetings with mr. adland suit himself; dan shute at creature of london, as well as doug baker from agency republic who wip'd us into shape over a coffee in battersea and last but not least dan hill from akqa who told us about being a detective and a midwife. each one was incredibly generous with their time and here's what i learnt:

dan s says:

agencies do their best work when they're pitching for projects - that's when you get to properly unleash your creativity.
rather than dividing into strict roles, creature is generally split by the people who make up the ideas and the people who make them happen.
advertising is about packaging ideas and making them buyable.
creature consider themselves a creative company rather than an ad agency.

creature place great importance on collaboration. i believe that their warhol's factory approach to creative projects is the future of great ideas, honing a select group of different people's skills for projects from exhibitions to theatre productions via insightful advertising.

doug says:

planners are curious and interested in people and culture with a constant desire to keep learning.
the reason agency republic got started was in order to put digital back into the industry.
with large agencies such as dare and beattie mcguinness bungay collaborating, remaining agencies will become more specialist.

doug was once asked for "proven innovation" by a client (clients, tsk)! even as a digital agency, interest in things and people is key. this was a comfort to me as before speaking to doug, the word 'digital' had a daunting undertone as i believed i was too analog to come up with digital strategies.

dan h says:

brilliant agencies existed before planners; you need planning, not planners.
avoid vanilla and simply reflecting the research, you need an imagination.
get comfortable with the fact that you're not an expert, something is bound to happen to you that you haven't seen before.
you need to know where you are, where you want to get to, how you're going to get there and whether you're there yet.

when asked to roughly divide up his day dan explained that the majority of it was spent talking to the creatives with the rest of it in meetings, taking briefs and questioning the clients. the contact you get with the client as a planner as opposed to a creative is something that appeals to me; one of the perks being that you get to see lots of different industries.

general truths:

there was a lot of mention of 't-shaped people', which essentially means you have the core pillar of what you need in order to be a good planner/account manager/creative but you then have branches of other skills and interests outside of your specialism too.
the importance of lateral thinking in order to be a planner as well as people skills.
always challenge the brief - find what's at the very heart of it. even if it seems off brief but helps solve the problem, do it.
insights - the understanding that informs your strategy, not just common sense but a useful handle on the message you want the consumer to see.

the excuse of being a student again has given me the confidence to go and knock on these doors. getting to speak to people who are so passionate about what they do has been a fantastic boost (as if one were needed) and makes me all the more sure that i'm heading along the right path to a future career in advertising.

Mr. Stabby

2012-01-31T13:04:00.000-08:00

"advertisingis about telling stories. the ability to see potential fromseemingly nothing, and then develop it into a great idea, is a key attributefor anyone wanting to work in advertising."

as part of our application process we were given this photo as a starting point and asked to tell a story in 500 words. here is mine:

It was 6.37 on a Sunday morning and Mr Stabby’s eye twitchedwith every screech of Mrs Higgins’ cat.

“It shall die.” He hissed, rising from his bed. Mr Stabbyhad had enough, every morning that wretched cat was yowling from the rooftop ofthe garages at the bottom of the garden; the time had come to do somethingabout it.

Three days had gone by with no sign of Schubert. Mrs Higginsbelieved she could still hear his shrill yells in the early hours of themorning but she put it down to her tinnitus; this wouldn’t be the first timethat her ears had deceived her. Her poor little Schubert, what if that awkwardneighbour of hers had done something to him? He had clearly taken a dislikingto Schubert and had been round several times knocking on her door. She had keptthe door on the chain and had never let him in as he had a slightly derangedlook about him. She had heard them talking about ‘Mr Stabby’ at thegreengrocers.

Mrs Higgins steadily wheeled her trolley along the blusterysea front, pausing at regular intervals to carefully put up a poster, whichread “MISSING, My beloved cat Schubert.” along with a description of Schubert,a copy of the photo of him that she kept on the mantelpiece and her contactdetails. Mrs Higgins had retired to Eastbourne over ten years ago but had keptherself to herself preferring the company of the crackle of Radio 4 to that ofthe outside world. Once the posters were in place she walked the twenty-minutejourney back to her house, she was fit for a woman of her age.

Mr Stabby’s real name was Duncan. He was hurt by thenickname that the kids on the pier had given him. His astigmatism had left himwith an unfortunate twitch and a slightly deranged look, making friends had notbeen easy in a new town. Having ruled out the option of obtaining a pellet gun,Mr Stabby went round to Mrs Higgins’ to once again try and reason with her andask her to ensure that her cat was shut indoors for the night. For the firsttime Mrs Higgins invited him inside.

After pouring a cup of Earl Grey into a dainty china cup,Mrs Higgins shuffled over to the mantelpiece, the picture of Schubert smiled upat her. A tear pushed from her eye as she cast her malevolent gaze around themyriad of trinkets. Her tiny raw hands settled on a heavy lead cast of a cat.

“Lovely tea Mrs Higgins, I do hope we can come to someagreement.” Her hands ravaged by time, twisted around the ornament’s neck asthough she was wringing that of a chicken.

“I’m sure we can.”

Mrs Higgins steadily wheeled her trolley along the blusterysea front, pausing at regular intervals to discreetly rip down the posters,which read “MISSING, local man by the name of Duncan Osborne.”

what i did learn

2012-01-22T16:05:00.000-08:00

i've come to the end of my first week on MA advertising (creative planning) at bucks new university, here are my goals for this year:

find a mentor within the industry
have great ideas and communicate them in a dynamic book
to strengthen my online presence
not to squander being a student - i don't just mean with discounts and lack of council tax
to challenge the briefs that we are set
make the most of my time off

i'm really looking forward to the workshops that will be running, especially the stand-up comedy - it's always something i've wanted to have a go at. this whole week; from meeting everyone on the first day, to going to a lecture given by tom murphy from BBH, to being suffocated by lynx boy spray at the SU bar, it's all got me really motivated about what lies ahead this year. i can't wait to get into agencies and to start producing work that's innovative and exciting, that i can be proud of.

bruce's top tips:

go into the industry through the planning route
experiment, take risks and don't be afraid to make mistakes
seek feedback: you're entitled to ask for thorough, honest feedback
become informed about lots of things, not just advertising
have something to say
never stop producing
don't be boring and don't get too comfortable
become invaluable
challenge everything, don't take it all at face value
get discussions going
identify what you do best and don't compromise on it
don't hold back on pushing a concept, don't follow convention
if you're on a roll, keep going

here is what i have learnt and experienced so far:

many people have never seen falling snow - a small-worldy observation, nonetheless true.
roland from the library is a delight - in fact everyone i've met at bucks has been friendly and helpful. ♫ maybe it's because i'm a londoner ♪, maybe i spent too long in paris, maybe it's in such stark contrast to my previous uni experience or maybe i'm just a die-hard cynic, whatever it is it came as quite a shock.
the backwards commute is not for me, next week i shall be decamping to the sunny heights of high wycombe.
there are 24 hours in a day. this first week has been painful but hopefully my body clock will have set itself to 'productive' before too long. thank you caffeine.
i'm going to have to up my game in terms of asking people for what i want.
i've picked the right course.

top knot knit

2011-12-05T11:21:00.001-08:00

as part of an interview i was recently asked the following question: 'have you ever identified a gap in the market? if so, what is it and how would you fill it?' i did not say "no, the market is an impenetrable, watertight and succinct entity, which needs no future modifications to its already sleek and perfect structure" this was, after all, a question posed by the head of an advertising course. however, had i been the budding entrepreneur i wouldn't be applying to do a masters, i'd be off making my millions so i told them about the top knot knit.

it occurred to me recently with the colder weather setting in and the current style for girls to gather their hair into a bun on the top of their heads that the two do not go well together. it’s hard to find a hat to fit over the varying sizes of buns and is not a strong look even if you do. my solution is the top knot knit; a bobble hat with an adjustable hole where the bobble should be, therefore turning the top knot into the bobble.

this is of course a cunning bit of photoshoppery but i will happily make a real one if anyone's interested...

anyway, the happy ending is that i've been offered a place on the masters; clearly my other answers weren't so shit.

shoes news

2011-11-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

look at how much fun these christian louboutin alex pumps (pumps?) are! they remind me of these westwood (vivienne, not tim) toe shoes, which are miles too wide for my carrot feet. that didn't stop me from shoe swapping my aldo sale wedges with a very patient lady at a party the other week. one day i will buy fun extravagant shoes, in the meantime you can find me rummaging in the pile at primark and filling them out with innersoles, it's how cinderella rolled, don't judge.

paris me manque

2011-10-28T17:08:00.000-07:00

not a frech artist but seu jorge's plinkyplinky strum fun (technical music term) reminds me of the paris good times. i'm a die hard wes anderson fan and seu came to my attention with his brazilian david bowie covers in the life aquatic.
"oh that's how he got willem dafoe and bill murray in his low-budget music video" i hear you cry.

may the force be with you, and you and you and ba ba ba!

2011-10-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

for anyone who was in any doubt, i am an out and out geek. i'm in a star wars state of mind this week. kicking things off with my own work; a knitted hat set for mum, dad and baby.

princess leia wig

r2d2 beanie

felted baby yoda hat

and what's a star wars family without an at-at dog?

bones mello, the at-at dog

and to finish things off in a tidy orderly fashion, i came across this beautifully designed star wars font from the curious brain.

your eyes lie

2011-10-13T02:49:00.000-07:00

Flying Paper Pendant

Flamethrower Ring

Beehive Ring

in the frenchman's case it was his mouth that lied, he also scratched the back of his head at the same time, it's a wonder he played poker so well. i came across this wonderfully original jewellery by your eyes lie. these are my personal highlights. the lighter ring is something i've never seen before, i think it's a really clever idea. imagine if it worked, that would save the handbag rummage/pocket pat-down, it would also burn your finger. oh well, no pain no gain.

creative cleverness

2011-10-12T04:48:00.000-07:00

this was found at the bottom of my inspiration folder. not sure where it came from so haven't been able to credit it but if you're reading this, which, let's be fair, is unlikely; well done, good job, back pat.

excitable fish

2011-10-10T03:22:00.000-07:00

a little film of some sucky fish that i met at the london zoo aquarium. script welcome.

sophistipuss

2011-10-07T10:47:00.000-07:00

this kitty remains terribly austere in his cat beret. to make your very own cat beret you can find the pattern here.

home is where the heart is

2011-10-07T05:07:00.000-07:00

my friends are on the move. i designed and made these cut stitched map cards to welcome them to their new homes.

soft-wear crown

2011-10-07T03:43:00.000-07:00

for the software king. i made this for my friend simon who was a massive help with getting the insides of my computer all shiny and new.

"i ain't no CGI teddy yo!"

2011-09-14T06:06:00.000-07:00

the new weetabix ad:

and as importantly, the making of:

2 hamsters a £

2011-09-10T11:26:00.000-07:00

so i was thinking; if twenty pound notes looked more like this then the bus lady who "didn't have change for a fiver" and wouldn't take me the three stops i needed to go in order to top up my oyster card needn't have been such a douche. what ever happened to those little books of tokens for the bus anyway? were they just a pre-oyster thing? oh why can't we all just go back to trading in livestock?

"a single to tottenham court road please."
"that'll be a guinea-pig please."
"here's a rabbit."
"and here's your hamster change, good day."

white nights

2011-09-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

because some peoples' dreams are more beautiful than others. this is oh land's white nights made by canada and found via yourmusictoday (credit where credit's due). i think the singer looks like january jones and vanessa paradis' love child i.e. v.perdy. let it also be known that i'm a sucker for a nordic accent. nuffaher, artistically i particularly like the lady leg animals. right, inspired, going to put on something floaty and dance like kate bush on hampstead heath. enjoy!

locust love

2011-09-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

this little guy was in my dream last night. we fell a little bit in love, his leg got better but i wouldn't let him back through the window. the cast represents cocaine.

self love

2011-08-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

this one goes out to eadaoin via ifeelunmotivated.com

mapp app

2011-08-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

"mummy mummy, why doesn't your iPhone look as special as the one in the picture?"
"hush your noise small child, that clearly has nothing to do with the content of the idea!"

i sometimes find myself going on a little wander or getting a bit lost on my bike. i eventually find myself back on track thanks to my astounding sense of direction (which went for a cup of tea and a biscuit when i needed it in the first place) but i always think it would be interesting to look back over where i took myself. this led me to an idea for an app.

i think the idea of using the constraints of a map to draw with your movement would make for a massive etch a sketch. what fun! sharing of the shapes you create and routes you take would of course be an important part of the enjoyment of the app. the bigger the journey the more intricate and smooth a shape you would create. it could be used walking, running, in the car, on a bus/bike/train, anywhere you can get GPS signal. you could of course just run around in a massive field for something a little more avant garde. let me know what you think/if it already exists...

translatee

2011-08-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

my idea for an LED display t-shirt with voice recognition and a translate function. will someone with the technical know how mock one up for me? ta

an hour in the life of me

2011-08-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

i have recently been cooking in a kitchen that is not my own. this of course takes much more brain power than cooking in your own kitchen where it's badaboombadabing, finished! this is not a metaphor. it can often involve minor compromises - they have a plastic spatula, you're used to using a wooden one - that can throw you BUT CONCENTRATE!

hypothetical situation: "i have laid out my ingredients, now where can i find a potato peeler?"

exhibit A

you know it's in there but you won't be able to start the rudimentary preparations for your dinner until you have sorted through the egg slicer, coffee frother, pineapple ringer, potato scrubbing brush, potato scrubbing gloves and not one but two melon ballers of equal size. why? who's that ambidextrous or in that much of a rush that melon-balling becomes a two-man job?

it'd be ocd and quite rude to tidy up a mess that is not your own in a house that is not your own.

"there. isn't that better?! see how i have conveniently arranged and categorized each item using the dewey system. i've even taken the effort of capturing this beautiful moment on film and uploading it to thingsorganizedneatly to share it with the world. aren't you glad you invited me to house-sit?"

this is not a true story but the fact it could be and the time it's taken to think and write about it has led me to evaluate the priorities of my saturday night, blog and life. yay (pity me)!

nail art ad

2011-07-31T16:15:00.000-07:00

combining three of my passions; advertising, stop frame animation and nail art. you heard me, nail art.

some em nail art for nay saying non-believers:

must dash you know

2011-07-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

this new heineken ad has reminded me of how much time i have for handlebar mustaches or les moustaches, which makes them sound sexier.

it got me thinking about the mustache parties we had at uni and of a couple of pieces of tash related design that make me smile:

'mustachio' by sneaky raccoon

'mustachio nut' by lindsey clark-ryan

wednesday driver

2011-07-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

a great idea, beautifully made. i drove to a cemetery near oxford today and this captures the essence even without the colour (or the mercedes convertible).

thank moo

2011-07-20T12:07:00.000-07:00

yesterday i received my 50 printed business cards from moo.com who were offering a great promotion where all you pay is the £2.50 postage. bargain. of course they wanted to write their name on them as well as mine.

i currently have a lot of time on my hands for mundane tasks and procrastinating so when my cards arrived i took straight to my cutting mat with my straight edge and scalpel and took the thin band off the bottom of each card (having forseen their game and planned my layout accordingly). i then made a collage with these strips in the shape of their logo, wrote the note "thank moo but i didn't need these bits, yours et cetera, em" and sent it back to them, with a thinner than your average business card of course.

unfortunately the scan looks better than the finished item as the little neil buchanan that lives on my right-hand shoulder told me to douse it in pva glue to cover up the little gluey bits. bugger.

dog person

2011-07-19T03:48:00.000-07:00

what tolerant pooches. i can't wait to be in a position where i can have a dog, it just wouldn't be fair at the moment. my pet naming policy has always been to give them real names but names that you wouldn't call your children. i had monty and boris the hamsters and bertie and graham the guinea pigs. they were my boys.

can i be your friend?

2011-07-18T03:05:00.000-07:00

well done english national opera. lol'd at 1:28.

come on wally!

2011-06-29T11:22:00.000-07:00

now don't say i never give you anything. getting into the spirit of english summertime i've made you a 'wimbledon where's wally' or an 'où est charlie de wimbledon' for french followers. the rules are the same; find wally/cherche charlie. if you don't find him in under 5 seconds i would recommend specsavers.

little known fact about me: finding wally happens to be an innate skill of mine that ruined the game for many other children and has not found it's use in my adult life as of yet. that's a lie, it has occasionally been used to impress boys... easily impressed boys... the best kind of boys.

food baby on board!

2011-06-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

london underground give out badges to pregnant women with 'Baby on board!' written on them to draw your attention to the fact that they are pregnant and may want to sit down. now i'm all for pregnancy but i've come up with some alternatives for more trivial reasons people might want to sit down. i too have made full use of the 'exclamation mark of urgency' utilised by tfl.

i'm selling them as badges and/or stickers, get in touch if you're interested.

chip & pin

2011-06-18T06:40:00.001-07:00

air hair lair

2011-06-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

it's been a while and for this i am truly sorry. i have moved internationally, back to laaandaaan taaaaaan and i'm in a mode of adjustment. more details to come on other blog. to keep you occupied in the meantime, my favourite ad from the last year. it really captures the zeitgeist. hate me all you want for using the word zeitgeist. i love.

other words beginning with z that i love; zeppelin, zip, zeal and zigzag.

french comparison site

2011-05-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

so french in every way!... but it's funny! (take that mcvities "it's english but it's good"). so PC as well, why shouldn't she have two kens when pondering the question of the one? i wonder what you compare on a french comparison site. stinkiest cheese? poutiest parisien? stripiest jumper?

window licker

2011-05-15T05:22:00.000-07:00

€☆

2011-05-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

my friend eadaoin got dressed up in exchange for a haircut so that i could illustrate my ad idea for eurostar. chuffed with the union jack slippers i found for 3€. strong look.

Paris has never been closer

Carla Brownie

2011-05-02T04:15:00.000-07:00

the current french gourmet dessert of choice seems to be cheesecake. i don't get it. these stodgy american desserts (not to mention coo-keys, smoo-sees and braw-nies) seem to be taking over the delicately prepared little cakes and melt in the mouth profiteroles. well, if that's what they want;
let them eat brownies.... carla brownies.

i may try and make and market them.

Sprechen Sie Englisch?

2011-04-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

i'm sick of seeing wall street institute school of english ads on the métro with someone with a union jack or an american flag on their tongue. they're crap. if i wanted to learn english i wouldn't have come to paris!!! that being said, and the fact that i'm clearly not their target audience, it's still refreshing to see a different take on foreign language learning advertising.

hubba hubba

2011-04-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

mmm... moleskine bags. contemplating that line between need and want. great bit of stop-frame also.

iPhone card

2011-04-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

an iPhone birthday card i designed. it was hand drawn and then scanned in and photoshopped although i maybe went a little far with the photoshoppery as it's lost some of its hand-made feel (which comes across better in print). the card had a flap on the inside where we put the donations towards jean-yves' iPhone birthday present and was cropped finely to avoid a chunky white border. applications, as well as the classics, include poker and birthday cake.

happy easter!

2011-04-24T03:23:00.000-07:00

buy a one off egg for a good cause: www.eastern-eggs.com

like a laser cutter but an egg painter. what's not to love about CAM? the video of it being done appeals to my
"how things are made" fascination.

Bacardi: "Manifesto"

2011-04-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

great mix of aesthetics, i particularly like "fighting the little white headphones" which i'm guessing apple got huffy about because it's changed to just "headphones" in the youtube copy of the ad.

locks and socks

2011-04-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

hi-i made a turban

2011-04-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

i made a turban, i will be sporting it in public.

facebook ad space

2011-04-11T16:46:00.000-07:00

i was thinking, with a bit of photo resizing and self-tagging, why not use the images at the top of my profile as a personal ad space.

plaque board

2011-04-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

a rough idea for an oral b electric toothbrush ad. obviously font, plaque colour, photoshoppery etc. (everything) would need work. i want the text not to be too legible and for the brush to be cleaning from behind the plaque but to stand out clearer. as i say, it's just illustrating an idea.

i'm a fan of ads without taglines and logos. i think the brush speaks for itself but incase it doesn't i stuck another logo on.

oral b ad detail

take 'em off

2011-04-09T08:50:00.001-07:00

nothing more pretentious than sunglasses on the tube. the only exception (apart from blindness) is a horrible horrible hangover, the kind where flourescent lighting makes your head feel it has been squeezed into a pea. that's allowed.

sidaction

2011-04-03T07:02:00.000-07:00

a beautifully animated ad for Sidaction to show how our money goes towards helping the fight against AIDS

a strong look

2011-03-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

the french football team have a new away kit. in true french style it's being taken very seriously and has been photographed by karl lagerfeld. what next? a leetle beret? it's actually quite endearing to see the team running onto the pitch in their marinières. i suggest they get the rugby team into them next to create a new jean-paul gaultier ad.

what time is it?

2011-03-28T05:58:00.000-07:00

an illustration of an idea i had a while back when i went to the grande mosquée's turkish baths.

so fresh and so clean clean

2011-03-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

some simple effective advertising from the homeland. i'm always a fan of graphic, tag-line-free print. other twinkle related graphics i like here

clay weiner's try-ons

2011-03-19T18:16:00.001-07:00

canal+

2011-03-14T14:37:00.000-07:00

this is an ad for canal+, a tv channel in france. the screen writer of canal+ explains to the husband of the girl he's in 'n' outing with what he's doing in their wardrobe. i think it's wonderfully done, well cast and witty.
"incredible isn't it hunny?"
"yeah, completely crazy..."

i'm a creative because

2011-03-12T08:41:00.001-08:00

I made a certificate that says so

royal cutlery

2011-03-12T07:19:00.000-08:00

Diana Spoon

not sure where this idea came from. one of those images that came to me just before i went to sleep and as michel gondry once said; you should try to realise every idea that you have (i'm paraphrasing...)
it probably has something to do with everyone cashing in on the william and kate wedding with tacky commemorative plates, and not so tacky
saw this the other day: http://www.camproyale.co.uk/ i think some people need to take a deep breath and calm down

la madonnina

2011-03-09T03:39:00.001-08:00

putting my graphics skills to good use...

women's day

2011-03-08T04:39:00.000-08:00

happy international women's/pancake/tues day. i wonder if the queen's got her batter stirred up as i have.

from one old bag to another (so that's why she mentioned the queen), this is one of the elusive tracey emin for longchamp bags on show at the v&a. it's a photo i took a while back but it seemed appropriate for today.

i'm off to read some simone de beauvoir and scoff on a pancake. have a nice day y'all

man vs machine

2011-03-07T03:50:00.001-08:00

i'd seen their work before on E4 but didn't know who they were. some of the most innovative shorts i've seen since Harmar Superstar

http://www.manvsmachine.co.uk/projects

blog graph

2011-03-06T14:07:00.000-08:00

Nowadays everybody wanna talk like they got something to say...

hot spice

2011-03-06T13:55:00.000-08:00

a great ad from weiden and kennedy, the way it's shot reminds me a little of one of my favourite ads of all time; the trident soft mess with your head campaign. great re-branding for something that reminds me of my granddad.