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Chris Nash

2008-10-02T08:22:00.000-07:00

Chris Nash is one of the UK's best dance photographers. Each project he does is so different and he always captures so much emotion in the dances. I like the colours in the photographs and the gracefulness and dream like state of them.

Amnesty International campaign

2008-10-02T04:09:00.000-07:00

I'm not a huge fan of ambient media, not because I don't think it's a great way of advertising or grabbing the public attention- I just think it's too over used. It is however hugely successful when used with Amnesty International as many people try and ignore the problems in the world and by placing it directly in our environment it makes you think and feel guilty about not doing anything. It also makes you think about how lucky you are with the messages it sends by putting the people that are suffering in your environment for that minute you see it.

Kings of Leon performances

2008-10-02T03:41:00.000-07:00

I saw on the television in the summer Kings of Leon perform at Glastonbury. I'm captivated by the way that they perform; they create such a mood. I really think the lighting and back display worked perfectly with their music. I also think that their music video Sex on Fire, although fairly simple sums them up really well and the people that directed it really listened and understood who they are.

Build Graphic Design & Art Direction

2008-10-02T03:19:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed looking at Build's showcase. I really like that they believe in producing beautifully crafted design which all are also really clean looking. For example they have applied this to the Pritt corrector pen advertising and the custom made typefaces.

Monoface website

2008-10-01T11:50:00.000-07:00

This website is so much fun; you can change parts of the face by clicking on it! im not sure what its for I love it. You could use this kind of concept as an interactive piece of advertising. Maybe ambient media. http://www.mono-1.com/monoface/main.html

Creative Advertising- ideas and techniques from the world's best campaigns.

2008-10-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

This book is so helpful not only as a reference book but it has some great written advice about the creative process. After giving a good couple pages of advice about working, it breaks the showcase of adverts down into different chapters about practical methods of creating unforgettable adverts. For example doing one without words, repetition and accumulation and a change of perspective. At the beginning it has lots of questions you can ask about your product and then with each advert it has a kickstart question to get you thinking about how and why it works so well. This book is just what I needed to help me with my work. I have included some of the pieces of work that caught my eye.

Cashino Royale opening sequence

2008-10-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

I love the opening sequence partly because of the mixture of animation and film. I love how inventive they were with the different ways to turn the 4 card shapes into things and how detailed it is. I love how they have included typical casino print as well. It all links together so well and keeps you engaged. I love all the cards exploding at the end.

The Tate Britain- Francis Bacon

2008-10-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

I wasn't a huge fan ever of Francis Bacon but the exhibition at the Tate Britain was so well set out and his work is overwhelming. I had an audio guide which was so educational. I could relate to how he loved to tear photographs and pictures from magazines or newspapers and draw on top of them. I loved seeing all the different photos that he would take or be inspired by. And also to how he was an atheist and was intrigued by his representation of what it would be like to live in a world without God or afterlife. I love how much of his emotions were put into his representations of the figure. There is so much tension, hopelessness, desperation and isolation; the paintings haunt you like a nightmare with figures trapped in the scene or line boxes. I love how he would slightly distort on some, and then completely on others such as his crucifixion paintings. It was interesting to learn of how he would paint vertical lines on the paintings to make it more dream like and feel like there was movement and his obsession with the Velazquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X c 1650. The These were some of my favourite ones, and are probably not the ones that are usually conventionally associated with Bacon.

Georgina Goodman promotional campaigns from the book Great British Editorial.

2008-10-01T05:39:00.000-07:00

This book is wonderful as it has a huge selection of editorial design projects from Great Britain from magazines to brochures. It explains their trade secrets and their different personalities and is a great reference book.

I really loved the fashion designer Georgina Goodman's promotional campaign. It was done by Zulma Covers. I love the way the catalogue opens; and I love the simplicity of the pages in the small book. I think the pages are engaging and the art work doesn't over power or take the attention away from the pictures of the shoes.

Fingerprint Book and Billy Harvey website

2008-09-30T11:25:00.001-07:00

I found this website in a book I was reading called Fingerprint which is about graphic designs with handmade elements. This book is really inspirational to me because I really like very arty graphic design that can see that the brush strokes, the way someone put something together, and think it shows someone's spirit and love of what they are doing.

This website is for Bill Harvey's music. I love the concept behind it. It's really interesting to move around it, with different polaroids connected and Bill Harvey moves between them. I like how you can watch his music videos online as well as listening to them. It's a very friendly website.

Video viral for the new samsung 'instinct' phone

2008-09-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

This is a great engaging video. It has the perfect amount of user interaction to keep the user interested and effectively communicates all the key selling points of the product. For example the second video shows GPS tracking and map usage. This viral cleverly uses a very new Youtube feature to be the first video to viral of its sort on Youtube. It is a great combination of classic story telling, user interaction and new features on an extremely popular online environment. This video perfectly communicates key selling points demonstrated in the real word and it identifies its target audience ( young professionals.) I could only include the beginning video but It's so fun, give it a go!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoOCiaxIZF4

Rothko

2008-09-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

" I am not an abstract painter. I am not interested in the relationship between form and colour. The only thing I care about is the expression of man's basic emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, destiny. "

I went to the Rothko exhibition at the weekend at the Tate Modern. I was slightly disappointed as I didn't realize it was just his later work but it was still really enjoyable. Rothko is known for his signature style of stacking vertical fields of colour in layers; I'm so inspired by how there was so much progression and transition in each piece of work. I love how his work was influenced by myths and philosophy such as Freud. I love the layout of each of his paintings and wonder whether you could use it graphical pieces?

Thoughout the late 1950s and 1960s Rothko explored the concept of his colour field from previous years. This interest emerged, in part, from various commissions to create ambitious paintery environments. For example for The Four Seasons restaurant in New York - The 'Seagram murals.'

As you move around the 9 rooms you see that he begins to darken his palette because he hated that people thought his work was decorative. For example the colours become more subdued- blacks, reds, maroons.

It was amazing to see 14 of his red series in one room. They were so calming and engaging due to their size and extradonary array of tones. Part of the exhibition allowed you to see through special dyes on samples of the work so that you can see how many different layers of colours he used.

I also really liked seeing his Black-Form paintings as they are so different. He uses a radically different deployment of colour, and also much more defined edges. Although they all seem solid black there is so much texture to them and I love the way they reflect the light.

The first picture is my favourite one of his paintings as it always reminds me of being young and going to see it with my Dad. If you stare at it for long enough the purple rectangles disappear!

Agencynet

2008-09-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

This interactive website is unbelieve. It is so detailed and so much fun to look around. Agency net produce amazing websites for very famous brands such as Bacardi and are based in America with a new office in New York.

The home page is a pretend office, where the figures move and you go onto different sections by clicking on the different rooms. All the pages are so unique; the page with a list of clients on it has a clock that actually moves and tells you the time! The page with news(the last one) has a highlighter pen that comes up so you can do the crossword! They look like so much fun to work for and really talented.

Weapons of choice- Fatboy Slim

2008-09-24T14:52:00.000-07:00

Such a simple concept in reality but works so well. I love music videos with dance routines and this one is so unique.

Spencer Tunick

2008-09-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

Spencer Tunick has been doing nude installations since 1992 in the USA and abroad. I remember watching a documentary a while back on his work which included conversations with the volunteers and I thought how interesting it was to get the public involved in art like that. Last year he did some work with Greenpeace to promote awareness of global warming. He got hundreds of people to pose for photos on a glacier. A lot of people wondered as to how this tactic would help. “Receding glaciers are a clear indication of climate change, and Switzerland is especially affected. The installation will symbolize the vulnerability of the disappearing glaciers and the fragility of the human body. The images of the installation are intended to stir up emotions and to emphasize the naked truth: we have to act now.” - Greenpeace. I think he is clever to have chosen a way to express his creativity which is hard to copy, as everyone will always know it was him who did it first; so he'll always be unique. I don't think that it is the actual shapes of the bodies, or the fact that they are naked that make the pictures interesting but the different colours. They remind of when I saw hundreds of flamingos migrating in Africa a couple of years ago!

Atonement

2008-09-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

I loved this story, which was written by my friend's dad, Ian Mc Ewan, when I read the book. I think that it a great adaption of the plot and doesn't change too many things in it. I love a film that has some kind of emotional affect on me, and this one definitely does; it engages you heart. It was shot so well, every scene seems so complete and fulfilling and the scenes of the war are especially so real. You really can feel all of their pain through the tragic consequences of one little girl with a powerful imagination believing something that didn't happen. It stars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy and won an oscar. At the end of the film your left with the question then whether one of them did achieve atonement or not, and how you feel about that- angry or sympathetic.

Jeppe Hein

2008-09-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

I thought that after seeing and placing the blog on about Jeppe Hein's appearing rooms, I'd have a look at some of his other work, and discovered I really love some other things he has done. He is a Danish artist who is now based in Berlin and has had international success especially with his performative installations. I have included some of the pieces which I really like.

I love the spiral Labyrinth which I think is in the Tate modern?, so if it is i'd like to see it next weekend when I go to see the Rothko exhibition. A lot of his pieces explore the relationship between the viewer and the artwork. His shaking cube has invisible field of motion sensors and so the work is impelled by the movements of the viewer. His neon wall switches off as the viewer approaches. "One side of the wall is interactive. If you walk along the wall, the neon modules turn off - one after the other. As they turn on and off the light modules change from a live, healthy, humming luminescence to a dull, cloudy object but the moment the visitor leaves, all of the neon lights are restored again."

Fountain displays- Heathrow T5, Bellagio hotel, Jeppe Hein's appearing rooms.

2008-09-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

Over the summer I worked for a company that meant that every week I would have to go to Heathrow airport for the day. The highlight of it was that I loved to go see the fountain display at terminal 5. It was just bursts of water that went up and down at different heights but it was mesmerizing. I once saw a child walking straight down in between two lines of them and waving her hands up and down; so that it looked like she was controlling them- it was really beautiful!

I also remember how amazing the display was at the Bellagio in Vegas. It was just on an enormous scale, and it looked like the water was dancing.

Last week when I was in London, I also went to see the Jeppe Hein, the Danish artist's, appearing rooms at the Southbank centre. It was originally commissioned for the garden of the villa Manin in Italy. You are able to enter into the sculpture, darting the water. He wants you to interact with the 'changing spaces,' as the walls of water rise and fall. This was so great to see as it was a step forward in an idea after seeing the girl at Heathrow and it was really fun. "This public artwork explores the relationship between spatial perception and memory, presence and absence, inside and outside. "

Juliette has a gun

2008-09-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

I had seen an article on this perfume a few years ago and then saw the actual product recently. I really like the design of the bottle; it has a really nice finish on it and the logo which is fairly intricate but stands out due to the simple colouring, but I especially like the whole concept behind it. It was founded by Romano Ricci who is the grandson of Nina Ricci who was inspired by Shakespearean heroines. He says in an interview that it is for the "dominant femininity," who can play at "femme fatale." Each other the perfumes has it's own personality which I think really appeals to woman as it makes them believe that they can match it to their own. I think the website is also really nice, and I have included two of the personalities for you to read about them below:

" A new way to look at perfumery, both rock and elegant, liberating from conventions and explores new territories."

Miss Charming: The perfume of a virgin witch, docile and provocative, elegant and sensual. One instant, holding up the pressures of the world and the next, crying hot tears over the death of Enzo, her bowl fish! A fragrance that makes up ingenuousness and lucidity.

Miss Vengeance: A perfume with a rich and sophisticated trail. The expression of undeniable femininity, confident and divinely sensual. The fragrance of a lady for whom the art of seduction bares no secret. You can smell.. you can dream... but it's a in her hands.

Cavan Huang

2008-09-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

I'm a huge fan of his, especially of his prints for "Dusk" typographic concrete design poem and the Harlem Document project( the first print.) His also does some really cool motions. The way his website is set up also makes it really easy to view all his different pieces and I really like the way his describes his pieces of work. For instance the second one is the result of a twelve week explorative process. And it is in response to an assignment to visually transcribe audio narratives; his is a passage of slurred speeches from street drunks.

I've learnt from his work that you can have a certain individual style to your work, as he does, but it is important to be interested and produce different ideas too, especially if the criteria is not really to your style. You can see this especially in his videos. Unfortunately I couldn't get them to download.

http://www.icav.ca/motion_06.htm

100% Design London: Mint's 10th Anniversary Show

2008-09-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

I went to Mint in London on Widmore Street who are running an exhibition from the 18th to 30th September. The exhibition 'forget me not' is part of London Design Week and is to celebrate it's 10th anniversary. I went because my friend who has just graduated from Bath was showcasing her ceramic handbags. I think they are so beautiful; some have chains on them and big shiny buttons, others are made so they look like they are slouchy. We've been talking recently about how to take some good promotional photos of them; maybe with a girl trying to drag one to mimic the saying " I've got my life in this handbag, its so heavy!"

There were some other amazing pieces; I loved Laura Cahill's furniture made out of recycled books and Felicity Lloyd Coombe's cute sculptures. There was also an installation by Dutch designer Marije vogelzang where she used traditional clay cooking methods to build sculptures, bake vegetables such as onions and then break them to create a " sensory dilemma."

Test your fire Alarm

2008-09-23T04:20:00.000-07:00

I think advertisements that use household named, comedians to promote a message that is serious often works really well. It makes you stop and listen; if it is something they are bothered about that isn't making them happy or funny then it must be something important. I think that this advert works because it really captures your attention and relates to you sitting there watching the adverts in between your programme. It also makes you feel guilty and you want to go check your fire alarm because it is something you could be doing there and then, in the break. The adverts were done by an agency called Euro RSCG and I particularly think the second shorter one is more effective.

Vegas Baby

2008-09-23T03:25:00.000-07:00

Vegas is one of the most surreal places I have ever been to. It is so true what people say about it; that you drive for hours to get there, in the pitch black with nothing around you and then suddenly you see a burst of lights and the biggest buildings I have ever seen. The hotels are all so unique and bizarre, all so beautifully, intricately decorated. For instance the New York New York hotel has separate buildings mimicking famous buildings in New York and a roller-coaster going all the way around them. I also found the darker side of Vegas quite interesting as well; the men on the streets giving out cards for prostitutes because its legal, the way you can go shoot guns at the gun store, the strange stories you would hear about builders on new hotels going up, dying each day because they have no ropes holding them; the tourists below so unaware. I also loved their bold advertising they used for promotions and clubs! ( seen above.)

Metamorphosis- Franz kafka

2008-09-22T03:13:00.000-07:00

The Metamorphosis is a short novel by Franz Kafka. The opening sentence is one of the most famous in literature;

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.”

Like the opening line suggests; it is a story of a young man who is transformed into a giant cockroach overnight. It is a story of alienation, about feelings of inadequacy- as the cockroach is not recognized and disgusted by his family and unable to talk- so banished to his room. You are never told why he becomes an insect, he wonders whether it is an illusion from working too much. It shows the kinder side of humanity, as you see his family begin to change their ways, and it also gets a message across about looking after ourselves and not working too hard. It is really dark and quite hunting yet surprisingly funny and has a lasting effect on you.

Whatever you think, think the opposite. Paul Arden

2008-09-22T02:42:00.000-07:00

Paul Arden is a former executive creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi at the author of the international bestseller "It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be." This book is about unconventional, sometimes outrageous thinking; he does not tell you what to think or believe but gets you to challenge what he tells you and the way you view your life and opinions. It's a small, witty book but with huge ideas and I really recommend everyone to have a copy to once in a while flip through.

DECISIONS

Whatever decision you make is the only one you could make.

Otherwise you would make a different one.

Everything we do we choose.

So what is there to regret?

You are the person you choose to be.

ARE YOU BEING REASONABLE?

Saloman Brothers, the well-known New York investment house, met with prospective clients not once a month or once a day, but three times a day.

That is unreasonable.

But it works.

Most people are reasonable, that's why they only do reasonably well.

Nigel Coates- Scubism

2008-09-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

I went to see Nigel Coates new range of furniture for Fratelli Boffi today at Chaplins Furniture which blew me away. There are 22 pieces and I especially liked the chairs. It is part of the London Design Festival which has been on since the 13th. He is a very unique and spontaneous designer who does not only do interior design but also product design and architecture. "Scubism avoids coordination for its own sake. It combines mischievous imagination and traditional skills." I love the sumptuous and colourful fabric used, and bizarre shapes that the timber is sculptured into; ways in which I would have never has imagined; which I feel has a real feel of copying bodily poses and a great twist on Cubism.

" Why not fragment structure and defy gravity?"

Beyond Borders

2008-09-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen star in this film and I think it deserved more credit and recognition than it got. It is about humanitarian relief and despite the poor love story this film aims to shock by using very real scenes of desperation and poverty. This film has such an affect on me as it reminds of how I'd like to one day do some work for Charities regarding their marketing and advertising, and I believe it is just so well shot and goes far beyond any other film in trying to get a message across. This isn't the trailer but it shows some of the better scenes.

Jenny Saville

2008-09-21T07:23:00.000-07:00

Jenny Saville is a British born artist who's focus has mainly been on female bodies. She has been compared to Lucian Freud and in 1993 Saatchi purchased all of her work. She paints in a way that views the architecture of the body; her paintings become a sort of sculpture. Some feature target rings which help to give a feel of shape and form and mark making causes you to move around the painting and few all aspects of the skin. She paints how woman see themselves, and there is a sense of frankness and vulnerability in them which I love. I believe she was right when she said;"I want a painting realism. I try to consider the pace of a painting, of active and quiet areas."

Knucklehead

2008-09-21T06:56:00.000-07:00

I really like Knuckleheads simple design of it's website. I think the way you can view each directors work by clicking on their signature is really inventive and more personal to the viewer. The text that goes with each director follows in this theory by being very jokey and each piece ends with a sentence that describes how they are a knucklehead. The directors are some of the most talented people around and have done some of the most well known and loved adverts. One of my favourite adverts at the moment was done by Johnny Green- The Mercedes Benz Ambition advert. Here is an example of the text for one of the directors:

"Daniel went to st martins school of art and of course was a star and then went and did some title sequences which everyone went on and on about and won lots of things which made his mum happy and then of course commercials came calling and that was all great and he made about a zillion commercials and won tons of things which all sat in his office next to the picture of the naked man which we all know is art really and he claims he can play the trumpet though we've never seen it but he probably can because he's a knucklehead."

Helmut Newton

2008-09-17T10:29:00.000-07:00

The moment I saw the front cover of a book on Helmut Newton's work I knew I was going to be hooked. It wasn't that I found it provocative or shocking; it was just so bold; the picture was so.... piercing. Like Tom Ford states in the book celebrating the whole spectrum of his work and also his 80th birthday; " His world spoke to me." He allows the female subject matters to have so much power; Not just in the way he gives them a masculine authority but also in a hidden message that these woman know how much control they can have over someone with the beauty of their bodies. Even when the picture shows a scene where the woman seems to be under control of the man, there's something in their eyes that screams "that's what he thinks!" I particularly like his black and white fashion photographs and his portraits. . Pierre Berge words conclude his work so well; "What he created was an exemplary vision, on a knife edge between humour and seriousness, between imagination and clinical vision." I've added some of my favourite pages from two books I have on him; Helmut Newton- Work, and A Gun to Hire.

Balconies

2008-09-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

I've had a strange obsession over the last couple of months with balconies and windows, and looking down into them or down from one. I love the idea of looking into someone's life, or viewing the world from a different angle,-spying in at a random time into a moment. In Cannes I saw a lot of buildings with Balconies or beautiful shuttered windows. At first I thought that they looked very romantic; reminding me of the obvious Romeo and Juliet, but I also think you could do a project where you twist it; and look at other weird things you could see, other emotions you could capture, conversations you could make up from watching two people for example on a balcony eating lunch. I've put some pictures up to show you kind of what I mean.

What are you like- Dulwich Picture Gallery

2008-09-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

Last week Dulwich Picture Gallery launched an exhibition called "What Are You Like?" I had read a lot of articles about it in the past couple of months so was very excited to go. 45 famous names from all different careers were asked to do eight illustrations of their favourite things from a list of 12: animal, book, clothes, comfort, food, pastime, place, possession, music, shoes, weather and pet aversion (the thing they dislike.) People such as Quentin Blake, Philip Pullman, the creator of children's book Charlie and Lola, and Margret Howell the fashion designer, produced some beautiful pictures; all very unique. You are left to guess who did which, which makes it very fun and I'd love to buy the book that goes with it. I particularly like Quentin Blake's, where he incorporates all of the different things into one scene.

I think it would be a great thing to do as a project or even somehow incorporate into your C.V, as not only do the things you choose show your personality but also the way you draw and produce it.

What would feature in yours?

Tim Walker

2008-09-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

I went to see Tim Walker's exhibition at The design museum in London. I had been a fan for years since seeing the top photograph i've downloaded in a magazine. Since then I have been following his work, partially in Vogue magazine. I love how dream like his work is, how he can make amazing clothes look even more jaw dropping; even a picture of a grasshopper had an imaginative haze to it. He transports the spectator into a word of illusion, with amazing sets and beautiful locations such as India or old beautiful Manor Houses. He takes objects, or ideas that should repel each other but in the end are the perfect combination. I loved that at the exhibition there were some of the objects used in some of the shoots, which even by themselves are so wonderfully made and lovely to look at. My favourite thing however was pages from his scrapbooks which had drawings and polaroid pictures put in. It was very inspiring as to how to produce my sketchbooks in the future.

Gifford's Circus

2008-09-17T06:29:00.000-07:00

(more pictures to come soon)I really like how surreal the circus can be and the kid-ish joy you get from being there whatever your age. I went to 'Caravan' - Gifford's circus and it fulfilled this need more than any other circus i have been to. It is a recreation of a 1930's old rural village circus with jugglers, aerialists, people on horses with geese following them, a pretend bear and strong men; run by Europe's only female circus owner. The performers come from all over the world, including Russia and Eastern Europe which makes it even more special and different. I partially liked the energetic brass band from Paris who sing the songs as well. It is a magical story of love and marriage, inspired by the story of Rebecca Biddell. You can see all the beautiful gypsy caravans that they stay in when you are waiting to go into the traditional big top tent which feels like it is home made and it only fits a few hundred people so it is so personal for anyone who is there.

"Giffords Circus fulfills every childhood fantasy of what a travelling circus should be” Sunday Telegraph

“Charming, emotional, and an absolutely essential British summer experience” Elle

“Possibly the best show on earth” Vogue

Nancy Holt- Sun tunnels.

2008-09-15T04:35:00.000-07:00

I was watching " The Sculpture diaries" on channel 4 last night and although never being hugely in ore of sculptures, found American artist, Nancy Holt's sun tunnels mesmerizing.

Nancy’s work, partially the sun tunnels are associated with land art. It emerged in the 1960’s and has a hidden agenda of making people more aware of the negative impact people have on the environment. It is often in remote, uninhabited regions; the sun tunnels being in the Great Basin Desert in Utah.

Nancy is also interested in how people perceive time and space, and issue that she incorporated into this piece, as well as her interest in the variation of intensity of the sun in the desert compared to in the city.

The work consists of four concrete tunnels that are arranged in an x configuration; on the latitudes of the summer and winter solstices and well as the sunrise and sunset. They therefore react differently to the sun, producing beautiful orange and red colours inside their sphere; a huge contrast to the grey landscape they sit in. However bizarre they seem placed in the desert, they do not look alien, but have become harmonious with the land. The tunnels also have small holes in each which are the exact constellations of Draco, Perseus, Columba and Capricorn. These holes cast spots of light on the dark interiors. Holt says; “"It’s an inversion of the sky/ground relationship-bringing the sky down to the earth."

Red Banana Productions

2008-09-13T02:49:00.001-07:00

I met the one of the owners of Red Banana recently when he was off to film a huge birthday party for Tamara Beckwith's cousins. Red Banana are based in London and take on a number of different projects, ranging from; music videos, documentaries and comedy shows. They have a team who can take on numerous jobs including; producers, directors, camera operators, sound engineers, animators and set designers, as well as post production work partially editing. Clients include The young vic theatre, Sony, World Vision and V2 Music. They also do a lot of editing for GMTV. When I saw the show reel for their company I was so inspired, there were so many different effects or ideas that I loved. I would love to go into music video production and have always wondered about Charity Organisations' advertising, so I was so glad to have been introduced to them. I like how easy it is to move around their website and how you are able to view not only a collection of their work on the show reel but individual projects. They are an extremely easy going, dynamic and original company which comes across in their website and work.

The Layout Book- by Ambrose/Harris

2008-09-13T02:21:00.000-07:00

A good layout that stimulates and grabs your attention is something I have always struggled with producing and has let me down with my project ideas. I decided it was time to get a book that would explain the main principles to me. What I love about this book is that it is easy to read; there isn't too much on each page, with beautiful illustrations; it is a great reference book for future projects. It covers everything like; the transformation and positioning of images, magazine cover layouts, the use of white space, the pace used for books to make it easy to read. What is so good about it is that it gives a historical view of different principles like the golden spiral or the Arts and Crafts Movement, but shows it in context, with examples of where it has be applied in recent work. “ The layout book explains the hows, whys, and why nots of layout.”

Calvin Klein Advertisements

2008-09-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

Since the 1980’s and 15-year-old Brooke Shields saying into the camera "Nothing comes between me and my Calvins," Calvin Klein has been in the firing line for his controversial advertisements. His idea of using child-like models to sell his jeans and perfume have caused outrage as they are not seen as sexy but pornographic. He states that they were intended to "convey the idea that glamour is an inner quality that can be found in regular people in the most ordinary setting; it is not something exclusive to movie stars and models." However they just come across perverted and disturbing. This was partially seen in the the first video I uploaded which shows various adverts that were banned in 1995 because they were meant to mimic picture set pornographic of the 60's. It's quite long, but you get the point after the first advert! Pushing the boundaries when using sexual imagery is something I’m greatly enjoying looking at for my dissertation.

However what really inspired me when looking at these adverts, were the ones I found for the perfume – ‘Calvin Klein Obsession.’ I don’t think these are seen at all as perverted, but beautifully shot. I think they really capture the feeling of being obsessed; the confusion, the dizziness. I like how the ones with Kate Moss seem quite eerie and like a home movie. David Lynch did a series of four in 1988 that all centered around famous authors' work. I have included my favorite one. I really like this idea- it gives more meaning to the advert. This years Obsession advert with Eva Mendez caused yet again controversy for too much nudity but has that same kind of feel as the others.

XXX The Power of Sex

2008-09-12T07:46:00.000-07:00

My dissertation is going to be reviewing the psychological effects of Sexual imagery used in media on the viewer. This is one of the books that I purchased to review, showing how designers have used this notion to create attention grabbing work; covering every type of medium. It is produced by a design consultancy and magazine publisher; Plazm. This book aims to go beyond the usual showcase of sexual imagery in media by showing projects that are shocking, and rather more erotic than sexual; exploring projects that use abnormal themes such as S&M, homosexuality.

What attracts me more to this book is that it has become a piece of design itself; a desired object. As a review of the book said: “it wears its subject matter on its sleeve,” for unlike any other book on this topic the cover is made of black rubber. It is addictive to touch and bend and has a silver and red writing that draws your attention to it, and unlike a normal book that would have this written on it, your not embarrassed of reading it in public or leaving it around. It wants you to be proud of it and make people around you think, what on earth are they reading?! It gives it a different feeling when you read it, a multi-sensory experience, making it more erotic. The design inside is clean and allows the images to be large enough to explore.

As much as I love this book, it is comprised mainly of illustrations with brief areas of text trying to explain the meanings behind the images. It doesn’t seem to reach it’s point of explaining the socio-political and theoretical messages in the works, and leaves you a little lost. It’s design therefore inspires me more and the selected works themselves, without the help of the authors.