Drive

The Artist

The Descendants

download .mp4 / watch on YouTube

In case you’ve forgotten about Jennifer Aniston, here she is mocking internet culture, making fun of advertising agents, kicking unsuspecting guys in the balls, playing with puppies, and along with SmartWater, trying way too hard to cash in on the nature of viral videos and the success of brands like Old Spice.

And yes, I acknowledge the irony that I am sharing this video in spite of how I don’t really find it useful, witty, insightful, innovative, endearing, or remarkable. Blah.

The reason it’s a WTF for me is because I’m genuinely confused as to why this was even made. It is a different spin on water advertising, I’ll grant that, but if the point was to get Jennifer Aniston out there onto the Internet, she should have made fun of herself, not everyone else. She’s not known as a great societal commentator. Also, the production value is way too high to become and web sensation, Old Spice Guy excepted.

So will this video go viral or we the whole of the Internet roll their eyes as I have?

via GeekBeat »

Lately, I’ve been spotting many alternative posters for popular movies. Just yesterday, I caught myself writing about Mr. Shabba’s new posters for Oscar-nominated movies. Last year, we saw some excellent illustrations along the same lines. Star Wars art is ever green, never needing a reason to inspire the artists and designers of the world.

The above posters caught my eye. In this case, the absence of people, robots, aliens, spaceships, explosions, etc. is testament to the power of the Star Wars franchise. But it also got me thinking about how many alternative poster designs I’ve seen lately. Many of them are awesome. I don’t even need to review the following posters. Just have a look.

Silhouette posters by Olly Moss

Love the limited colour scheme and strong use of shape. Obviously, each silhouette is taken from an important character in that movie. Also, a bit of a nod to mid-century book covers from Penguin, et al.

Classic movie-inspire posters by Flickr user Old Red Jalopy

A cheeky approach, referencing the posters of Full Metal Jacket, Goodfellas, and American Beauty, if you didn’t know.

Vintage boxing posters by Flickr user Old Red Jalopy

Highlighting the battles, of course.

There was some minor graphic design related news regarding the Oscars. The envelopes are being redesigned. Cool, I suppose. But I’m thinking once again about one of my favourite parts of the ceremony, comparing movies based on their typography.

Recently, I spotted a series of “alternative” poster designs from Mr. Shabba, aka Dean Walton, wherein he displays the movie’s title arranged in white against a coloured background. This is essentially the same technique used during the Oscars ceremony broadcast. I love seeing the movie’s typemark arranged as minimally as possible, removed from the poster and actors’ faces, not surrounded by credits, or animated in any fashion. In the case of the Oscars ceremony, it’s meant to remind us of what we are already familiar with, but in doing so, the entire essence of the movie is wrapped up in these little letters.

I’m purposefully not displaying them here because I want you to think in your mind about what I’m saying. Think of Toy Story’s blocky sans-serif, stacked clumsily upon itself, or The Social Network typed out in a web-safe font and reminiscent of Facebook’s own logo. Think about the bold 19th century metal type that inspired True Grit or the swoopy little S in Black Swan. Some are more elaborate than others, of course. Think about Harry Potter or The Matrix, both type treatments are forever associated with those films. Let’s not even get into classic movies like Star Wars or The Rocky Horror Picture Show which became famous in part due to their unique typographic title.

No matter our taste in movie fonts, we’ve probably never thought about how similar they are, generally speaking. The Oscars feature the best of the best, and usually this means some effort went into typography. For the rest, they use Trajan. Check out this great video illustrating just how many movies default to Trajan for their title logo. For knucklehead comedies, it’s almost certainly Helvetica Extra Bold, set in bright red.

download .mp4 / watch on YouTube

That just about says it all. So this year, when you create your Oscar predictions, remember to factor in typography. Subtract points for anything that uses Trajan. Bonus points for Helvetica.

This morning, I awoke to a post on the always-brilliant packaging design blog Lovely Package, regarding Boba Fett sneakers from Adidas. The Star Wars branded kicks are packaged in blister packs like the beloved action figures of the early 80s. These are a great example of adapting the design mode of, in this case, a costume, to a sneaker. The post on LP couldn’t locate a source, per se, but a quick Google search turned up tons of Star Wars gear from Adidas.

There are, in fact, a whole range of sneakers available, including some themed as TIE Fighters, and designed to match Rebel flight suits, for example. Check out the selection here.

I was presently surprised by the selection of tasteful t-shirts from Adidas, including this Darth Vader example.

There’s also a selection of other apparel, including the slightly abstract Wookie jacket. Interesting to note, this jacket is officially designed for men.

This, of course, reminds me of the time I spotted candy- and soda-theme sneakers on the streets of New York. Recently, we saw Borough-themed sneakers for the locals of NYC, and let’s not forget the Obama sneakers, which are still classy as hell.

via Lovely Package »

Spotted the illustrations of Tavis Coburn on Design Work Life (one of the best blogs out there, by the way). Here the images are promoting the BAFTAs, Britains equivalent of The Academy Awards. Love how a single style is applied across multiple movies titles — we need more of this.

See the series here »

If you’ve had an ear open to advertising/design-related chatter in the past year or so, you’ve probably heard about Please Feed The Animals and Lemonade, the short documentary illustrating inspiration stories of folks who had been laid off from advertising jobs, and subsequently transformed their lives.

I just watched it on Hulu. It’s incredibly inspirational! Go watch it now. That is all.

And if you’re in New York this week, try to join us for a screening. It’s full now, but there’s a waitlist.

Luckily, the astute folks at the New York Times are highly organised, and thus they have produced for our enjoyment, a grid-based, icon-fueled look at the last ten years in news, business, culture, and other categories of time–space. Love it.

Think for a second that this was done mainly with icons. One tiny image can encapsulate such a complex and important idea or event. So the next time you’re tasked with the design of an icon or pictogram of some kind, take an extra moment, these things matter.

Picturing the Past Ten Years »

Today turned up a sparkly little collection of French movie posters from the 50s and 60s. Great stuff, check ‘em out.

Am I the only on who feels that some of these would make excellent book covers? Especially the ones sans photographs, that are heavily graphical. Could work, non?

Well, last night I snuck out to a preview and managed to watch the film. The two words on my tongue after seeing it: “so what?” The film is a little more than a trophy, acknowledging the rare moments in advertising that do, somehow, manage to cut through the shouting, and that can, admittedly, touch our lives. But we already knew that.

From the title, I imagined Art & Copy would be a sort of inside story into the day-to-day lives of ad agency workers. For once, the lay public will get a glimpse into how it happens, and see that behind these ads are real people, waking up and going to work. But instead, we see a reinforced stereotype of frustrated artists and eccentric creative directors who swear they are changing the world simply by breathing.

There has always been in our society a cynicism towards advertising. We don’t enjoy being interrupted, be it on television, radio, in magazines and newspapers, or even while walking down the street peering at bus shelters and billboards. We’re sick of this shit. But the film does nothing to assuage this cynicism, and instead helps solidify it by highlighting how each of the famous ad-men (and women) featured share a general hatred for their own profession. This is more apparent in the nature of the film itself — interview segments are intercut with montages of ad-saturated cityscapes. Statistics are displayed on-screen that quantify just how many ads we’re exposed to … and how the figures are getting worse over the years. So after a heart-warming tale about the golden age of the biz, we’re brought back to Earth by the reality that those days are, indeed, gone.

Advertising (at least in America and Britain) is overwhelmingly white and male. The industry continues to take criticism for this. And that lopsidedness is reflected in this film. I’m just saying. It also misleads the public by featuring only successful, distinguished industry veterans, thereby sidestepping the ugly issue of burnout, which is infamous within the profession. A lot folks don’t make it to the corner office, and are pushed out well before their hair goes white.

But to be fair, the Art & Copy does entertain. Featuring some of the most notable ad campaigns of the last 50 years, it literally makes us laugh and cry. After all, aren’t emotions slightly heightened by nostalgia?

There is an odd meta quality to the film — the whole thing is one giant ad in the sense that they use the medium of film, combined with moving music, well-chosen imagery, and clever text, to evoke emotions in the audience. And maybe we’re not supposed to notice, but I did, can still testify that in that regard, it’s done very well.

Sadly, the film represents very few campaigns (or thinking) from the 21st Century. Obviously, the Century is young, but with media and consumer habits changing so rapidly, I reckon it’s worth at least mentioning. One line, I believe, mentioned the need for more integrated campaigns going forward, and a few of the on-screen graphics acknowledged that advertising is no longer confined to the television set. But no attention was paid to the trans-cultural nature of brands, user-generated content, the push for online, the death of newspapers (and magazines), or TiVo, all of which are huge players in the constantly-evolving landscape of advertising today. With this oversight, Art & Copy might have been perfectly suited a release in 1999.

I am cynical about advertising. Perhaps because I like to focus more on the branding side of things, but I’m one of those guys who wouldn’t mind if all advertising disappeared overnight. (yes, I know there are economical logistical issues to work on) But even I, the cynic, have to give props to some of the campaigns over the years that have moved us forward. These are one that do become art, and do end up in that same corner of our brain where we store fond memories of childhood Christmases. Here are a few featured in the film. They are indeed timeless. (in no particular order)

Wendy’s – Where’s the Beef (1984)

MTV – I Want My MTV (1981)

Nike – Failure (1999)

Nike – If You Let Me Play Sports (1995)

Milk – Got Milk? (Aaron Burr) (1993)

Braniff Airlines – End of the Plain Plane (1965)

Reagan ’84 – It’s Morning in America (1984)

Johnson ’64 – Daisy (1964)

Apple Macintosh – 1984 (1984)

Apple iPod – iPod+iTunes (2003)

[someone please correct me if I got the years wrong. I'm not the expert here.]

So what’s the takeaway from all this? Basically the same thing we’ve been saying all along: advertising can push the limits of art, media, communication, storytelling, and society. But it usually doesn’t. If you’re a client, take a risk once in a while, it may pay off. If you’re an agent, try not to be a dick. Be creative. And don’t take yourself so fucking seriously. (I added that last one myself.)

PS, I think I might have voted for Reagan. A little hyperbolic, but man, what an ad.