Last November, Washington state became the first in the US to legalise marijuana use. In order to identify marijuana products from the state, a special logo was devised for packaging. That logo is now to be dropped amid fears that it could too closely identify the state with drug use
Most US states like to be recognised as the home of something or other. Ohio, for example, is The Buckeye State, Missouri the Show-Me State. Washington, it turns out, wasn’t too keen on being known as the Dope State.
The original logo (above) set a marijuana leaf within the outline of the state on a map. According to Liquor Control Board spokesman Brian Smith, the intention was to make any product containing cannabis easily identifiable.
However, a group of drug-use prevention campaigners, in a letter to the board last month, argued that the logo could “reasonably be viewed as branding Washington ‘The Marijuana State,’ or as Washington proudly promoting marijuana use to the rest of the world.”
“A logo like this will undoubtedly end up on bumper stickers and T-shirts,” it continued. Fair point. But, the state’s entrepeneurs are well on the way to embedding that association without the help of an official logo as a Google image search quickly illustrates
The board now says that the original logo will be dropped in favour of a new device which may feature the cannabis leaf but not in a way that connects it to the state itself. That’s going to be an interesting brief for some lucky designer to tackle – to create a logo that is in no way going to be picked up and used as a symbol for celebrating state-sanctioned drug use. Tough one.
And how about that motto? Currently the official motto is “The Evergreen State”. Perhaps the authorities should be pro-active and get a new one before others do it for them. The “Ever So Suddenly Really Peckish State”? “The State of Extreme Mellowness”?
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The July issue of Creative Review is a type special, with features on the Hamilton Wood Type Museum, the new Whitney identity and the resurgence of type-only design. Plus the Logo Lounge Trend Report, how Ideas Foundation is encouraging diversity in advertising and more
“I was sixteen when I traveled with my family for the first time to bella Italia. As I recall, immediately upon arriving in Milan, in the haze of jet lag and the oppressive July heat, I was struck by a billboard featuring an art nouveau rendering of a couple in a passionate embrace against an inky night sky, with just the words Baci and Perugina. I knew that baci meant kisses, though I didn’t even know what product this advertised. It didn’t matter. The woman was clearly in a swoon, and so was I. This was the pivotal moment when I fell in love all at once with Italy, type, and food. Whenever I see the iconic Baci package (though it has been ruthlessly updated over the years), it still makes me smile.”
M&C Saatchi has created a striking campaign for new mental health charity MindFull, with an animated commercial from th1ng.
The new charity was launched by The BeatBullying Group on July 5 and gives 11 to 17-year-olds immediate access to online professional counselling and advice.
The 30-second TV and cinema ad, directed by th1ng’s Will Barras and Shay Hamias, visualises some of the anxieties that young people can experience – such as depression, anger, body image problems and loss of control. The visceral film features an animated head that morphs through different scenarios representing some of those emotions.
The ad draws on feedback from the charity’s target audience on how young people feel when something is worrying them, and the accompanying press and online campaign builds on this theme.
For the print ads, M&C Saatchi commissioned more than 40 artists and illustrators, including Barras, Finger Industries, James Joyce and Sam Brookes, to interpret what ‘having a full mind’ can mean (see some of them below).
by Will Barras
by James Joyce
by Sam Brookes
The agency decided to convey the campaign through animation, due of the medium’s visual impact, according to Orlando Warner, associate creative director at M&C Saatchi. “The reason we went for an animated/illustrative approach is because it’s a visually interesting way to bring to life the emotions we feel,” he says. “Animation allowed us to be more metaphorical about feelings.”
According to the original brief to the contributing artists (see more of their artwork below), the head shape is the main visual property of the campaign, and MindFull hopes it will grow into a strong brand cue for the charity, to be used across all its communications.
The full collection of illustrations will be shown at an exhibition coinciding with World Mental Health Day on October 10. Funds from an accompanying silent auction of the work will go towards MindFull.
Credits: Agency: M&C Saatchi Copywriter/Art Director: Orlando Warner and Joe Miller Production company: th1ng Directors: Will Barras and Shay Hamias Design Direction: Will Barras, Shay Hamais & Yui Hamagashira Producer: Milana Karaica
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The July issue of Creative Review is a type special, with features on the Hamilton Wood Type Museum, the new Whitney identity and the resurgence of type-only design. Plus the Logo Lounge Trend Report, how Ideas Foundation is encouraging diversity in advertising and more
There were two Student of the Year-winning projects at this year’s D&AD Student Awards plus a host of student Yellow Pencils. Our round-up of all the winners is here
The D&AD Student Awards revolve around briefs, some of which are set by partnering brands, some by D&AD itself. Here we showcase the Yellow Pencil winners for each brief (where there was one) but first, the Student of the Year prizes.
This year’s Graphic Designbrief was from the V&A which asked entrants to “Explore the ‘Albertopolis’ and design a hoarding for the V&A’s Exhibition Road redevelopment. Work will begin on the redevelopment in 2013 and will open to the public in 2016. While the work is being undertaken, a hoarding will be erected around the site to shield the building works and inspire the public. Your brief is to imagine a design for the hoarding, inform the public about the redevelopment and also reflect the local community and history of the cultural quarter.”
This year’s other Student of the Year award went to the team behind BBC Suitcase in the Digital category which asked students “What does it mean to be ‘alive’ online? How might we turn otherwise static websites into pages that feel updated, dynamic and relevant?”
Here are the Yellow Pencil winners in the rest of the categories:
Advertising
Ted Baker
Brief: Introduce Ted Baker to a country of your choice. When opening a new location in another country, it’s not easy for a brand like Ted to translate its unique cultural flavour. It’s your job to bring its British sense of humour and unique approach to fashion to another country – which country is up to you. Your campaign will need to activate potential shoppers to visit Ted Baker stores and Ted Baker online; interact with the brand; and most importantly to shop and share.
Yellow Pencil: This is Our Fault
Gustavo Crespo, Jara Dominguez. Tutors: Juan Carlos Alonso, Curro de la Villa, Carlos Font College: Miami Ad School, Madrid
Applied Graphics
Batiste dry shampoo
Brief: Create a trend-led graphic identity for a limited edition range of Batiste products. How can the graphic identity work harder to sell the varieties of Batiste in an instant, whilst also clearly demonstrating the full potential of the product?
Yellow Pencil: Invisible Crown
Morgan Swain. Tutors: Lucy Blazey, Maria Fletcher College: Norwich University of the Arts
Copywriting
RAB
Brief: Write a radio campaign that sells the power of radio as an attractive advertising medium. Show how well radio adverts can provoke an emotional reaction in their audience, whilst having significant impact as part of a campaign.
Yellow Pencil: Awkward
Charli Plant, Michael Venner. Tutors: Chris Hill, Marc Lewis College: School of Communication Arts 2.0
Digital
Yellow Pencil: BBC Mobius
James Greenaway, Max Seabrooke. Tutor: Louise Prideaux College: Ravensbourne
Digital Advertising
Yamaha
Brief: Digitally bring the Yamaha story to life. Create a campaign using digital media that generates global brand awareness for Yamaha’s full range of products.
Yellow Pencil: Lost & Sound
Creative Team: Filip Callas, Frida Thunholm, Anna Werkell. Support Team: Ebba Brasch, Frida Karlsson, Emelie Wiberg, Andreas Zannin. Tutor: Charlotta Rydholm College: Berghs School of Communication
Yellow Pencil: Yamaha Garage
Julia Artamonova, Kir Khachaturov, Sergey Pleshkov. Tutor: Anton Yarusov College: British Higher School of Art & Design
Yellow Pencil: Yamaha Sustainable Sound
Creative Team: Emelie Leijon, Pontus Levahn, Fredrick Lewandowski, Andreas Sandberg, Ebba Körlof Sundberg Support Team: Peter Hammarberg, Johan Malmberg, Jacob Olofsson Tutor: Charlotta Rydholm College: Berghs School of Communication
Moving Image
Channel 4 (supported by MPC)
Brief: Create a motion graphic ident for 4seven, Channel 4’s new to air channel.
Yellow Pencil: 4seven Loop
Liam Alexander Campbell, Matthew Hill Tutor: Marion Morrison College: Kingston University
Open Brief
Unilever
Brief: Exploit a brand’s power to make the world a better place.
Yellow Pencil: The Simple Steps Campaign
Joshua Cunningham, Thomas Fenwick-Smith Tutor: Marc Lewis College: School of Communication Arts 2.0
Open Craft
It’s Nice That
Brief: Promote It’s Nice That to students.
Yellow Pencil: Screen Tour
Thomas Fitzmaurice Tutor: Alexis Taylor College: Coventry University
Brief: Re-envisage the L’Artisan Parfumeur brand for the 21st Century by creating a design solution for a new unisex range of scents.
Yellow Pencil: Phrases de l’Amê
Creative Team: Erik Hellquist, Emelie Jinhee Johnsson, Claes Lovén, Carl-Johan Ostrom, Anna Turdell Support Team: Caroline Ernsth, Carl Lundgren, Sara Rehioui Tutor: Charlotta Rydholm College: Berghs School of Communication
Photography
Dazed and Confused
Brief: Create a portrait of contemporary youth.
Yellow Pencil: Lev
Anastasia Korosteleva Tutors: Dmitry Karpov, Tim Simmons College: British Higher School of Art & Design
Yellow Pencil: Photobooth
Luke Evans Tutor: Zelda Malan College: Kingston University
Noticing that people in the Kingston Apple Store were taking pictures of themselves and uploading the images to Facebook, for this project Evans spent several months going into Apple Stores and scouring the computers on show for images left behind by customers in this way. He then either mailed the images to hilmself or took photos of the screen
Yellow Pencil: Martyn, Sean and Jacob
William Lakin Tutor: Paul Duke College: Middlesex University
Product Design
Oakley
Brief: Take Oakley to the leadership position in everyday cycling performance by designing a range of products for cyclists and urban commuters.
Kehan Yu Tutor: Charlotte Lo College: Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
Make Your Mark
D&AD
Brief: Make your dream job a reality. Picture your dream employer. If you were given a ‘once in a lifetime’ chance to impress them, how would you do it?
Yellow Pencil: Popkinson’s Miniature Marvel
Leanne Watkinson Tutor: Andy Edwards College: Leeds Metropolitan University
Yellow Pencil: Designer with a Unique Perspective
Calum Middleton Tutor: Kathryn Coates College: Nottingham Trent University (NTU)
Yellow Pencil: Come Home Droga
Shannon Crowe, Luke Falkland-Brown, Jackson Harper, Millicent Malcolm Tutor: Cangie Contessa College: RMIT University
Yellow Pencil: Megabus Book
Callum Prior, Marc Rayson Tutor: Keith Nevens College: University of Sunderland
See more images from each project plus the other nominated work here
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The July issue of Creative Review is a type special, with features on the Hamilton Wood Type Museum, the new Whitney identity and the resurgence of type-only design. Plus the Logo Lounge Trend Report, how Ideas Foundation is encouraging diversity in advertising and more
Advertising creatives often have interesting after-hours side projects, but we’d never heard of any running an off-licence before. Jean Grogan has the story behind The Paris Liquor Store (TPLS), founded by Thomas Barclay, an art director at Havas Worldwide Paris, and realised with the help of two admen colleagues.
Of course, given that it’s run by ad creatives, this is no run-of-the-mill offie. The Paris Liquor Store opened three months ago, close to the Opéra, the Bourse and the biggest French department stores, with many customers working or living in the area. It specialises in limited editions and collaborations with artists, such as this Hennessy Special Edition by Futura, promoted via special events in-store.
A feature of the shop are its blackboard walls, covered in chalk and Posca lettering and artwork created by copywriter Christophe Pilate and Didier Chan Kin, a Havas art director. Pilate also provides web content and social media activity.
Barclay sources the products, focusing on cult brands such as 12 year-old Japanese Hibiki whisky and Saint James Fleur de Canne rum and limited editions. He uses the store to tell the stories behind the brands.
Crystal Head Canadian vodka (below), a brand co-founded by actor Dan Ackroyd, has apparently been a particularly good seller prompting a visit from the man himself when he was in Paris recently.
TPLS sold a Rolling Stones version of the vodka earlier this year
Barclay claims the shop’s ‘lack of pretension’ is key to his success. “Customers aren’t intimidated to ask us about an unfamiliar spirit,” he says. “We attract younger people that are curious, not connoisseurs. They’re also sensitive to beautifully presented and packaged products.”
Barclay says he hopes to open another TPLS in the hippest areas of Paris – the Marais, République, or Bastille – but he hasn’t given up his day-job yet. Who says the French have no word for entrepreneur?
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The July issue of Creative Review is a type special, with features on the Hamilton Wood Type Museum, the new Whitney identity and the resurgence of type-only design. Plus the Logo Lounge Trend Report, how Ideas Foundation is encouraging diversity in advertising and more
Around 70 courses are represented at this year’s D&AD New Blood graduate show in London’s Spitalfields market. We pick out a few highlights
Last year’s New Blood – D&AD’s annual group graduate show – was overwhelming, with a huge amount of content packed into a very tight space. This year brings an improved layout, with bigger stands and more space allowing a little more room for the work to breathe and the indivudal colleges to make an impression.
Southampton Solent’s Illustration stand (above) did just that. Branded as The Woolly Bully Illustration Show it combined some great work with really impressive display.
Each illustrator had their own badge, plus there were free posters and a very well-produced catalogue.
Along with incoming D&AD President Laura Jordan Bambach and Rob from It’s Nice That, I was judging ‘best stand’ at New Blood yesterday. We all thought Solent’s was brilliant but in the end gave the top prize to Sheffield Hallam Graphic Design which managed to tie a lot of disparate work together with its clever use of background graphics.
They’d also thought the whole stand experience through really well, from the individual cardboard boxes housing each student’s work to the orange stands for printed work.
Check out our review of the main Sheffield Hallam show here
Ulster’s Design for Visual Communications course took a novel approach, showcasing its students’ entries to the D&AD V&A brief in these architectural models
And Gray’s School of Art tackled the ‘massed ranks of black portfolios’ conundrum with this plywood carousel
A word too for Norwich Graphic Communication. Showing any screenbased work in this environment is really tough – particularly when you have stands full of screenprints and type to compete with. Norwich attempted to make the whole experience a little more playful with this control device to switch between films randomly. You just wanted to press it.
There’s a separate review of the main Norwich show here
On the Staffordshire Univeristy Graphics & Illustration stand I liked Helen Player’s porcelain ampersand, part of her response to the D&AD V&A student awards brief. In fact, here were a lot of great physical objects this year, including this amazing boat by Thomas Wightman at Edinburgh Napier. It’s his final project, entitled Anchored, and is aimed at helping “helping OCD sufferers stopping the tide and disruption that is associated with the obsessions and anxiety related with the illness”.
And what about this ‘chest’ of drawers by George McCallum of University of the West of England Illustration
At the Arts University Bournemouth Graphic Design stand, Lewis Simper displayed this oddly fascinating device for warning of imminent attacks in South Korea. “Taking inspiration from Gustav Klutsis’s Maquette for Radio-Announcer, I designed and produced a public announcement system that would be placed in public areas around Korea as a warning for those to evacuate at a time when there was extreme tension between the countries, in April 2013,” he says of the project.
On the same stand, I also liked Grace Bond’s Imprint, Bruise, Graze, a series of three shirts embroidered with each
On the Arts Uiversity of Bournemouth Visual Communications course, a team of Joshua Ogden, Callum Best, Malin Hassel, Luke Patton, and James Smith tackled the D&AD BBC brief, creating BBC Suitcase, by which users of BBC online services can customise the experience. “Think of the Suitcase as a vessel for all the sites’ content, your own personal case in which you can pack all your favourite programmes and categories. The Suitcase also automatically updates its contents so you can use it to follow stories and articles as they develop. Whether the content is new or old, with Suitcase you can engage with the BBC in a style that feels alive and relevant to you.”
A couple of projects at the University of Greenwich caught my eye: toilet roll packaging from Angela and Luca (aka We Are NOone)
And finally there was James Dyer of Huddersfield University who hooked up a keyboard to a monitor to create a ‘playable’ animation whereby a figure moved according to which key was pressed
This is just a smattering of the work on show, and I’ve treid to stick to courses that we have not already covered elsewhere on the site this year. If you are based in London, or can get there before the show closes tomorrow night (July 4), I heartily encourage you to do so. It’s a much better experience than last year with a huge amount of exciting work to see. Details here
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The July issue of Creative Review is a type special, with features on the Hamilton Wood Type Museum, the new Whitney identity and the resurgence of type-only design. Plus the Logo Lounge Trend Report, how Ideas Foundation is encouraging diversity in advertising and more
Last week the Creative Focus festival in Preston displayed work by graduates of the University of Central Lancashire. I was lucky enough to attend the Graphic Design open evening – and here are a few of my highlights…
The PR1 Gallery was filled with Mike Kirkpatrick‘s book, Words of Wisdom, a collection of interviews with Preston graduates who were asked to give feedback on their careers and time at the university. Each interview is also available to read on the graphic department’s blog, thedisciplesofdesign.co.uk.
The project is a unique collaboration between the lecturers, current students and fifty leading graphic design alumni. Spanning the last forty years the resulting document on display represents the culmination of a four-year research programme into recording the experiences, knowledge and advice of these creative professionals.
The researchers intend the resulting book to act as a touchstone, informing and inspiring all our current and future students who intend to embark on a career in the creative industries.
The spreads from the book were presented chronologically in terms of when the designer’s graduated from Preston (which is also the order the book will be printed). The design of the layout utilises the space well and allows room each interview, leaving plenty of room to display different pieces of work from the designer across two spreads.
Mike also showed a self-initiated project for the Manchester ‘one foot in the past, one foot in the future’ campaign, which uses the soles of a pair Umbro shoes as a printing device to highlight Mancunian bands from the different eras.
Naeem Mitha’s response to D&AD’s Ted Baker brief – to introduce the Ted Baker brand to a country of your choice – uses different British icons and applies them to iconic Arabian items to create a humorous and witty brand campaign. This was picked for the Creative Focus award by the University.
Jenna Chatwood chose an interesting branding project to help promote Guerrilla Gardening – a movement that works to restore and maintain neglected and ignored areas within communities.
“I decided to use positive verbs and everyday phrases, within the context of gardening,” she says, “to encourage the audience to find out more information and ultimately take action within their community. I combined this tone of voice with a rustic, ‘hands on’ look-and-feel through the rough paper textures and bold hand-stamped typography.”
Francesca De Giorgio‘s Summat t’Eyt project uses beautifully hand-crafted type and northern lingo to promote the Lancashire Food Festival.
The posters were screen-printed with bold colours to stand out against the heritage style photography. This project has been selected by the University to be shown at D&AD New Blood this week.
This identity for Benidorm Beer Festival by Josh Shaw uses the stereotypes of a Benidorm holiday go’er with a very clever use of a bottle cap.
The identity was applied to beer matts and towels in a tongue-in-cheek fashion – playing on the stereotypes of Benidorm itself.
The YCN’s winning entry for Ella’s Kitchen by Lizzie Francis uses a hands-on tool kit consisting of childrens toys and games to bring brand awareness to its stakeholders.
“Ella’s Kitchen is driven by creating good food that’s not just good for tiny tummies, but also good to all the senses, enabling children to be hands-on with the food and the packaging,” says Lizzie. “The hands-on tool kit was created to provide a learning experience for all stakeholders who come into contact with Ella’s Kitchen in any capacity.”
Another interesting project was Ric Bixter and Gary Whitworth‘s response to the D&AD Ted Baker brief – they created an advertising campaign juxtaposing Renaissance paintings and sculpture with Ted Baker clothing.
I also managed to pop my head into Advertising to find this cleverly art directed poster by Cindy Ho under the brief “go anywhere on a Brompton”.
Overall, I thought the standard of work was very high and feel Preston is continuing to produce graduates that can compete with the best. Looking at the past graduates in the Words of Wisdom book, it is clear that this set of students isin good company as they get ready to enter the big wide world of design. Good luck.
Mark Arrowsmith is a designer at Detail Creative in Manchester. The UCLan graphic design course’s website is prestondesign.co.uk and features more of the graduates’ work. They are presenting their exhibition, Scenes of a Graphic Nature, at D&AD New Blood this week and at The Basement in Manchester from July 5 – more here.
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The July issue of Creative Review is a type special, with features on the Hamilton Wood Type Museum, the new Whitney identity and the resurgence of type-only design. Plus the Logo Lounge Trend Report, how Ideas Foundation is encouraging diversity in advertising and more
In this ingenious ad for Black Sabbath’s comeback album, a poster for the band appears to emerge from layers of old flyposters that have been cut away to reveal all
“For some time, we had been fascinated by the almost endless layers of posters that cover our city walls,” says Morten Ingermann, CEO of McCann Copenhagen, the agency responsible. “What if we dug our way through them. Imagine what we could find?”
Universal Music gave McCann the opportunity to put their idea into practice when they commissioned a campaign to promote Black Sabbath’s new album, 13, the band’s first new record for decades.
“The installations were created in different sizes and shapes and we put them up at different poster sights in crowded areas of Copenhagen,” Ingermann says.
“We simulated the effect by glueing together layers of old posters and then carving out the holes by hand. It took forever but in the end we think all the hard labour paid off.”
It certainly has so far, with the posters creating a huge amount of interest online and on social media amid speculation about how they were done and by whom.
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The July issue of Creative Review is a type special, with features on the Hamilton Wood Type Museum, the new Whitney identity and the resurgence of type-only design. Plus the Logo Lounge Trend Report, how Ideas Foundation is encouraging diversity in advertising and more
Mediabistro continues to heed your cries for more design courses, and July is all about Illustrator. Over two weeks of online learning, budding ad designers will get up to speed on the software under the guidance of veteran art director Andrés Jimenez, who has designed everything from a website for the Jay-Z/Iconix clothing brand Artful Dodger to a NASCAR paint scheme for Jackson Hewitt. All we ask is that you use your newfound colors and gradients knowledge for good. As Spider Man‘s graphic designer cousin Gene once said, “With great special effects and filter skills come great responsibility.” Learn more here.
Two titles, on 19th-century images of men and women, from the Dover Archive
While London’s Dover Bookshop finally closed its doors in March, its manager Tim Matthews is now set to keep the business going as a web-only operation…
Relaunching doverbooks.co.uk this week, Matthews hopes that the creative community previously served by the Covent Garden-based shop will remain loyal to Dover online.
Founded in 1986, the physical shop was established as a base from which to sell the Pictorial Archive range of copyright-free imagery titles from US publishers Dover. We reported on the shop’s closure in February this year. Currently, an updated section of the website reads: “Due to customer demand we are continuing our web service. We are dedicated to offering an exceptional mail order service for these books.”
Despite the huge changes that have occurred in publishing and on the high street more generally, Matthews says he still sees a future for Dover’s services.
“I still firmly believe there are those who still love print, [who] still value sourcebooks and the original Dover format, and that the shop meant a lot to so many people – [as] a design community resource,” he says.
The relaunched Dover Books website is at doverbooks.co.uk. Subscribers to the former Dover Books site will be contacted by email in due course.
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The July issue of Creative Review is a type special, with features on the Hamilton Wood Type Museum, the new Whitney identity and the resurgence of type-only design. Plus the Logo Lounge Trend Report, how Ideas Foundation is encouraging diversity in advertising and more
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“I was sixteen when I traveled with my family for the first time to bella Italia. As I recall, immediately upon arriving in Milan, in the haze of jet lag and the oppressive July heat, I was struck by a billboard featuring an art nouveau rendering of a couple in a passionate embrace against an inky night sky, with just the words Baci and Perugina. I knew that baci meant kisses, though I didn’t even know what product this advertised. It didn’t matter. The woman was clearly in a swoon, and so was I. This was the pivotal moment when I fell in love all at once with Italy, type, and food. Whenever I see the iconic Baci package (though it has been ruthlessly updated over the years), it still makes me smile.”
Mediabistro continues to heed your cries for more design courses, and July is all about 
