Human Trafficking

One of the most powerful advertising stunts I have seen is one directed by Matthias Harbeck for Amnesty International, by the ad agency Serviceplan. As you can see a real woman was placed inside a transparent suitcase and was put onto busy luggage claim carousels in German Airports. Clearly labelled with Amnesty International the suitcase also read 'protest against human trafficking'. Picked up by 58 different newspapers and magazines, Amnesty Internationals hard-hitting approach was not one to go unnoticed.

Rucksack Time

Ive literally been looking for a rucksack for ages now, and I keep on seeing people wearing really nice ones, but I'm yet to find one. And the ones I do seem to like are a ridiculous price. These are some of my favourites Ive seen whilst stalking other blogs, would preferably like a leather one, but definitetly wouldnt turn down a Chanel rucksack if there's any cheap ones knocking about. Going to Berlin in just over a week and I could really do with one (to look like the ultimate tourist) whilst wondering the streets, anyone know where I could get a cheap leather rucksack from?

Miniature Worlds

About a month ago I saw a book that consisted of work by Christopher Boffoli and his 'Disparity' collection. Photographer, filmmaker and artist, his work has appeared in newspapers, magazines and online publications around the world. I remember seeing his work and being instantly amused by the simplicity of his ideas. The Seattle based designer creates miniature representations of everyday scenes using tiny figures and humorous captions. Really clever idea that has been displayed in various galleries across the US.

Heatherwick Studio

With visual merchandising becoming more ellaborate by the minute its no wonder artists, architects

and designers are commissioned to design the next big thing. Harrods, Anthropologie and Shabby Chic are just a few that continue to wow me with their attention to detail. Although one brand that has been successfully creating windows to admire for years has been Harvey Nichols. Here I found this display, Autumn Intrusion designed by Heatherwick Studio in 1997. The installation was a single 200m long, veneered wooden element, woven through the façade and rising up the building, engaging with both the architecture and the street. Taking the team 6 months to construct, they later won the D&AD Gold Award selected from a field of 14,000 entries. It's interesting to see that such an impressive display was designed 15 years ago, sometimes the best are the old ones.

If your interested in installations and architecture check out Heatherwick Studio online,

they have some really inspirational stuff - http://www.heatherwick.com/

Somers Town

For years my Dad threatened to buy school books for Christms and dare I say it, this year was the first where I actually quite appreciated the idea. I got books on branding, typography and illustration, but my favourite by far is Guerilla Advertising 2 by Gavin Lucas. The book highlights some of the best creative advertising I have seen, one of which being Somer Town.

Here's a trailer for the feature film Somer Town developed by Mother advertising agency for the Eurostar. Directed by Shane Meadows whose previous works include This Is England, the film tells a story of a young runaway from Nottingham who arrives in London and makes friends with Marek, a polish teenager whose father is working on building the Eurostar terminal. The two boys bond together and fall for a french waitress working in Kings Cross cafe. Towards the end of the film the boys travel to Paris (by Eurostar) in search of the waitress who has returned to france.

What's so refreshing about this piece of film is there is no overbearing Eurostar branding, no logo and not even a mention in the opening credits. They only feature in the small print on the films promotional poster, yet the train forms part of the story. I am aware that brands funding feature films isnt a new idea, but this is so subtly done, its worth writing about. Hat's off to Mother for producing such an effective piece of advertising.

New year, new goals

With the start of 2012 finally here, its time for me to think about my goals for the year. 

Yes as sad as that may sound, these past three months have flown by and I want to make the most of this next year. With the obvious, loose weight and keep on top of work goals, something I'd really like to progress in is photography. I really enjoy doing it when I have time, I just don't do it enough. I recently bought the publication Frankie, an independent Australian  magazine that covers art, photography, fashion, craft and design. The whole feel to the magazine is refreshing, so I visited their on line website which is where I found this really sweet photo. Jessie Alymore explains how to make shapes in the areas of your photos that are out of focus. Its things like this that make me want to play around with my camera more and start producing my own style of photography. First on my to do list for 2012 is to join a photography class.

drawn.

A few months ago I said I would do an illustration a month for my blog and with my never ending work

load at uni, I've literally not had time. So with it being the holidays I've finally had chance to make my second illustration just focussing on line drawing. Im quite interested in portrait graphics at the moment and want to start exploring different techniques and styles around this area.