Bloomberg Businessweek Cover

I love it. A lot.

The use of space, the illustration (http://www.nishantchoksi.com/) the 2 tone colours, the typographic layout. Just brilliant! Had to post it up even though it’s from last year (Dec 2010).

This is why I love Honda…

Over the past few years Honda’s ads have been some of the best out there; either online, through print or through TV commercials. So here is a quick post on all the lovely stuff Honda have been producing and why I love them so much!

1. 

I could watch this over and over again with the sound turned up to max volume!! It’s set in Barcelona (the city I adore!!) and it reminds me of summer, heat and excitement! I first saw this ad in the cinema and it was amazing; especially with the bass at the end of the ad! The type is simple and the way that they have used sound, colour and speed to structure the ad and to explain the cars’ 3 modes is very well done. By far my favourite!

2.

Another successful ad with lots of layers! The music goes very well with the whole structure and feel of the ad. Compared to the CR-Z ad this ad shows what the company experiments in and what it manufactures; hence the phrase ‘Everything we do goes into everything we do’ meaning you can learn one thing and take it into something else. Well constructed ad again by Wieden + Kennedy in London!

3. 

Starting to see a pattern now; they always target the viewers emotions and the emotions of what it would feel like to drive a Honda vehicle. Then again most successful ads target the emotion now (e.g. John Lewis’ Christmas ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSLOnR1s74o ). Nothing wrong with it at all though! Emotions are good! Anyway this ad picks up every little detail and makes it something exciting and amazing! A very clever ad that gives you those all important goose bumps!

4.

Here’s 3 recent print ads from Honda; Honda Fish, Honda Spoons and Honda Corn. They are simple and subtle but I think they really do work. The simple stage by stage layout with the text overprinted onto each image works well. The info text at the end is also different only slightly because of its angle but’s it’s intriguing enough to grab the readers attention along with the content. Another great set of ads from Honda; plus I wanted to put them online as I couldn’t find any examples online… These were taken from October, November and December’s issue’s of Car magazine. (Honda Lightbulb ad is here too: http://www.bestadsontv.com/files/print/2011/May/36446_honda1_0.jpg)

5. 

A brilliantly cheerful ad! Not much to say on this apart from it being a very upbeat positive advert about hating something and deciding to change it! A lesson we should all remember throughout life!

6. 

I’m sure we all wonder whether this actually happened in one take or not; but if it did then wow! A very captivating ad, that is very experimental and clever! Just brilliant! Even when it gets to the point that you think, for example, the tyre isn’t going to go far enough it does. (A similar ad just recently is the FedEx Dominoes ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Tlv02a0-xQk worth a quick look if you have time!)

7. 

Along side the print ads this is the most recent ad by Honda; The Experiment Challenge. Had a go and it’s similar to The Cog ad but you can do it yourself simply by moving the windows around. Again it’s an experimental piece that gets you talking and sharing it around twitter! Try it here: http://www.experimentgame.com/ but just make sure you have enough RAM on your computer or it might slow down… There’s a post on the Creative Review Blog here too: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2011/november/the-honda-experiment

So, all in all Honda experiment, they challenge, they play with your emotions (in a positive way!) and they create some bloody good advertising material! Wieden + Kennedy London is the agency mainly responsible for these creative ads so well done to them (if there are others then please correct me…) If there are other ad’s I have missed off then I shall add them! Thanks for reading if you managed to get this far

Neil Barret Ad (i-D Magazine Fall 2011)

Loved this ad in i-D’s magazine (no. 315). It has nothing to do with his designs but it’s still an effective and interesting ad. Then again the style and oddness of the ad gives me a feel of what his designs may possibly be like; you don’t always have to show the product to attract people.

Naïve: Modernism and Folklore in Contemporary Graphic Design

This has to be one of the best books I have EVER purchased!! I love the content so much! The name does sum up some of the work though, but in a very good way; and I feel that my work is also quite naive so perhaps this is why I love it so much!! Lots of screen-printed textures, overprints, illustrations, lots of colour, handmade textures, posters and fun graphic design elements are featured in this book. Get it here.

Orange Film To Go advert (i Paper – 13/10/11)

One of the best ad’s I’ve seen at the minute is this Orange ad. I think this is one great way companies can cut costs on advertising, make there adverts more interesting/curious and play around with the format; then again it may have cost orange more money because of the awkward format. Besides it’s a great ad and I felt I had to share it! Even the character jumping down at the end, all the black space and the way in which the ad is like a journey in it’s self works fluently and runs well.

UPDATE: Just seen that YCN’s Fernando Volken Togni is the creator of these fun illustrations! There’s an article on the YCN website here (about this particular ad – ’3:10 to Yuma’ ) and here (with all of the orange ads). 

Here’s another example from American Express. This ad isn’t as interesting but still it’s more than just a 4 sided boxed ad in the corner of the paper and it stands out more than others.

I love Rose Wylie’s shoes!

…and her work! Wish everyone wore these shoes. Brilliant.

Sorry I haven’t posted properly within a month either…

Daily Express panicing as usual…

This is exactly why I do not buy this paper. Below are some front page ‘headlines’ from this week’s Daily Express newspapers. Really? Headlines? I know I usually post about design and other creative stuff on here but I felt like I needed to post something about it. I’m sure it will get really cold but they are just taking it to the extreme. There is too much panic in the world as it already is. Anyway. Rant over

By the way my parents get the Express not me. I’ll stick to my i Paper thanks.

Same ad, different company…

Whilst I was reading the i Newspaper on Friday 12th August, I saw this John Lewis ad for the Apple iPad 2 (p.8) and then a few pages later a Comet ad for the iPad 2 (p.18); both with exactly the same image and body text. I suppose Apple have strict guidelines when it comes to other companies advertising their products. See for yourself below:

‘One of the first’ (Virgin Media)

Received this offer from Virgin Media quite a while ago. Loved the idea of the ticket and being ‘first in line’ for Virgin Media’s new TiVo Box. Had to post it:

ABSOLUT WATKINS – Traveler’s Exclusive

My sister brought this back from Greece today! Here’s a limited edition bottle from Swedish vodka maker Absolut. This flavour features spiced coffee and almond flavours with a bit of chilli; and it doesn’t taste bad if you love coffee! It’s about €21 and can only be bought in duty free stores @ airports. The design is by Liselotte Watkins (hence the name) and more of her work can be found here. More info on the bottle here.