Run away baby

While watching TV, adverts hit and I found myself watching the a random advert on TV.
It's only a short 41 second advert where a couple are loading their car at a supermarket and have their young toddler in the trolley, before you know it turns into a run away trolley and in traveling down a road. The father runs after it tackling obstacles and just before the trolley hit the stairs he stops it!
When he turns around you see him holding a box of Kellog's Crunchy Nut, I was quite disappointed as should have realised it was a Crunchy Nut advert.

The only thing that bothered me about this is advert is that is it really saying that people should or do care more about a cereal than their own child? ( even though I know it would ever happen).

I thought their previous advert when it starts raining and the guy takes his laptop out his of bag to take shelter and save his Kellog's box was actually quite amusing, as you know have obsessive business people are over their laptops and would probably never happen!

I'm not so sure the best route was to use a baby, is just me or is the message they are trying to depict slight wrong?

Craig Ward- words are pictures

I came across this amazing piece of typography on another blog . The paper cut illustration was done by London-based artist Craig Ward .This is an A1 paper cut illustration, which took the artist 11 hours to complete, I believe was well worth it as I haven't seen such innovative and imaginative typography like this before.
Craig ward is a senior designer and typographer at New Yorks Grey , he has worked for some highly recognisable companies such as BMW,Lexus, MTV.com and Creative Review.
His website www.wordsarepictures.co.uk ( I urge you to check out his website even the website has a twsit) depicts his exact thoughts he believes typography is art.

His work with typography is extremely inspiring he has created some true masterpieces and made me want to use tyopgraphy in its raw element and not use it to support images.
Below are a few of my favourites:

Be careful you don't catch a virus from networking

I came across this animation video, It's a video that was uploaded by esayteam ( January 2009). I clicked on the link and found that www.esay-uk.com is aa e-commerce shopping website with a social marketplace where you can log on, create a profile and be part of forums.

The video has a little intro:
Are you addicted to social networking? then be careful not to max out and be careful who you interact with, you never know what you may catch.

The video is basically a short skit to encourage awareness of 'practicing safe shopping online' which is a play on the common known phrase' practicing safe sex'.

It's a funny little video set at a gynecologists surgery, it uses social networking sites and social networking tools such as' poking' on facebook as a form of STD or virus that may catch by not practicing safe online shopping'

I think its a good way of using a common underlying issues of sexually transmitted disease and and using this theme to reiterate the danger of social networking ( which is also pretty common in the younger generation) and putting a humorous twist on it.

The phenomenon that is FACEBOOK!

Social networking has seem to become quite a big interest of mine as it has become such a quick and largely growing industry phenomenon.
I've highlighted Mark Elliot Zuckerberg facebook ( launched in 2004) as I've never been one for sharing all my details with random people online but even I find myself using it!

I remember when I started University ( 3 years ago) teachers and students suggest we all join this website as it was not a public networking site but a private network mainly for university students, so I thought yeah why not it;s a good way of getting in touch people on my course etc.

Since those three years it has become a world wide public site and anyone of any age can join( so yeah its like any other social networking site)!
Well no, the speed in which facebook has grown is immense in comparison to similair sites such as bebo and myspace which have been around for years. The publicity facebook has developed is massive, I think this is only website that has developed mass awareness in a positive way. I would say its one of the most most popular and commonly used site with people having their parents as friends!

Even having a separate facebook application on the iphone and blackberry goes over my head.





Large companies, organisations and business's are using facebook as a platform for promotion and advertising with links like ' find us on facebook' and setting up their own facebook groups and pages which allowing the general public to 'join' groups or 'become' fans.


Ive seen facebook used in product placement through different forms of media, through song a more commonly the TV. For example I was watching Hollyoaks ( not the most broad porgram, I know) and they were discussing facbook updates.




I often find myself hearing and reading terms such as 'facebooking' ' facebook stalking' and 'facebook raped'. When did something like rape become a part of popular culture?

I've got a few questions that I think I need to research

Is some like facebook and social networking going to take over meeting up with someone and having a real chat face to face?
What is peoples need to social networking?
Is it craze or do people have a real dependancy to it, if so why?
Is social networking bringing about a whole new language?

Social media in plain english.

leelefever and it is described as:

A short explanation of social networking websites and why they are popular.
This video comes in an unbranded "presentation quality" version that can be licensed for use in the workplace.
Its a a 3.44 minutes video is a creative and simple video outlining the principles of social medialeelefever Twitter in plain English
Social networking in plain English
World wide web in plain English

Take a look at their website www.commoncraft.com to view the other presentations.

When graphic artists get bored ( photoshop manipulation)

I came across this random video post on youtube, all of the images used on the video are photoshop manipulated images that can be found on www.worth1000.com.
I did try looking for the artists who created them on the website but there's such a vast amount of images on the site and had no luck.

To be honest to person who posted it arsap hasn't really done much work apart from collate some images together, none the less the final outcome is an amazing slideshow of very quirky, unique and well executed photoshop manipulations.

I think this may need to be an art I need to familiarise myself with as some of the images are so unreal.
There's some real imagination that has gone into them, not even thinking about the time taken to do this but I think the artist must take real pride in their work as some of the manipulated images look so real.
Seeing images like these has made me want to learn these technical skills and restored my faith in creating art for the fun of it.

Modern art

I came across a blog about modern art by a guy called Dave Munger

"Today we decided to do something different and headed for the Georges Pompidou Center, where the national galleries of modern art are housed. Some fascinating stuff there, including some works which attempted to question the very nature of art itself. Jim was particularly perplexed by this piece:"

The 'modern art' consists of three plain white panels hung on the wall. The artist says that the colour white represents nothing at all.

I've been to the Georges Pompidou Center myself ( it was a few years ago) but I do remember seeing some very creative and fascinating pieces of modern art that evoke emotion and cause a general stir.

So how is hanging three white canvasses on a wall art?

I know art is meant to be interpreted in many different forms, expressive and can be pretty random. But isn't this being pure lazy?

I used to love painting and seeing something like this has inspired my to actually want to create meaningful art, something that a lot of thought an depth has gone into. A piece of work to be proud of.

Urban Art

I came across another blog where I found some very interesting images of urban grafitti photography courtesy of PhotoSIG.Visit the website on www.photosig.com to take a look at some really great photos from everyday photographers.

Graffitti has been an interest of mine, yes I know it is illegal and can be distructive, but it can also create some amazingly emotional pieces of artwork.
The graffitti ( done by unknown artists) is so raw and intense, which I feel is what real art is all about. Something that is created in a moment of raw passion that could probably not be created again.

I love urban art and the sub culture that graffitti has created, I feel there is real colour culture that can be seen through a lot of street art that you would never see in a art museum. If we could consider every surface medium are place as a blank canvass I think that some underground artist's would be abe create some pretty amazing artwork.
personally seeing some graffitti that you can see has been really though about and worked on is more inticing and though provoking than seeing a piece of 'modern art'

Oxford and Keeble College

I recently visited Oxford for the first time even though it’s only down the road. I absolutely fell in love with the place; it's a beautiful place with so much character and history. I was a complete tourist and decided to go on the open top bus tour, it was pretty great though I got to see some the most historical parts of Oxford and learnt some interesting facts.

Take a look at the building that houses starbucks, I've never seen one with so much character!













I also loved the old sign posts, I know its a pretty random thing to notice but its small details like these that I think personally makes a place historic, its gives it a sort of grandeur and elegance instead of the standard boring sign post with missing letters of chipped paint that you will see in most places.










A friend of mine was working at Keeble College ( Oxford University Halls) so I had a quick peek around the main grounds. As soon as you walk through the main doors you enter the college gardens, which was an experience in its own it had a well landscaped grass middle with lowering steps with the main building surrounding it. I love the way the layout of the building and grounds was designed it creates a real atmosphere, as if you have just walked into a scene from and old movie and left real life behind.
Below are a few shots of the Keeble College grounds:

Twilight

I finally decided to watch Twilight to see what all the fuss and hype was about, I hate lovey dovey movies especially teen flicks ( which basically sums up twilight ). It was what i expected from a highschool vampire movie , the anticipation between the two lead characters 'Bella' and 'Edward Cullen' was depicted pretty well though, it's encouraged me to read the book series.

The reason I'm blogging about the movie isn't quite the story line but some of the amazing locations and scene's which the movie was shot in.
After doing a bit of research I found that most of the scenes were filmed in St. Helens and Oregon.

One of my favourite locations is the Cullens house Sherwood, Oregon. An architectural masterpiece in its own, hidden amoungst the woods ( A pretty cool place to live).
The forest/ tree landscape that was used through out most of the movie ( where Edward and Bella's relationship flourishes) is what initially caught my attention, it looks as if it is surreal along with the muted colours in the final execution gave the movie a eerie and dark feel.


The photography , camera operation and the colorisation has made it a pretty good looking film with muted colors and the wide landscape shots makes the overall execution one that is quite mesmerising and earee.

In my eye's being able to capture amazing scenery like this is what has made the movie an enticing one to watch.

Silve Tree Sculpture

Above are some images of a silver tree that is in the centre of slough high street, something that I often passed and had never really noticed until I looked up one day.
It's a massive steel structure about 10- 12 feet tall with coloured steel birds hanging from the branches.
On some of the leaves, which unfortunately are quite hard to read are parts of poems written in many different languages ranging from English, Punjabi, Arabic, Urdu and Tamil. I think its quite an inspiring way of bringing all native tongues of all diverse communities in Slough together in one one way. It's not a sculpture that is trying to make a statement but a subtle way of welcoming being from all backgrounds.

By Lauren Luke

I know its not an inspiring piece of art but I think it's inspiring to see how a regular woman has got the opportunity of a life time and created a career out of setting up make- up tutorials through using viral online media ( youtube).
She has been approach but one the the largest cosmetics brand Barry M (who are well knows for their use of colour and artistic flair) to complete on-line tutorials for their website.

She is now a celebrity in the cosmetic business and has now launched her own make- up brand Lauren Luke and has her own website www.bylaurenluke.com where she has designed pallets that create individual looks ( supporting the tutorials she originally uploaded on youtube).

I'm also liking the artwork on her website and her make-up brand, its fresh and funky instead of being professional and expensive, I think the reason why she's such a hit is because she's an average joe doing something she loves, I like the idea of aspiring to something that is real and not out of reach

District 9

Saw it today, incredible. By far the most impressive film I've watched all year, surpassed my expectations by miles , this may be because there wasn't a massive hype and I didn't know too much about the movie apart from it involved aliens.

This film is a science fiction move that takes a real world problem of "Slums" and looks at it in a new and inventive way, the alien's are treated as if they are immigrants instead of some crazy race that is trying to kill the human race (so predictable). I was extremely pleasantly surprised.

I like the fact the film has a real plot a story, between man an alien instead of using a leading female sex symbol to lure a larger audience ( which I think most films do these days).
Overall an absolutely superb film, hat's off to producer Peter Jackson's and the Director Neil Blomkamp written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell. I will definitely be watching it again.

Check out the trailer below if you haven't already seen it, I would definitely recommend it:

Telling Tales

Fantasy and Fear in Contemporary Design- it is the work of of a new generation if international designers, it was inspired by the spirit of story- telling through decorative devices, historical illusions and a choice of materials.

The exhibition is in three sections:
The Forest Glade is inspired by fantasy and nature evoking the spirit of fairy tales. The Enchanted Castle exaggerates and parodies historical design styles often associated with displays of status. Heaven and Hell is concerned with themes of mortality and the afterlife. The exhibition has its own own micro site www.vam.ac.uk/microsites/telling-tales/

The micro site allows the audience to interact and click on different section of the exhibition, the integrated flash components allows the user to explore a virtual version of the exhibition . Check out the " tell a tale" section, I think it's a great way of getting peoples imaginative flowing and integrating different ideas.
Unfortunately it doesn't have any real images of the furniture
displayed ( a great way of making the audience go to the
exhibiton and see it first hand), the pieces were so imaginative and elaborately designed, each section has sound as you walk into each area creating and enchanting atmosphere.

I managed to get one extremely blurry shot of the one of the pieces of furniture in the Forest Glade section before I got shouted at for having my camera out.

The artists are inspiring in the way of they childhood fairytales and turned them into furniture, I really enjoyed it.

Hay bales

I know this a pretty random thing to be 'inspired' by but every time I'm on the train I often pass masses and masses of fields with randomly places circular hay bales. I find them quite interested, I mean what a cool way of harvesting I knows its probably not intentional but I think they look pretty funky just sitting there.

I think someone could create something pretty inventive using some of these, a bit of ambient media maybe?
While researching I haven't found anything that inspiring done with them apart from creating a massive corn maze. Sever Peterson and his wife Sharon decided to build mazes in their hometown of Shakopee, they even host a corn maze and fall festival.
I know its a little bit country, but I still think something cool could be created with the bales.

High speed photography

High-speed photography is a way to capture the images that we don’t often get to see. So many amazing things happen in an instant – moving too quickly for us to see more than a blur and the aftermath. Using clever equipment and quick shutters, these photographers freeze time and illuminate one single critical moment. If they time it just right, high-speed photographers can catch a moment of impact, explosion, or surprising movement – and it makes for incredible art.
http://weburbanist.com/2008/10/09/high-speed-photographers-and-photos/

















An Artist that I particularly like the work if is Stefan’s high-speed photographs combine the sophistication of fine art and the fun of watching stuff explode. The b hand model in many of his pictures holds items which are then shot with a gun. The resulting images are impressive and fascinating. Being able to capture some in a second has resulted in some very inspiring work, I would really like to give this a go, being able to produce an image this is as penetrating as his work.

GOSH

I really love the way the make- brand gosh has managed to bring so much like an artist flair to the everyday retail consumer. They use a face as a blank canvass, the consistency of the colour is strong and potent.
They've pushed the boundaries of going for the typical pretty,dewy girl next door look that many make -up brands support instead going for a much more edgey, funky campaign. They bring a bit more vibrance to the industry quite an inspiring way of breaking the mould of highstreet trends.
They seem to support a sort of futurists style, please see below some really great examples of using art in every form of daily life:




















Seeing the use of artist flair an colour used makes me want to explore more using different mediums and the need to experiment more with everyday objects and imagining everything as a blank canvass. Do not shy away from using real colour. Check out there website at www.goshcosmetics.com/

Stop motion

The PEN story is a stop motion animation, OLUMPUS wrote :

This is the PEN Story in stop motion. We shot 60.000 pictures, developed 9.600 prints and shot over 1.800 pictures again. No post production! Thanks to all the stop motion artists who inspired us. We hope you enjoy :-)

The reason I'm posting this is because I didn't really know what it is was, but I've noticed it has become increasingly popular advertising tool especially for large companies.
It's something that I now really want to try as it is so effective and you can use stop motion is many different ways.
I just need to dedicate myself to creating a meaningful stop motion production.

Below are a few other cool stop motion productions that caught my eye:

8 bit trip (music video):






PSP commercial

Rotunda Chandelier- Dale Chihuly

I visited the V& A Exhibition is London, while I was in the foyer I looked up and saw the most amazingly awesome, unusual and coolest Chandelier - I have ever seen in my life( no exaggeration).

I've never seen anything like it, the sheer size first hit me, it fill the two story high ceiling foyer entrance. It is made entirely of blown glass and held together using steel.
Instead of rambling on about the detail I though it would be better coming from the exhibition experts:Unfortunatley the images I took don't really seem to do it much justice, but honestly it is one of the coolest things I had seen through the whole exhibition.
I would definitely suggest just having a little wonder into the reception area to get a glance of this
Dale Chihuly is a very dedicated, talented sculpture and artists to have even though of something like this, then execute something so ridiculously amazing.

It is truly inspiring, I love it!

Artwork in Slough highstreet

It incorporates designs developed by artist Bhajan Hunjan, through workshops with Fusion, a local dance company for young people.

Poetry from around the world is being hand carved on sections of granite - in the paving, around trees and on the granite plinths and benches.

Throughout the High Street there are 10 poems carved into the granite in languages representing many of the communities who have chosen to make their home in Slough – Welsh, Punjabi, Urdu, Arabic, Polish, Caribbean French, Iranian, Hebrew, Mandarin and Turkish.

Each poem is carved in its original language alongside an English translation.

Artist Alec Peever said: “When poets write, their poems are normally printed in books but now the poems have been carved and are a permanent fixture there to be read every day.

One of the main pieces of poetry in the centre square, I walked past in many times but actually took the time out to read it, Below is a video below :

it reads: Far far away on a distant planet
There lies a stone unseen untouched
It can be seen only with closed eyes
As you see your loved ones
Amarjit Chandan – Punjabi

It's a inspiring way of bringing people from many different backgrounds together to show the diverse range of culture's that reside in one community.

Relentless

For some reason I seem to really like the design on the relentless packaging, there's a number of reason why I'm drawn to it, with the main reason being the elaborately serifed Gothic typeface with is pretty unusual thing to see on a drinks can . The can has a distinctive dark brown colouring, showing the muscles of a human's neck/head/shoulder area( which I only noticed while doing some research into the drink) in the stlye of the 1800 medical illustration.
It is marketed to provide continuing energy with the slogan of "No Half Measures" (a reference to the can size, which is twice that of a standard redbull 250ml ) but The Coca-Cola Company implies it refers to an encouragement not to settle for less than your best, which is pretty cheeky way of getting a rise Redbull retaliated and bumped their can size up to 330ml.




The can design was "inspired by the attitude and artistry found within the world of core action sport and modern punk rock".
I think the reason I'm writing about relentless because its something that caught my eye, I quite like the gothic style yet edgey style, it is not your typical energy drink label. They normally are quite bold, basic and down to the point. I think its always a cool thing to pull away from the ordinary, instead of playing it safe I think coca- cola went for something a bit different and quirky, personally I like the style of the artwork its intricate yet not overpowering.

Quiet Revolution- A Hayward Touring Exhibiton

Quiet revolution is a exhibition that brings together international artists who use everyday objects to create poetic, lo-tech inventions that explore how we can transform and be transformed into our surroundings.

It plays on the principles of public perception of the qualities of regular day to day common place object, that I think results in quite a random exhibition which as first glance looks as if not that much thought or effort has gone into it, but once it is explored is quite and interesting and makes the audience question each piece and I think it can all be interpreted in your own way.

At first I didn't really think much of the exhibition as it just looks like random objects placed together the create 'art' but I think the randomness of the placing of the objects is what intrigued me, making me want to explore how each individual will interpret something in a different way.


Below are some examples of some of the pieces:

Lydall Phelps - The pigeon Archive

This is an exhibition I visited in the Milton Keynes Gallery which is a presentation a new body of work by the Australian - born aritist Lyndall Phelps.
The Pigeon Archive explores the little known yet highly significant role pigeons played in the First and Second World Wars. The Archive documents, through photography, video and sculpture, the re-enactment of pigeon manoeuvres using re-constructed wartime equipment. When I first saw what the exhibition entailed I didn't think it would be very interested but looking at the amount of dedication and research that has gone into each individual piece I was impressed with the discipline that Phelps has demonstrated.
An example of the artist's depth into research is when three replica transport cases are crafted as well and thirty- two brown oil harnesses that the pigeon would have worn to carry secret information. Each individual harness was meticulously handmade by Phelps resulting in a very detailed piece of work.


One of the pieces that I though was particularly interesting was the enigmatic film made by the artist in 2008 in which a light- weight surveillance camera is strapped to a pigeon and then released in flight over Cambridgeshire, which was once littered with military air traffic. The film results in a dizzy, spiraling documentation of the landscape in the very motion of the bird.
I really liked the way this piece interacts with the audience, it is quite hard on the eyes as it is a continuous motion but I found myself watching it, I captured some of the film in the video link below.





Overall I found the exhibition very interested and inspiring, I like the way the artists has taken a not very well known or even interesting subject and interpreted it in their own way resulting in an exhibition of intricacy and devotion which is informative and educational.

Take a look at her website at www.lyndallphelps.com to see the exhibition and some of her other projects.

Animator v.s Animation

This is a great and quirky animation, it's so inventive is must has take ages but it is very effective and extremely funny!

Social Media

When a young singer used United Airlines as a means of travel, traveling with him was his beloved guitar. During the flight his guitar very badly handled and cost him over $12,000 to restore it back to its original condition..
So instead of a complaint letter, the band "Sons of Maxwell" decided to post a music video about the experience and the destruction of his guitar it was aimed at United Airlines .



According to the BBC United Airlines Stock is down 180 Million dollars this only goes to prove that bad cutomer service costs you in the end.
I along with companies didn't realise how strong and influential the power of online media can be .
Media through press and TV on its own if a very powerful thing and can help the growth or demise of anything they please, but I think now with this new information business will be more aware.

When i came to work today I overhead some of my colleagues discussing the song and forwarding the youtube links to one another. Its amazing to see how something like this can spread so quickly the resources are so readily available through the internet.
Yes it is word of mouth, but now is is so easy to know what is going on socially and quickly check it out on the internet instead of having to read a newspaper or what the TV.
Most people in this modern era use the internet, people rely on it as a daily dose of gossip, if its not through the computer its on their blackberry or iphone.
I do wonder what society would do if they only had basic amenities would they be able to survive?

Yell.com 118 247

I'm currently working on a a placement with Yellow pages so I am always intrigued to see what new material they release.

When the new 118 247 advert was released I didn't know what to think.
I did a bit of research and found that it features Magic Trevor which is basically a character that shot to internet stardom by featuring on the weebl website.
See the link below to see some of his early stuff :

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/magical+trevor/

IF you check out the youtube reviews I found people either absolutely love it totally hate iit!

I find it so very very clever, it may be annoying but annoyance sells as it gets in your head and gets your talking even if it may be negative, its a matter of gaining brand awareness which I think Yell achieves with this advert.

Did anyone else have this catchy tune in their head?