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May 21, 2009

I'd say Colors

SPD 44 GALA: Screentest from SPD Videos on Vimeo.

What's your favorite magazine in the world? This is one of the questions the guys from SPD asked creative directors and editors in this video. Check minute 2:44 and, in case you agree with Criswell Lappin as much as I do, come and pay us a visit.

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ReBlogged by barbara on May 21, 2009 at 08:33 AM | Comments (0)

Animals on the Underground

And there is more! Thanks to Yiying Lu.
(via Giu!)

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May 19, 2009

Change You Can Copy

Obama's campaing website (left), Netanyahu's (right)

Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Barack Obama at the White House to discuss Mideast peace talks, Iran's nuclear program and the U.S.-Israeli relationship. Since being elected, this was the first time the two had met, however judging from their previous websites, their campaign advisors had been eying each others work for quite sometime.

“Imitation is the greatest form of flattery,” noted Ron Dermer, one of Mr. Netanyahu’s top campaign advisers. “We’re all in the same business, so we took a close look at a guy who has been the most successful and tried to learn from him. And while we will not use the word ‘change’ in the same way in our campaign, we believe Netanyahu is the real candidate of change for Israel.”

As stated by Mr. Dermer, this was a direct and intentional copy, a way of towing on a successful campaign, and for Netanyahu, it worked. But the more the world has become enamored with the success story of the Obama campaign, the more politicians are intentionally lifting pieces for their own campaigns (or at least creating questionaby similar content).

Of course, during the U.S. elections there were accusations of John McCain and Hillary Clinton appropriating Obama's look and verbiage in effort to attract votes. But take for instance Walter Veltroni’s slogan, “Yes we can,” used in the 2008 Italian prime ministerial election, or the recent unveiling of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejads re-election slogan,“We Can.“

In the UK you find dueling Obamas. The Tory leader, David Cameron, adopting the mottos "plan for change, sign for change, and vote for change" and Gordon Brown calling on Labour to copy Obama's “people-powered” campaign.

Last year when the South African Democratic Alliance re-launched itself as a "party of government“, many said their new signature “beared a striking resembalance to Barack Obama's election campaign logo“, though the Democratic Alliance insists there was no conscious copying.

In the corporate world, the new Pepsi logo (The Arnell Group) has been accused of being an Obama knock-off as well as their hope ad campaign (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY). Just do a web search for “Obama Marketing.“ You'll find page after page outlining what the campaign did right, and how you and your business should learn and profit from imitation.

This begs the question of how long this phenomenon will last and how long will people be comparing every marketing or political effort to Obama's presidential run.

In my view, Obama's win was primarily rooted in his actions, the content of his speeches and debates, and his stated desires for the U.S. and the world. Don't get me wrong, his identity design and slogans helped immensely, especially his strategy of raising funds and organizing supporters.

Let's just remember It's hard to sell a bad product no matter how good the package looks. Simply copying the Obama vanier isn't a sound strategy. After all, one of the Obama campaign's biggest advantages was that, at the time, he was quite different, tonally and viscerally. Let that be the lesson.

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sci-fi tearing it up

(via andy)

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Bryce Licht is in the building

Here is a bright smile, large shoulders and a perfect hair cut. Here is Bryce Licht, the quaterback of the football team you had in your high school, coming from Colorado, US. His sociabilisation in Fabrica didn't take as long as obtaining his Visa, and the happiness he brought in make me think "thank you America! Thank you For sending us this graphic designer badass angel". (introduction by Alize!)

How did you come to learn about Fabrica?
I bought my first issue of COLORS on my way down to Chile in 2004. I was studying Spanish literature at the time, but I was slowly shifting to design and photography. Somewhere among the last pages was an ad that said ‘wanted creativity’. Divine intervention, an epiphany, whatever you want call it, but around that time it occurred to me that it might be fun to work in a creative field. So, I dropped out of school, changed to an art school where I majored in graphic design, sent my portfolio to Fabrica, and here I am.

What have you been doing before now?
I was a graphic designer at a small advertising agency (www.tdaadvertising.com) in Boulder, Colorado. It was fun.

What do you expect to get out of this experience?

I'm looking forward to meeting / collaborating with creative people from all over the world. I want to learn Italian so I can say, 'ciao vecchio!' and sound cool. (grazie Lorenzo)

What will you miss from home?
Friends, family, and the mountains. And my sister's dog Luna. It took me two years to build her trust to the point where she stopped barking at me. I'm going to have to start from scratch when I get back.

Anything else you'd like to share with us?
Gabo and I found a bike at the train station. It's black and old and it was abandoned–I hope.
Also, it took me five months to get a visa. FIVE MONTHS!!!! (read: I'm really happy to finally be here)

Check Bryce's work here

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May 16, 2009

Imaginaires and Exquisite Clock

Fabrica goes to New York, with a fabulous mash up of ceramics, drawing and old computers. Here's a sneak preview of Joao Wilbert's Exquisite Clock in the interactive studio at Fabrica. The gorgeous cabbage ceramics are by M. Sam Baron. The show will be on at the New Museum, New York from the 14th to the 18th May, 2009

exquisite clock fabrica from andy j cameron on Vimeo.

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May 11, 2009

Massive Karaoke

For the latest chapter of T-Mobile's ‘Life's for Sharing’ campaign, Saatchi & Saatchi brought karaoke out of the traditional pub circuit we know and love and onto an altogether grander stage–London's Trafalgar Square. The event drew a crowd of thousands who all joined in the mass-karaoke sing-along.

In response to a teaser campaign, the event saw hordes of people gather in Trafalgar Square, unaware of what awaited them. They were all there eager to be a part of the much anticipated follow-up to T-Mobile’s ‘Dance’ in Liverpool Street Station earlier this year.

No less than 2,000 microphones were handed round for people to share, while live images of the crowd were projected onto huge screens. Then the music started and the crowd belted out a choice of karaoke classics as commuters and passers-by could not help but join in.

When one lone voice was isolated, global pop sensation, Pink, was found in amongst the masses, singing her favourite song, Janis Joplin’s ‘Piece Of My Heart’. After the compere, Vernon Kay, persuaded her to lead the crowd in her hit ‘So What’, Pink joined in the rendition of ‘Hey Jude’ and then disappeared into the thick of it all as quickly as she had appeared. [via Taxi Design Network]

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May 08, 2009

Toilet Signs from Around the World

I love seeing and photographing bathroom signs and pictograms during my travels. Signs can often surprise you and tell you a good deal more about the culture and you anticipate. Check out these Flickr groups dedicated to bathroom/toilet signage from around the world.

Restroom Signs
Bathroom Signs
Gender Signs

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ReBlogged by Joshua Levi on May 8, 2009 at 03:06 PM | Comments (0)

Flags By Color

In his Flags By Color project, Shahee Ilyas uses a list of countries generated by The World Factbook along with the world's national flag images fetched from Wikipedia to produce a series of charts that break down the color proportions for each flag. These proportions of color are then displayed in a single chart revealing the color proportions of all of the flags of the world combined. This project was generated entirely with script.

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ReBlogged by Joshua Levi on May 8, 2009 at 02:23 PM | Comments (0)

Naoyuki Ishitsuka

Nao Ishitsuka has an interesting portfolio.
In particular Universal visual language.
What do you think about it? Do comment!

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May 07, 2009

Protect Yourself Against the Swine Flu... With Style!

The World Health Organization has raised the Swine Flu alert level to 5, meaning a pandemic is imminent. Not funny. Some people, however, are having fun. In Mexico everyone is wearing surgical facemasks for flu protection. People are getting bored of wearing the same mask, so they have started decorating them in all kinds of styles. As you can see, many of them show their always ironic look at death and fascination with los muertos. [Via Gizmodo]

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ReBlogged by Joshua Levi on May 7, 2009 at 09:29 AM | Comments (0)

May 06, 2009

pioneer of multitouch

Remember Jeff Han in 2006 during his TED talk on multitouch sensing? (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jeff_han_demos_his_breakthrough_touchscreen.html) His innovations have become standard, and his company Perceptive Pixel just won the 2009 National Design Award from the Smithsonian Institution's Cooper-Hewitt Museum. However, he is not the first... Bill Buxton in the 80's was already experimenting with multitouch before the technology became massively accessible. Ironically enough, he now works in Microsoft Research to improve their design vision. But of course, Buxton wasn't the first either. For a more comprehensive view check out the overview Multitouch Systems that I have Known and Loved.

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May 05, 2009

The Chain Reaction of Nuclear Proliferation

A great diagram illustrating the global spread of nuclear weapons capabilities since their invention. Created by the The New York Times, who's graphics department was just awarded a the National Design Award in Communication from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

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Tracking the Progress of H1N1 Swine Flu

This dynamic map and the data behind it were compiled by Dr. Henry Niman, a biomedical researcher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, using technology provided by Rhiza Labs and Google. The map was compiled using data from official sources, news reports and user-contributions.

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May 04, 2009

The magic kitchen table

Maia, Chris and Babak got together this weekend to talk about music, poetry, film, dreams... Plus, you get to hear some of ChrisMaia delicious songs.

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Elliott Burford has joined us

"Ciao Tutti! Hope all is well. Just sending a word of warning, that there is a new trial kid arriving this weekend, and his name is ELLIOTT. Elliott is a talented designer, muso, wordsmith, filmmaker friend of mine from Adelaide! He is like a half-brother to Lars and myself, so please look out for him. Some times he answers to the name of 'Fluffy' but I'll let him explain to you why. Miss you all lots. From Scott." Nearly a year after this first introduction, Elliott Burford has entered the building. And we still have no idea of where the Fluffy thing comes from...

How did you come to learn about Fabrica?
During university I picked up a COLORS magazine with an ashtray in the shape of a heart on the cover. It had mad flavour (not 'flava').

What have you been doing before now?
Primarily making guacamole. Otherwise graphic design / art direction for big branding and advertising in Australia and the UK. Yawwwwwwwwwn. So I stayed awake drawing, making images, short films and (terrible) music.

What do you expect to get out of this experience?
Sex, drugs, money... I mean – a focal point for my creative output. Suggestions welcome.

What will you miss from home?
Cage fighting kangaroos. Familiarity. English.

Anything else you'd like to share with us?
A game of twister. Get on it.

Go to Elliott's WEBSITE.

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ReBlogged by barbara on May 4, 2009 at 02:52 PM | Comments (0)