Poor Joseph, God was a hard act to follow

This is pretty amazing, unfortunately painted over by someone who aparently didn't possess a sense of humour just hours after it was first put on display. Great work!
Read more on the BBC >

The story of coffee brought to you by Douwe Egberts

I was just watching these videos on the story of coffee and actually found them quite interesting!

Douwe Egberts have put together these three videos, each for a different area of coffee making, to venture into the history behind the great bean - along with a little self promotion but who can blame them?

The films start from the very beginning, I wouldn't want to spoil the facts but I would never have guessed who first discovered coffee back in 300AD!! (mental) and then going on to producing the famous beverage many people drink today.

Douwe Egberts go on to explain how the drink caught on, there's some great 50s footage of coffee houses back in the day.

Anyway... Take a look, the first one is about espresso and the origins of coffee >

Espresso - The story, the coffee and you

Cafetiere - The story, the coffee and you

Cappuccino - The story, the coffee and you

Arjowiggins Creative Papers’ steps up to help preserve the world’s forests at Copenhagen conference

Arjowiggins have just launched the 'Creative Papers' camapign to promote the use of recycled papers sourced from sustainable forests.

"Responsible forestry management can and will make a significant contribution to the preservation of the environment. Ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place next week, Arjowiggins Creative Papers is launching an innovative and thought-provoking campaign to support the global summit.

For each of the state leaders attending the summit Arjowiggins Creative Papers is committing to protecting one hectare of Brazilian rainforest.

In cooperation with international conservation charity, the World Land Trust, the paper company is funding a programme for 65 hectares of threatened rainforest to be protected and managed as part of a reserve in Brazil. The preservation of the world’s forests is a key business commitment for Arjowiggins Creative Papers, as the company recognises the important role trees play in helping the environment through CO2 capture. As all Arjowiggins Creative Papers' brands are FSC certified, the company strongly endoreses systematic regeneration. Indeed, paper is one of the few materials that when used responsibly is completely renewable".

Click here to read more...

Jazz Hamsters 'stay drenched'

This is possibly the best thing I've ever seen.

The Art of Green and Blacks

Green and Blacks have just launched a new competition to create 'art' by using their own bars of chocolate. Before you go out and buy 700 bars of the stuff, they've also developed a handy online canvas to create your very own masterpiece on.

Check out the Art of Green and Blacks >

Whilst you're there why not vote for my attempt, 'Great Black' (- get it? Clever I know, it could've been Green Britain but i thought that would just be a lie).

The winners of the competiton can be voted for on the gallery and the 9 most popular will be put to the great Sir Peter Blake (creator of the heart piece above) to decide on the winner. The winner will receive their masterpiece created from 700 Green & Black’s chocolate bars, or if they prefer, a signed print of the artwork plus 700 Green & Black’s chocolate bars.

Good luck!

Arts Council- take it away posters

I just stumbled upon these cool posters for the Arts Council. 'Take it away' is a new scheme which is planned to encourage the public to get into and play musical instruments. This new insentive is open to anyone! The value of a musical instrument would be paid back over nine months, interest free.

By posters and images by Marc&Anna

Oxfam Unwrapped - Virtual Village

This is a nice way of showing where all the money goes from the unwrapped presents now available from Oxfam.

Have you ever received any of these presents? I got one a while back, my brother bought me a goat for a village. This is quite a good explination / promotion of the gifts, you can really see what each item will do and also shows all the other options available to purchase.

Labour's latest advert 'Jedward' is a sorry sign of the times

This is the latest attempt from labour at enticing the public to keep Gordon Brown firmly in his seat. The advert, by Saatchi & Saatchi London, depicts the Conservative leaders as the famous Jedward twins from the travelling circus that is the x-factor. Is this really the best way to attract votes?

Guinness reveal latest Ad - Bring the world to Life

Now Guinness are well known for their advertising, from those iconic posters to the latest TV adverts - they clearly know the value of a good campaign. This advert 'Bring the world to life' is the latest example of this, I don't think the pace has dropped at all!

The director of this ad, Johnny Green, has been quoted saying: “The locations were so remote and extreme that it took days to even get to the site. From high altitudes to underwater shoots, freezing temperatures of -30C combined with the burning glare of the sun off of the snow, every element brought its own unique challenge.”

ArjoWiggins Graphic - Recycled paper never seemed so right

New Viral video to promote the use of recycled papers as apposed to the rather embarrassingly gassy paper produced by virgin fibres!

Check out www.recycled-papers.co.uk for the greener alternative.

This viral was designed and produced by exo design.

New Arts Council website : Digital Art Comission

To mark the launch of the new Arts Council website, acclaimed visual artists Thomson & Craighead have created a bespoke new digital art commission.

Scott Rimmer - Coming soon

New website coming soon www.scott-rimmer.co.uk
Watch this space!
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Return as an animal

This video was created by Bruno Dicolla and I think it's pretty bloody cool. Loving the rickety neon style, the music complements it perfectly.

Apple's 1984 Big Brother comes back to haunt them

Here you can see the original 1984 advert where Apple is the savior of man, stopping the evil suppression of Big Brother.



The original was perhaps one of the most iconic adverts of the time, it has been re-used by many times over the years, but none have pointed the tyranny of Big Brother at Apple themselves. DoubleTwist are the company behind this online advert. This time it is them and not Apple who are supposedly going to save us all from becoming drooling i-slaves. And how do they propose to do this I hear you ask?! By selling us another product of course! They have come up with new software that promises to put "your iTunes library on any device," available in now in beta, but full launch is on the 6th October. Enjoy!

Amazing Dog Pooetry!

That dog is definitely talented! Great stuff ha ha!

Toyota - Augmented Reality

Toyota have developed a 3D interactive experience to promote their new car; ‘IQ’. The promotional device uses augmented reality so get ready for a little fun!

To have a little digital car of your own just visit the IQ page on Toyota's website and download the program, then print out two pages with differing icons. The two icons represent two modes of animation; the car driving and the car which comes apart a bit like a transformer.

It's a good bit of fun which seems to be cropping up a lot around the internet at the moment. With the Zugura augmented reality shop, the Smart Grid site by GE a new iphone app by Acrossair and the latest piece to take the internet world by storm; a simple business card by James Alliban. The card represents a new turn for the technology as it is becoming more accessible and being applied to more practical routes in the world of marketing.

It looks like digital augmentation is finally becoming a reality.

Hannah Rollings - New website online

I have recently completed a website for illustrator Hannah Rollings. Based in the south east of England, Hannah has a strong illustration style. Taking inspiration from Mills and Boon books and local life in Bexhill-on-sea her work explores the humour behind sexual life and these famous romantic novels.

"he groaned as he pealed away the silk to reveal the twin thrust of her lush ostrich eggs encased in pure white lace".

View Hannah's new website >

See more of my work >

Bling My Coach - The National Express Competition

National Express have just launched a new exciting competition to design your own coach, called Bling My Coach!

Yes that's right, as the name suggests you are invited to pimp out your coach with a variety of tools. From Leopard print to stars and a Hen night balloon to a pair of GM2020 fake glasses and nose (likened to the ones featured in Eerie Indiana!). You can do your worst and create a veritable masterpiece!

Check out my swanky design above, The Keen Machine, I've gone for a bit of a Ska look to fit in with the locals down on Brighton Beach! Pretty cool eh.

The prize for pimping out your ride, (as if the creating the coach of your dreams isn't prize enough?!) Is you get to take out your Blinged up machine on a return trip to a destination of your choice, and pack out that low rider with a bunch of your mates!!

Check it out here... Visit the Bling My Coach website >>

Funny Talking Animals - Walk On The Wild Side - Episode One Preview - BBC One

I love these new adverts for the BBC's new nature programme, Walk on the Wild Side. The Sharks have got to be my favorite!! Genius.

Mona Lisa target of brutal tea based attack!

This is the best news story in some time! The Mona Lisa was attacked on the 2nd August, by a cup of hate filled tea. This ungracious act was performed a Russian woman in the Louvre, Paris.

Great stuff, I mean if you're going to attack a pretty mediocre piece of art, you might as well do it in style.

London Underground Shower Curtain - From Izola Shower

This London Underground shower curtain would be a great addition to any bathroom. You can have a shower whilst admiring the iconic map, originally designed by Henry Beck back in 1933, Mr Beck may not have expected this turn of events but I think it's a great new use for the design!

It would also be a great item if you're a rather busy city worker looking for a time saving device, plan a new route to work while you're scrubbing up! The curtain is designed by the guys at Izola Shower, here's how they describe it;

"Navigate the Underground from your bathroom or just pay homage to London's iconic transit system with this unique 12-color reproduction".

The site is in US dollars but the cost is automatically converted to sterling. This curtain costs £30 (depending on exact UK location).

The London Underground curtain, along with many other great designs, is available from the Izola website. It's well worth checking out if you are in the market for a new shower curtain. So throw out that smelly excuse you've got hanging in your bathroom and get yourself onto www.izolashower.com

The only problem being that it's a bit tough to get this thing into my wallet... I've been getting some strange looks on the tube recently!

We buy any car .com we buy any car .com ANY ANY ANY ANY!!

Possibly the greatest advert ever made. It drills into your ears and eye sockets so deep that viewers can't resist it's catchy song.

WE BUY ANY CAR .COM WE BUY ANY CAR .COM WE BUY ANY CAR .COM ANY ANY ANY WE BUY ANY CAR .COM ANY MAKE ANY MODEL ANY AGE ANY PRICE FROM 50 QUID TO 100 GRAND WE BUY ANY CAR .COM WE BUY ANY CAR .COM WE BUY ANY CAR .COM ANY ANY ANY WE BUY ANY CAR .COM BUY A NEWER CAR AND SHOP PARTS EX? YOU CAN GET A BETTER DEAL WHEN YOU BUY NEXT WE BUY ANY CAR .COM ENTER YOUR REG NUMBER NOW AT WE BUY ANY CAR .COM

Genius.

Milky Way - The red car and the blue car had a race!

Amazing! Milky Way have brought back a classic! I remember the days when this used to be on. Great stuff!

If you look closely and compare the latest release of this advert you can spot some interesting changes. The marketing profs have obviously decided it's not a good plan to promote snacking between meals as in the 1989 version of the Milky Way advert. You can see that the cars are racing between Lunchville and Dinner Town, whereas the new version shows the cars burning rubber between Playville and Light Town.

Thank you for smoking

ILLUSTRATIONS COURTESY OF D.J. STOUT

Just found this set of cigarette packs on Pentagram's website. Great idea! If I were a smoker I'd definately be up for getting meself a pack or two. Death is definately in right now.

The Food and Drug Administra-tion will soon have sweeping pow-ers to regulate the making and market-ing of tobacco. With that in mind, Times graphics and multimedia director Chris Kozlowski called a colleague, D.J. Stout, a partner at the global design fi rm Penta-gram, which focuses on “identity design, branding, packaging,” and asked him to sketch out some new packaging he might suggest if Marlboro were to come calling: “Our marketing advice to cigarette compa-nies in the new heavily regulated era is to fully accept the new aggressive antismok-ing restrictions and to wallow in the gov-ernment’s apocalyptic health warnings. Don’t make excuses or dance around the stepped-up marketing regulations, just transform the whole cigarette pack into a three-dimensional warning label.”

D.J. Stout’s expertise encom-passes the design and rede-sign of a variety of publications including magazines, books and catalogs. He and his team also specialize in identity design, branding, packag-ing, exhibitions and website design. His work has been widely published and has won many design awards.

Download pdf of newspaper article >

2D Goggles

Will they indeed?

This web comic was taken from the 2D Goggles blog, I've just recently discovered the wonder of Babbage, Ada and the Difference Machine! Check it out, you won't be disappointed!

Olympic 50p designs... What happens next?

To anyone out there feeling a little unrested by the quietness of the competition trail, fear not. The judging is currently being undertaken and the wait is on until November 2009. All winners will be notified by email and announced. If you don't hear anything - I'm afraid the hard truth will have to be realised!

Visit www.royalmintcompetition.co.uk to find out more, or go to The Royal Mint's main website - www.royalmint.com - regularly for news and latest updates about the National 50p design competition.

Art teacher wins portrait prize

Could this be a 'Susan Boyle' moment for the world of art?

I read about this the other day, it's a really nice story, makes a change from the usual winners, there's not a shred of pomp here.

The winner, Peter Monkman's winning piece, Changeling 2, is part of a set of pictures painted of his daughter Anna at varying stages in her life. He won a £25,000 prize along with a tidy £4,000 commission! Not bad for an art teacher from Surrey. The painting is due to go on show at the National Portrait Gallery, London as part of the BP portrait Award exhibition.

"Now in its 30th year, it is one of the most prestigious portrait competitions in the world, and highlights the best in contemporary painting.

It aims to encourage artists to focus upon, and develop, the theme of painted portraiture within their work.

Monkman, who is director of art at Charterhouse School, Surrey, studied visual arts at the University of Lancaster, John Moores University Liverpool and the University of London.

It is the first time his work has been shortlisted for the award.

'Magical quality'

Monkman said: "I challenge the fixed notion of an idealised image of childhood and substitute it for a more unsettling, complex representation that exists in its own right as a painting."

The initial idea for the winning portrait came from photographs of Anna playing in woods in Brittany, France, where the light had a "magical quality".

Chair of the judging panel and National Portrait Gallery director Sandy Nairne said: "This is a superb, magical portrait - a very worthy winner for the BP Portrait Award."

The second prize of £8,000 went to Michael Gaskell, from Sheffield, for a portrait of his son Tom, who was aged 17 at the time of the first sitting.

"He was at the period in adolescence between boy and manhood and fleetingly suspended between both," Gaskell said of the work, titled Tom.

The third prize of £6,000 was awarded to Annalisa Avancini, a painter and design teacher from Italy, for her portrait titled Manuel.

Mark Jameson, 29, won the BP Young Artist Award of £5,000 for Benfica Blue - a portrait of his sister, Lyndsey, which he said was unfinished".

Source

Insanely brilliant advert

I know, I know... How did they do it? The acting, the visual effects, the lyrics!!?! need I go on. Somehow this advert manages to penetrate my cranium everytime it's shown, so much so that I can't even watch it right now without singing along "OH we love Tool Station...." "RIGHT across the nation". You gotta love it.

Yorkshire Tea 'where teatime is important' by Beattie McGuinness Bungay

This advert is too good! Truly amazing. He's definitely on to something here. "It's nice to be important but, I wish my wife could see, there's nothing more important than making time for tea." I couldn't agree more, as I sip from a cuppa myself, if only it were Yorkshire tea... If only.


A sprinkling of background info for anyone who's interested:

Creative Type: Television
Agency: Beattie McGuinness Bungay
Advertiser: Yorkshire Tea

Project: Where teatime is important.

Brief: To bring together two much loved Yorkshire institutions - John Shuttleworth and Yorkshire Tea - to celebrate the importance of tea time.

Client: James Prentice, Brand Manager, Yorkshire Tea; Clare Abbott, Marketing Director, Taylors of Harrogate.
Copywriter: Simon Bere & Graham Fellows.
Art Director: Simon Bere.
Agency Planner: David Bain.
Agency Producer: Lucy Swallow.
Media Agency: MediaCom North.
Media Planner: Mark Watts.
Production Co: Willy Smax and Chic Ken
Productions Director: Willy Smax Films.
Prod. Co Producer: Fran Barnes/Willy Smax.
Post Production: Rushes.
Audio Post Production: Grand Central.
Exposure: National TV, Radio & Digital.

www.danielensor.co.uk up and running!

It's been a hard weekend's work but my new website is up and running! Please take a look, it's still in development I will be adding more work to the portfolio shortly but here it is:

http://www.danielensor.co.uk

Robinsons "Be Natural" Bird House advert 2009

This has got to be the best advert on TV at the moment! The new Robinsons be natural fruit squash advert shows a bird coming home to his bird house, the beauty is in the details, just as he comes in through the bird hole watch out for the other bird feet lined up by the door, as if they were shoes. The human clock is just amazing 'hello' and the worms in the fridge are pretty sweet!



Background info
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The soundtrack is by The Bobbettes
with Baby You Belong To Me.

Creative Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Director: Andy McLeod
Creative by Matt Waller and Dave Monk
Production Co: Rattling Stick
Post Production: Jim Allen, Big Buoy
Editor: Andy McGraw, Cut & Run

WIN A TWO PIECE HAND TAILORED SUIT!

Here's a little competition to win a whole suit! From Pomegranate Media...

For your chance to WIN, simply complete the following online survey (The Suit Experience) to be entered into the prize draw to win one of three, fine hand tailored suits. The survey should take no longer than ten minutes, it really is as simple as that.

The survey is being conducted by Pomegranate Media and if you have any questions, please contact us at info@pomegranate.co.uk or call +44 20 7336 7322.

Click here to take part and best of luck.

Submitted Olympic 50p designs

Here are a couple of my completed entries to the recently closed competition from the Royal Mint. The competition was to design a 50p coin to represent a sport in the up and coming London 2012 Olympics (as previously posted about by Design London).


















Wheelchair Rugby.

Kayaking.

Anyone got their entries at the ready?

T-shirts / Illustrations / Designs / Caught my eye

Bird Brain, by Jared Stumpenhorst




































Illustrations by Jon Turner






























Cat eyes, by DirtDirt


















Pigeon t shirt by cpdesign

A true innovator of title sequences: Saul Bass

The title sequence to The Man With the Golden Arm was designed and created by Saul Bass. The sequence has become known as the first to become more than simply a list of big names and producers on a screen, this sequence sets the tone of the film to the viewer. The jagged angular paper shapes Bass produced reflected the mood of the film. At the time this approach had never been exploited in quite the same way.

The title sequence to It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World also designed and produced by Saul Bass. This is just another great example of Bass's work. Simple and understated his work was never egotistical. Just great functional design which achieves exactly what it sets out to do; portray the mood of the film, and provide a platform for the film titles to be displayed upon in an interesting and entertaining way.

To see more on Saul Bass, watch Bass on titles, a selection of title sequences created by the great designer. The documentary also offers an insight into design at the time and into Saul Bass as a designer on the front line of film from the 1950s onwards.

Saul Bass: Bio

"Saul Bass (May 8, 1920—April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and Academy Award-winning filmmaker, but he is best known for his design on animated motion picture title sequences.

During his 40-year career he worked for some of Hollywood's greatest filmmakers, including most notably Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. Amongst his most famous title sequences are the animated paper cut-out of a heroin addict's arm for Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm, the text racing up and down what eventually becomes a high-angle shot of the United Nations building in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, and the disjointed text that raced together and was pulled apart for Psycho.

Saul Bass designed the 6th AT&T Bell System logo, that at one point achieved a 93 percent recognition rate in the United States. He also designed the AT&T "globe" logo for AT&T after the break up of the Bell System. Bass also designed Continental Airlines' 1968 "jetstream" logo, which became the most recognized airline industry logo of the 1970s." Source: Wikipedia.

Honda's new TV advert: Do, Keep Doing, Do Some More

Honda have teamed up with Wieden & Kennedy, London and the result? a nice little animated TV advert with the environment close to heart. Of course, They've stuck with tradition and used the now very familiar and oddly comforting voice of Garrison Keillor. He has become 'the' voice of Honda in recent years, and why stop now? Keillor tells the story of Honda's environmental crusaide, battling the non 'doers' of the world into submission and encouraging the public to follow suit. Let's all gather round now, hold hands, and soak up the positive vibes from Honda's new advert 'Do, Keep doing, do some more'. The new Honda advert premiered on Channel 4 on the 4th April, rather nicely placed in the advertising break of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. Showing that Honda are still holding onto their shiny advertising crown.

A little story all about doers. But what exactly is a doer? Well, doers do things. Things to move us forward, to make stuff better. We started off small just thinking of ideas, little “dos”. What if we plant trees around our factories, help the air stay a bit cleaner? Perhaps introduce water based paint, create a solve a car, the first hybrid cars. Well how about a car that only emits water? Little steps in the right direction. Then it made us think, “What if we were all doers learning as we go, doing things that can make a difference, like not revving our engines when we don’t need to. Driving a bit slower in traffic jams instead of stop starting. Or keeping our tires properly inflated to save fuel. And emptying out all the stuff we don’t need to carry around. Wouldn’t that be worthwhile? So let’s go do, keep doing, and do some more. Start a to-do list. Because there a million and one to-dos still to be done.

Another one in the bag for Honda!

Ed Templeton's bits

Just a few photos and illustrations by Ed Templeton I've recently found >>>
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