CR Blog

Studio8 to close

Creative Review — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:32:00 +0000

The Studio8 team, from left: Matt Willey, Zoë Bather, Steve Fenn and Tom Pollard

Zoë Bather and Matt Willey, the founders of Studio8 Design, have announced that the London-based design consultancy is to close in May

In a joint statement on the Studio8 website, Bather and Willey say "We’ve had a fantastic 6 years and are very proud of what we have achieved, working with some great people on some wonderful projects. We’d like to say thank you to all our clients; everyone who has worked for us; and all the suppliers who have supported us." They are, they say "going off to pursue their individual interests in design".

The pair set the studio up in 2005, having previously worked together for Vince Frost. Studio8 quickly established a reputation for typographically-led design, particularly in print. It was the launch design studio for Elephant magazine (2009) as well as for independent quarterly fashion title Plastique. The studio also worked for titles such as Wired and MAP, while Willey and Bather had previously been part of the team on Zembla magazine.

Last year, Willey assisted New York Times Magazine art director Arem Du Plessis on that title's redesign (covers shown above) as well as being part of the team that launched men's magazine Port.

Bather says that the pair will continue to work on Studio8 projects until May. After that, they will go their separate ways. She will "be doing my own thing - focussing on print, editorial and identity projects and potentially some interesting collaborations".

Typeface for Wired, 2011

Identity for Central School, 2010

Future Industries identity, 2012

CR in Print

If you only read CR online, you're missing out. From the meaning of beans to the power of love, the February issue of Creative Review features our 20 favourite slogans of all time and the stories behind them.

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK,you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

Nice work for Cadbury's, Axe, Nivea and more

Eliza Williams — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:37:00 +0000

Advertising news has been rather dominated by the Super Bowl of late, but there's been some lovely work made elsewhere in the world too. Here's our pick of the ads sent into CR Towers over the last couple of weeks...

First up is this new Cadbury's ad from Fallon in London, which feels like an amalgamation of all your favourite childhood stories (with an extra large dose of Willy Wonka on top). The spot is part of a new campaign based around the idea of 'Joyville', which has also seen Cadbury's install giant chocolate fountains in different shopping centres around the UK (film of the fountain at the Westfield Centre in west London also shown above). Creative directors: Sam Oliver, Shishir Patel; Creatives: Chris Bovill, John Allison; Director: Tom Kuntz; Production company: MJZ; Design: Made In Fallon.

Two campaigns for Axe deodorant now. The first, from BBH London, continues the usual Axe/Lynx premise that the spray makes the wearer irresistably attractive; this time though, the brand has introduced a deodorant for women too, leading to total chaos on the city streets (though solely heterosexual chaos, natch). Creative directors: David Kolbusz, Dominic Goldman; Creatives: Daniel Schaefer, Szymon Rose; Director: Tom Kuntz (again!); Production company: MJZ.

Ponce Buenos Aires is behind these two further films for Axe, which are based around the idea of 'The Cleaner', a shadowy figure that comes in to clean up after debaucherous nights when too much of the deodorant has been applied. Creative directors: Ricardo Armentano, Analia Rios, Joaquin Cubria; Creatives: Hernan Cerdeiro, Ariel Serkin; Director: Rafael López Saubidet; Production company: Argentina Cine.

AgênciaClick Isobar in Brazil is behind this lovely billboard installation, which utilises light-reflective beads and suncream to create an image that is only revealed when the sun comes out (before and after shot of the billboard above). Creative directors: Juliana Constantino, Rapha Vasconcellos, Marcelo Costa; Creatives: Bruno Ponzini, Gabriel 'Argenta' Rezende, Ricardo Barbosa, Tatiana Jacobson; Production: Primo Filmes; Illustration: Studio Oda; Director: Gabriel Barros.

Another sun-related installation took place in London recently, where Greyworld created a fake sun to brighten up the winter gloom in Trafalgar Square two hours before sunrise. The installation is the latest iteration of the Tropicana Brighter Mornings campaign.

The latest spots in the 'Smell is Power' Old Spice campaign see 'odour blocker expert' Terry Crews burst into ads for other brands, including Bounce and Charmin, to amusing effect. Agency: Wieden + Kennedy Portland; Creative directors: Craig Allen, Jason Bagley; Creatives: Andy Laugenour, Nathaniel Lawlor, Croix Gagnon; Directors: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim; Production company: Absolutely Productions.

This elegant split-screen spot aims to demonstrate the pleasures of driving across Europe in a Citroën car. Agency: H, Paris; Executive creative director: Gilbert Scher; Creative directors: Luca Cinquepalmi, Marco Venturelli; Production company: Outsider/Bandits; Director: Scott Lyon.

Directing collective Canada (who were profiled in the October 2011 issue of CR ) are behind this new spot for the Boots No 7 range. Agency: Mother; Creatives: Thom Whittaker, Danielle Noel; Director: Canada; Production company: Partizan.

We finish this week's round-up with a short but very sweet ad for Cravendale, which focuses on the milk brand's tie-in with the forthcoming Muppets film and, as with all things Muppets, is very charming. Agency: Wieden + Kennedy London; Creative directors: Sam Heath, Chris Groom; Creatives: Hollie Walker, Freddie Powell; Director: Kirk Thatcher; Production company: Soapbox Films.

CR in Print

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

James Jarvis' 52 Spheres exhibition

Gavin Lucas — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:58:00 +0000

Last year illustrator James Jarvis endeavoured to produce a linocut print every week (each in an edition of seven) of his nameless spherical character, posting each one on a dedicated blog. Now artist proofs of all 52 prints will be exhibited at Beach in London and offered for sale for £40 each...

The series depicts said sphere, sometimes with similarly shaped friend, engaged in a number of activites. Sometimes it is playing as a child might, and sometimes it is performing a more mundane adult task such as painting a wall or putting a picture up. In some composition we see the sphere running, walking, or even being kicked (below). In other images, it simply looking a bit surprised or startled.

Despite the fact that Jarvis' sphere is probably his most stylistically simplistic character creation, and that he's using just one colour and one of the most basic of print mediums, he demonstrates an impressive ability to bring life, emotion and movement to each print. Lovely stuff, this.

Fifty-two Spheres runs from this Thursday February 9 through to February 26 in the downstairs gallery space at Beach, 20 Cheshire Street, London E2 6EH.

View the 52 Spheres project online at 52spheres.blogspot.com

To check out Jarvis' latest sphere-related project, check out Spherical Dialogues.

CR in Print

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

Young animators light up BT Tower

Creative Review — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:27:00 +0000

On January 31 five up-and-coming animators were given the chance to have their work run on the digital display at the top of London's BT Tower thanks to somewhereto_ , a nationwide 2012 Olympics legacy project to help young people in sport, culture and the arts

Somewhereto_ funds 'ideas and local talent to inspire creativity across the UK'. Its mission is to help young people realise their ideas by providing them with the resources and spaces to do so. The project, which is run by 'youth engagement agency' Livity in partnership with Channel 4, ran a contest asking for submissions from young animators for work to appear on what is Europe's largest digital display. The five young animators chosen were Dean Wright and Emma Wilson, Joe Collins, Lawrence Simpson and Will Adams (more here).

CR in Print

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

CR's Pick of the 2012 Super Bowl Ads

Eliza Williams — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:05:00 +0000

The Super Bowl is an epic event for both football fans and advertisers alike: with millions of viewers in America settling down to watch the game, it offers an opportunity for brands to show off their finest TV spots of the year. Or so we hope. Here's our pick of what was on offer in the ad breaks of yesterday's battle between the Giants and the Patriots...

Chevy had some great offerings at this year's Super Bowl. Stunt Anthem, above, saw the Chevy Sonic performing a number of crazy stunts, such as bungee jumping and skydiving. The music video mentioned in the spot is the one below, for OK Go, which has already proved a massive online success on its own. Stunt Anthem was by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.

According to the YouTube info, this video was all shot for real, with OK Go's Damian taking stunt driving lessons for the shoot. More info and behind-the-scenes footage is at letsdothis.com. Director: Brian L Perkins, Damian Kulash Jr.

Also from Chevy and GS&P is this epic comedic spot which sees Chevy Silverado drivers become the only ones to survive the apocalypse.

The final Chevy spot on our list was created via a competition by Mofilm to create a 30-second ad. This submission was by Zack Borst, and is an amusing take on a familiar theme - the spoilt graduate.

Sticking with cars, here is this year's Chrysler epic from Wieden + Kennedy. The spot sees Eminem, the Chrysler ad star of 2011, replaced by Clint Eastwood, who delivers a serious, and deeply patriotic, sermon on the capacity for survival to be found in Detroit's Motor City, and the US in general. Highly sentimental, but guaranteed to be loved by the home crowd.

By contrast, car brand Kia went for out-and-out fantasy in its Super Bowl spot, by David and Goliath.

While the website Cars.com decided to go for the surreal touch. By DDB Chicago.

A number of ads utilised man's best friend for laughs. This one's from Doritos, and was one of the crowdsourced Doritos ads chosen by the audience of the Crash the Super Bowl website to play during the game.

More doggy fun came from Volkswagen's The Dog Strikes Back ad, which has already proved a hit online, having been released on YouTube last week. By Deutsch LA.

And yet more dog joy was provided by Bud Light in this spot that sees Weego the rescue dog trained to bring his owner, and all his friends, bottles of beer. By Anomaly.

For its main Budweiser spot, Anomaly looked to the prohibition for inspiration.

The NFL used history to promote the Super Bowl itself, in this ad that tracks how the game has evolved over the years, since its humble beginnings in 1906. By Grey.

Wieden + Kennedy created three ads for Coke starring football-loving polar bears. The agency also created an ambitious app that showed the bears reacting to live events in the game. More on the app is here.

Samsung's Super Bowl ad saw the unlikely return of Justin Hawkins from The Darkness, who is shown serenading a bunch of Apple worshippers queuing outside a store with the band's big hit A Thing Called Love and in turn tempting them over to Samsung's products. By 72 and Sunny.

Celebrities didn't fare too well in this year's Super Bowl ads, with spots starring Jerry Seinfeld, Elton John and Ricky Gervais all proving lacklustre, and even David Beckham's abs feeling rather predictable. The most successful star-vehicle this year was surely Honda's ad that saw Matthew Broderick reprise his Ferris Bueller character - the pull of nostalgia made the spot a must-watch, even if many hardcore Bueller fans were left horrified. By RPA.

CR in Print

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

Range Rover v Hadron Collider

Creative Review — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:29:00 +0000

RKCR/Y&R has continued its recent strong work for Land Rover/Range Rover with a new campaign for the Range Rover Sport set in the Large Hadron Collider, no less

The agency has picked up a string of awards for its Land Rover work, which includes Passport for the Defender (which we wrote about here).

The new Range Rover Sport campaign comprises a beautifully shot TV commercial (directed by Johnny Green) which imagines the SUV as the result of some high energy explosion at the Hadron Collider (great music, The Dead Texan: Aegina Airlines, not sure about the charging herd of wildebeest opening).

while the accompanying print work picks out features of the car in beams of light (photography by Lee Aldridge and Ben Edwards).

Credits
Agency: RKCR/Y&R, London
Creative director: Brian Fraser
Creative team: Adrian Lim and Steve Williams
Director: Johnny Green
Production: Hungry Man
Post-Production: The Mill

CR in Print

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

The type will set you free

Gavin Lucas — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:58:00 +0000

Ryan Atkinson was commissioned by Hype For Type to create a 16 page booklet that would showcase and promote its Exclusive Faces range of commissioned typefaces. Atkinson's response: to create four typographic posters presented as a call to arms to designers to revolt against dull design...

"Instead of following the convention of a read through booklet, we decided to go down a more conceptual route," says Atkinson "The end result was a a quick read through A3 magzine (cover shown, above) which also doubled up as a set of four typographic posters."

Entitled Typographic Revolt, the magazine, created in collaboration with copywriter Stephan de Lange, serves as a call to arms to designers, urging them to arm themselves wtih typographic understanding and wage battle against dull and badly informed design. It's been litho printed in a limited run on to 90gsm wood-free paper. Here are some spreads:

To find out more about the typefaces used in the magazine / posters, visit hypefortype.com/exclusive-faces

To buy a copy of Typographic Revolt (£6.99) click here

CR in Print

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

Romain Gavras directs promo for M.I.A.'s Bad Girls

Eliza Williams — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:45:00 +0000

Romain and M.I.A. play with cars in the desert.

This is the duo's second collaboration, the first being the memorable video for track Born Free.

CR in Print

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

The Gunn Report 2011 Results

Eliza Williams — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:05:00 +0000

The numbers have all been crunched and the Gunn Report for 2011 has been released. The report combines the results of all the significant advertising award schemes around the world, to identify the most successful agencies, campaigns and clients each year. What is clear from the 2011 results is that it was a pretty good year for the Wieden + Kennedy network....

For the first time in the Gunn Report's history, Wiedens has won the top two places in the Most Awarded Agency category, with Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam coming top, and W+K Portland in second place. It's a similar story in the Most Awarded Commercials category too, though this time W+K Amsterdam has taken both the number one and number two slots all on its own, with the epic Nike Write The Future spot at the top, and Heineken The Entrance in joint second with Saatchi & Saatchi London's Welcome Back spot for T-Mobile.

Here are the lists of winners in full:

The Most Awarded Commercials in the World in 2011

Nike: Write The Future, Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam

2=. Heineken: The Entrance, Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam

2=. T-Mobile: Welcome Back, Saatchi & Saatchi London

4. Old Spice Body Wash: Questions/Boat, Wieden + Kennedy Portland

5=. Google Chrome: Speed Tests, BBH/Google Creative Lab, New York

5=. Volkswagen: The Force, Deutsch LA/Lowe & Partners, Los Angeles

The Most Awarded Print Ads & Campaigns in the World in 2011

Samsonite Suitcases: Heaven and Hell, JWT Shanghai (detail below)

2. FedEx: Neighbours, DDB Brasil, São Paulo

3. Harvey Nichols: Accessories Required, Y&R Dubai

4=. Decode Bing with Jay-Z, Droga5, New York

4=. Land Rover: Passport Stamps, RKCR/Y&R London

Most Awarded Digital in the World in 2011

1.   Old Spice: Responses, Wieden + Kennedy Portland
2.   Sour/Mirror interactive video, Masashi/Qanta/Saquoosha/Hiroki, Tokyo
3=. Google Chrome; Speed Tests, BBH/Google Creative Lab, New York
3=. Mini Countryman: Mini Getaway Stockholm, Jung von Matt, Stockholm
5.   Uniqlo: Uniqlo Lucky Line, Dentsu Tokyo

Most Awarded 'All Gunns Blazing' in the World in 2011
(The Gunn Report's Integrated/Innovative Award equivalent)

1=. Decode Jay-Z with Bing, Droga5, New York
1=. Concert Hall Dortmund: Concert Milk, Jung von Matt, Hamburg
1=. Old Spice integrated campaign: Wieden + Kennedy Portland
4=. Nike: Write The Future, Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam
4=. WWF: Save As WWF, Jung von Matt, Hamburg

Most Awarded Agency in the World 2011

1.   Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam
2.   Wieden + Kennedy Portland
3.   AlmapBBDO São Paulo
4.   Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi Buenos Aires
5.   Jung von Matt, Hamburg/Berlin/Dortmund

Most Awarded Agency in Digital in the World 2011

1=. AKQA London
1=. BBH New York
1=. R/GA New York
4. Wieden + Kennedy Portland
5. Dentsu Tokyo

Most Awarded Agency Network in the World 2011

1.   BBDO
2.   DDB
3.   Ogilvy
4.   Leo Burnett
5.   Wieden + Kennedy

Most Awarded Advertisers in the World in 2011

1.   Nike
2.   Volkswagen
3.   Google
4.   Old Spice
5.   WWF

Most Awarded Production Companies in the World in 2011

1.   @radical.media, New York/LA/Sydney/Berlin
2.   Independent/Anonymous@Independent, London
3.   Smuggler, New York/LA/London
4.   MJZ, New York/LA/London
5.   Stink/Stink Digital, London/Berlin/Paris

Most Awarded Director in the World in 2011

1.   Alejandro González Iñárritu
2.   Chris Milk
3.   Thanonchai Sornsriwichai
4.   Henry Alex-Rubin
5.   Fredrik Bond

Most Awarded Countries in the World in 2011

1.   USA
2.   UK
3.   Brazil
4.   Argentina
5.   Germany

For more info on the Gunn Report, visit gunnreport.com.

CR in Print

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

Rapid Proto Type

Creative Review — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:33:00 +0000

Arkitypo is a collaborative research project between Ravensbourne and design studio johnson banks that aims to push the limits of rapid prototyping technology in the creation of a 3D alphabet

Ravensbourne asked johnson banks to come up with an idea to utilise the newly-acquired rapid prototyping machines at the college. Johnson banks' suggestion was to create a 3D alphabet in which each letter expressed an idea relating to a typeface whose name started with that letter. For example, the F, above, is from Fraktur, a typeface that will forever be associated with Germany. The 3D letterform is extruded from the shape of Germany on a map, which can be seen on the reverse.

The B starts as a Baskerville B which then morphs into the same letter in Bodoni - a reference to the fact that Bodoni was derived from Baskerville.

"For each letter we carried out extensive research, made drawings, built maquettes and did simple 3D visuals on our machines," say johnson banks. "before handing the ideas over to Ravensbourne's team. There was a period of 'virtual proofing' where we examined the ideas as rendered files, and when all parties were happy, we began the printing." Some of the letters took up to 90 hours to 'print'.

The R is set in Retina, a typeface designed to deal with 'ink-fill' at tiny sizes: "We reversed the process and drilled an 'R' out of huge, oversized ink bubbles," say johnson banks.

"This slightly mind-boggling design takes intersecting 'Z's from Zig-Zag to create a 3D puzzle"

Some of the letterforms are on show at the London HQ of Arup (8 Fitzroy Street W1).

The show opened to coincide with the latest of Arup's Penguin Pool events in which they ask various designers to speak on a theme – last night's being data visualisation. The Arkitypo project is on display until February 8.

The entire project is documented in the February edition of Monograph – the A5 publication that all CR subscribers (and only CR subscribers) receive free with each issue of Creative Review. If you'd like to subscribe, all the details you need are here.

There is more about the project on the johnson banks website here

Design: johnson banks
3D imaging and prototyping: Jon Fidler
Photography: Drew Morgan
Project client: Jill Hogan
Project advisor: Ben Caspersz

CR in Print

What makes a great slogan? We investigate the enduring power of these clever little phrases in our special slogans issue, dedicated to our choices for the top 20 slogans.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.