How Not to Entice Prospective Students lesson #1

By a lovely quirk of type-size and perspective, this recruitment poster for Grimsby College remarkably achieves the complete opposite of what it originally set out to do. Perhaps the previous year group were just really really obnoxious? Nevertheless, it’s always a risky word to use when there’s a possibility that there might be something in the way of your poster.

Dutch designer Wim Crouwel’s New Alphabet type was devised with no curves or diagonal lines - in 1967

Throughout this month, we have been following the activities of design studio Build. On 28 June, Michael and Nicola Place, who make up Build, travelled to Dublin for a screening of Helvetica, followed by a panel discusssion and talk by Wim Crouwel. The following morning Build caught up with Crouwel to conduct the following interview for CR…

As we traipse around the summer’s degree shows on the hunt for the hottest, brightest, tastiest new talent, some projects just leap out and slap us about the head with their all-round neatness. Like this: a little bit of tech-trickery that turns an ordinary wall into, you guessed it, a piano.

For the Love of God, 2007

The power of the artist-as-celebrity is currently in full effect at White Cube gallery’s Mason’s Yard branch, where Damien Hirst’s latest exhibition is nearing the end of its run. Hirst’s influence is such that the exhibition is spread over both of White Cube’s spaces simulatenously (the other being in Hoxton Square) and they are packed full with the usual Hirst-y imagery of birth, death and religion - a series of photo-realist paintings of the birth of Hirst’s youngest son Cyrus by Caesarean section adorn the walls in the upstairs gallery at Mason’s Yard, while the downstairs space has a dissected shark, cow and a sheep frolicking in formaldehyde.

Karl Escritt’s poster

When Build designed a poster for monthly musical shindig Get Involved that invited people to quite literally get involved – with the poster – he probably never expected he’d get to see the results of other peoples’ involvement. However, thanks to the combined power of blog post + myspace bulletin, dozens of you requested the “blank” file in order to get stuck in. Here are the 40+ posters that have been returned to us so far. Please be patient as it will take a little while for the full post to arrive on your screen. And get your scrolling finger warmed up…

McEwans Lager ad featuring You’ve Got the Power by Win (agency: Collett Dickenson Pearce, 1986)

As an adult, it’s rare to be frightened by an advert. But back in the mid-80s, I remember one TV ad scaring the living shit out of me (shown above). I can recall everything about it: the zombie-like characters, the concept of pushing giant balls up neverending steps and the stirring music that seemed to suit the desolate tone perfectly. It was immersive, gripping and (for me) pretty pant-soiling stuff. But ads don’t employ this aesthetic anymore: they don’t want to scare you. In fact they do the complete opposite – they’re frequently soft, fluffy, handmade-looking things for products that just want to be your friend. And invariably, the choice of music or soundtrack follows suit: arpeggiated acoustic guitar? Check. Softly spoken, whimsical vocals? Check. These are prerequisites in advertising’s obsession with the sound of twee.