At home with Michael Wolff
The latest issue of YCN’s members’ magazine features an interview with Wolff Olins co-founder Michael Wolff. To accompany the article, YCN has also released a short film shot at the designer’s home in North London…
Collector’s Edition: the cover bomb series
Artists, designers and musicians including Stanley Donwood, Wayne Coyne, Nick Cave and Robert ‘3D’ del Naja have ‘cover bombed’ copies of limited edition packaging book Collector’s Edition. The one-off designs will be auctioned online by author Stuart Tolley to raise money for The Alzheimer’s Society.
CR September: Graduate issue
This year we’ve approached our graduate issue slightly differently. Covering the shows (and talent) on the blog, in print we decided to see just where a creative education can take you – from becoming production designer on Game of Thrones or Rihanna’s creative director, to working as head of visual creative for Save the Children
Jude Law stars in new Johnnie Walker ad
Johnnie Walker Blue Label has released a new ad-cum-short film online, which features actors Jude Law and Giancarlo Giannini engaging in a ‘gentlemen’s wager’ over the ownership of a beautiful sail boat…
Sagmeister and the ‘bullshit’ around storytelling
Stefan Sagmeister has vehemently dismissed the current vogue among creative types to label themselves ‘storytellers’ as ‘bullshit’.
TDC: Judges’ Choices
Ahead of the announcement of the winners of this year’s Type Directors Club awards, we have the judges’ choices of their favourite projects this year
Sagmeister & Walsh rebrand New York’s Jewish Museum
Sagmeister & Walsh has designed a new visual identity for New York’s Jewish Museum based on the same ancient geometry as the Star of David.
Stories from Cape Town
Collaboration was a strong theme at this year’s Design Indaba, with talks from a diverse range of speakers
Design Indaba Day 3
The final day of Design Indaba featured some moving, funny and uplifting presentations rom Stefan Sagmeister, Alt Group’s Dean Poole and South Africa’s most treasured photographer, David Goldblatt. Here’s a look at some of the best bits…
Design Indaba: Day 2
Day 2 of Design Indaba featured talks from Pentagram designer DJ Stout, South African photographers Zanele Muholi and Nandipha Mntambo and AlmapBBDO creative director Marcello Serpa…
What’s On
CR’s pick of exhibitions, design events and creative activities for the week ahead including data visualisation exhibition Beautiful Science at the British Library, Erwin Blumenfeld in Zürich, Design Indaba in Cape Town, scrap metal graphics from David Buckingham in London, a letterpress masterclass at the Ditchling Museum, Hipgnosis album artwork talk and signing in Birmingham, Letizia Battaglia in Liverpool, and the Arctic Design Week …
Design Indaba 2014
Global creative conference Design Indaba returns to Cape Town on February 26. The line-up so far is impressive, with talks from Thomas Heatherwick, Stefan Sagmeister, Experimental Jetset and photographer David Goldblatt…
The stories embedded in the design of homes
The Museum of the Home’s new displays put storytelling at the centre and illustrate how our homes are rich with design and cultural history
How to make a thrilling sports promo
Sky Creative’s Simon Cole explains the process behind making sports promos, including how to appeal to younger audiences and why he takes parodies on the chin
Ikea Norway introduces the Trash Collection
Ikea’s latest sustainability push sees the brand repurpose furniture that has been found as trash on the street, to be sold in a new secondhand store
The role of the sketchbook in creative work
Despite the dominance of digital, the humble sketchbook is still a vital tool in making creative work. Here, we speak to three creatives about how working in a sketchbook is an important part of their process and also their favourite books to work in
Greg Williams on the art of the candid shot
The photographer discusses his journey from documenting war zones to capturing candid moments of some of the biggest celebs on the planet, plus why the best images often aren’t technically perfect
Unrecognised and unloved: Patrick Burgoyne on the state of creative education
Education is vital to the UK’s phenomenally successful creative industries. Yet its value to the country appears to be going unrecognised in the government’s plans
The colourful world of Autumn de Wilde
The photographer and director has injected striking palettes into fashion photos, celebrity portraits, vibrant ads and her feature-length debut, Emma. She talks to us about navigating these different arenas and building worlds through music and colour
Ryan Reynolds creates a Father’s Day cocktail: The Vasectomy
Reynolds brings his irreverent advertising approach to Father’s Day with a new cocktail for dads, featuring a good slug of Aviation Gin, natch
Why the time has come for game title sequences to shine
Territory Studio’s Andrew Popplestone discusses the evolution of games credits and title sequences, and how they’re moving ever closer to the world of film
Why it pays for brands to go local
In an age of turbulence, brands are seeing the benefits of a localised approach over a global one. Here, Ben Sillence, strategy director at Lewis Moberly, explores what this may mean for designers and creatives
Can we design a more sustainable internet?
With the internet now accounting for roughly the same amount of carbon emissions as global air travel, we look at what designers can do to help tackle our digital waste problem
Early 2000s nightlife in all its chaotic, shiny glory
Matthew Smith’s new book brings together his photographs taken across the flourishing British nightlife scene at the turn of the millennium
Tony Barry on why advertising should move people
The director and former Wieden + Kennedy creative director looks back on the lessons he’s learned about peeling back the ‘veneer’ of advertising to make people laugh, cry, and truly believe in what they’re watching
Cephas Williams project features letters from Black boys to their future selves
The letters are addressed by the children to their older selves, and detail the world that they’d like to see in the future. The project, which will appear on billboards in the UK, is created to mark the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder
The ups and downs of being a hybrid creative
In today’s complex media landscape, creatives are often expected to work across multiple mediums. CR speaks to those who’ve broadened their practice to understand the benefits and challenges of the multi-disciplinary life
Behind the punchy covers of SZ Magazin
The weekly German newspaper supplement has a track record of publishing abstract and playful images. We talk to Thomas Kartsolis and Birthe Steinbeck from the art direction team about risk, deadlines and the joy of analogue tricks
Ask Anna: How do I find a creative partner?
Our resident creative industry agony aunt tackles an age-old question from a reader: how to find a good work partner? Here she offers a range of solutions, including polyamory
K-Y’s sex-positive campaign champions female masturbation
To celebrate National Masturbation Month in the US, Elephant has created a series of billboards for K-Y to remove the stigma attached to female pleasure
The unstoppable rise of sneaker culture
A new show at the Design Museum is tracing the journey of the sneaker from sportswear staple to cultural icon. We explore how the marketing strategies of the biggest brands in the game have evolved hand-in-hand with the $80 billion industry
Has the ad industry improved for women directors?
Women filmmakers have racked up long overdue accolades in recent film and TV awards. But what is the state of play in the commercial world?
John Hegarty on advertising’s automated future
We speak to the adland legend about his new gig as chairman of AI recruitment company Genie, plus how he thinks the industry will need to adapt post-Covid
New Nike ad celebrates being rubbish at sport
Nike’s new ad is part of a campaign titled Play New, which emphasises the joy of taking part in sport, even if you’re a bit crap at it
How Xbox is getting accessibility right
From releasing its adaptive controller to tackling loneliness in older people, Xbox has proved how much creative scope there is for brands that commit to accessibility
Inside the UK’s biggest content house
Envisioned as Big Brother for the TikTok generation, content houses have become a mecca for influencer marketing in the US. So is the UK ready to follow suit?
The Annual 2021: Trends and observations
Last year was dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, but we also saw a number of other trends and developments emerge in the commercial creative industries. Here, we examine what they might suggest for the future
A new film wants to make people angry about period poverty
Hey Girls has released a chaotic campaign film directed by Margot Bowman, which aims to rile up viewers as a way of driving action
