February 23rd, 2010 | Posted by Stéphane Brun

What a beautiful idea this is. The Design Auction was set up by some tutors and students of Lincoln School of Art & Design back in 2007 as a way to make some cash for their third year graphic design end of year degree show. A few phone-calls and emails later and the great & good of the design world were offering them rare and beautiful bits and pieces of loveliness and gorgousnessness. It’s a simply brilliant idea, a great website and a showcase of some truly ground-breaking bits of design. So grab yer’ mouse, a cup of tea and a pack of Digestives and enjoy…
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Category: Fun, Not work
Tags: Creative, Design
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February 10th, 2010 | Posted by Stéphane Brun

If there’s one thing I hate more than anything else (well, that’s not strictly true as I hate most things, but y’get what I mean) it’s animals in clothing. For me, there’s just no need to dress your pet up like a fool; cats in hats, dogs in coats, canary’s in toupees and fake beak hair…madness. If the good Lord had intended Spot to wear a Hugo Boss suit he’d have made Hugo Boss a dog and canines would rule the world in an horrific re-visiting of Planet of the Apes, where over-sized poodles lead mangy human beings around parks on the end of twine and wait patiently while the whimpering homo-sapiens defecate in all the wrong places…
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Category: Fun, Not work
Tags: Creepy
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February 9th, 2010 | Posted by Stéphane Brun

Floppy discs.
A thing of the past. Barely existing remnants of a bygone era. London artist Nick Gentry has turned his into art. I turned my old ones into coasters….
Shows how creative I am.
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Category: Fun, Not work
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January 22nd, 2010 | Posted by Stéphane Brun

This is an INCREDIBLE story.
US filmmaker Dan Woolley was shooting a documentary about  poverty in Haiti when he was buried under rubble during the recent earthquake. He could have died…he SHOULD have died, but he didn’t due to the help of his trusty iPhone and a first aid app called Pocket First Aid & CPR that taught him to treat his wounds and ultimately saved his life. You can read the whole amazing tale here, but it just goes to show that Apple’s incredible bit of shiny kit really is more useful than anything else you could put in your pocket.
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Category: news
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January 14th, 2010 | Posted by Stéphane Brun

I went to see Avatar in Birmingham the other day and was fortunate to see it on an IMAX screen in glorious 3D (and let me tell you, it was absolutely STUNNING and Zoe Saldana is still hot even as a 9 ft Blue alien with a tail…sue me), so the following bit of news was music to my ears and will obviously result in me having to re-mortgage my house later in the year…
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Category: Uncategorized
Tags: Extreme Joy
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January 14th, 2010 | Posted by Stéphane Brun

It’s not often I get excited by shiny silver technology…well, not often…ahem….but I’ve just been forced to stop work entirely and rush to the bank to see if I have a spare £160 to fork out on one of these beauties…
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Category: Not work
Tags: Design
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January 4th, 2010 | Posted by Stéphane Brun

What with it being a New Year n’ all, we thought these Top 10 apps would help keep y’all on the straight and narrow. Obviously most of you have made decisions so resolute that it’s laughable you’d be swayed from them, but…well…?…one never knows what’s going to get in ones’ way….does one?
Happy New year everybody.
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Category: news
Tags: Add new tag
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November 27th, 2009 | Posted by Stéphane Brun

What with all the Flu going around these days, it seems fitting to showcase some virus based advertising.
Over the years, Greenpeace have done some truly brilliant stuff. I was thinking about them the other day and so I went on a bit of a hunt and chanced upon the following from Shanghai J&J Advertising Co. Ltd. The lines don’t translate well [they're above each image inside] but the message still comes across to us English speaking types.
Wonderful idea this, really gorgeous visuals with a nice sucker-punch to them. True, the concept is a bit of a stretch and I’ve read some reviews of these online from designer types that have taken the whole thing far too seriously and moaned about how mother nature doesn’t in fact create viruses to get revenge on human beings…but then, there is no such thing as Mother Nature…so I’m not really sure what they’re all getting so worked up about? Some people should just enjoy themselves more.
Due to the size of the images, I’ve added a detail to each so you can see what I mean…
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Category: Uncategorized
Tags: Advertising, Post-Production
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November 24th, 2009 | Posted by Stéphane Brun

I’m not sure when this was first put out or even where this image comes from as it was sent to me via email…however, it’s a brilliant use of a simple idea to promote the fact that 1.5 million children die every year from drinking polluted water. (again…those facts may be waaay out of date as I have no idea when this ran)
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Category: Uncategorized
Tags: Advertising, Creative
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October 29th, 2009 | Posted by Stéphane Brun

It’s often said that the simplest ideas are the best; that there’s little point in trying hard to find something in a product that just doesn’t exist solely so that one can feel better about themselves and their ‘Oh-so-clever’ idea for whatever it happens to be. Doesn’t help the client, doesn’t help the public…and in truth, doesn’t even help the designer as he or she is merely fooling themselves that they’ve done a good job…
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Category: Not work
Tags: Advertising, Post-Production
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October 16th, 2009 | Posted by Stéphane Brun
Sometimes, one has to simply sit back and admit defeat…y’know? You’d like to think you’re the best thing to happen to whatever industry you’re in, but inevitably you are faced with the realisation that, well…you’re not. That’s the cool [and also the horrific] thing about working in a studio with talented people. Yes, you get to work as a team and learn from / influence each other, but you also have to put up with hard, cold facts:
‘That piece of work is great and I couldn’t have come up with it”…
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Category: Advertising, Catherine Best
Tags: Add new tag, Advertising, Design, Press
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October 16th, 2009 | Posted by Stéphane Brun

Time. There isn’t enough of it.
In fact, one could expand on that statement and say that there is so little time in the day that it really should be against the law to claim otherwise and that the makers of all watches and clocks should be forced to pay us back for the emotional distress that all those ticking hands have given us while we stare forlornly at all the disappearing seconds, minutes and hours.
I wake in the morning and Time is already against me. I’m hardly even showered and cuppa’ tea’d before it’s off and running ahead of me down the road, laughing like a lunatic because I’m desperately trying to catch it up but failing miserably. By the time I get to work I’m already so behind in my schedule that sometimes I contemplate just going back home again and watching The Jeremy Kyle Show. I’d probably miss the start though.
Stupid time. It’s no better at work either…
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Category: Uncategorized
Tags: Add new tag, Philosophy
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October 13th, 2009 | Posted by Stéphane Brun

There I was, just the other day, going on and on about ambient media and what should I see just now but this new execution for McDonald’s from Cossette West. A truly inspiring piece of genius that must have cost an absolute fortune…but for work this good, money shouldn’t matter…
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Category: Not work
Tags: Ambient Media, Fun, McDonald's advertising, Outdoor, Outdoor Advertising
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September 24th, 2009 | Posted by Stéphane Brun

When is an ad, not an ad?
When it’s an ad, but not an ad. Simple, huh?
Everyone is familiar with adverts; we see them everyday in the paper, magazines, on telly, hear them on the radio etc. But in beautiful, tranquil Guernsey there is a distinct lack of more creative expressions for a clients’ needs. I’m talking Ambient Media. It’s a shame that there is next to none to be seen on our Island, as a good ambient execution not only gives the client something extra, makes the designer feel good about themselves for coming up with it in the first place and helps sell the product, but it does so in a way that leaves a lasting impression with it’s target audience…in fact, ANY audience…
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Category: news
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August 28th, 2009 | Posted by Stéphane Brun

Boecker Public Healths’ mission statement begins with the following words: “To represent the Pest Control & Food Safety Industries in a highly responsible way, fighting public health pests and protecting food, consumers and the delicate elements of the environment.”
In this campaign from JWT Dubai [found here], the problem that pests pose to businesses and households is beautifully represented with some stunning art direction, fabulous photography and a great pay-off.
Read on to find out where that toilet roll is going…
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Category: Not work
Tags: Advertising, Art Direction, Fun
2 Comments
August 27th, 2009 | Posted by Stéphane Brun

Really cool post-production on this little beauty from Mountain Riders that I found here.
Lovely art direction, mood and branding…even if it is a little obvious that the sky wasn’t originally that shade of blue.
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Category: Not work
Tags: Advertising, Fun, Post-Production
2 Comments