Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Happy 25th Apple


Happy Birthday shout-outs go to Apple; the company turns 25 in January. Congrats to the once little operation that grew and came to create products that many of us (especially here at Handcrafted) couldn't live without.

Via logolounge and wired

Miles

Monday, December 29, 2008

Sweet white space indeed!


Love the white space. Here is a great example of white space and clean, simplistic design aiding in popping the product off the shelf. Unfortunately, the traditional way of thinking says that if you add more colors/star-burts/drop shadows/text to your layout it will help in communicating to your customer. What happens, of course, is when everyone thinks this way the shelf becomes one jumbled mess. That is not the case with the new Truvia packaging.

Via brandnew

Miles

Camera on camera


The light was hitting my vintage 1952 Revere 40 movie camera with such nice light I had to capture it.

Miles

Awesome spot for Audi



The stop-motion/animation, the soundtrack, the concept, simple, engaging, all around well done.

Via thedenveregotist

Miles

Fragile cheers


Nice spot here for Fedex from BBDO Canada.

Via ibia

Miles

Your social media plan


Yeah, I know, the world of social media can be extremely overwhelming and, at times, intimidating; especially when your intention is to dive head first into, and market within, the medley of sites and applications out there. Before deploying any sort of campaign or marketing effort into the vast void of social media a certain amount of due diligence must first be made. Taking time to develop a strong strategy and mapping out your route(s) is critical. Here is a nice writeup on the topic.

Also on the subject I wanted to point to this particular blog in which the author discusses the impact of social media and introduces the thought that the sheer number of new tools/applications alone is beginning to dilute their own potential benefits.

Via brandflakesforbreakfast

Miles

100 identities for the years end


A nice collection of elemental designs here.

Via logodesignlove

Miles

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

How to promote your product; tell a story, make it personal


Origami In the Pursuit of Perfection from MABONA ORIGAMI on Vimeo.

Here is a fantastic spot in promotion of Aisics shoes. The stop-motion production guides the viewer on a brief history of the Aisics brand, complete with narration and superb origami animation. Enjoy,

via brandflakesforbreakfast

Miles

Monday, December 22, 2008

How not to promote your product




This site is executed in such poor taste. (no pun intended) Nothing like exploiting stereotypes to hock your mediocre tv dinners. From the ridiculous voice to the idiotic quips this campaign is simply ridiculous.

Via adrants

Miles

Nature is all around you


Nice campaign here from Y&R, Paris. There is plenty going on with the photography, exploded illustrations, storybook feel and expressive typography, but, it somehow all works well together and packs a powerful message. Recycle your old crap as opposed to simply tossing it out!

Via ibia

Miles

7 tips for making a good impression

These 7 helpful rules for making a good impression, no matter who you are communicating with, are based on common courtesy, general politeness and respect. Nice little bit courtesy of BusinessWeek.

Miles

Friday, December 19, 2008

Bad advertising fail

Mini in 3D! from print!



I have no idea how this works, but I do know this is totally awesome.

Via brandflakesforbreakfast

Miles

15 awesome ambigrams


Here is a nice collection of 15 ambigram designs. It is difficult not to appreciate the effort it takes to design such a mark. Fantastic craftsmanship...

a
mbigram, also sometimes known as an inversion or flipscript, is a graphical figure that spells out one or more words not only in its form as presented, but also in another direction or orientation. The text spelled out in the other direction or orientation is often the same, but can also be a different text.

Via logodesignlove

Miles

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Lojack awesomeness


Really nice spots for Lojack here by Leo Burnett Columbia. Very, very well done in both the conception and execution departments. Click the image for a look at all three pieces...

Via ibia

Miles

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Brilliant. Just brilliant


I'm not sure when, or where this took place, but the guys over at Axe/their agency decided to stage this brilliant guerrilla marketing effort. Apparently this guys showed up at a female only foot race, stepped out in front of the racers, sprayed himself with Axe and then started running right before the start, so that all of the women were chasing him. Genius.

Via denveregotist

Miles

Update:
"Axe has once again put a smile on my face with this new execution in Denmark. Created by Uncle Grey it used the largest women’s race in Europe to highlight the ‘Axe Effect’. At the start of the race, over 6000 women waited in the blocks while a lone man wearing an axe shirt jumped the barricades separating the spectators and competitors."

Don't Feel Rejected...


It's all part of the process. And it's a process we rarely get to see, especially in the case of a campaign that went so stunningly well it won Ad Age's Marketer of the Year. Much of the campaign's success can be attributed to the Obama '08 logo, a mark created in a very short time period by the folks at Sender LLC, out of Chicago. In a 2-part interview, new VSA Partners strategist Sol Sender (formerly principal of Sender LLC) reveals everything about the creative development of the 2008 Obama Logo, which was released in February of 2007 and has arguably become one of the most noticed icons on the planet; but it didn't get there without going through the ringer. Sender's team came up with 15+ concepts in just two short weeks, a number many of us are surprised to hear. Needless to say, the interview which can be found here, provides some brilliant insight on the process, including those fine concepts we like to call rejects. Never forget - it's the development of the rejects that help us find the best creative solution.

A screen grab overview of the video can be found at LogoDesignLove
Video via VSA Partners
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Headline News gets revamped



One of my favorite channels since I was like, 15, Headline News freshens things up with a new identity including logo and a whole slew of onscreen graphics. Here is a bit of commentary on the revamp.

Via brandnew

Miles

Parent fail

Monday, December 15, 2008

One for the fans


So lonely was this fan. So weathered. So sad. Hanging from a flea market ceiling in small town South Carolina, this poor neglected fixture simply begged to be noticed. Simply acknowledged. Stay strong soggy fan. Stay strong.

Miles

Truly handcrafted


This work from Russian Yulia Brodskaya is simply amazing. The time it must have taken to construct such detail is mind-boggling. Enjoy...

Via swissmiss

Miles

Best commercial ever?



I am just going to let this one speak for itself. Think of it as a Monday morning pick me up!

Thanks denveregotist

Miles

Fluteboxing!



Beatboxing with a flute - total awesomeness!

Via yesbutnobutyes

Miles

Thursday, December 11, 2008

In the spirit of Surrealism


Nice work here for Volkswagen by DDB Germany.

Via ibia

Miles

They will never take our Independence Day



This is one of the greatest things I have ever seen. If this doesn't inspire you, you have no soul.
Thanks denveregotist.

Via Overthinkingit

Miles

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

iWant

Here's a pretty awesome piece of advertising in my mind. Miles and I were talking about it a bit last week... and I came to the conclusion that: I am moving to Canada to get this phone.
I'll probably post a comment after a few days so as not to ruin the ad for people who haven't seen it just yet. But, pretty sweet nonetheless. It's just so... so clean!

You can either click the pic above to view it or click here.

~Lee

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Frosting on the Cake.

We got a slight frosting last week a few days after we got our couple feet of snow. I was on my way to work and happened to look out into a field while I was driving.

The picture above is what I saw, so naturally I had to pull over and try to capture it. Normally I'm not a fan of crooked horizons, but I figured since I was shooting this in the theme of lomography that it was okay. In the end I think it 'kinda compliments it.

Anyways, keep warm!
~Lee

Local campaign does good


Cultivator, out of Denver, recently launched an all-encompassing campaign to promote shopping in Cherry Creek this Holiday season. As opposed to going the typical route of showcasing products and prices they went in a completely different direction. The objective, to directly promote fun and merriness! Nice execution and copy...

Via thedenveregotist

Miles

Surfing for Seniors



Via swissmiss

Monday, December 8, 2008

Social Media in layman's terms



Here is a nice little video that breaks down the evolution of social media and explains in plain English just how it works...

Via swissmiss

Miles

Say it ain't so...


Microsoft, thanks to our friends at CP+B, are branching out and creating apparel. Looks like we may have to wait to see if they will release more than just t-shirts. I really like the fun, vintage look, but, will it alter the current stigma that plagues the MS brand?

Via brandflakesforbreakfast

Miles

Friday, December 5, 2008

Judge a book


Here is a collection of nicely designed book covers from this past year. I have always found book design to be one of the more creative mediums, allowing for some truly artistic expressions. Enjoy.

Miles

Well done seasonal spots


Enjoy this collection of well executed holiday ads. Most are a refreshing departure from the typically mundane stuff out there.

Miles

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Nice illustration...


Commissioned for Saks, each hand drawn, each with it's own unique approach.
Nice work

Miles

Random thought not related to advertising

So the big 3 auto makers want a bail-out huh? I have an idea, maybe they should start by helping themselves and making better automobiles. Just sayin'...

Monday, December 1, 2008

Putting down roots


Had a nice visit to South Carolina over Thanksgiving and visited a neat little city called Greenville. The south is an interesting place, sure, we saw trucks driving around with confederate flags pinned to them, ate questionable "greens" and for what its worth, I don't think anyone there really knows how to drive, or at least knows that the left lane is meant for passing, not cruising in. Overall though I found that the people are incredibly laid-back, open and really really friendly and genuinely nice. In the center of Greenville is a river with numerous cascading waterfalls. The city has turned this area into a big park with bridges and benches galore. The cool thing is that you can climb around on the rocks and even in the water if you want. Not sure if that would fly here in Colorado. Anyway's this is a tree near the bank of the river that I just had to shoot.

Miles

Good copy is good


Nice piece from TBWA Vancouver here. I smell a really smart campaign here, hope to see more of these.

Via ibia

Miles