Typography is what language looks like

I’ve got a soft spot for typography. It’s probably the one single aspect of design that intrigues me the most. This short clip explaining typography is just beautiful – not to mention incredibly done.

Created by Vancouver Film School students Boca (a.k.a. Marcos Ceravolo) and Ryan Uhrich in the Digital Design program at VFS. I’m jealous. And inspired.

More Art for Obama: Munk One, Sam Flores & Upperplayground

 

A few months back, I mentioned the impressiveness (and popularity) of the Shepard Fairey Obama posters. Well, the race has changed a bit, and the political art has continued to flow in a way seemingly only Obama can influence. Upperplayground’s Date Farmers Obama poster did so well, they’re continuing, collaborating with 008 the movement to have Munk One and Sam Flores create two new posters.

Also interesting is a thank you note from Obama to Shepard Fairey. Crazy.

Rather than rewrite all of the details of the posters here, you can get more info at Upperplayground, Notcot, and Juxtapoz. So is this a result of cultural and artistic shifts? Is it truly Obama’s message and influence? A combination? Either way, it’s fascinating to see.

B2B that kicks ass? Motorola thinks so

I wasn’t sure that B2B and kick-ass could go hand in hand. But apparently, I was severely mistaken.

The website, simply titled Government & Public Safety Solutions, showcases Motorola’s public safety, government, and other technologies. Which I never really payed much attention to before. But this site definitely made me investigate.

The site, done by Soulpolice out of Norway for BBDO NYC is just stellar. Over the course of a few small b2b projects I’ve done, I realized very quickly the challenge of integrating strong creative into a b2b campaign. This nails it on the head, and deserves to be checked out.

[via adverblog]

Skullphone tells Clear Channel who’s in charge

Saw this once and it amused me. Then I saw it mentioned again and again and after careful consideration, I think this is pretty awesome – not just amusing. Skullphone apparently hacked into the computer system of Clear Channel Communications so the iconic Skullphone imagery appeared within other digital billboard ads on ten different billboards throughout the LA area.

Interesting to think about in regards to billboard advertising and the way technology can both integrate and effect. And I’m sure Clear Channel is just thrilled.

Photo taken by Curtis Kulig, borrowed via Supertouch. More photos there as well.

Who knew? Ice Cream trucks can melt too!

I’m in the process of moving this weekend, so until I end up re-settled, blog posting may be intermittent at best. Fear not though, I will return eventually.

And I just wanted to quickly share this awesome piece I saw over at Wooster Collective, apparently spotted in the suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. Pretty awesome and just a wee bit thought provoking.

And on the subject of the Wooster Collective, they’ve got an awesome new masthead by James Selby beautifully using some Mac OS X dock icons and folder layout.

Stuff like this makes me smile. And it’s inspirational… it makes me want to go out and make stuff. Which I’ll probably do. As soon as I finish moving.

A studious pupil? Mastercard becomes quirky

In browsing through a few different blogs, I stumbled across the above spot by McCann Erickson. Quirky. I like the sound track and the voiceover. I like the atmosphere. It’s definitely quirky. And it’s fascinating to see a reinterpretation of the “priceless” idea. But the eye is bizarre. Too bizarre? Does it detract from the message? And is a wandering eyeball, as described throughout the spot, really synonymous with the search for the priceless? I’m not sure. But I’m glad that the eyeball doesn’t have a price and something else is priceless. I’m pretty much done with that whole campaign.

If only I knew when I was younger: Fully-loaded news vans hit the drag strip

As those who know me well might remember, I was torn between print/broadcast journalism and the graphic design/advertising side of things back in school. Had I seen this video, or known of the possibilities that news journalism could have offered me, the decision may not have been made in the same direction.

A day after a highway drag racing crash, two El Paso,  TX news stations were at a legal drag strip filming when onlookers somehow convinced both news teams to drag race (I know it wouldn’t take me much convincing if I was in their spot). KDBC and KVIA put the pedal to the metal, so to speak, and ended up not only making it big on youtube, but also with a few firings, some disciplinary action, and a suspension or two. One of the AP newswire stories is available here.

It all feels very Anchorman-meets-Top Gear-meets-Dukes of Hazard. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

Energy that won’t run out: the earth as a giant plug

As far as ambient & installation stuff goes, this is pretty impressive in my book. An ad promoting German electric company EnBW’s new geothermal power plant that turns the earth into a giant plug.

As has already been pointed out at AOTW and a few other blogs, it should really be an outlet and not a plug… to get the concept right of the earth providing power. But it’s the concept and getting people to look. The outlet is more of an icon or symbol than a literal object.

Anyway, pretty cool stuff from agency Jung von Matt out of Germany. It’s different. And different is usually a good thing.

[via ads of the world via notcot.org]

Pontiac, SpyHunter, and how not to attempt “viral”

Definitely coolest thing of the day, and quite possibly coolest spot I’ve seen in a good while. Impressive for GM. Pontiac has remastered the classic video game SpyHunter to feature the new G8. A car I’m not crazy about in general, but with this spot, I’ll probably give it a second look. The spot will debut on TV for Selection Sunday, which seems just about perfect.

The only not-so-cool thing about it all is an attempted Digitas-led viral promotion of the spot. A direct quote from the e-mail Digital sent out, via Jalponik:

“Just saw this new Pontiac ad online and thought it might be of interest…It takes an old classic, SpyHunter to a whole new place. God love CG. From what I hear its not even on TV yet.”

I’m all for viral, but that’s not exactly the best way to go about it. And honestly, this is the kind of spot that gets spread anyway. It’s geared for viral distribution without any additional push. Seriously – cars, video games, commercials. Seems like a no-brainer. Which is why I’m passing along what was sent to me (thanks Ryan!)… and then goin’ to go watch it a few more times. So would it have worked as well if there wasn’t an e-mail telling people how cool the spot was? I think so.

A History of American Wars… with burgers

Food Fight is just that. From the site:

An abridged history of American-centric war, from World War II to present day, told through the foods of the countries in conflict. Watch as traditional comestibles slug it out for world domination in this chronologically re-enacted smorgasbord of aggression.

If you’ve got a few minutes, it’s worth a watch. I was so captivated, I ended up watching all 5+ minutes without even realizing it. Bizarre, a bit funny, and a bit disturbing, it’s definitely one of the coolest things I’ve seen lately. (And in case you can’t figure out all the food-country pairings, they’ve got the cheat sheet up on their website).\