Creative Review articles from December 2003

Creative Review archives from December 2003

Far from olympic ideal.(Editorial/Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... I support London's bid to stage the Olympic games in 2012 completely. It will transform a whole region of the East End of London, confirm London's place on the world sporting stage and bring the games back to the UK after a 64 year wait. ...

Oh dear.(Editorial/Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... As someone soon to make a career change and enroll on a graphic design degree course, I have just picked up my first copy of Creative Review and oh dear [Letters October, November]. Some years ego when I was starting out as a newly-qualified...

Love is enough.(Editorial/Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... This debate [Students Stop Whining, Letters October, November] will rage for a lot longer than CR can be bothered to print letters about it, but I find it amazing that people of our generation can be so indignant about a "lack of...

Applause for Abbey.(Editorial/Letters)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... Creative Review has just landed on my desk and for once I was moved to write in. The letter by Ben Terrett [November] was interesting in that I agree wholeheartedly with his opinions about the new Abbey logo, but I couldn't disagree more about...

1 ICA signage.(First Sight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Institute of Contemporary Arts in London approached Milk with a brief to communicate to visitors the full range of what the venue has to offer beyond its gallery and cinema. Milk's initial research flagged up the fact that, on entering the...

2&3 RNIB annual review 2002/03.(First Sight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Royal National Institute of the Blind has been very vocal in encouraging designers to cater for blind and partially sighted people (CR Jan) so the pressure was on when it came to creating its own annual review. The review uses a minimum...

4 Ileana Makri identity.(First Sight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Jewellery designer Ileana Makri's new identity and packaging has been devised by London design firm, Spin. The letterhead, comp slip and business card feature the logo in mid-grey against off-white stock, with a repeated pattern on the reverse...

5 The Cats' Home business card.(First Sight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Designer Stephen Layfield of Sydney-based consultancy Layfield took the cat flap as inspiration for this charming business card for The Cats' Home, a North Yorkshire cattery. The cat flap in the card has been blind embossed, die-cut and creased...

6 sex horror and death poster.(First Sight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... A typeface called Prick found for free on the internet was the starting point for Frost's design of this poster for the first exhibition at Simon Finch's new gallery space on London's Portobello Road. The mini exhibition was open on the evening...

7&8 learning through play identity.(First Sight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... SEA designed this identity for a new range of educational toys from Boots. Toys within the Learning Through Play range cater for various age groups so SEA used a colour coding system on packaging and information tags to make it easier for...

9 replywood typeface.(First Sight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Replywood is a new monospaced display font designed by Kenn Munk, an independent type designer based in Arhus, Denmark. Trips to various countries served to inspire the font: Munk cites the influences of medieval religious type, lettering on...

10 Frisco Remix typeface poster.(First Sight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Each character of the Frisco Remix typeface was created by a different designer in the Bay Area of California in a project devised by Max Kisman of type foundry Holland Fonts. Kisman also designed this eye-catching poster which reveals details...

1 Coco De Mer print campaign.(First Sight)(Saatchi & Saatchi developed witty print campaign for erotic retailer)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Saatchi & Saatchi have developed a witty new print campaign for erotic retailer Coco De Mer. Focusing on the steamy antics one naturally gets up to after a visit to the store, these ads feature shots of houses that look like they've been hit by...

2 Honda commercial.(First Sight)(ad evaluation)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Do people look like their cars? "Actually, they don't," deadpans director Malcolm Venville, who's just shot the latest US spot for Honda. However, the ad tells a different story. The screen is split down the middle to show different models of...

3 the darkness promo.(First Sight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... A singer mouthing along to his or her song usually makes for a boring promo. This, is not the case in The Darkness' hilarious video for their Christmas single, Don't Let The Bells End. Shot by Black Dog director Alex Smith, it's set in a cosy...

4 anti-smoking poster.(First Sight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Alerting the public to the dangers of passive smoking in children is the focus of a new poster campaign for the Department of Health from agency Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO. Childlike handwriting bluntly states "If you smoke, I smoke" while a web...

5 D&AD poster campaign.(First Sight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Graduates from creative courses can easily flounder when it cornea to post-college job hunting. This was the thinking behind an illustrated poster and postcard campaign by design studio Airside for a call for submissions to the D&AD Student...

6 Klonhertz promo.(First Sight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Director Dougal Wilson (see p22) has shot an entertaining new promo for the band Klonhertz to accompany their latest release Three Girl Rumba. The promo, commissioned by John Hassay, is a combination of live action and puppetry and features...

Australia to experience Frost in January.(First Sight)
December 1, 2003... Vince Frost, one of the UK's foremost graphic designers, is heading to Australia. There, he will join up with one of Australia's best known designers, Garry Emery, as joint design directors of Emery Frost. He will join a business which employs...

Type stars in building project.(First Sight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... There are over 13 million AIDS orphans in Africa. In an attempt to help alleviate the problems suffered by these children, which include homelessness, malnutrition and lack of education, a group of designers have joined forces to develop...

The world of the smudger.(First Sight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Back in November 1999 we reported on photographer Chris Wroblewski's Smudgers project. Smudgers are traditional street photographers, mainly now found in the Third World. Thanks to the preponderance of cheap cameras and photo booths they...

The invisible homeless.(First Sight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Have homeless people become invisible to city-dwellers rendered impervious to their plight? For the latest in its regular series of competitive briefs, Square Art challenged those working in the advertising and production industries to design a...

One to watch: Dougal Wilson.(First Sight)
December 1, 2003... The plan originally was to become an astronomer. But after several years studying physics at Durham University, Dougal Wilson quickly realised that the more proximate pleasures of designing posters and sets for the University drama department...

I made waves for the navy: Ben Taylor tells Gavin Lucas about his role in the creation of the latest print campaign for the royal navy.(First Sight)
December 1, 2003... CR: What is your job title/profession? BT: 3D artist at Actis Studios. CR: How long have you been doing this--how did you get started? BT: I specialised in sculpture at art college. I then worked as a modelmaker building...

Constructive criticism: CR follows four aspiring creative teams taking part in Nabs' surgery.
December 1, 2003... IN ORDER TO BETTER teams' chances of getting that first step on the ladder, ad industry charity the National Advertising Benevolent Society has set up the Surgery. The brainchild of NABS' Sam Pooley and Lucy Meredith of headhunters Stolkin and...

This is the showcase, produced in association with Zefa. Each month creative review explores a different theme bringing you the latest and best work produced in that area from around the world. This month's theme is food and drink.(Industry Overview)
December 1, 2003... 1&2. Oversized sweet wrappers turn up all over the place in these posters for Quality Street. Written and art directed by Ed Morris at Lowe. Photography by David Stewart. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 3&4. Gorgeous photography and...

Someone to watch over us? the electoral commission is considering the introduction of a code of practice for political advertising: would it do more harm than good?
December 1, 2003... IN BRITAIN, EVEN AN advertisement for a humble bag of crisps must be decent, honest and truthful. An advertisement for a political party, however, needn't be any of these things. When selecting one brand of cheese and onion over another, a code...

Just how personal should graphic design get? How political can or should a designer be? What kind of responsibilities do they have in these difficult times? Milton Glaser and Jonathan Barnbrook discuss design's rules of engagement.(Industry Overview)
December 1, 2003... MILTON GLASER: I've been thinking about these sorts of questions for a long time and I think the problem comes from an essential split in how designers identity themselves. I often think of myself as an artist and so I'm interested in the...

The Geek shall inherit the earth: computer programmers have an important role in all areas of creativity. Their rise to power means code is our newest creative language.(Industry Overview)
December 1, 2003... IF YOU WORK IN FILM, PHOTOGRAPHY, design, or even fashion, then this may come as a shock to you: the computer programmer is just as creative as you are. Far from being simply the techie guy who has a flair for languages you've never even heard...

Self-determination: designers are increasingly abandoning service for service-reliance.(Industry Overview)
December 1, 2003... THERE IS A, USUALLY FRUSTRATED, expectation among graphic designers that some opportunity for self-expression will exist within the practice of commercial design and actually it doesn't," says Peter Saville. "The service area is not a place to...

Gavin Lucas tracks down Lex records' design team, the mysterious ehquestionmark???
December 1, 2003... FINDING OUT THE NAME of the designer of a record sleeve isn't normally too tricky. A quick glance at the sleeve notes and there you go, the name of the pertinent designer or art director is usually credited. Unfortunately, not many record...

Africa: sacred and profane.
December 1, 2003... Wayne Ford visits the Rencontres de la Photographie Africaine in Mali Having seen the work of an anonymous photographer at the African Explores exhibition in New York in 1996, Andre Magnin, the influential curator of the Contemporary African...

December cover story.(Cover Story)
December 1, 2003... How we produced this month's cover The vast majority of printing is done using four colours of ink: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The colours go on one after the other in a series of dots which combine to create the entire gamut of...

Digit points to way ahead.
December 1, 2003... Simon Sankarayya went to Sydney to visit multimedia event Digit Expo. The Digit Expo was new to me, but Sydney wasn't. I'd been lucky enough to have talked at the Fresh conference two years ago in what was my first experience of trying to...

Competition corner.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Our regular column detailing current awards schemes and competitions available to enter plus other calls for entries. CREATIVE CIRCLE AWARDS The only awards to celebrate solely UK advertising work, Creative Circle looks at 58 different...

Nesta Futurelab microsite.(Pick Of The Month)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... FROM STATE DESIGN When the web was new there was a lot of talk about creating new models for navigation that took full advantage of the nature of the medium. Then the dotcom bubble burst and most sites returned to basics as usability...

Mr & Mrs Smith.(Pick Of The Month)(series of travel books published by Spy Publishing)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... FROM SPY PUBLISHING It's about time someone gave Herbert Ypma and his Hip Hotel guides a run for their money. Mr & Mrs Smith might just be the one to do it: this tasteful tome, printed on luxuriant textured paper and designed by Bloom...

Honda Civic commercial.(Pick Of The Month)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... FROM WIEDEN + KENNEDY, LONDON Yet another fine ad for Honda, this time detailing a typical working day, via sequential close-ups of the inconsequential objects that help to make our lives easier. The alarm clock, the toaster, the flushing...

The Dreamers website.(Pick Of The Month)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... FROM HI-RES! No-one makes film websites like Hi-Res! After online triumphs for Donnie Darko and Requiem for a Dream their latest work, for Bernardo Bertolucci's film The Dreamers, is well up to the standard we have come to expect. Sure, it...

$20 bill redesigned.(Pick Of The Month)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... FROM US TREASURY DEPARTMENT'S BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING The lure of filthy lucre and technological advances in counterfeiting are creating an increase in paper money forgery. Subsequently, the US Treasury Department's Bureau of...

The weather project.(Pick Of The Month)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... FROM OLAFUR ELIASSON/UNILEVER On a Friday night, London's Tate Modern was packed with visitors eager to experience The Weather Project, the latest installation in the vast Turbine Hall. Dreamed up by artist Olafur Eliasson it is,...

Sky+ campaign.(Pick Of The Month)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... FROM HHCL/RED CELL Remember The Odd Couple starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau? The same Ideas has been applied to this ad campaign for the launch of Sky+. The service lets you store all of your favourite programmes in your own TV...

Kill Bill poster campaign.(Pick Of The Month)
December 1, 2003... FROM EMPIRE DESIGN Star power and risk-averse studios have ensured that film posters are usually incredibly dull, so the UK campaign for Kill Bill came as a more than pleasant surprise. Rather than adapting the US campaign (apparently a...

Carnaby street lights.(Pick Of The Month)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... FROM JAMES GLANCY DESIGN You might be cynical about the commercialisation of Christmas, but you have to spare a smile for Carnaby Street's Christmas lights. Not for Carnaby Street the pathetic Santas and dreary snowflakes of nearby Oxford...

RSVP: The Very Best of Invitation and Promotion Design.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... RotoVision, 27.50 [pounds sterling] Design writer Sara Manuelli claims that the humble invitation "represents a complex social relationship between sender and recipient" and, on looking at the range and quality of work included here, it's...

Romantik.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... Die Gestalten Verlag, 23 [pounds sterling] Recently, there have been a spate of design books that add weight to an apparent renaissance in hand-drawn graphics in the face of computer-led-design, but Romantik takes an interesting slant on...

Art Game Book.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... Assouline, 19.95 [pounds sterling] This highly entertaining journey through the major art, and design movements of the twentieth century proffers a new way of looking at art history (cover shown, 3). Alongside detailed commentary and...

Chinese Propaganda Posters.(Chinese Propaganda Posters: From the Collection of Michael Wolf.)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... Taschen, 19.99 [pounds sterling] Throughout its history, the political system in China has used the arts to propagate correct behaviour and thought. This book contains over 300 propaganda posters produced during the rule of Chairman Mao to...

The Devil's Playground: Nan Goldin.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... Phaidon, 59.95 [pounds sterling] Taking photographs since the age of 15, Nan Goldin has had plenty of time to develop a highly personal relationship with her camera. Her subjects range from portraits of friends and family to architecture...

Tales from a Globalizing World.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... Thames & Hudson, 29.95 [pounds sterling] While the advocates of globalisation claim it connects people and places that are geographically remote, the harsh reality is that it also fragments connections at a local level. This book (cover...

Hand to eye.(Gallery)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Hand To Eye is the follow-up to Pen And Mouse--the survey of the best in contemporary illustration written by Pentagram partner Angus Hyland and Creative Review's Roanne Bell. The new book, featured in CR October, looks at how illustrators have...