Wallpaper

Look at these lovely wallpapers! I particularly love 'la vie ordinaire' (bottom), would be great for a childs room!

H and M Spring 2011

I've recently started seeing these ads on TV and 40D and I love them.  At first I couldn't put my finger on why, but then I realised that the ad is a take on changing room antics.  This concept is so subtle yet so effective - it captures that private moment in the changing rooms, that feeling you get when you find something that you know looks great on you, that little smile to yourself when you look at the price tag and its affordable!  It also really shows off the details of the clothes, yet is short and memorable.

Good design is everywhere...

Part of my new job is to collect inspiration,

so here are some lovely things I collected last year...

The Cooperative

This new advert for Cooperative is a little epic for my liking, however, it certainly caught my attention.  Made by TBWA Manchester, it's actually very clever, perfect timing for that new year buzz of fresh starts with cleverly placed nostalgia.  I imagine there are a lot of things people get pretty fed up with - the commute, the kids, the daily grind, but is food shopping one of them? does anyone pay for parking at a supermarket? Is shopping at the Cooperative really going to stop that?

I'm not convinced.

Heinz Soup

Heinz Whistle advert by AMV BBDO

This has been out for a while now, but its an excellent follow up advert to the Tomato Ketchup one, lovely art direction and most of all, as always, that perfect insight into it's consumers.  Love the girl who blows her soup then her nails, inspired.  It has to be Heinz!

This is Man... This is Woman

Hello blog, It's been a while!

There's a lot to catch up on, so watch this space, but for starters, here's a few things I've been meaning to share for a while!

This is the Man, This is the Woman is a campaign for French connection that I spotted in the window of the Manchester store a few months ago and fell in love with.  A little late, so i'm sure many have seen it too, but just incase you haven't then here it is!

The campaign plays on the stereotypes of men and women, inspired by classic cinema and was also backed up by a facebook and twitter campaigns with challenges for men and short films.

I love the whole style and attitude of this campaign, the copywriting is absolutely spot on, witty but sophisticated sarcasm and clever cultural undertones.  It reminds me of Ed Ruscha, one of my favourite artists.  This is what I call fashion advertising with substance!

Go Ape!

For the last two weeks, I have been working in a London agency called Vivid London....more about that later... and have been staying with my Auntie here.  At the weekend, we decided to go on a bit of an adventure and signed up for a Go Ape course in a nearby park.  This is essentially a tree top  rope assault course. 

As it was just my Auntie and myself we couldn't take any pics, but here's an idea of the kind of things we did.  I'm not really scared of heights usually, but on more than a few occasions my stomach went through my mouth - especially on the tarzan swing where you had to jump completely off the platform and swing through the air into a cargo net!  

                                               

The Ad Generator

Fascinating....

http://www.cogandsprocket.com/adgen/

D&AD Degree show!

On Thursday, we finally recieved our degree results - and I got a 2:1!!
I have had a wonderful 4 years at university, and now all the hard work has paid off.  Since we finished, I've been so busy it hardly feels any different to the rush of the last year, but I am having a great time, getting lots of interviews, experience and catching up with my social life!

Watch this space world, here I come!

Lovely jubly

Two ads that have really caught my attention this week.  The art direction of the Cadbury Flake is mesmerising, I couldn't take my eyes off it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o72M-Z6qhJg

Then Mcdonald's have bought out a world cup version of their 'Mcdonalds for everyone'.  Ok, It's still Mcdonalds, but the writing for this ad is beautiful and I love listening to it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY64igrRILE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PXkk5WuG10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYGawzvhosA

Whitby

This weekend me and the girls went to Whitby for a mini camping trip.  Saturday was lovely, Sunday was miserable, and Monday was ok but we still had a great time.  The scenery was beautiful!  

One of the highlights of the trip was an amazing tea rooms we found - It was elaborately decorated Victorian style with loads of trinkets, home-made cakes milkshakes, lemonade and sandwiches!Each room was different the food was beautiful!  I wish I lived there!

Alice in Wonderland

I posted about this film way back in the summer and then I read the books for the first time at the end of the summer so i've been looking forward to this ever since I found out it was going to be made =)

I read quite a few reviews before I went and there was a mixed feeling towards the film. However I thought it was great!! It's based more on the second book through the looking glass, and the story line and characters are very toned down compared to the book, with a lot of 'adapting' but still it made a great film and the interpretation was great if somewhat commercialised.

The scenery and costumes were amazing, the characters were good and, I thought, well played. The best thing about the film was how funny it was - I wasn't expecting it to be funny and I laughed all the way through especially at the hare and tweedledum and tweedledee! There was just the right amount of crazy randomness from the original to make it quirky.

We went to see it in Imax 3D which was super - after Avatar now I think when I go to normal cinema it's going to be a big fat let down! It really felt like you were falling down the rabbit hole and running through the enchanted forest with Alice!

Amsterdam

On wednesday my boyfriend and I packed our bags and sailed off to Amsterdam on a very cheap ferry deal! I have been once before when I was in 6th form, but we only went for the day and spent most of the time in galleries. I felt that I hadn't experienced all that the city had to offer!

This time I must sadly admit we did nothing cultural (apart from one photography gallery), but the weather was beautiful, although freezing the sun was shining right up until we left. This time I just soaked up the atmosphere, wandering the streets and relaxed for a couple of days, but I appreciated the city a lot more than last time.

I can't get enough of tall town houses, its a strange love of mine but I actually adore them - I can't wait to have enough money to live in a house like this. I first fell in love with them in Bath when I was about 10, and have dreamed of living in one ever since. The architecture in Amsterdam was just beautiful, higgeldy piggeldy but elegant and original. Looking in through some of the windows the rooms were so grand and light and lavishly decorated. Floor to ceiling windows and high ceilings everywhere!

I have never seen so many bikes in my whole life, there are literally thousands and thousands lining the streets in every space. Many of them weren't even locked up, they were just left on the side of the road or propped up outside houses. Crazy! They were all old fashioned rattly bikes too, no shiny new ones or mountain bikes, and everyone was riding them. I wish we could have better bike lanes in this country to make it easier for people to ride their bikes, every Europe city seems to have so many more bikes than we do and I think its a real shame! Its the best way to get around a city fast and easy and a great way to keep fit.

Last time I didn't go to the red light district, and I don't know what I was expecting really because I knew what it was like, but I was still shocked when we stumbled across it! Suddenly there are girls in their underwear everywhere trying to seduce you! haha, it was funny for a while, fascinating even, untill I saw an old man going into one of the cubicles and I heard the girl say 50. Then it was just a bit grose and freaked me out.

So now it's back to the slog and preparing for my review on Wednesday, feels like I haven't even been away already. Amsterdam has pushed its way up to one of my favourite cities I've visited =)