Burj Dubai

In downtown Burj Dubai the world's tallest built is shooting up, when finished it is expected to be well over 800m tall. The tip of the spire will be seen from 60 miles away! Whilst the computer generated images of the finished skyscraper look very elegant and sleek I can't help but feel that a building so much taller than anything else around is going to look out of place and overly extravagant (although Dubai is probably the best place to be extravagant!) The 'Burj Dubai Official Website' is, as it should be, clear and stylish, it is easy to navigate and well laid out. The animation adds interest without being annoying or tacky. I would like to try and build a similar website myself in flash as I think it works really well and the format could easily be transferred to other sites.

Shaz Madani

YCN are holding a talent auction of 6 young design graduates, I was looking at each designer and their work and was particularly impressed with the work of Shaz Madani. Madani is a graduate of the London College of Communication who has produced some excellent typographic work. I find typograpy really interesting but am not especially good at it, looking at work like this makes me want to learn more about the subject and be able to produce work that is as effective and thought provoking as Madani's.

Harvy Nichols and Wallace and Gromit

Wallace and Gromit have been chosen as the faces of the new Harvey Nichols store in Bristol. The plasticine characters were created by Aardman studios in Bristol, which is part of the reason they have been selected to promote the new store along with their lovable and friendly personalities. I have always been fascinated by how lifelike and believable Wallace and Gromit are, this is helped by the careful scripting and direction of their films but is largely because of the phenomenal time, energy and talent that goes into making the animation so realistic and natural. The attention to detail exhibited by the animation team in the Wallace and Gromit films and these stills is truly inspirational to me. The clothes they model were made to imitate those on sale but were carefully selected and tailored to Wallace and Gromit's style, this helps the adverts to gel as otherwise the characters would look out of place in posh designer clothes. Harvey Nichols is often seen as being an intimidating store, these new poster models may help to change this perception and make Harvey Nichols seem more welcoming.

Martin Kippenberger

I saw some of Kippenberger's work a couple of years ago at Tate Modern and the Saatchi, he was a controversial German artist. I particularly remember one of is pieces, 'Kellner Des...' which shows a bent lamp post and a cold, slightly eerie street. There is something peaceful yet unfriendly about the scene, until you notice the two real lights coming out of the painting, they give a surreal edge to the work and somehow make it seem a little more welcoming.

Kippenberger has made the headlines recently over his work 'Zuerst die Füsse' which shows a green frog crucified and is currently exhibitied in the Museion Museum. The sculpture could be removed from the museum in the next few days as the Pope has labbled it 'blasphemous' and Franz Pahl, the president of the regional government, ended up in hospital after going on a hunger strike to express his disapproval of the piece. Kippenberger is said to have thought of it as a 'self-portrait illustrating human angst', and so the debate goes on. I personally am not offended at all by the piece but then i am not a Catholic, or even religious for that matter. I am intrigued to see what will happen to this piece as i can understand why some people are not going to like it but to remove it is surely limiting freedom of expression.

Slinkachu and his mini friends

The Guardian introduced me to the street artist Slinkachu, who makes tiny little people and releases them into cities. They are then photographed and the images are sold in a book, i think it's a charming idea and the pictures are really interesting. However i am surprised that some of these wee, little people don't get stamped on... or maybe they do and we just don't see photos of that!

Children See, Children Do

The Think! Campaign reminded me of a video shown to me by an Australian friend, Children See, Children Do. The first time i watched this advert i was so moved by it i was almost in tears. The campaign 'challenges every adult to exhibit only positive behaviour to children'. I think that the video makes an extremely valid point as children learn so much from the behaviour of the adults around them. For me the music makes the video more poignant, i think advertisements like this could be effective in helping to make adults aware of their actions and the effect that this has on children.

Think! advert

I saw this advert in the Sunday Times, firstly I was struck by its effectiveness, I think it is exceptionally thought provoking due to its simple and well executed concept. I am unsure what the dots and accidental lines of pen add to the piece, I think they were placed to try and encourage the thought that it was created by a child but i think that there are too many of them.

Boring laptops

A friend of mine has just bought a new laptop, an HP artist edition to be precise. His laptop looks so different to all the other laptops I have seen on the market. Pretty much all laptops (non-Macs) are either silver or black and look very similar, this is the first time I have seen a computer that has been designed to be interesting and colourful. I think that the illustration and colours are fun and are much more exciting to look at that a standard laptop. I hope that this starts a trend of more individual laptops and electronics or at least encourages people to customize their own.

Andy Riley

Andy Riley is an amazingly talented illustrator with a great sense of humour, this book provides a hundred or so brilliant lies that you could convince children of (and some adults, i tried and succeeded!) His style of illustration is simple and clear and that helps to get his ideas across perfectly. The thoughts within this book never fail to cheer me up!

Fridge Creative

A friend of mine has been doing some freelance work for a London based company, fridgecreative. I had a quick look at some of his work to give him some feedback and then we had a gander at the fridge creative website. The variety and quality of work is impressive and the website is clean and simple. I really like some of the illustration work, there is a light hearted and playful style.

Diesel Advertising

These are some of the images from Diesel's advertising campaign from last year that i just stumbled across. The provocative images show models in Diesel clothing in the heat around famous landmarks, i find the images quite amusing but they caused quite a lot of controversy.

I think the flooded NYC landscape works the best as its really clear what is going on and I paid more attention to the models and their clothes because the advert caught and captured my attention. I can understand why some people don't like or approve of the adverts but personally i think the campaign is amusing, well thought out and executed.

Olympic Museum, Lausanne

There is a fascinating temporary exhibition at the Museum about the Beijing 2008 Games, there are sections on the history, architecture, sports and culture of China - the photographs and short films about China and Beijing are enlightening and you feel as though you have actually been to visit the places featured.

There are permanent displaying the Olympic torches, equipment and artifacts from the original Olympic games back in 776BC. Some of the coins, sculptures and gem carvings on display are beautiful and i find it difficult to get my head around how such intricate things could be made thousands of years ago. Definitely makes me question my own attention to detail!

There is a section about the section about the promotion of the Games - Mascots, logos, marketing etc. The mascots of the last few Olympic Games are on display (Beijing 2008 pictured). Whilst i think they are quite cute and appropriate I don't think that they are as appealing as they could be. There is a display outlining the guidelines of use for the Olympic rings logo, the colours of background it can be used on, the positioning of the rings etc. I found this interesting although my friends called me a geek! I would like to learn more about branding and logo design (possibly as a dissertation topic...), and the more time i spent looking at the London 2012 logo the worse it seems to look!
Free Tibet!

Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine won various film awards when it was released in 2006. I found the film engaging and well directed, there are some far fetched moments (trying to hide a dead body in the back of the van for example!) but for me it added to the like-ability of the story. The film is quirky and has some cringe worthy moments... towards the end especially! I feel i would need to watch it again to take it in fully, but all in all i found the film very touching and an amusing story about modern day American family life.

Summer work and upsetting websites

This summer i am working at an International Summer Camp frequented by some of the richest families in the world. Children pay thousands of pounds to spend a few weeks here doing outdoor activities and learning languages (along with the odd life lesson). I find it upsetting that a company that takes so much money can be happy with such a crap website! It uses too many different fonts and is poorly laid out, as well as being rarely updated.


This inspires me to learn more about typography and websites to ensure that i never make websites like this! It is difficult to navigate to the information you want because of the poor design of the site, this could irritate people to the point where the camp loses business.

Laura Marling, Ghosts

This beautiful song by Laura Marling has an intriguing video, the playful animation is almost childish. The colourful cardboard cutouts are very simple but work really well in my opinion. The five singing skulls remind me a little of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody! The dancing 'puppets' at the end of the song are amusing and fit well with the tempo and style of the song.