27 April 2009

Shapeshifters - Kenya Hara

29 April 2009 — Kenya Hara

Shapeshifters - Kenya Hara

Graphic designer Kenya Hara is involved in communication projects in a wide range of disciplines, and has won many awards (icograda Excellence Award, Mainichi Design Award 2000, icsid Design Excellence Award, Tokyo Art Directors Club Grand Prix Award, Kodansha Publication Culture Award, Hiromu Hara Award, Yusaku Kamekura Design Award and the Japan Culture and Design Award). His work is deeply rooted in Japanese culture: he was involved in product design to promote Japanese sake and rice, as well as integrated design ranging from space design to graphic design for the Ginza Matsuya department store renewal project in Tokyo. By focusing on tactile perception in the Umeda Clinic signage system, he presented the possibility of a new communication format. As a producer of exhibitions such as the Macaroni Exhibition of Architects and RE-Design: The Daily Product of the 21st Century, Hara has helped direct our attention towards everyday products. Along with several awards for book designs, Hara has established his reputation through his outstanding ad campaigns for muji. In 2008, Hara’s vision of design was published by Lars Müller in Designing Design. Kenya Hara is a representative of the Nippon Design Center Inc. and professor at the Musashino Art University.

Shapeshifters - Kenya Hara: work

Kenya Hara (born 1958) is a Japanese graphic designer and curator. Hara is art director of Muji since 2001 and designed the opening and closing ceremony programs of the Nagano Winter Olympic Games 1998.

Shapeshifters - Kenya Hara: designing design

Kenya Hara has published “Designing Design”, in which he elaborates on the importance of “emptiness” in both the visual and philosophical traditions of Japan, and its application to design. In 2008, Hara partnered with fashion label Kenzo for the launch of its men's fragrance Kenzo Power.

Kenya Hara is considered a leading design personality in Japan and in 2000 had his own exhibition “Re-Design: The Daily Products of the 21st Century”.

26 April 2009

BBDO's New World of Reverse Apprenticeship

Reverse Apprenticeship



NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- BBDO CEO Andrew Robertson, whose job responsibilities include catapulting 287 business units around the world into the digital age, has become a proponent of reverse apprenticeship. In part one of a two-part series, he briefly discusses the giant agency's efforts to up the digital-savvy quotient of all its far-flung parts.

23 April 2009

Powersliding Is Not A Crime



So so, Levi's does it again. A viral worth watching, totally fitting their brand ("a pants so strong you can slide all surfaces with it. let's prove that and make a wicked contest out of it ... yeah dude!") and so totally "YOUTH"! Hat off for ... I guess Cutwater again?

If you dig this video, powerslide your way down to the Santa Monica Pier where Levi's will be hosting the 3rd Annual Powersliding Competition on April 15th. I expect you ALL to be there, even if you've never touched a rail. There's gonna be some intense sliding, live music and other fun stuff.

Where: Santa Monica Pier
When: Wednesday April 15th, 3-5pm
Music: Matt and Kim

The NYC guys and PDX should be there, along with other legends like myself. Expect to see some crazy stuff.

Music Artist: The Bugs
Song: Spastic

20 April 2009

OFFF 2009

Unfortunately I will miss this years edition but I suggest many of you to join me in tracking the event online as OFFF is a magnificent event.
Computerlove is looking for people to report from the OFFFestival in Oeiras (May 7-8-9). So if you're going and you're an enthusiastic blogger with something to say about graphic design and interactive applications you might wanna consider contributing to the CPLUV+OFFF blog.

Check inquiry here



Since 2001, OFFF is exploring software aesthetics and new languages for interactive and visual expression.

Every year, the festival features digital artists, web and print designers, motion graphic studios and avant-garde electronic musicians. But OFFF is more than an event about any of these disciplines. More than a design conference, a multimedia trade fair, or a digital animation festival. OFFF is an enthusiastic celebration of a new visual culture.

From exercises in interactive synesthesia that excite all our senses to stage performances made of lines of computer code. All this, and much more, is shown every year at OFFF; one of the essential meeting points for the international scene of postdigital creation.

Past participants in OFFF include legends of graphic design and visual communication like Neville Brody, Tomato, Kyle Cooper or Stefan Sagmeister; acknowledged software artistssuch as Jared Tarbell, Lia, Casey Reas & Ben Fry, or Daniel Brown; innovators of the moving image like We work for Them, Tronic Studio, D-Fuse or Renascent; explorers of advanced interaction like Soda, James Paterson, Amit Pitaru or Craig Swann; and the most important names that have defined the aesthetics of the experimental and creative side of the Web: Joshua Davis, Yugo Nakamura, Hi-Res!, Josh Ulm, or Erik Natzke. The festival has also a special spot for the main names in the Spanish scene (Area3, Vasava, Innothna, Cocoe, Dani Granatta, La Mosca...) and for creators of surprising new kinds of sonic landscapes: Tujiko Noriko, The Vegetable Orchestra, Sutekh, Taylor Deupree, System, Daedelus, Stephan Mathieu, Kenneth Kirschner...

OFFF is spreading the work of a generation of creators that are breaking all kind of limits. Those separating the commercial arena from the worlds of art and design; music from illustration, or ink and chalk from pixels. Artists that have grown with the web and receive inspiration from digital tools, even when their canvas is not the screen.

DMNews talks with Andrew Robertson, BBDO


Andrew Robertson, chairman of Proximity Worldwide and president/CEO of BBDO Worldwide discusses the agency's recent growth, its future and the role of consumer-generated content.

via DMNews

15 April 2009

Outlandish presents Student Residency

Outlandish Photography is an agency that connects fresh new young photographers with the fashion, design and advertising industry.

And, they have a new series of exhibitions coming up: from the 16th of April until the 2nd of May (3 weeks - 8 artists - 1 space)


Student Residency

Outlandish presents Student Residency
Cécile Vandernoot - Yana Foque - Sine Van Menxel
Opening the 16th of April (7pm)
» open on the 18th (2pm till 9pm)

Outlandish presents Student Residency
Stefanie De Clercq - Jeff Weber - David De Beyter
Opening the 23th of april (7pm)
» open on the 25th (2pm till 9pm)

Outlandish presents Student Residency
Claire Bosquet - Sara Deraedt
Opening the 30th of April (7pm)
» open on the 2nd (2pm till 9pm)


Check also SecondRoom and ArtBrussels

07 April 2009

Stop calling me a homo



Via Shapish who found it on Pietel who started the very funny running homo-word-gag at BBDO and spotted it on Appelogen who discovered it on Mediabom who probably got it from somewhere else but hey we all dig around right. Bunch o'Faggots

Social Media is like teen sex.

Social Media is like ... teen sex.

"Social Media is like teen sex. Everyone wants to do it.
Nobody knows how.
When it's finally done there is surprise it's not better."

Avinash Kaushik - Analytics Evangelist, Google

04 April 2009

Awardseason is open

#update: CASEMOVIES









This time of the year everyone at the agency is running wild to prepare and finish all awardboards and casemovies. Freakin' hell. But the good side is, soon we'll be massive chitchatting and having fun at all these parties again, yippy. I've made a selection of the work my team is sending and a small wrap of all the cases we're sending with ProximityBBDO this season so far.

Belgacom: Internet is mine
ZatteVrienden: Jouw naam in de sneeuw
Makro: Free Petrol
ING: Wijnkelder

More of this years work is:

03 April 2009

Strategy, technical and designer walkthrough of Pepsi Max: Max It ARCADE 2009

Pepsi Max It - teaser img

Summary:

6 real claw machines can be controlled and played on from your browser. Pepsi Max combines bytes and atoms. If you're passionate about something, max it. That is what Pepsi Max is all about. That and gaming of course. And how do you go about maxing a game that everyone is passionate about? You think bytes (as in 'internet'). You think atoms (as in 'real world'). You grab a soldering iron and connect both.


Full post:

MAX YOUR THOUGHTS
Take 6 real claw machines, hook 'm up to the internet and start playing. Unique codes can be stripped from the Pepsi Max bottles and used to add up for extra gaming credits. The lucky ones can win some cool prizes or grab a ticket for the final during which one plays with an 8 meter tall claw machine containing really huge prizes! Each finalist will be able to grab a huge bear and possibly win sunjets.be trips to Malta or Tenerife, or take home 50" plasma's and other cool Panasonic stuff.


OLDSKOOL CAMPAIGNING
The campaign is kick-starts with traditional online media. Bannering and an enticing e-mail to a database of Pepsi Max aficionados


SOCIAL MEDIA CUM

Today, more than 2.1 million belgian citizens are an active member of Facebook. So we integrated the power of Facebook Connect to make the game easily portable over the users contact network. Everyone registering with Facebook credentials, receives give-away codes for friends. Everytime anyone plays or wins it shows up in their friends newsfeed. How's that for viral?

Frankly, a huge amount of users can freely access the website but only 6 can play simultaneously. Of course these users don't want to be sitting ducks while waiting for a claw machines to become available. Statistics are put up to check when the site is very busy, a concept we introduced with, and was essential to, the Internet Is Mine case. Also, the claw machines Twitter when one of the slots is available.


KICK-ASS DESIGN
Phase 1: First wireframes were made in Powerpoint. They served as a basic feature-spec for the full website.

Phase 2: After being loosely briefed on the campaign’s concept and features, several paper sketches were made to serve as a rough guide. The concept at this stage was “a carnival or arcade, but maxed out!”.

Pepsi Max It - design: handmade

Phase 3: Taking the best sketches into Photoshop, we created a digital painting that would serve as a moodboard and colour guide. This piece was also shown to the client in order to get the go-ahead for the look-and-feel for the rest of the website. You’ll also notice the (not-so) subtle use of Pepsi’s 3 main colours, creating a symbolic link between the logo and the site.

Pepsi Max It - design: grading & coloring

Phase 4: Using photos of the real grabber machines as reference, 3d models of the six cabinets, as well as a large “hero”-crane - a reference to the real-life final phase of the competition. The models were created and rendered in 3ds max 2008.

Pepsi Max It - design: 3D rendermap

Phase 5: After all 3d models were animated and rendered, all assets were composited in Adobe After Effects and Photoshop. The mist was painted by hand.

Pepsi Max It - design: finished composite

Phase 6: After the final compositing of the scene, everything was then taken into Adobe Flash, where it was animated and integrated with the rest of the UI, which was also designed in Photoshop.

Pepsi Max It - design: finished UI


SOME HARDCORE GEEKNESS
Basically the client, your pc at home, simply browses to the webpage loading the Flash application. Through the Flash application the Socket Server receives the data of the logged in user and pushes that info to an Application Server on the same layer. The Application Server is there just to check the user data. N00bs would refer to this step as "checking with the database". Furthermore the Socket Server just relays feedback between the claw machine and the UI. To put it straight, the Socket Server is the connection between the client and the claw machines at our offices. If a connection is established then that triggers the Socket Server and extracts one credit. Whenever a client is logged and ready to play, the Socket Server checks whether the user still has available credits to play the game. Credits can be added by entering game-codes found on Pepsi Max bottles and cans.

So, the Application Server feedbacks on the user-request and talks back to the Socket Server. Finishing this simple cycle the Socket Server pings to one of the 6 computers hooked to a claw machine. Each one of these computers is linked to a claw machine through 6, USB interface, micro-controllers talking to one of 6, physical, claw machines.

The micro-controllers allow users to address the physical controls of the claw machines. The connection between the two buttons to navigate and the coin collector are intercepted and thus hijacked by the USB interface of the micro-controllers. The micro-controllers send the claw machines the same electrical signals normally send by the original connections of the physical buttons.

The bears in the claw machines are stuffed with an RFID-tag. If a user manages to catch and lift a bear, the bear is dropped into a slide passing an RFID-chip reader. Once the reader is triggered a signal is passed on back to the Socket Server. The Socket Server then checks that tag with the linked prize in the DB inside the Application Server. When the match is made the UI displays to the user what prize he, or she, has won.


By the way, Proximity BBDO is looking for more ambitious developers willing to enforce our team and start create more of these wicked web-apps and games. Anyone with an interest can apply here.

Check out more of our geekness at Adnerds.be and check the conversation at #pepsimax, #twapero and #proximitybbdo