http://www.vimeo.com/30427082 I came across this video shot by directors Tim and Joe a few days ago. It is for synth duo ‘New Look’, a Canadian band tipped for success in 2011. New Look’s self-titled debut – issued on !K7, home to the mighty Chromeo and the DJ KIcks Series – is almost a companion piece to Rapprocher by Brooklyn’s Elizabeth Harper, being an album of electronic pop sung by a female, in this case Sarah Ruba, a part-time model who, with her producer/multi-instrumentalist husband Adam Pavao, has spent the last three years recording New Look in Brooklyn, as well as Berlin and their home town of Hamilton. The video is shot on the Xbox Kinect camera, thus giving a surreal three dimensional look and feel. In order to understand the director’s working methods, they have posted some background information on the concept and the resultant shoot. http://cargocollective.com/timandjoe#2125444/Making-of-New-Look-Nap-On-The-Bow

It is rare nowadays that a television commercial has the power to arrest, with virals, Facebook, Twitter etc vying for position as the premium medium. This new British Airways ad is different. It plays shamelessly on the past, but for once, a company’s past is well worth another look, from a designer’s point of view. As you all know, I am a sucker for flight, but this shows us how things were, pre 9/11. I’m not for a minute suggesting that we all flew in hats and bonnets, but this makes one realise the beauty of flight. It’s not where you sit, but more about realising how incredible an engineering feat flight is. Oh at the retro graphics are good too.

After album sleeve design, my next favourite genre is title sequence design. http://www.artofthetitle.com/ is a website dedicated to showing the working methods of the designers behind the new and noteworthy projects appearing in our cinemas. It goes into great detail showing how various elements are assembled with the intention of creating captivating film graphics. This short film was compiled by it’s creators showing a brief history of film title sequences. http://www.vimeo.com/20759580

Sometimes advertisers jump the gun, and fail miserably.  This ad was made on the assumption that the England rugby team would win against ireland in Dublin last weekend. Sadly for NIKE, they didn’t count on england being whipped.

Once in a while something appears and captures the imagination of people. ‘Newport’ (Ymerodraeth State of Mind) was made as an homage to Newport, Gwent, and it has been received incredibly well. Watch it and smile.