I don’t often get the chance to talk about the work I do on a day-to-day basis, due to legalities and corporate issues, but I was excited to find these two recent print projects at Borders this month! The top image is an all-type print spot I put together for Always. It was a lot of fun working on, and there are also French and Spanish translated versions running for both the American and Canadian markets. This particular image is from the inside of the April issue of Real Simple, right next to a tutorial on how to straighten your hair! The ad also ran in an assortment of magazines like Teen Vogue, Martha Stewart Living, and Redbook.

The other image is from a much larger campaign to promote a new Nintendo DSi release, that encourages you to create your own mini games. The idea was to encourage young gamers to turn their imagination into real games to pass around among friends; a very DIY sort of vibe. It was very fun working on a project of this size with such a great team. This was shot from inside this month’s issue of Game Informer magazine.

I think it’s important to note that the work that comes out of a large advertising agency like Leo Burnett is never thanks to a single person. Teams of art directors, copy writers, designers, and knowledgeable account people all contribute to the final result; it’s all incredibly collaborative. Seeing your hard work in print (or web, or tv, or radio) is just very satisfying, and I just thought I’d share my excitement with you!

Ryan Meis, one half of west coast-based Lab Partners, worked recently with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to produce a really lovely print campaign for HP printers!

Stuff made out of paper… for printers, get it?

(via Grain Edit)

An interview with art directors, Craig Allen and Eric Kallman from advertising agency, Widen+Kennedy about the making of the Old Spice tv spot, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.

The interviewer—and his dash of industry ignorance—is a little sub par, but listening to Allen and Kallman talk about the 3-day process that went into filming this spot is fascinating.

So this is funny: if you saw this week’s 35mm Monday post you might notice a resemblance to this morning’s Chiquita post. Until I saw a co-worker looking at this article about the new Chiquita Banana Redesign, it didn’t even occur to me that those hilarious blue/yellow stickers I took the photo of were part of a wonderful and enormously cute design effort for the popular banana company!

That was a pretty big Duh moment for me, but I was glad to read this interview with art director, DJ Neff. This is the sort of project that feels fun, liberating… and any other word that might describe the opposite of my day to day!

Here’s the link, once more for good measure.

I’ve been seeing the web through the scope of the advertising industry lately; making constant attempts to push the creative envelope, desperately trying to deliver the unexpected. But how can you simplify an abstract idea, and still preserve it’s charm with the infinite restrictions that stand in your way?

Skittles found a way to translate the endlessness of a rainbow to the web, in a simple and always-growing vertical scroll site. Experience the Rainbow delivers the quirky sensibilities of the recent branding, with bizarre web content, twitter stats, animated gifs, and above all – every color of the rainbow!

Visit the site here, and try to reach the bottom!

I used to skateboard a lot in high school – I can totally appreciate the notion of the ‘dream spot;’ smooth ledges, rails just the right height, flat concrete surfaces, in an undisturbed, private setting… throw in a few pretty ladies, a white picket fence and a grindable bedroom window sill, and you’re SET.

The print ads are about half as good as the viral video spots. You can view all of them here! I’m still trying to figure out who the ad house was that produced them, or if it was in fact Mystery, themselves — which would be awesome. Either way, the skateboard culture has been up to some really wonderful things lately, so here’s to the first great skate campaign of the new decade!

A conversation about ‘sweet websites’ arose, and someone mentioned the portfolio site belonging to advertising group, DDB Brazil. Yea, its cool… for a flash website in an age of dying flash websites. But more important than how ‘slick’ the navigation is through the site, is the floating lettering between each category. From over a coworker’s shoulder, I immediately sent some apologetic vibes through the air, in Ms. Bantjes’ direction.

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Theres at least six or seven examples of this lettering on the site, but it wasn’t until I started editing photos for this post that I noticed how miserable the craftsmanship truly was. Really, DDB — this is the best you’ve got?

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For those unfamiliar with Marian Bantjes’ work, here are two examples from her website, created as long ago as 2004 for various clients. Although Marian has been battling copycats for some time now, the cream always has, and always will rise to the top.

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A link to Marian Bantjes.
A link to DDB Brazil, and you better have the latest Flash Player installed.