"Big Ideas come out of Big Pencils"

http://www.leoburnett.ca/

"Big Ideas come out of Big Pencils"

I came across this website and thought it was a fantastic different way to create user involvement in a company's portfolio. As the user moves across the screen to find the portfolio work the pencil leaves an impression on the screen so the longer the user stays on the website the busier it gets.

The whole idea of making the website more interactive engages the user and differentiates itself from its competitors. The challenge for companies now it seems is to create a website that offers much more and keeps you interested, I think this website succeeds in doing this. The sight was even recognised in the D&AD Awards, http://www.dandad.org/awards06/entry.asp?entry_id=4116

The website itself on first impression reminds me of the interactive nature of the "Mercedes Benz A to S Website" that was awarded a place in the Creative Review Anthology 2007.
http://www.a-to-s.co.uk/home.php

The Bullring

Having travelled through Birmingham on the train this weekend I was struck by The Bull Ring shopping centre from a great distance away. From a distance the building and its construction reminded me of different places namely the Allianz Arena in Munich and a theatre in Prague that I was lucky enough to visit.

The whole experience of seeing the Bull Ring posed to me the question of modern developments and the debate about whether they are architectural masterpieces or monstrosities on the horizon?

I personally think the Bull Ring's appearance although strange or unusual at first is a fantastic piece of architecture and is a tribute to 21st century engineering much like the Allianz Arena.

The Allianz Arena in Munich for example has been constructed with foil panels that are kept inflated with dry air. The arena has the fantastic attribute of being able to change the colour of the panels depending on which team is playing at the stadium.

Allianz Arena, Munich.

Theatre in Prague

Guinness "Chain" Advertisement

Whilst researching for my Dissertation topic I looked into the success of Guinness advertisements over the last 30 years. I was immediately drawn to this advert, "Chain", for two reasons. Firstly it was a fantastic success for the Guinness brand and was at the cutting edge of motion graphics when created and launched in 1994 by Ogilvy & Mather (Davies, 1998) and secondly because it was featured in the Pencil to Pixel conference in Prague.

Having looked into the advert and watching it a few times the complexity of the concept behind it is fantastically fulfilled by the agency. We imagine a "surreal journey" through the "heart of a pint of Guinness and back out again". (Davies, 1998) This creates a brilliant advertisement that draws the viewer in but it is the attention to detail that really interests me. The last scene of the advert shows the pint of Guinness in a room which is filled with iconic Guinness imagery, something that will probably go un-noticed by the majority of viewers. There are items such as a harp and divers helmet from previous iconic Guinness campaigns. There is also on the TV screen a shot from the previous Guinness campaign which had run for arund 8 years.

It is this use of semiotics and attention to detail that I take the most from the advert. Guinness as a brand have created this fantastic cutting edge advertisement yet have subtle use of visual imagery to really emphasize the brand and its values.

Bibliography
DAVIES, J. 1998. The Book of Guinness Advertising. London: Guinness Publishing.