I've bought Nothing

In these harsh times, and my female desire to continually purchase something for my own sense of self in the world, this was a particularly good purchase to make. Yes I bought Nothing. Nothing is a recent campaign by thegreenthing to highlight the fact that surplus consumption results in surplus production, and therefore results in a society of wasteful beings - we should "Stick with what we've got and be Happy". Playing along, I clicked on the amazon mock page and made my purchase, to be shortly followed by two amusing and well written emails:

Dear jodmd,
 
Your Nothing is now being hand-crafted by a dedicated team of Nobodies in our 
factory in Nada-nadaland.
 
ITEM DETAILS:
 
 - 1 x Nothing
 - Cost: £0.00
 - Delivery estimate: 08 November 2010 (Monday)
 - Dispatch estimate: 04 November 2010 (Thursday)
 - Sold by: Nothing Ventures, Nothing Gains Ltd.
 
Thank you for shopping with us. 

Dear jodmd,
 
I regret to inform you there has been a problem with your order (Reference: TH1NA1R-N4DA).
 
A disgruntled former employee of Nothing Ventures, Nothing Gains Ltd snuck into our Nada-nadaland
factory last week and tampered with the seals on all our Nothings.
 
We take non-product safety extremely seriously, and so have issued a worldwide product recall of
Nothing effective immediately.
 
We're afraid nobody will be getting Nothing for the immediate future.
 
Please bear with us at this difficult time - we will send Nothing to you as soon as possible.
 
Thank you for your understanding.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Jack Schitt
Junior Deputy Vice-manager-in-chief, Non-Product Safety Division, Nothing Ventures, Nothing Gains Ltd 
 

This was then followed up by my delivery of nothing ensuring me that "Nothing's gonna change your world".
I was relieved. 
 

Outside/Airside

A few things worth a mention at last week's Glug. The whole evening was presented by Airside who gathered together a mixture of designers, philosophers, illustrators and publishers to do quick talks about inspiring things.

Sean Griffiths from FAT architecture showcased some unusual projects, including my favourite: The celebrity couple bathroom suite. Pure kitsch.

Then the girls from Visual Editions talked about the interesting books they publish. They believe the visuals are as integral to the storytelling of a book, and so work on projects that are intellectually and visually interesting. Their latest collaboration is as much a work of art as it is a book. You can imagine the printer's nightmare at all those die cuts!

Lastly was Richard Hogg. An illustrator/designer who is a better speaker than he realises. He intrigued us all with his description of himself as a 'Contraryian'; (someone who always seems to hate everything that everyone likes), and the plus side to this: On the flipside, he usually finds he likes everything others hate, in an upside down kind of way and ultimately he reaches  his own contrarian utopia. Geddit? Interesting guy.

notanyoldorangead

Thought I'd pop this up here as I enjoyed creating my own mock ad of the familiar Orange 'I am' campaign that ran a few years back. I was sitting waiting to be briefed all morning at the agency I was freelancing, had researched all I could, and while I had access to all the lovely artwork, I decided to do my own 'I am'. It was my own little way of introducing myself & saying "I'm here". Made them smile anyway.

Really?

At first I really liked the new ad for Windows Phone 7  - it taps into the fact that all of us walk around mindlessly, engrossed in our phones, ignoring those around us. (not a new idea I know, but well executed). Then reading further I discovered that their strategy was intended to imply that the users of the phones in the ad were not in fact using Windows 7 phones, but other models, and Windows 7 will allow you to now 'Look Up'. This was only clear when the UK version changed the VO, adding: "Designed to get you in and out and back to life again". This is a pure example of the insightful thinking actually being lost on the public as I thin consumers always assume the company's product to be featured in the ad, unless it is made blindingly obvious. Not so in this case.
Anyway, we are to watch out - apparently, this is the operating system set to lead the way in a new generation of smartphones. Apple, hope you're working on the rival..

Cosy Car

I came across these on a piece about art installations being used more & more for brands. (Think BMW kinectic scuplture). And I have to say, if it produces creations such as these then bring it on!

Singing Fingers

So much fun I want it! Touch the screen, paint, record sound & playback - like a kid again!
Courtesy of Sell! Sell! blog

nice web design

Although it may give you an epileptic fit when it first loads, I love this site, it totally captures the fun and craziness of Camille Walala's designs. She is a fashion designer who creates her own patterns and textiles as well. As  you can see she uses bright, bold shapes, harking back to the nineties rave culture (very in now), and her clothes have a space age feel about them. I stumbled across her accessories at Netil market, but her full range can be found on her shop.

 Website by littlefong.

This photo was in the random section and caught my eyes as I love the observation of colour. There is a similar piece using photos of front doors, creating a whole swatch of colour hanging in On Broadway pub, Broadway market.

Bazooka

If you're wondering the back streets of Shoreditch, dip into this art exhibition at the Aubin gallery entitled 'Bazooka'. It showcases the work of two French punk artists, Kiki & Loulou Picasso, founders and radicalists of Bazooka in the late 70s.
Art directiong the French Left newspaper 'Libération', they created a storm amongst the war veterans of the time & created propaganda that is iconic and led to future commissions of Album covers, a magazine and currently, a collaboration with Neville Brody.

The mixture of fine art painting of Loulou, next to the cartoon, manga style (reminiscent of those felt
boards you used to colour in as a child), creates a very captivating combination.