Introducing Harvey

I love the 'every home needs a Harvey' TV campaign by thinkbox, which demonstrates the effectiveness of TV advertising. The campaign reminds me of the clear channel brief which asked us to demonstrate the effectiveness of outdoor advertising in our second year of university.

I found the 'unseen footage' and 'working with harvey' videos on thinkbox's website and they are really tongue-in-cheek and very funny. I think the theme tune of 'Ain't seen nothing yet' by Bachman-TurnerOverdrive, makes the adverts even more humorous, and helps to develop the cheeky personality of Harvey.

It just shows that the advert doesn't have to scream TV advertising to show that it works, there's no connection between getting a dog and advertising on TV, yet the campaign is so memorable I think it really proves it's point.

Made In Dagenham

I saw Made In Dagenham tonight and thought it was brilliant. Sally Hawkins gave an amazing performance, I believed and empathised with her character throughout. There were some moments that were a little bit cheesy.. but these were few and far between. The film showed the sacrifices and struggle that these women went through for something they believed in, and they showed an unbelievable amount of unity, all of which I had never been fully aware of before.

Nature Needs Heroes

I just saw a Timberland advert at the cinema which I thought was pretty good, it actually made me laugh out loud, because it reminded me of those embarrassing moments when you drop something and when you go to pick it up it keeps moving.. that wasn't really the point of the advert but it least it got me to remember it. The strapline 'Nature Needs Heroes' summarises really well the messages of their more environmentally friendly product, and reinforces their core brand values of masculinity and adventure. It also demonstrates how the little differences and standards we enforce in our lives can make a difference, but it presents this concept in a way that their target market can embrace without losing face.

Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.

I was just having a flick through a book called Fingerprint, which is all about 'The art of using handmade elements in graphic design'. I found a poster by Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. who is a letterpress printer, he designed the poster for an exhibition about Rosa Parks. The posters feature quotes and important text from Park's amazing story.

I love them, the words are so powerful but the design helps to amplify them and connect with the viewer. From what I've been reading online about Kennedy, he seems a fascinating man, I wouldn't mind getting my hands on a copy of the documentary about him; 'Proceed and be bold', the trailor for which can be found on youtube.

I just saw this post on Its Nice That, it's about Willi Dormer's latest performance of 'Bodies In Urban Spaces', in New York. So I thought I'd share my experience from when I was lucky enough to catch a performance in London last October.

I was on placement in London at the time, and was using a weekend as an opportunity to explore the city, whilst my boyfriend had come down to stay. We'd just got off the tube at London Bridge, and were on our way to walk down to the Design Museum. We didn't know the performance was taking place, and were more than a bit confused when we saw a man wedged behind a lamp post...

We then noticed there was a lot of press photographers and also police, and realised something interesting was happening.

We then followed the small crowd that was gathering around quite a long route around London, which took us around residential areas, public gardens and finally the steps outside the city hall. Because there are so many 'dancers' in the performance, there are several different installations happening simultaneously, so the press and public were frantically trying to view each one. It was quite an intense half an hour, and generated lots of buzz and excitement around the area. It was a great 'happening' and Dormer managed to create an experience that made those involved look at both the human body and their environment in a very different and quite surreal way.

Lunar Landscapes

I was recently in Cornwall on holiday and visited the place pictured, it's called Hartland and is just up from Bude on the North coast. The reason I found this place so visually interesting was because of the dramatic coastal landscape, formed by the slate cliffs. The slate forms in thick layers, which when eroded can form fascinating features such as the arch and lagoon above. The landscape looks almost lunar and the textures and structures are really quite inspiring.

Biba

Over the last few weeks I keep hearing about Biba, today I read on Natasha Bailie's blog that House of Fraser have bought Biba and their archives, and when I was in The Whitworth Gallery last week, I was flicking through a book called The Biba Experience in their shop. Biba grew from a boutique fashion shop to a huge department store in London in the 60's and 70's.

The book explained how Biba was the first high street brand to really market and 'brand' themselves in the sense that we know it today. They had a 'logo shop' shown above, where the customer could get a Biba branded everything. I love the Biba aesthetic, the Art Deco design of the interiors and logo contrast dramatically with the iconic 60's and 70's fashion.

I'm not sure what I think about House of Fraser buying Biba... apparently there have been several unsuccessful re-launches of Biba in the past but nothing ever of this scale; Daisy Lowe will be the new face. I can see that it is a very smart move for HofF, with vintage and 60's fashion being so popular at the moment Biba is a goldmine... but it does make me feel a little uneasy, I think maybe we should just respect Biba for what it is and leave it well alone.