Absolutely wonderful ‘Take my Linens’ card from THE STANDARD HOTEL.
A cheeky message made me take note and actually use the card,
hopefully doing that little bit to be a little bit ‘greener’.

The race for No.10 is a black hole of mystery with the possibility of a hung Parliament and multiple party leaders potentially claiming victory.

We’ll be waiting a while for the result, so one thing we could decide right here and now is who has a website worthy of the Prime Minister’s office. Inspired by MOO’s latest Webby Award win, I thought I’d award a local election site ‘Webby’ of my own. Links to each below:

The East Surrey Lib Dem site is relatively contemporary in appearance and easy to navigate, providing easy access to popular and (party) relevant content. The Lib Dem site includes photos, YouTube videos and a selection of social media channels (Twitter and Facebook) in order to allow browsers (and not to forget, potential voters) to get engaged online. The site is “designed by web partner NKodIT.”

The East Surrey Conservative Association site is… well, very 1992. It’s a few lines of basic text, with a couple of links, oh… and the Conservative party logo. I learn nothing from this site, nor have any way to properly engage with it (and therefore the local candidates). A link to the main Conservative website is all well and good, but it doesn’t help me find out anything more about local issues, and what my local Conservative candidate stands for in the 2010 Election. Admittedly there are links to candidates Sam Gyimah and Nirj Deva, but I personally feel I should be pleasantly led to these via an engaging design, not thrown back in time 18 years to the dawn of the web! There is no acknowledgment of who is responsible for the design. I don’t blame them. I wouldn’t own up to this either.

The Labour South East site is marginally better than the Conservative site, but is shadowed by the somewhat more contemporary design behind the Lib Dem site. Whilst the Labour site is providing me with some news, and the ability to forward a link to this site to a friend, it doesn’t give me an easy way to access this information, for example homepage maps and a news stream are below the ‘fold’ on the page. I’m also a little upset that the person responsible for uploading a graphic on the homepage didn’t manage to spot that it’s too big for it’s placeholder. Ah. The Labour site is “powered by taobase from Tangent Labs.”

So, who wins? To me it’s clear, and my East Surrey local election ‘Webby’ goes to the Lib Dems.

As for the “real” result, we’ll have to see what the evening brings!

I hope you understand my

L eaving you was hard. It’s not
O nly the distance that hurts like an empty promise. It’s the
V ery fact that for
E very single-second I am away

Y ou forget what we were.
O r do you? I know I cried drunk
U gly tears when I heard what you had done.

Opening title sequence to Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can. Title design by Kuntzel+Deygas.

I really enjoy this Catch Me If You Can title sequence by addadog partners Kuntzel+Deygas. The sequence pays homage to the sequences designed by Saul Bass, and is combined with John Williams’ cryptic score. The 2:30 sequence outlines the entire Catch Me If You Can story – highlighting key plot points, without giving too much away (of course). The style of the titles echoes the aesthetic of the ’60s’ period of the film, yet stands alone as a contemporary creative interpretation of the story, even today.

I just stumbled across the ‘Art of the Title Sequence‘ blog, which carries a whole range of Saul Bass (and other) stunning title sequences.

Negative Advertising by Jai.

I have never been a fan of local politics, and I don’t believe I ever will. For me, “local politics” consists of constructing and demolishing traffic calming measures over a 4 year cycle – nothing more.

Party A thinks the road requires a traffic island, Party B doesn’t – essentially, one party comes to power and builds it, another party comes to power and removes it, then the first party comes back to power and re-builds the island, and so on, and so forth…

I hope this demonstrates why I’ve never been too excited by a local election. A general election however, is a whole different matter…

I’ve just completed my vote registration form (having moved residence), and will be printing the form and posting to the local electoral office. I will admit however that I’m willing the day that everything can be done online.

So, with the 2010 General Election looming on May 6th 2010, I figured I should learn a little more about what is going on (beyond the BBC News Election site) as it is likely to have an impact upon the next few years of my life in some way, shape or form.

Do you even know who your MP is? I didn’t.
If you want to learn a little more about your local MP, I’d recommend taking a look at TheyWorkForYou.com.

The view is breathtaking.
If you could muster the words
you’d say it was more than
the purest dreams of man.

Small sailboats in the bay
reflect the sunlight like stars
in a perfect night sky.
People stop as they walk by.

The town sprawls before the ocean
bowing to the lapping waves.
The harbour is alive with voices
of men at work, men without choices.

To look the other way, turning around
the hills roll into mountains
decorated with a carpet of redwood.
How long for? It’d be gone if they could.

I look down in front of me;
a pad of paper, a blank page,
a clean slate of possibility
lays deadly looking back at me

expecting another rhyme.

She executes her line beautifully.
She executes it to the extent that
I can’t hear her in my poor bleeding ears.
(Not that I understood what she was singing!)
It’s all opera to me.

An omnipresent presence
narrates “Mind the gap”
as you step from
the platform. The carriage
is full. Full
of people on their way
to work,
to play.

He is in his suit.
Smart shoes reflect the
flickering fluorescent lights.
Lightening blue sparks from the track
below, explode
at the profanity-etched windows
with a midnight moonlit-glow.
A look of knowledge falls
across his heavy face –
work is the next station
stop.

She is standing.
Awkwardly. One hand up,
clutching her lifeline-pole –
the only reasons she is
upright now.
Her face tells the
story of last night;
one too many.

A quick round up of the Search Engine’s Seasonal Wishes…

Google

The Google logo has been building over the last few days, featuring what look like Holiday (post)cards. Pretty interesting when you link this with the campaign they recently ran for GMail…. Is a stronger relationship between on and offline for Google something we can expect more of in 2010?

Yahoo!

A nice little festive flash animation for the Yahoo! homepage, linking to a page on Holiday traditions. Very PC.

Bing

It would appear that Bing haven’t (yet) shared a seasonal logo with us this year. Shame!

You will always hold a place in the heart
of me; making me feel as if I’m home.
I can see myself with you, my new start
as I leave safety to live on my own.
What is it that draws me to you? The way
you have everything to offer me and
more; with you I can spend my entire day
doing nothing; I just don’t understand
how you make me want to come back so soon.
A dream of the future is all I have
to keep hold of between now and next June.
Until then, money is what I will save.
I would give anything to be with you,
to see you again just to be a two.
Only a Memory

I was walking in the park,
an archway of friends holding hands,
dark green fingers locked together
lined the coarse concrete,
blocking out that eternal daylight streetlamp
thousands of miles away.
Each parasol leaf doing its part
to shield me from the white white heat.

A giant stone doorway greeted me;
a toothless mouth, smiling around me.
As I walked under, another stream of the
world was passing over head.
The dark moments I spent alone in this space
refreshed my exhausted frame.
On the other side
the burn of day had returned.

The grass had changed;
Baked into something new,
transformed by feverous warmth.
A solid scent filled the park, and
filled me. Now only a memory.
The bed was floral patterned
alight with the summer’s sun,
shining back up in prayer.

You were there, centre to
my current world. Stationary and
cool in the blistering heat.
That stone heart of yours will never melt.
You stood there, grounded
on the pedestal I put you on.
You stood proud. Still.

Butterflies do not lie.
Life begins
in the dark. A life confined.
Dependent on
an outer shield,
a shield designed to stifle pain,
to resist truth – a way of protecting
the inside. One day is
all that is allowed
for this life.

They can majestically transform
from what they were
   to what they are.

Escaping the nurturing cave
which once was enough
should breathe life to this life;
freedom comes from flight.
Butterflies know
regardless of orientation,
the direction which they
must fly. Butterflies
do not lie.

Welcome to LAX
the voice chimes through the speaker.
Welcome to waiting…
Passing the time as best you can,
in as many ways as you can,
in as many solid and torturous
economy lounge chairs as you can.

Landing early from a connecting flight
sounds perfect, almost beneficial.
It resonates with positivity,
as if you have gained time.
When all we gain is time to wait,
to waste.

T minus thirty minutes until boarding begins,
T minus forty five until take-off,
T minus moments of my life.

Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen
Gleefully, without a care pierces the gate attendant.
Gate 48B, I can’t think of anywhere
I would rather be.

Keeping my baggage in sight at all times,
in sight at all times,
from a watchful security camera eye.
In sight more than ever, close to 5 years on.

…nothing will!

Made for the New Zealand Book Council (produced by Colenso BBDO and animated by Andersen M Studio) this film is stunning. Totally and utterly mind blowingly stunning! The piece has been included in Creative Review and has had quite a lot of coverage over on Twitter too. You can find more results on Google.

If it doesn’t inspire you to pick up a book, it will certainly inspire you to try some stop frame animation. Credits below:

‘Going West’
Format: Stop-frame animation
Client: Colenso BBDO / The New Zealand Book Council
Design and Animation: Line Andersen / Andersen M Studio.
Photography and Lighting: Martin Andersen / Andersen M Studio.
Sound Design: Mikkel H. Eriksen / Instrument Studio

To think that once you had fallen for me,
you had already thought ‘bout moving on.
Love is blind and your lies weren’t clear to see
and I was involved in you far too long.
He cannot promise you the same things that
I can promise. No matter what you say
I am not the one you should be mad at;
look at yourself. Don’t look at me that way.
Despite all the headaches, I forgive you
for the damage. I don’t think you know how
much you hurt yourself. If only you knew
how little I’ve been thinking ‘bout you now.
Maybe the choice you made will let you change;
show you love is more than fluid exchange.

        It’s Tuesday.
             All day.
No longer Monday,
not quite Wednesday.
So far from the Weekend,
           The Weekstart.
Just stuck.
Here.
In Tuesday.
Why does nothing ever happen?
I guess we could make something happen.
But why bother?
     It’s only Tuesday.

Chairs in regimented curves
pay attention to the lectern’s vacuum.
One by one at four we arrive,
choosing our chairs. Comfortable,
after an introduction,
the reading begins.

I listen, but do not watch as others do,
I watch the room.
A mix of people, old and new,
focus intently on
what there is to say. A poem
ends. The first to be shared.
A breath of closure issues
from everyone, and the poet.

Aahhh.

A new poem seamlessly
begins on the same topic. Men
and what it means to be a Man
in the world.
Another breath closes
another poem. Aahhh – just as before.

A new poet seamlessly
attends the recently vacated lectern.
One by one she articulates
morbid poems to rows
             upon rows
of comfortable chairs.

Again that sound. That aahhh
swells from one side of the room
                                    to the other.
It is the sound of sleep; a lullaby
for each poem as it ends and is put to bed.

Hushed applause echoes
around the room, swelling
just like our content
night-song chorus of aahhh.
Thank you for coming,
no, thank you for sharing.

Aahhh.

I stumbled across this great ‘IQ test’ for designing graphs – something I am “good at” (according to the folks at work), and something that I actually enjoy!

I’m not a designer (although I sometimes wish I was). Despite the lack of ‘artisitic/design training’, making data ‘pretty’ and understandable is something that really interests me – and I don’t care how geeky that sounds.

It’s my personal philosophy that…

IF INFORMATION IS PLEASING TO THE EYE, IT’S PLEASING TO THE MIND.

A good looking chart/graph/table makes the information a) easier to understand and b) helps people get involved in the data at it’s heart.

The IQ test from Perceptual Edge is only 10 questions, and some aren’t as obvious as you’d think. The quiz is a set of questions comparing two different styles of graphing, asking “which is the easiest to understand?”.

I scored a 7 out of 10 – not bad… but I thought I’d do better.
Clearly time to read a little more on the subject…

I bought a pair of plain, white, canvas shoes. The plan is to customise them with a good old fashioned WHSmith laundry marker. I’ve done this once (picture to follow) and it worked a treat – the shoes themselves didn’t last long sadly. I guess that’s what you get for buying cheap shoes!

Drawing the design is easy, deciding what to draw, less so. I’m sure I’ll find something….

Anyone with a Mac, missing a screensaver? You should seriously take a look at PolarClock3. It’s a beautiful graphic clock, using a rotating and constantly updating colour and text indicator of the time. I’s so basic, so stunning, so easy to read. It’s refreshing to see the way we measure time in the modern world. To me, this is just as magic as a new watch with a re-designed face. The beauty here however, is that the app retains the cyclical motions of a regular clock, with a modern, graphic, twist.

Oh, and it’s also available as a OS X Dashboard Widget and an iPhone app.
Check it out on the PIXEL BREAKER blog!

I’m not sure about this one… dixons.co.uk – The last place you want to go? I get it. Part of me really likes it. However, the other part of me just isn’t sure they (M&C Saatchi) really thought this one through.

To be honest, Dixons online is actually the last place I would go. It’d be a last resort in the unlikely event that amazon et al had sold out or in the even more unlikely event that Dixons was cheaper.

The creative minds behind this have hit the nail on the head that it’s much preferable to walk around Harrods, John Lewis and Selfridges etc… than deal with the unique ‘species’ of individuals at Dixons, but all this ad really does is draw attention to the fact that Dixons is below par when compared to these other brands. I’m still not sure.

I’ve noticed this campaign a lot recently, mainly on the tube. The thing I love about advertising on the tube is that the creative can (but doesn’t have to) use more words than most other forms of print/billboard ads. If you’re stuck in a tunnel for 10 minutes (or more) you may as well have something to read.