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ANTI DESIGN FESTIVAL
18-26 SEPTEMBER 2010

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

This is a call for submissions for the Anti Design Festival, which will run from 18-26 September on and around Redchurch Street in Shoreditch, London. The ADF is an alternative art and design festival initiated by Neville Brody that promotes work that challenges contemporary stereotypes. This is work that is seen as uncommercial, dangerous, and anti-establishment. For artists, designers, and other creatives this is an opportunity to exhibit work alongside contributors including Jonathan Barnbrook, Stuart Semple, and Stefan Sagmeister.

While we are keeping exhibition details under wraps, we are interested in soliciting creative work that pushes the boundaries of conventional art and design. This is the chance to show previous work that has failed with clients or instructors, or to produce completely new work without the imposition of market restrictions. Because this festival is completely non-profit in orientation, we cannot pay for contributions. However, this is an opportunity for your work to engage a wide audience in a context that will challenge and provoke the public to rethink the role of art and design in contemporary culture.

Submissions can take any form you want, but the bulk of the work should be cheaply made and reproducible so that visitors can take it and use it however they want. You can send us actual printed pieces, but you would have to pay for shipping (email us first to confirm shipping details). Most probably, you would send us PDFs of work that are up to A3 in size (black and white or color) that we can reproduce for you, or digital files to be shown on computers. Here are some suggested formats: Objects/ephemera already produced; PDFs of graphics to be photocopied onto A4 Sheets; Posters; Images or motion graphics to be displayed out of monitors; Sound to be played into headphones

Below is a list of creative prompts we’ve culled to inspire you. Feel free to use them as you’d wish. 

If you are interested in contributing, please confirm your participation to andy [at] researchstudios [dot] com by Monday, 19 July. The final due date for all submissions is Friday, 13 August. For more information, please visit www.antidesignfestival.com

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‘I preferred a more mechanical method’

‘Incisions sutured under moderate tension’

This has been everywhere and if you’ve been avoiding it you should just quit it and watch. The new spot for Nike Football (yes, of course it’s soccer, but you knew that already didn’t you) by W+K Amsterdam is inspiring, entertaining and best of all, reminds us why the world loves this game so much. The spot is truly a work of art and sets the bar sky-high for live action shorts of a sport-themed nature.

The Guardian has even said it’s generated more buzz than all of the official World Cup sponsors like Adidas, Coca-Cola, Sony and Visa. Wow.

All I can say is I want to work for SvB soooooo bad. Ridiculous. Amazing, Beautiful. They make it look so easy.

I love this campaign for Nike that McCann Hong Kong did. It’s amazing how such a simple technique of monotone images just being overprinted can create such an exciting and dynamic illustration.

I recently came across this interview with photographer Francois Robert and I was immediately drawn to look up more of his work. Come to find out that I’ve definitely seen some of it before, even in some of the books that I own. In fact, Francois is quite a well-known photography, so much so that here’s what Massimo Vignelli has to say about him:

Working with Francois has always been a lot of fun.
First, he understands the briefing.
Second, he adds to it in a brilliant way.
Third, he shoots and delivers the assignment on time.
Fourth, the work turns out to be better than it was planned.
Fifth, he is a terrific photographer.
Sixth, he is a great human being.
Seventh, he is an equally good graphic designer.
Eighth, he is great fun.
Ninth, he has a cool sense of humor.
Tenth, is great to work with.
 
Need to say anything more?
Massimo Vignelli, New York

Go check him out, I especially love the fine art series Francois has created, title “Stop the Violence” (shown above).

This is pretty old, but I still love it.

“An advertising agency has come up with a campaign to promote the Sydney International Food Festival: flags made from food typical of each country. The flag of Italy is made of basil, pasta and tomatoes.”

This year marks the 7th annual Thinking Creatively Design Conference, held at Kean University. The conference this year includes a wide-ranging panel of speakers and is being held alongside the IDSA Conference, also at Kean this year. The collaborative efforts of both groups has drawn a great roster of speakers, designers, educators, and students together for what is sure to be the largest event yet. Attendees to either of the conferences are able to attend all of the events from either conference, a great value during tough times for sure.

If you’re in the NYC/NJ area the weekend of April 16/17 make sure to come by. There are two FREE sessions, one on each day. See below for more info:

THINKING CREATIVELY
April 16 & 17, 2010
Kean University – Union, NJ

2 FREE SESSIONS

Saturday, April 17th / 9AM (Wilkins Theater)
Jon Kamen (CEO) and James Spindler (Executive Creative Director)
@radical.media

I was fortunate enough to meet Jan Wilker (one half of karlssonwilker) at the Princeton Design Conference this past weekend. He’s an all-around spectacular guy and a smooth talker too. That being said I feel like I couldn’t possibly mention his name without also noting the summer workshop he’s running with Paul Sahre and James Victore. I believe this is the third year that the “Tremendous Trio” (yep, I made that up all by myself) are doing their thang. Go check it out and get on the mailing list, then sign up.

-NAME

Tom Medvedich

-WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

I was born and raised in Northern New Jersey. I went to college in Santa Barbara, California and lived in LA for a year after that.  I decided to move back to reality three years ago.

-WHAT DOES YOUR WORK CONSIST OF?

I currently have a body of work that includes both still life as well as portraiture.  I have a lot of hip hop artists in my book, and I plan on diversifying this year by shooting more celebrity and fashion influenced portraiture.  I also love shooting when I travel, whether it’s street portraits, intimate/personal moments, or just capturing the locale.  I’m working on creating a book of all of my travel photography.  I’m also working on some other personal projects like my lip tattoo portrait series and a project called FRIENDLY FIRE. FF shows the wide range of my social network from friends who are super straight laced and religious all the way to a friend who’s had a sex change.  I feel like personal work is very important because it allows you to truly create something for yourself without having to consider anyone else.

-HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?

I took a photography class in high school because it seemed interesting, and honestly I just wanted an easy class. I ended up failing it the first time because I went off the beaten path and did my own thing.  So I ended up retaking it my senior year and I loved it even more because I had a head start haha.  I then decided against my teachers advice to make a career out of it (you were wrong, Mr. G!). I went to Brooks Institute in California and graduated with a BFA in photography.

-WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?

Having my own company and doing only what I want to do. That is above all.  Being independent is the most important thing in the world to me.  I definitely love meeting new people, so that’s a huge benefit of the business. This is especially true because I often meet likeminded people who are creative and constantly inspire me on so many levels. Also, traveling is great. I had to throw that in there!

-WHAT IS THE WORST THING ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?

The worst thing has got to be that, at this stage in the game, I’m running the whole business myself.  It’s all good and fine; I like knowing everything that’s going on, but it honestly just feels like there’s not enough hours in the day a lot of the time.  Ideally, I would clone myself and have the clone run the business side so I could just shoot and retouch.

-IF YOU WEREN’T A PHOTOGRAPHER, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING?

I really think I would be doing something behind the scenes with music… most likely production.

-WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

Life.  There’s inspiration in everything.  I get a lot of my ideas in the shower… Sometimes from dreams… I just think a lot. Probably way too much.

-WHERE DOES CREATIVITY COME FROM?

That’s a good question.  I’m obviously a visual person, but when I see things in my mind, they’re always just wacked out a little bit.  Take the Jordans on my website for instance ( which you can see at www.tommedvedich.com ! ) – this was my first editorial job in NYC.  I was told to “shoot on white and make them pop”.  I loved how Stephen gave me the freedom to do what I wanted.  As soon as I started to think about the sneakers, the vision of floating laces popped into my head.  It’s great when things just click like that. Shout out to Stephen Schuster by the way!

-WHO’S WORK DO YOU LOOK UP TO? (Either currently or in the past)

If I had to choose only one photographer, it would have to be Avedon.  Those midwest portraits he did are just unbelievably amazing to me.  I really wish I could’ve met him before he passed just to tell him thank you for the inspiration.  I also love Scorsese films.  The visuals he provided in so many movies are just so inspirational and powerful.  Casino is my favorite movie ever.  The scene out in the desert… when tensions get thick? Woooo! Classic!

-WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR YOUR INDUSTRY?

Well, just like any other industry, photography has been hit by the recession.  It’s great in a way because it weeds a lot of dead weight out.  Also, I’ve noticed that people are more interested in photographers that can shoot a range of subjects, like people AND still life.  For a long time, people would always tell me I would never get work with still life and rappers on my site.  Last year I ended up doing a 23 country Malibu Rum campaign as well as shooting images for Raekwon’s OB4CL Pt II.  It’s great a great situation; I would hate to be pigeon-holed.  And as far as budget cuts and all that, things will bounce back.  Things come in waves.

-WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM YOU NEXT?

You can expect me shooting big ad jobs soon!  Also, you can look for some interesting images of girls in my portfolio soon…  I don’t want to give it away, but just keep your eyes peeled.  I’m also going to get more into video this year.  I really would love to direct some music videos because I have a very deep love for music.

-WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER PEOPLE IN YOUR FIELD ASPIRING TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY?

Do what you love and expect it to take up every second of your day from the moment you wake up until the moment your eyelids collapse on your bloodshot eyeballs.

-ONE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR.

Shooting Spike Lee was a huge moment for me.  To have a living legend show me the respect that he did really means a lot to me.  Other notable moments for me were my first celebrity cover (Busta Rhymes), and an amazing conversation with Pharrell.

-WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?

Rick Ross, City and Colour, Kanye (pre 808s), Minus The Bear, and my man H2-O!

View the video here: Helppreventcervicalcancer.com

I first saw this spot during a commercial break on the oscars. I think it was an appropriate way to catch the audiences attention. Don’t you?

Check out Help Prevent Cervical Cancer

As a designer that does commercial work, I gotta love Paula Scher:

“Many talented young designers today have abandoned their roles as improvers of the general visual environment. Many only want to work on cultural work, or not-for-profit work, or on projects they perceive as “good-for-society” which may have a high profile within the design milieu, but don’t really reach ordinary people. These designers are afraid to get involved in mainstream packaging, promotion or corporate work. They forget that these are the products and messages that most people really encounter in their daily lives, that these products and services are at the heart of the American condition, and that there is responsibility for us as designers, always, to raise the expectation of what design can be. We are responsible for that daily experience. These “ivory tower designers” leave the job to others (ad agencies, schlock shops, etc.) who are simply doing it for the money, and are often cynical about the outcome.”

Check out her full interview on interesting design blog PrttyShtty.

I found this art director/illustrative designer, Zeptonn, through the wonderful blog Doodlers Anonymous. Browsing his portfolio you will see how his characters sneak onto any item and make it exciting, whether it be a mural, apparel, print collateral. The bottom line is: Cute, fun, strong “vectorish” graphics that all make me giggle with joy. Sold!

Our good friends over at Thinking For a Living™ have just re-launched their site! The new site makes good use of some innovative navigational techniques and has a slew of great resources, articles, links and more. Make sure to check them out and visit often.

Baron Davis is one of my favorite NBA players off the court because he seems to genuinely enjoy the game and embrace it. I watched a special on 60 mins about the Li-Ning which was pretty damn interesting, stating that they are the largest growing sports wear company in China and the history of their brand. In the episode they touched on how Li-Ning would try to break into the American market but they kind of avoided saying much of if they were actually going to attempt it.. I guess this the start of their American push.. although I think it could be shot better, I like the idea and that their taking a shot at it with Baron Davis, Common, jim jones, irv gotti, dj clue.. check it.

Knockout is a tremendously talented (capable, innovative, results-driven, professional) brand communications firm in Asbury Park, NJ. Believe me, I’d know.

This past Wednesday night I was lucky enough to welcome Jason Watt (partner) and Alex Rosenkranz (designer) to my class to share with my students about Knockout’s own creative/communication process, something they refer to as Fishbird. I’m not going to give away too much info (you can find what you need here: http://www.fishbird.org/), but these guys know their stuff and they are revolutionizing (I know, it’s a big word, but I mean it) the field of brand communications and identity development. Please check out their work, check out their products and spread the word: Knockout is planing on taking over the world.

Thanks to Alex for the photos.

The Hans Brinker Budget Hotel is the self proclaimed Worst hotel in the world and to prove this they published this wonderful book to show you how bad their place really is! known for their innovative advertising and promotions the Hans Brinker crew keeps up the greatness but will never catch me in that slum!!

This is one of the greatest things ive read recently.. In January 2007 the city of Sao Palo Brazil passed a law that outlaws billboards, outdoor signs and large advertising. Before this law was passed the city was known as the worlds worst billboard jungle. Check out @issues write up on this great law and how it has effected the city and the advertisers in it. HERE

Photograph by Jim Wilson/The New York Times

I’m going to be completely honest, I think the iPad is the stupidest name for a device that seems to be pretty cool. Then again, I doubt the name matters all that much, just look at the iPod right? I don’t have a full review of it yet, I’m still trying to “digest” all the info. Here are links to the people who know what’s really going on with Apple’s brand new tablet device.

Apple
NY Times
Gizmodo
Engadget

Oh, and one more thing, why can’t it do teleportation yet?

I have been doing nothing but watching these as of late. What a great idea, we have started a new Good Folk series of interviews along the same lines and we can’t wait to sure them with you all.

PaperMag invited 15 visual communicators to re-brand the good ‘ole U.S. of A.

Click here to see the results!

(Thanks Phil)

Dreamers Ink Aesthetics is the online portfolio of Mitchell Paone. Paone’s creative work crosses the disciplines of design, fine art, music and film. Beautiful stuff, check out his reel above.

Please head over to DesignObserver to read an essay by my good friend Andy Chen.

One of my favorite people in the world and an amazing author, professor, and all around ad professional, Robin Landa, is coming out with a new edition of her Advertising by Design but before they drop the new edition, she is giving students the opportunity to design the cover! check out the video!

Mike Cina has a Cargo Collective portfolio. It is quite ridiculous, I’ve loved his work for a while now.

DesignPhiladelphia: October 07 – 13, 2009

Moving into its fifth year, DesignPhiladelphia is the largest national celebration of its kind. This city-wide cultural event spotlights all things design from architecture to interior design, fashion to product design, textile to graphic design. It’s a journey exploring exhibitions, workshops, studio tours, lectures, special events and product roll-outs that inspire, engage, excite and delight.

With a new trend of “design Documentaries”  and other films such as Objectified and Helvetica by Gary Hustwit and shows like Emmy and Golden Globe winning AMC series Mad Men focusing on design and advertising, it is evident that the interest in these fields and educating the world about our craft is becoming more and more important. “People are paying more attention and are becoming more in tune with design and advertising in america” one film goer said.

Art and Copy by Doug Pray (Surfwise,Scratch, and HYPE!)  takes us behind the scenes and tells the stories and sheds a much needed light on some of the most influential advertising creatives of our time. Featuring the likes of George Lois, David Kennedy, Lee Clow, Jeff Goodby and many more This film is a must see! Its a hard nose take on the way things work in advertising and really communicates how powerful design, advertising, and the strategies we make really are. They captured so many different personalities within the AD industry that have made their mark and covered some classic campaigns from Nike’s “Just Do It” to “Got Milk?” and how Tommy Hilfiger became a household name through advertising.  The film was inspiring and motivational for me personally, to see these classic admen and women such as George Lois and Lee Clow speak from their heart about what we do is really powerful.

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Tappin Gofton is a London-based design studio that has some fabulous work on their site.

Peter Funch is a photographer whose thematic images are very impressive. I love looking at these.

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so some video folks posted this video, thats supposed to be a promotion for a magazine issue about criminals…  the video is interesting, but i think its no doubt fake.. you dont pull the projector out and have it perfectly lined up with the window that quickly… but hey, so was the Kobe jumping over a masarati…   

via psfk

Hopefully by now you’ve heard of Phillip Toledano, a NYC based photographer. His work is just beautiful, especially the project Days With My Father.

I’m not that into advertising, but sometimes ads turn out so nice I can’t help but share them with others. Check out the series of 4 ads for Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream done by Ogilvy & Mather Singapore. Job well done.

Thanks Neil.

Nike continues to push the limits and create original content that surprises you..  To celebrate the release of Paul Rodriguez’s third shoe, Nike SB has produced a new commercial titled “Today Was a Good Day.” check check it outttt.

Take a look at the 15 Creepiest Ads of All Time.

while checking out some sites i somehow came across this wonderful piece of advertising..  now i cant assure you that its real, but i can assure you that its amazing..   now ive seen some sexually instigating adds before and even did a report one time in high school on subliminal advertising… buttt, (and i mean butttt in non sexual way)  this add is pretty damn close to taking the cake..  of corse you have the lady looking all googly eyes at this phallic shape thats flying towards her mouth oozing of white sauce… butt (not sure how i mean it this time)  the copy writing is the amazing part of this add… you have  ”it just tastes better”  rite about the meat..  ”IT’ll BLOW” as the largest type on the whole page.. and thats not the most amazing part..  who ever named this thing the “super seven incher”  is either out of their mind or a genius, depending on how you look at it..  and at only $6.25 you can “fill your desire for something long and juicy”  then “yern for more after you taste the mind blowing burger”   its an interesting add to say the least.. sure as hell doesnt make me want to eat what ever that is, BUTT (gross) may make some folks…      whether this is a real add, a little online promo scheme to make people talk about BK or some Add students portfolio piece.. its an interesting take on, well.. meat…  because who in their right mind cooks an oval burger anyway? 

Via:Thegluttony

Hank Willis Thomas is an artist whose work explores race and class in contemporary advertising. There are some pretty wild pieces that really make you think.

I just came across these Unicef ads while doing some research.. dont know how old they are, but i think they are pretty interesting and quite effective….

Yes, those are cigarettes.

Famed ad agency Wieden + Kenendy recently launched their own online radio station, W+K Radio. The radio project hopes to “keep the agency culture woven tight”, something that may be easier said than done being that the agency has seven global offices on three different continents. They appear to has some pretty cool programming and feature employee spotlights and live performances.

Via Creativity Online

Toronto based agency Zig created has created some excellent campaigns for everyone’s favorite home/interiors retailer IKEA. The ads are for IKEA’s new beds which are so comfortable you’ll require shorter bedtime stories. Zig also has a really great website, so make sure to check that out.

Via Adland