Advertising Inspiration - Public Service Messages

The world of commerce and sales has for a long time grasped hold of the benefits of advertising. Even as far back as the 1800's when Barratt of Pear's Soap used very pioneering techniques to promote their product (including stamping "Pear's" onto a load of French coins that were often accepted as currency in the UK). Nowadays innovation comes in how we use the technology available to us and our ability to make the viewer want to "pass it on" with viral ads.

In spite of all that however, some of the best advertising I have ever seen is not about making sales at all, but simply communicating information - in my opinion visual communication in its prime - getting an audience to understand a concept quickly. Enter the public service advert.

Two great sources of public service advertising that you can use for inspiration are:

The Ad Council (http://www.adcouncil.org/)

And

The Foundation for a Better Life (http://www.values.com/)

And for my Y1 Nat Dips...

The current home page of the The Foundation for a Better Life (http://www.values.com/) features an ad that draws influence from the style of Saul Bass (view), you might want to add that to your 20th Century research. Here is an example of modern advertising drawing from his style.

More information about Saul Bass here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Bass
http://www.designmuseum.org/design/saul-bass
http://saulbass.tv/
http://www.google.com/search?q=Saul+Bass

Video Games Baftas (the Bavgas actually)... And the winner is...

You have probably heard of the Baftas, you know, the UK equivalent to the Oscars. Well you might not know that there is also one for the video game industry.

It all happened on Tuesday just gone. No suprises that COD4 was the big winner with 3 of the prizes, but it was Mario Galaxy that won Game of the Year.

With so many of you into gaming and wanting to study it in the future, you should take an interest.

More info here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7936000/7936614.stm

Visit the official site here:
http://www.bafta.org/awards/video-games/

Carrara 6 Pro - Free with DigitalArts Magazine

For those of you interested in 3D modelling and animation I have to recommend that you buy the April 2009 edition of DigitalArts magazine (came by mail today - expect in WHSmiths very soon I expect).

The free software in this edition is none other than Carrara 6 Pro, an extrememly powerful and versatile 3D modeller and animator. Other people have written far more detailed reviews than I ever will, but to sum up the changes:

Carrara 6 allows users to choose from an unprecedented array of tools while exploring new dimensions in 3D creation. Carrara 6 provides 3D figure posing and
animation, modelling, environment-creation and rendering tools within a single
application.

Carrara 6 features include non-linear animation, giving users the ability to create clips of animation that can be reused and combined on multiple tracks. Also includeds is dynamic hair that allows artists to style, cut, brush and drape the hair, and displacement modeling where the user can paint detail on a model using free-form brush tools.

Apart from the non-linear animating and the hair, the icing on the cake was that it can export in DirectX (.X) format, and converts procedural shaders into raster images on export. Finally, I can use a program I am extremely familiar with to make models for 3D games and export them directly without having to convert them using other programs (at least that is the implication with .X export - I will of course try it out with my copy of The 3D Game Maker, and FPS Creator (also available free for learning purposes).

Ever since version 1 I have found Carrara to be one of the most easily learned 3D animation and modelling programs. Even so beginners may be glad of a little help in which case they will find Mark Bremmer's video tutorials helpful to get started.

The importance of planning, not just doing

I received this in an email from a friend.

These workmen are installing bollards to stop nurses from parking on the pavement outside the Royal Hospital in Belfast. They are cleaning up at the end of the day. How long do you think it will be before they realise that they can't go?

As I chuckled to myself I thought about how the problem these workmen have made for themselves is not unlike those created by some of my students.

I frequently emphasise the importance of the development phase within any design project. This is where the designer really solves the problem, then plans the solution before carrying out the solution.

Regardless I still have some students trying to bypass the development and going straight for production without sufficient (or in some cases any) planning. They run their favourite graphics applications and begin making the finished product right then and there. The problem with this strategy is 2 fold:

1. A student can rarely pass a unit without proper development and planning (so they end up re-doing it anyway).
2. Nearly always they run into problems that could have been avoided, by being sorted out when they were planning how they would produce their design solution.

Not unlike our friendly builders above, who have inadvertently blocked themselves onto the pavement.

So, as a gentle reminder to certain students of mine. You can keep skipping the development phase if you like, but like the builders, you will always end up taking your work apart and re-doing it before you are complete.

Do your development and planning, and do it right the first time - it means better grades and better work.

Yes! Modern graphics can be inspired by old oil paintings...

Too often I hear students moaning that historical sources are boring, uninspiring, and in some cases irrelevant to the world of contemporary graphics. More often than I am comfortable with students would rather study their peers on Deviant Art than their superiors in an art gallery.

While I do understand what my students are saying, from their point of view, I suggest that the problem is not with the historical art, but in our misconceptions about how we think other people's artwork should influence or inspire us.

Take the video for Coldplay's Viva La Vida for example. A fantastic piece of contemporary art & design, packed with modern digital effects, almost totally inspired visually by 19th Century oil paintings.

See if you agree...

Take a close look. You will see animated painterly effects, cracks in the image like the crazing in an old painting, the dress of the performers, the props, the colours and yes, even the lighting, all influenced by oil paintings nearly 200 years old.

Compare the colours and lighting from the video with this portrait of Nelson. The similarities are striking.

Other examples of paintings from the same era follow. Do you see similarities with these too?




As you watch the video you will have seen many visual elements borrowed from paintings like those above. They have taken the visual language of these paintings and used it in the video.

One painting in particular that appears to inspire the video is the one on the cover of the "Death and All His Friends" album. It features a painting entitled "Liberty Leading the People". It was painted in 1830 by Eugène Delacroix in oil on canvas and currently resides in the Louvre museum in Paris. But if you look closely as the video plays, you will notice a lot of the background imagery appears to be either taken from or inspired by this painting (watch out for the red flag imagery, and towards the end, "Liberty" herself).

What is my point? Just because you are asked to find examples of historical art for research does not mean you will have to produce an oil painting. For inspiration you might take colours, texture, lighting, composition, style, story telling, imagery, semiotics, mood, effects... anything you like.

You don't have to feel like you need to be inspired to use the media or technique - though you might be.

Inspiration comes in many ways from many sources. Do you have the eye to look beyond the surface? If you have, you may yet produce great things, original things, that go beyond the graphical fashion of the now.

The Coldplay video proves my point. So look deeper.

It's not just the technology, it's the ideas behind it

Those of you who are old enough may remember back in 1993 a revolutionary new computer game was released - MYST. Back then it used the Mac's Hypercard and Quicktime, with 3D modelling and rendering software Stratavision. Simple yet effective (more background info here).

As far as today's interactive media is concerned, the original MYST was pretty low tech. When I consider this it becomes clear that pretty much anyone with an intermediate knowledge of Flash and Actionscript could produce a comparable game today.

What set MYST apart then wasn't the technology, but the creativity with which the technology was used.

And this is what I keep trying to get my students to understand. It isn't all about being able to use the software, loads of people can do that. It is about the thinking, the ideas and the creativity.

That is why we emphasise the design process over the final outcome.

Of course later versions of MYST are a lot more complex than the original in 1993, but the ideas, the thinking and the creativity is still what drives the process, even if the technology has changed.

As demonstrated in this making of video...



The Making Of Myst Iii Exile via Noolmusic.com

Talking about web design...

I stumbled across this during a conversation about whether Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds had been made into a film. Naturally I googled for the answer, and found this site.

http://www.thewaroftheworlds.com/default.aspx

It is a good example of how sensible use of HTML, CSS and graphics can be combined in an effective and creative way.

Flash based audio player

The site also includes a Flash based online Music Player... (HINT: click the "Launch Music Player" link at the top right of the page).

Flash based video player

They also have an online video player: http://www.thewaroftheworlds.com/features/video-2.aspx