What happens when you give a socially conscious contest winner (and the owner of one of the most eco-conscious companies in Holland) the ability to create a 30 second spot for Dutch Red Kross and the budget to go along with it? Nothing.
Ton, the founder of Tons Mustard, found himself bidding on an auction to produce a 30 second spot for the Dutch Red Kross earlier last year. After winning the auction he decided the best way to handle the spot in an eco-friendly way was to simply air 30 seconds of nothing. It was the first time in the history of Dutch television that they had aired 30 seconds of black. An estimated 2.5 million viewers tuned in see the commercial and experience the “nothingness” of Ton's creation.
Above is the short explaining the process Ton went through creating the commercial and the final cut of the spot that aired a few nights ago.
Just strolled across illustrated poster design from local PDXer, Joshua Burd. The piece was created Exile Poster Project in which a group of illustrators are asked to design a poster design around a social topic chosen for that year. This year's subject focused on youth homelessness.
Burd's piece “captures the emotion felt by those who have run into missed oppurtunities and hardship...but the braids of color show every direction one can take, that all is not lost.”. We love the broad use of color, the jumble of braids and the cascading effect of them coming off the heart and pouring over the head hung low. Very descriptive. Check out more of Joshua's work on his website.
Big congrats go out to local Wieden+Kennedy-er, Sarah Shapiro, who is premiering her new short film, Sequin Raze, at SXSW this month. The film was shot in LA and features great talent including Anna Camp (Mad Men, True Blood), Frances Conroy(Six Feet Under) and Ashley Williams.
The story explores the twisted mental anguish of “Goldberg”, a jaded, once-feminist producer on a hit reality show, as she psychotically tortures female contestants into on-camera meltdowns, while simultaneously destroying herself. Tonight, Goldberg, egged on by wildly disoriented and lawless show psychologist (Conroy), ratchets up her interrogation to CIA levels and wages mental mortal- combat against spurned beauty queen (Camp) – but she may have met her match.
A call has come out of the AIGA Portland camp as they prepare to re-up four soon to be open positions on the local chapter's board. The positions of Secretary, Community Outreach Chair, Partnership Chair, and Programming Co-Chair are on the block and ready for capable individuals who are ready to step in and support the local design initiatives in our little utopia.
You will need to be at a “supporter level” (or become a supporter if you're not already) and be prepared for a three year commitment to the team, but the job is rewarding as you work to educate and support our local design community. If you're interested in knowing more, check out the AIGA Portland join the board webpage for answers to several other questions what it means to be a board member.
Oh yeah, and the applications for the positions are due by April 7th.
Check out this amazing synthesizer being played by Thrill Jockey artist, Dan Friel. This music video for thumper is one of the new tracks off his album Total Folklore. The synthesizer, which is the main focal point of the video, is fairly amazing. Friel's music, a cross between electro-pop and chip tunes, is fairly awesome as well.
Jonathan Adler, known for his strong design sense, is equally known for being a uncompromising trendsetter. In this short (18 minutes) talk Adler discusses the need to not let others expectations taint your work. Adler attributes his success to having the strength to reject other's feedback.
What would happen if our beloved super heroes received their crime fighting budget from corporate sponsorships? Italian artist, Roberto Vergati Santos, wanted to know. In order to explore these ideas he took several famous images from classic graphic novels and incorporated the big dog sponsorship marks into each one. These are interesting and kind of sad at the same time. Let's hope that capitalism never gets quite to this point.
For a town that takes its facial hair seriously, we thought you'd all love this stylish print campaign that was done for Amsterdam-based shave shop, Barber. The four print ads depict animals in the wild sporting a variety of trendy facial hair dos. These were ads were created by ad agency 180 Amsterdam.
