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Inspiration

The Eighties vibe in Michael Tonn's illustrations | #MemberSpotlight

Based in Burlington, Vermont (USA), Michael Tonn is the living proof that sometimes, talent is all you need for sheer luck to set things in motion. By his own admission, it was the industry who found him, not the opposite - as a number of small local...

Posted by: Creativepool Editorial
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Features

Levis ran one of the most successful campaigns ever. So what now?

Nick Kamen was famous for a while. He was a pop star in the eighties and had a hit with a thing called 'Each Time You Break My Heart'. It wasn't terribly good. But his music wasn't the reason he was famous. No, the reason he was famous was for taking...

Posted by: Magnus Shaw
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Inspiration

How the golden age of pop videos threw up a glorious abberation

The golden age of the pop video brought us a buffet of treats, didn’t it? Who could forget Simon Le Bon lashed to a windmill sail in ‘Wild Boys’? Or Paula Abdul flirty dancing with a cartoon cat in ‘Opposites Attract’....

Posted by: Magnus Shaw
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Features

Design masters: Happy 40th birthday to Rubik's Cube

"Oh that's shit, that's shit!" No, not a line from a rap song or a complaint from some disaffected yoof that they're misunderstood...or even Charlie Brooker commenting on something or other that actually does demand a bit of snorty ridicule. No, the...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Features

Top 10 Worst Christmas Hits

Not that I have anything against festive cheer, but for some reason, this sometimes means that good taste seems to vanish completely, and this could not be more true when it comes to Christmas songs. With videos featuring a load of scouse wigs and...

Posted by: Creativepool
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Industry

Adapt and Change: How did the internet change graphic design?

The internet has made a massive difference in the graphic design industry. The marketing landscape has changed a lot, leading to a change in consumer behaviour. And all of this has meant that designers have had to adapt and change to not only keep up...

Posted by: Tony Clarkson
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Leaders

The creative, fascinating and overlooked history of the lyric video

What was the world's first lyric video? How was it born, and why was it important? Lyric videos often do more than show you simple words on screen. They are creative pieces of motion capture and/or production, they capture the viewer's imagination...

Posted by: Creativepool Editorial
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Inspiration

Behind the life of a talented cartoonist - #MemberSpotlight

Clearly, being a cartoonist isn't for everyone. It requires mastery of a certain style, a flair and a very peculiar sense of humour. Simon Ellinas certainly has both. Born with a pen and pencil in his hands by his own admission, Simon has been...

Posted by: Creativepool Editorial
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Leaders

Designing for small spaces - Facing the challenge

When I was young, my uncle gave me his stamp collection. I was instantly captivated by all these beautiful miniature artworks from across the world. I would spend hours poring over them, organising and reorganising them, by colour, or by countries...

Posted by: Creativepool Editorial
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Inspiration

40 years of BBC weather forecast symbols

It’s now 40 years since weather forecast symbols were introduced on BBC television. You’d think there would only be so many ways one could represent sun and rain, but there have been a huge number of changes since 1975. It was actually...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Leaders

They may sell vacuum cleaners, but why are Queen so popular?

There's nothing new about TV ads using pop songs in their soundtracks. Think of all those Levis ads from the eighties - not only did they shift truckloads of jeans, they made the tunes hits all over again. From the Spice Girls flogging crisps, to The...

Posted by: Magnus Shaw
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Leaders

What does it take to be an icon?

Here at Ubiquitous we like to talk about icons; we truly believe that the black cab is an icon and we go so far as to say so in our strapline, iconsonicons. But what is it we mean by this? What is it that makes something iconic and therefore worthy...

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Leaders

Let's push the envelope to reach out and touch base

I rarely, if ever, blog about television programmes I happen to like - largely because it would be a bit off-brief if I did. This is, after all, a blog that is specifically supposed to appeal to Creativepoolers, with features, advice or opinions on...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Inspiration

The Paddington Trail: please look out for this bear, thank you...

by Ashley Morrison This Friday sees the eagerly anticipated release of the Paddington movie. I'm a colossal fan of the marmalade sandwich-loving young gentleman bear - and not only of the original five-minute animated episodes narrated by Michael...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Leaders

Slipped Discs. Who's buying all this vinyl?

How much would you pay for a copy of Nik Kershaw’s album ‘The Riddle’? Should you wish to add it to your iTunes collection via Apple’s store, it would cost you about £5.50. On Amazon’s marketplace, you could pick up...

Posted by: Magnus Shaw
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Inspiration

Back Rub? The brands that changed their names.

On page one of 'The Bumper Book Of Branding' (which doesn't exist), we're told that a successful brand starts with a successful name. Y'know, something memorable, something that resonates with the audience. Crack the name and half the battle is won....

Posted by: Magnus Shaw
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Inspiration

SpY installs a moon in the sky over Lausanne

One of the downsides of city life is not being able to marvel at a clear, starry night. Luckily urban artist SpY has solved this inconvenience by installing an enormous, illuminated crescent moon over the city of Lausanne in Switzerland. By day the...

Posted by: Jessica Hazel
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Leaders

Sir John Hegarty says modern advertising is 'sh*t'. Is he right?

“If you look at the UK, we are suffering because we are not putting the time into the idea and there’s empirical evidence to say that the quality of our output has gone down. It’s not my opinion. Empirical evidence from the audience...

Posted by: Magnus Shaw
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Inspiration

The cupcake gambit. Annoying people as an advertising strategy.

Back in the eighties, I worked for a radio station which ran a campaign for a double glazing firm. This campaign never actually ended. Like those sofa sales, it just continued year in, year out. The ads were very straightforward, consisting of little...

Posted by: Magnus Shaw
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Leaders

Sick? Why pharmaceutical advertising dominates American TV.

If you read my column earlier this week, you'll know I'm in America. If you didn't, I'm in America. In fact, I'm now in America's oldest town, St. Augustine - on Florida's Atlantic coast. And despite the temperature being in the low eighties (which...

Posted by: Magnus Shaw
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Leaders

Bad reception. Why the worst thing about DAB isn't the advertising.

'Share the love!' says a one and half foot, massive headed, dead-eyed creature in a white jump-suit. Ordinarily the shock of this vision would wake you from your nightmare. You'd slope off for a wee and crawl back into bed. But this isn't a bad...

Posted by: Magnus Shaw
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Features

The world's smallest movie: A Boy and His Atom

Big is beautiful but small can also be mightily impressive - including when it comes to design, illustration or animation on a tiny scale. And I'm not talking about those people on Brighton Pier who write your name on a grain of rice. No, I'm talking...

Posted by: Ashley Morrison
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Features

5 (Evil) Minutes with... Fede Alvarez

You can’t find an industry more creative than the movie industry; from the hundreds of people on set and the thousands involved in post-production, to the scores responsible for the amazing marketing and immersive digital and online experiences...

Posted by: Creativepool
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Inspiration

150 years of London Underground posters

This year sees the 150th anniversary of London Underground, and the exhibition at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden celebrates the event in all its glory with a fantastic poster exhibition. With an archive of over 3,000, 150 have been...

Posted by: Creativepool
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Inspiration

5 minutes with... Shaun Clarkson

Shaun Clarkson is best known for his eclectic interior designs for the likes of Vince Power, Oliver Peyton, Harvey Nichols and Pernod Ricard. Since crashing onto the London hospitality scene in the late eighties (his first outing for Vince Power had...

Posted by: Creativepool
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Features

Feel the Hepburn. Why the new Galaxy ad is just plain lazy.

We like Galaxy chocolate bars, I think we're all agreed on that. Lovely, creamy, sugary sledges of tooth rotting gorgeousness, all bundled in delightfully gold foil - wonderful stuff. Mind you, we shouldn't be surprised we think this way, because for...

Posted by: Creativepool
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Features

Off and On; The twisting tale of the ITV logo.

by Magnus Shaw. Perhaps surprisingly, there's only been an official ITV logo since 1989. Until then, the network was divided into autonomous regions, each with their own brand. If you're in your thirties or forties you'll remember your own - Thames...

Posted by: Creativepool
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Features

The best a man can get: Ten milestone moments in advertising history.

1. 79 A.D. Billboards in Pompeii Ah! The glory of the ancient Roman empire. Olive skinned, muscular men striding the avenues, clad in togas, debating the great issues of the day. Beautiful, raven-haired maidens bearing baskets laden with the...

Posted by: Creativepool
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Workshop

Opinions - Wright ore rung. Does spelling really matter?

by Magnus Shaw Browsing through my emails this morning, discarding increasingly bizarre spam along the way, I was struck by a common element. Of the dozen or so genuine messages, over half contained basic spelling mistakes. I wasn't particularly...

Posted by: Creativepool

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