In January 2007, Sao Paolo, Brazil, did something that would send chills down the spine of most ad agencies. In an effort to rid the city of what the mayor called “visual pollution,” Sao Paolo enacted a Clean City law that banned all billboards and most other large outdoor advertising.
Known as one of the world’s worst billboard jungles, Sao Paolo was rife with illegal billboards and signs. Advertisers had bought up virtually all available street and wall space in the city to hang their gigantic marketing messages. To earn money, some poor residents even sold the front of their homes or space in their gardens to post ad signs. Unable to determine which were legal and which not, the city banned them all.
Since the law went into effect more than 15,000 billboards, 1,600 oversized signs and 1,300 metal ad panels have come down. Strict regulations mandated smaller storefront signage and limited them to hang only above the store entrance and not extend into the street. Even pamphleteering in public spaces was made illegal. Those who didn’t comply faced hefty fines.
In the mountainous village of Granados in central Guatemala, Peace Corps volunteer Laura Kutner came up with a way to solve several problems at once – the need for more classrooms, the shortage of building materials, and the abundance of plastic trash littering the ground.
Kutner rallied the community of roughly 860 people living in the village and surrounding area and together they collected more than 4,000 discarded plastic soda bottles. From there, students and volunteers used sticks and hands to cram the plastic bottles with more plastic — used bags, packaging and grocery sacks – to give the containers heft and form, then stacked them like bricks held in place by chicken wire, and “stuccoed” them with a cement-sand mixture.
Editor’s Note: In his inimitable style, Marty Neumeier, author, lecturer and director of transformation at Liquid Agency, makes complex marketing principles seem logical and easy to understand. Here from his book “Zag: The #1 Strategy of High-Performance Brands,” Neumeier explains why in a world of “look-alike products and me-too services” it is important for brand marketers to zag when everyone else zigs.
It has been interesting to observe how typing text messages with two thumbs on a cell phone is transforming the written language. Acronyms have replaced full sentences – LOL, OMG, GTG. Everything that can be abbreviated is. The question is, will this lead to the evolution of spelling as we know it? It wouldn’t be the first time. Over the centuries, spelling has changed, syntax has changed, even the noun-verb-object order of typical English sentences has changed. I happened upon this fake news article sent to me years ago. At the time, I found it ludicrously funny; now I’m not so sure. Maybe it was onto something, albeit before its time. Copy editors beware; your troubles may have just begun.
From the Magazine Publishers Association and American Society of Magazine Editors comes this two-minute video “Covering the Decade in Magazine Covers.” This edited America-centric view of the Aughts glaringly omits world-altering stories such as the disputed “hanging chad” Presidential election that started the decade and the rise of social media and focus on climate change that ended it. Overall, however, the video is a fascinating glimpse at the visual devices that publishers use to grab consumer attention at the newsstand. Faces, especially of celebrities, dominate most covers. Pop culture and sensational headlines trump the promise of substantive, thoughtful reporting. Obviously, the magazine reading public is more interested in being entertained than informed.
We recently ran across this post by Alissa Walker for Good.Is about an artist/motorist named Richard Ankrom who got fed-up with the dangerously confusing wayfinding signs splitting the 5 North onramp from the 110 Freeway to Pasadena. The lack of a 5 North overhead sign often caused drivers to wave their hand frantically to be allowed to switch lanes at the last minute and motorists who were cut off to wave their finger in an upward motion to express their annoyance.
In a bit of public service performance art, Ankrom used his hands more constructively and crafted his own freeway directions. The altered signage, which Ankrom put up in broad daylight in 2001, was appreciated by commuters like Alissa, but was not recognized as phony until Ankrom leaked his prank to local newspapers. That’s how it came to the attention of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), which is in charge of freeway signs. Despite Ankrom’s confession, he wasn’t charged with defacing public property because, afterall, how is making something better and safer a crime? For the past eight years, Caltrans let Ankrom’s doctored sign stand. Then recently it removed it, and replaced it with an official sign that looks like Ankrom’s.
Passersby in Amsterdam did a double-take as they walked by post-holiday curbside trash heaped high with the usual plastic garbage bags, assorted discards and… a Mini Cooper cardboard packing box with a red ribbon still dangling off the side. The brainchild of Ubachswisbrun/JWT agency, the Mini Cooper guerrilla “advertisements” were strategically placed throughout the city. It left people to wonder if the popular tiny hatchback was really small enough to be shipped in a box and possibly even fit under a Christmas tree. The white stick-on label on the side of the box provided the sales message – a 99 euro a month finance deal. Except for the black outline drawing of the Mini on all sides of the box, the actual product was nowhere to be seen.
New Zealand’s iconic Auckland Ferry Building, an Edwardian Baroque-style structure built in 1912, has become the site of spectacular 21st century light shows, using architectural mapping and interactive projection technology.
A creative collaboration of Inside Out Productions, YesYesNo, The Church and Electric Canvas, the Ferry Building light show turned the audience into the performers by taking their body movements and amplifying them five stories high. The installation used three different types of interactions – body interaction on the two stages, hand interaction above a light table, and phone interaction with the tracking of waving phones. Six scenes were cycled every hour for the public.
Produced with the support of Telecom and the Auckland City Council, the four-night event was a great way for Telecom to position itself at the cutting-edge of technology and a great way for the city to bolster tourism and civic spirit.
This was a decade when everything as we knew it became obsolete, from newspapers and fax machines to analog TVs and dial-up Internet connections. Like Midwesterners say about the weather, if you don’t like it, wait 15 minutes, it will change.
It struck us as appropriate when Design Army, a creative firm in Washington D.C., emailed out a screensaver clock for its season’s greeting. Forget a calendar, that’s too slow. This clock rolls out the time in hours, minutes, seconds and 1/100th seconds. As Design Army says about its gift of time, “make every second count.” Our sentiments exactly. Don’t blink, you might miss something important.
Visually vibrant, www.curiouspapers.com celebrates “Paper for the Senses”. Treat yourself to rich imagery, vibrant color, and intuitive navigation while you explore the site and discover the Curious Collection. click here for more
After 23 years as a partner of Pentagram Design, Kit Hinrichs announces that he has left the international consultancy to establish an independent design firm in San Francisco.
The “designer’s printer” of high-end corporate marketing materials and advertising. Consistent winner of the most prestigious printing and design awards.
Get the expert scoop on how to use tactical innovation in the design process to create a timeless company identity. click here for more
Ammunition adds HeartBeats for Lady Gaga
This is the latest extension to Beats by Dr. Dre highly successful headphone line. It's both a fashion accessory and a high-end audio product.
Mohawk’s Felt&Wire Gets New Look
Mohawk’s blog FeltandWire.com has just been redesigned by Pentagram to accommodate wider coverage of the world of paper, print and design. While you’re there, check out the original paper products at the Felt&Wire Shop too.
Gung Hay Fat Choy!!
February 14 marks Valentine’s Day and the Chinese New Year. As every year, Seattle designer Juliet Shen created her own New Year’s card, using the calligraphy for tiger to shape the letters in the “tiger” sign off.
Typographic Conundrums
Pentagram London partner and typophile Harry Pearce launches his new book, Typographic Conundrums, filled with pages and pages of thought-provoking wordplay.
Fashion Designer’s Logo
San Francisco-based Rob Duncan Design created a simple and elegant signature for fashion designer Rebecca Beeson by using warm gray, black and white to carve the “r” letterform out of the letterform “b.”
Gifts of the Street
Sam Smidt, legendary San Francisco Bay Area designer and teacher just released a book, Gifts of the Street, showing some of the thousands of vernacular images collected from the highway.
Lip Gloss from P.S. Aeropostale
This flavored lip gloss in a tin is part of Aeropostale’s new P.S. line for girls aged 7 to 12. Michael Braley Design in New York created the graphic identity, naming system and packaging for P.S.
Growing Mold
After six years of experimenting, a Chinese farmer trained pears to grow in a mold to produce baby-shaped fruit. The novelty pears are selling faster than they can be plucked from the tree.
The FEED Bag
A fashion statement that says you care, the FEED tote - from Feed Projects and the UN World Food Program – is sold to help feed the world’s 400 million starving children. Proceeds from one bag will feed one child in school for a year.
Disney buys Marvel
Disney buys Marvel Entertainment creating a powerhouse of pop icons.
PACT Underwear
A fuseproject-venture that blends design and sustainability to support social and environmental causes.
Revitalized Logo
Designed by Lippincott, the updated logo for Meredith interlaces “m’s”, signifying the media and marketing giant’s multi-platform distribution capabilities.
New SparkChina Awards
With CitiExpo, Spark Design and Architecture Awards will extend its role in the booming China design industry through SparkChina.
Kid-Size Saarinen Chair
Knoll has introduced a line of furniture for kids, including a scaled-down version of Eero Saarinen’s 1948 Womb Chair.
The Obsessive Images of Seymour Chwast
A book that shows how Seymour Chwast, illustrator and co-founder of Push Pin Studios, transformed the American visual language.
Jock's Cuba Portraits
When photographer Jock McDonald isn't shooting faces on assignment, he is doing it for pleasure in places like Russia and Cuba. Collectible as art, his Cuba portraits are packaged in "cigar" boxes.
Lego Architecture
Lego collaborated with architectural artist Adam Reed Tucker to create the Lego Architecture Series for several iconic landmarks.
iPhone Games for Designers
From Jason Franzen of FORMation Alliance in Dallas, three app games for designers: Press Check, Eye vs. Eye, and Kern: Space, the Final Font Tier.
Salt&Pepper Cell
D size battery Salt & Pepper shaker by Antrepo. Made from steel and glass, the power indicators on the side shows the amount of spice inside.
Y Water
Yves Béhar of Fuseproject has created a boldly-colored water bottle that is also a children's toy.
Method Hand Wash
Another bright idea from designer Karim Rashid – Method’s lightbulb-shaped packaging for an eco-friendly hand wash.
Signs of the Times
Photographers Randal Ford and Michael O’Brien teamed with writer/musician Joe Ely to focus on the homeless in America, the subject of Pentagram Papers 39.
