Herakut: awesome street painting duo.

I recently discovered some work by Herakut, I love the way that they work together and fuse their styles and the results they get are stunning. The use of photo-realism blended with the more abstract shapes and forms generates truly amazing pieces, how anyone could claim that this is vandalism and not art is beyond me!

I am absolutely gutted that I missed them performing live in London...I only hope they make a return visit some time soon.


Further reading: http://www.ukadapta.com/e/art/herakut.html

What I'm reading...

Aaaaaargh, enough with the awful in-house ads already!

After all of the steps forward advertising has taken with understanding the consumer, recognising the importance of a solid strategy, and exploring the potential to entertain....these stupid and painful to watch, in-house, amateur ads are taking us mammoth strides backwards!!

Obviously companies need to tighten their purse strings at the moment but you can't just ignore years of research and advancements in advertising and simply bash out make-do alternatives. A smaller budget doesn't have to mean crap ads, it just requires creative thinking to determine the best way to get maximum impact out of that budget.

Note to clients:

1. Ditching your ad agency may save you money in the short term but it will cost you in the long term!

2. Shit ads will not sell your product! Fact!

Got to love the Northern Soul...

A friend from Falmouth introduced me to Northern Soul, she's a brummy and has been going to Northern Soul nights for years. I love the fact that everyone just gets together and dances all night in their own little space...absolutely brilliant. I am really hoping to get along to one of these nights some time soon, think I may have to practice my moves before hand though!

I am a daydream believer

Asleep in the garden by ~Minefeldt on deviantART

After reading an article discussing the productivity of daydreaming I decided to do a little digging.

I myself am a compulsive daydreamer, my mind is forever wondering. Writing reports and essays at University was always a difficulty as my attention span would rarely exceed 45 minutes. Whilst I very much enjoy escaping reality, I have always considered my daydreaming nature to be a weakness, at least when thinking in terms of employability. However, it would seem that my mind wanderings could actually be boosting my creativity and productivity. Who'd have though it eh!

Apparently, most of us daydream for at least one third - one half of our day, everyday. Daydreaming has been termed as our 'default mode of thought', the default network is an area of the brain that becomes very active when we are not focused on the outside world and our brains are in a state of wakeful rest. Rather than responding to the outside world, our brains begin to contemplate their internal landscapes, allowing us to engage in abstract imaginative thought, making new associations and connections that we would otherwise not think of.

With this in mind, it is undeniable that daydreaming and pleasant mind wandering is something of a necessity amongst planners and creatives... let me quote some insightful chaps from the University of California;

"The generation of fanciful possibilities can lead to the discovery of new and useful solutions to a problem. While daydreaming about one thing, it is possible to stumble into a solution to another problem, i.e., fortuitous recognition of analogies among problems is possible. Daydreaming occurs in the context of an episodic memory which is constantly subject to revision. Each time a problem is examined, new information may be available that will enable a better, different, or more creative solution. Ideas generated while daydreaming often provide the initial inspiration for a creative work and further daydreaming." (http://cogprints.org/521/0/ddcogsci.htm)

I rest my case.


(Further reading if your interested: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/08/31/daydream_achiever/)

Strategy is key!

Jeremy Bullmore: In praise of Antinomies from JWT on Vimeo.

Really interesting and relevant presentation by Jeremy Bullmore. There have been quite a few campaigns of late that been very creative but lack any real groundbraking strategy, the best ads are those that manage to happily marry the two. I am a big believer in the notion that design without strategy creates art and design with strategy produces results. From my experience I have learnt that the answer almost always lies in the research. It is the research that supplies the invaluable nuggets of information that inspire and allow the creative solutions to blossom.

The sun is shining!

I can only apologise for the lack of posts over the last week, sunshine is very scarce in Wales as I'm sure you've heard and I simply had to make the most of it...

If ever you find yourself near Gower in South Wales I do recommend that you visit a beach called three cliffs in Pennard (see above), bit of a walk but certainly worth it.