Player performance data has now become a massive influence in professional football, with every pass and tackle meticulously logged for analysis. Adidas has tapped into the trend for an integrated campaign ahead of the Champions League final allowing users to predict what will happen
The campaign was created by The Corner (the London agency which also devised the It's blue, what else matters campaign for the new Chelsea kit) At the allforthis site, or on mobile, users can predict the number of tackles, goals, metres run - even shirt-pulls - in the final
Once players have made theirpredictions they will be able to watch the game unfold comparing their stats to the actual event. Those who predict correctly could win prizes including a Champions League 'season ticket' to watch every game of the team of their choice in next year's competition.
The interface for the site and app uses coloured dots which also feature in supporting ads.
The dots were derived from a motion capture process to create animations of footballers which are used on YouTube and on moving image poster sites
Credits Ad agency: The Corner Creative Director: Tom Ewart Art Director: Mathew Lancod Copywriter: Robert Amstell Director: Alex Jenkins Production Company: B-Reel Agency producer: Michelle Stanhope Typographer: Will Chak
Pink Floyd fans may recognise the cover of our June issue. It's the original marked-up artwork for Dark Side of the Moon: one of a number of treasures from the archive of design studio Hipgnosis featured in the issue
The lead feature in our June issue is an interview with Aubrey Powell who looks back on his relationship with the late great Storm Thorgerson and the work the two of them created for bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and, of course, Pink Floyd at their Hipgnosis design studio.
For the piece, Powell allowed CR access to the Hipgnosis archive so that we are able to show, for the first time ever in some cases, treasures such as the original contact sheet for Pink Floyd's Ummagumma album, revealing how the final repeating image was made, a rejected sketch for the Animals sleeve and contact sheets for Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy sleeve.
We have a special effects theme for the issue. While Storm and Aubrey created most of their work 'for real' we contrast their approach with the latest R&D from leading CGI houses
Plus we take a look at an intriguing collaboration between artists Rob and Nick Carter and visual effects house MPC which brings old master paintings to life as digital artworks.
In contrast, we interview the authors of a new book on hand-drawn illustration – The Purple Book explores symbolism and sensuality in contemporary work with five original pieces created in response to key literary texts.
Also dealing with illustration and storytelling will be an ambitious new show at the V&A. Novelist Hari Kunzru was commissioned to write a new piece for the Memory Palace show which illustrators and designers are helping to turn into a 'walk-in book'. We talk to those behind the exhibition.
In Crit this month we have an excellent piece by designer Michael Rock which re-examines his On Unprofessionalism essay for the digital age, arguing that the idea of the 'professional' graphic designer was just a pipe dream.
We also have a tribute to Ray Harryhausen by our own Paul Pensom and, in his regular column This Designer's Life, Daniel Benneworth-Gray considers the use and usefulness of Twitter
Gordon Comstock wonders why Charles Saatchi wrote his new book Babble and Paul Belford uses a Waterstone's ad from 1998 to illustrate the dangers of over-restrictive brand guidelines
Plus, Jeremy Leslie looks at the indie football titles giving the game some more nuanced coverage and Michael Evamy asseses Venturethree's identity for The Palestinian Museum amid brands' new-found desire to be talkative
Our subscriber-only Monograph booklet this month is rather special. During theis year's Pick Me Up festival, we organised a felt toy-making workshop with Felt Mistress. This month's Monograph is a record of the day featuring some of the work made
You can buy the June issue of Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe to make sure that you never miss out on a copy - you'll save money too. Details here.
Tel Aviv-based illustrator Geffen Refaeli produces a drawing each day that combines elements from various images uploaded to Instagram by different users. The act produces some sweetly surreal results...
Refaeli's DailyDoodleGram is inspired directly from images found in her Instagram feed, which she then posts on her own page.
Alongside the images, Refaeli then adds the names of the photographers whose work provided the source material for her sketch.
So the drawing shown above references these two images, below, taken by Instagram users 'reabd' and 'lalisch'.
Some of Refaeli's pictures have as many as four Instagram sources, but brought together in her single drawing the constituent parts conspire to take on different meanings (there are plenty of drawings more odd than the one above).
The only stipulation on the work is that the referenced images were all taken or uploaded on the same day.
To date, Refaeli has gained 24,000 followers and uploaded nearly 300 drawings. Her Instagrams page is at instagram.com/dailydoodlegram (with prints for sale here), while more of her illustration work is at geffenrefaeli.com. Here are some of my favourite drawings from the last few weeks.
Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion
You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here
CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.
Thousands of online users' photos helped produce this little 'Thank You' film from Land Rover to its Facebook fans. Created by Wunderman NY with Trunk Animation, the project invited fans to send in personal snaps for use in the video celebrating the brand reaching one million Facebook fans.
The animation charts a journey from New York to the Grand Canyon, taking in iconic American landscapes including the Florida Keys, the Great Lakes and Monument Valley.
Trunk directors Alasdair + Jock spliced together a number of techniques including stop motion, pixilation, CG and digital montage. Most of the background images were put together from diced up digital photos from the fans, rallied by Wunderman's social team, and the final time lapse sky was provided by expert Andy Hague.
Working with the fans was particularly exciting, according to Trunk's Richard Barnett, as the interaction with them drove major elements of the creative process. However, it was also one of the biggest challenges of the project - involving waiting for content from users to come in after a call-out or getting disclaimers signed, for example.
Quality was another issue, he adds, "because you're asking a lot of someone to either go out and take some photos specifically for a project, or root around and scan in a load of old snaps, before getting them to upload them to a site, and then finally getting them to sign a release form in order to cover everyone's posterior! So people will generally share stuff that they already have at hand, the easy stuff, sometimes whether that's on brief or not. So we did learn that one call for submissions is not enough, you need to break it down and you also have to have a really co-operative and healthy fan base"
Credits: Agency: Wunderman NY Production Company: Trunk Animation Directors: Alasdair Brotherston and Jock Mooney Producer: Richard Barnett 3D Animators: Mark Lindner and Luca Paulli Pixilation: Steven Edge Design: Jock Mooney Compositing: Alasdair Brotherston DOP: Matt Day Time lapse Photography: Andy Hague US Photography: Gary Griffiths Texture Artist: Francesco Puerto Esteban ACD Copywriter: Carrie Ingoglia Senior Art Director: Saunak Shah Senior Art Director: John McGill
Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion
You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here
CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.
A collection of 45 personal essays by entrepreneurs from the creative industry has just been published by Creative England. One Thing I Know is billed as a guide for anyone setting up a creative business – and it's also free from their website...
The recollections and stories also feature on the One Thing I Know site, with each one offering advice on a range of subjects from how set up a company, getting noticed, hiring and handling money, to dealing with clients and expanding the business.
The One Thing I Know site
"There's one request which stands out from working with a wide variety of people running creative companies: 'I'd like to talk to someone who's done it before'," writes co-editor Anthony Story in the book's foreword.
"Hearing insights from entrepreneurs who have already navigated the challenges they face can clarify things in a way 20 business consultants would never achieve."
The collection's other editor, Daniel Humphrey, also recognises the hard-fought battles that young freelances face from personal experience.
"It's a familiar story that many people in their twenties face," he writes. "Speak to them and you'll soon catch the mood: opportunities are rare and helping hands rarer still. While it would be easy for this 'lost generation' to moan and give up, they've instead done something pretty special.
"Small creative businesses are popping up across the country, fronted by recent graduates and freelancers who refuse to sell themselves short."
Appropriately the book and website, both designed by Fiasco Design, also contain original artwork from over 30 commissioned UK artists.
The articles come from both established creatives – including Dave Sproxton (Aardman), Charles Wace (twofour), Spencer Buck (Taxi Studio), and Jim Douglas (Future Publishing) – as well as from those whose are just starting out.
Update: Due to unprecendented demand the first print run has now sold out. According to the post on the site: "We will be looking at a second print run in the coming weeks and suggest that you email onethingiknow@creativeengland.co.uk and ask to be put on the waiting list so that you can be among the first to hear when it is available again."
Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion
You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here
CR for the iPad Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.
Flickr was once one of the most exciting sites on the web, essential for most creatives. But after it was bought by Yahoo in 2005 things started to drift. Will its new redesign refire users' enthusiasm?
In the light of Yahoo's purchase of Tumblr, and promise not to "screw it up" the relaunch of Flickr is interestingly timed to say the least. Here's one acquisition which many feel Yahoo certainly did "screw up' – or at least failed to give sufficient love and attention to.
The redesign is an attempt to address that, promising "a Flickr that’s more spectacular, much bigger, and one you can take anywhere". Users now have a terabyte of storage space – an unimaginable amount even ten years ago.
The new homepage (see top) is a vast improvement, doing away with the old thumbnails to present images from your contacts in a grid, giving maximum space to photographs. Something also carried through to photostreams and sets
Looks like we need to update our icon.....
Apparently, Yahoo's Adam Canah had admitted that "Flickr had become about words, little images, and blue links…Flickr really was not about the photo anymore." This is a much more visually appealing site with the accent firmly on the image and the text elements relegated to the margins.
But there are signs that the redesign so far is only skin deep with some areas a mix of old and new - here's the graphic design group pool for example
and the groups list
Users are rightly suspicious when large companies acquire start-ups - things move slower in bigger companies and priorities differ. Tumblr users have been left wondering whether it will meet the same fate as Flickr.
Yahoo have finally got around to giving Flickr some much-needed TLC but is it too little too late? What do readers think? Impressed by the redesign or not?
Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion
You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here
CR for the iPad Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.
How does a lonesome giant tortoise find a new love interest? Well, it's complicated, as this new ad by 4creative points out. Launching this evening to promote Channel 4's new 'Mating Season' this June, the quirky ad imagines said Galapagos tortoise's quest to find a new life partner, after his former love dies.
It follows him navigating various 21st-century dating scenarios, such as online dating or picking up strangers in clubs - ending in the apt strapline "Modern dating. It's complicated."
The tortoise Arthur was created by British model making and special effects company Asylum, with VFX studio MPC adding humanised CG expressions. The opening scene (see still above) was drawn by Gordon King, the original Mills and Boon illustrator, in a nod to romantic endeavours of yesteryear, while the closing scene was created by Gordon's son, Fraser King.
The TV spot is accompanied by a print campaign designed by illustrator Noma Bar (see below). It transforms the universal gender symbols in a series of playful symbols that represent various relationship types.
The symbols will be used in animated form on-air to brand the season, and 4creative is also creating some interactive online games to accompany it, such as the x-rated 'Whack a Glory Hole' (see screengrab below) - all in all a suitably offbeat campaign to highlight the ins and outs of dating life.
Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion
You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here
CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month
The UK Resuscitation Council and production agency Unit 9 have launched an interactive app that combines live action film and interactive gameplay to teach users how to deliver CPR.
Around 60,000 people have out of hospital cardiac arrests in the UK each year. Less than 10 percent of them survive, but a bystander able to perform CPR can double their chances of survival.
As well as teaching users the correct method of resuscitation, Lifesaver - which is available for free on smartphones, tablets and PCs - uses live action film to simulate stressful cardiac arrest situations.
The app begins with a short video: in the first of three, a teenage boy is walking home with his friends when he suddenly passes out. His friends panic and the user, who assumes the role of someone walking past, is forced to make immediate decisions on whether to help and what to do next.
As well as answering multiple choice questions, users must perform each stage of CPR - from dragging or swiping to tilt their patient's head to pushing keys or shaking their iPad 30 times to get his heart started. A voiceover responds to each action or answer given, explaining where users went wrong or what they did correctly and when pushing on the patient's chest, users are told whether to speed up or slow down. Each scenario takes between eight and 12 minutes and at the end, the user is given a score which they can share on social media.
The app was directed by Martin Percy and as producer Pietro Matteucci explains, it had to be realistic. “The whole point of the app was to create an immersive experience that simulates a real life crisis. A lot of bystanders have been taught how to perform CPR but when confronted with someone having a cardiac arrest, they forget or are too scared. The app is designed to make people feel like they are experiencing an emergency, so they are prepared for this kind of situation and minimise the risk of bystander syndrome,” he says.
Lifesaver was funded by the Resuscitation Council and the UK's Technology Strategy Board. Work started in October, and the app took around five months to produce, says Matteucci. “We filmed the live action first and while that was being edited, we started to work on the gameplay. The production team had a strong input in the development, as it needed to be as realistic as possible,” he adds. After final adjustments were made, the app was tested by users and released this week.
By combining compelling video footage with realistic gameplay, Unit 9 has created an app that is more effective than any first aid lesson with a lifeless mannequin.
The strict time limits and first person perspective leaves users as prepared as they can be for witnessing a real life cardiac arrest and the voiceover, on screen info and accompanying informative film gives users all of the information they need about CPR in a memorable and powerful format. By linking the game to social media, Unit 9 has also appealed to younger users' competitive side. It's an innovative app and one that Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, hopes really will save lives.
“We need all the help we can get in the battle to improve cardiac arrest survival rates in the UK - Lifesaver will help give people the confidence to step in and help in a medical emergency. Smartphones are now being transformed into vital training aids and developments in technology are providing unique and effective ways to give someone the skills to save a life," he said.
Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion
You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here
CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month
Are UK universities failing to provide adequate tools and technology services to students? A survey of first years commissioned by Adobe suggests that many institutions are falling short of expectations
The Adobe Digital Campus 2013 report surveyed 1,000 new students about their experience of university life so far. The company claims the following key findings:
55% of this year's student intake - the first to pay the higher fees - said that their university is not living up to their expectations.
Two-thirds (63%) of students said they expected to have access to more support facilities and services than they are actually getting.
As many as half of students only have access to basic tools such as the internet, email and basic programmes, falling short of the 82% who expected their university to go above and beyond a basic technology provision before they started their course.
A third (33%) of students admitted they do not feel their university is equipped to help them get a job at the end of their studies, whilst almost half (49%) do not think their chosen institution has good enough links with business.
96% of students identified ‘increasing their chances of employment' as the number one reason behind their decision to go to university in the first place.
Of course these findings should be seen in the context of the company behind the survey – Adobe obviously has a vested interest in universities spending money on 'industry standard' (ie their) software. Also, the survey was conducted across the entire spectrum of subjects, not just art and design. And we might also query what level of 'expectation' students have – is it realistic in the first place? Are they making assumptions or are they basing their expectations on what was 'sold' to them by universities on open days/at interview etc?
All survey findings of this nature should be taken with a pinch of salt but what perhaps this report does further underline is the changing nature of the relationship between student and university which the advent of tuition fees is fostering. Tutors up and down the country have told CR that students now view themselves very much as consumers – as do their parents. They come to open days armed with specific questions about what they will get for their money – including technological provision and employability.
Perhaps readers could let us know of their experiences – are universities providing adequate technology provision on creative courses? Tutors, are students coming with unrealistic expectations of the kind of support they will receive? And what about the wider question of the changing relationship between student and university – what has been your experience of that?
Infographic supplied by Adobe:
Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion
You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here
CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month
Manchester music company Quenched has teamed up with artists, illustrators, musicians and comedians to launch a new campaign, Xpress, on behalf of male suicide prevention charity the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM).
Led by Quenched creative director and freelance illustrator Ben Tallon, the company has produced an album with tracks by artists including The Strokes, The Libertines and Reverend and the Makers; and a magazine-style website featuring interviews with comedian Stephen Merchant, retired WWE wrestler Mick Foley and writers, illustrators, designers and photographers including Waldo Lee, Tom Gauld and Andy Thomson.
As well as raising awareness of male suicide- the biggest cause of death in men under 35 - the campaign aims to highlight the positive effects of creative expression.
“We wanted to get across just how empowering being creative is but we also wanted the campaign to be accessible, and we wanted people to know that they don’t have to be skilled or educated in something particular - even just watching an independent film or going to an open mic night might help them find something they love doing or get chatting to someone with similar interests,” explains Tallon.
Tallon has been working on the campaign since late last year, along with art director Sam Price (who has worked on layouts for the Big Issue and Dennis publications), photographer Danny Allison and web designer Ryan Addams. It has cost around $6,000 - $1,600 of which was raised through crowdfunding site IndieGoGo - and as the album (curated by DJ and poet Danni Skerrit) has been paid for in advance, every penny of sales proceeds will go directly to CALM.
The striking album artwork was designed by artist Hannah Ward. “I met Hannah a while ago and loved her paintings right from the start. When I told her about the album, she wanted to be involved and when I saw the final painting, I thought it was perfect. It’s quite a powerful statement, and something I think people will be drawn to - I couldn't stop looking at it,” says Tallon.
Whatever your musical tastes, Xpress deserves support: on a small budget, Tallon and co have created a campaign that could directly help and inspire the people it is asking for money to support, while showcasing a range of UK talent and encouraging more people to take an interest in the arts. It’s a great looking website with some impressive photography and illustrations and it's all for a worthy cause.
"When I found out the statistics on male suicide, I was shocked - I think it’s tragic that people aren’t aware of just how big a problem it is. I hope that with Xpress, we’ve managed to use our skillset to do something positive for CALM and something that’s different,” adds Tallon.
Xpress: the album is on sale from May 24. For details, visit xpressofficial.com
Images (from top): Xpress: the album, designed by Hannah Ward; The Xpress website; The Xpress team (from l-r Sam Price, Ben Tallon, Danni Skerrit and Danny Allison); and an illustration of Stephen Merchant by Tallon.
Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Biggler Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion
You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here
CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.
