An inspiring animation for REDU, an Education Reform site, by AOL Artist Hunter Gatherer discussing the need for better education. Created in collaboration with CAA, Bing, Task Force and Good Magazine, among others, a hand-made animation made out of ” literally thousands of individually cut blocks”.
An engaging presentation of an important topic and a well-developed website featuring content and programs from a few WO brand partners .
World Basketball Festival + the Make Something School
Retail, sports, and education innovation
Nike, Converse and the Jordan Brand took the World Basketball Festival and transitioned its message into a community creativity program.
The World Basketball Festival identity is a visually dynamic brand, utilizing unique typography and sports illustration by Saiman Chow, which has been seen around the city for the last few months. Created by Sheffield-based studio Sanderson Bob, glyphs from international languages are combined to create a typographic treatment that represents the world without the use of flags or maps.
The Make Something School is a creativity program developed by artist Aaron Rose that partnered with the brands in an event that structured a curriculum around the World Basketball Festival.Leveraging publicity from this innovative new event and the big brands involved, the Make Something School inspired creativity and benefited the local community.
The workshop funnelled the Nike brand along with well-known artists who incorporated inspiring messages such as “United we Rise” into creative activities. Kids excitedly interacted with Nike products and participated in the campaign.
Workshops included: • Teens working alongside Nike designers to transform Nike’s classic Destroyer jacket. Taking inspiration from the core countries of the World Basketball Festival, the combination of newly discovered skills, global inspiration and raw creative talent produced some exciting results.
• Workshops with superstar Kevin Durant to design custom variations on the Jordan jersey and shorts as well as a chance to create their very own Hyperdunk trainer.
• Local artist Eric Elms ran a day long collaborative exercise in color and expression which resulted in the large “United we Rise” mural.
Read about the event at the Make Something School website.
A new product from Vitra, Chairless, is a branded fabric strap so you can sit anywhere. Supposedly the perfect fit for iPad users.
Like it or hate it, shows ideas can come from all places, in this case traditional made modern: a portion of profits benefit the Ayoreo Indians, the original source of inspiration. (Source Cool Hunting)
A campaign taking their iconic blue sticker to a fun new level. The client brief: Make bananas cool. Relying on Chiquita’s biggest brand icon, the hand-applied blue sticker on every banana and Using playful illustrations on stickers juxtaposed to the iconic Chiquita stickers, the product and brand become more engaging to the consumer.
On the digital side: “Further thinking led us to giving bananas personalities and how all bananas start out good but eventually go bad (and for consumers not to let that happen). “Dont Let Another Good Banana Go Bad” was the through line of our campaign and it was incorporated into all of our work. The idea grew into a fully immersive microsite that contained viral videos, a sticker generator, and a completely unique 3D flash game called Banana Boogie Battle. This experience gave the users opportunities to create their own banana sticker personality and breakdance battle against bananas that have turned to the dark side.”
Beautiful ad for the Swiss snowboard apparel company Zimtstern directed by Marco Lutz. There is also a video in this link with a making of video, shows how amazing things can be created with a lot passion and hard work from a team and a brand willing to take the risk.
Facebook is stepping up its integration of social media and retail partners with its invention of “Facebook Storefronts”. Soon 20 stores can have more than just fans of their brand, but give their customers the ability to actually purchase items directly through Facebook.
“While retailers like “Sears, the department store, and Threadless, the T-shirt seller, both let users add items to their shopping cart on Facebook;” never before have users been able to purchase goods without ever leaving Facebook’s site as they will be able to soon. 1-800-Flowers is the first retailer to have constructed a free-standing virtual shop on Facebook, with more to follow in the coming weeks. Facebook, however, “has no current plans to organise the storefronts into an online mall, or to make money from them by either taxing the transactions that take place on its site, or by offering its own virtual currency.” [FT]
Definitely something to think about with any new project.
If you havent seen Roxy Paine’s Maelstrom at the Met, it is definitely worth the trip. It is an organic-looking stainless steel structure on the roof of the Met at 130 feet long by 45 feet wide.
As described by the Met: “The latest in a diverse body of work, this sculpture is one of [Paine’s] Dendroids based on systems such as vascular networks, tree roots, industrial piping, and fungal mycelia. Set against Central Park and its architectural backdrop, the installation explores the interplay between the natural world and the built environment amid nature’s inherently chaotic processes.”
