One Plus One Equals Three

Baz's Oz Promos

'Come Walkabout': two new Tourism Australia TVCs by Baz Luhrmann. Billabong (above) and Boab (in the continuation). Eleven ads will be created in all, shot in various locations around the country. Way more interesting and intriguing than their stereotypical and controversial predecessor with a bikini-clad Lara Bingle asking "Where the bloody hell are you?" More effective for me too – but appealling to potential tourists? Or do bikinis work better?

Also – if these ads are numbers one and two in the campaign, wouldn't it have been advisable (perhaps) for them both not to be alike? A rainforest, some mountains or (dare I say) a beach may have been preferable for ad number two?

But - very nicely crafted Baz. More, and more at The Guardian.

And more: is the campaign (thus far) too 'white collar'? Discuss. How about the ads being "the most exquisite piece of synergised marketing ever seen — at the Australian taxpayers' expense?" – read on.

A New Standard Bike Rack for NYC

The finalists in the CityRacks Design Competition in New York. The Y-shaped one by the Scotsman gets my vote... is elegant and it doubles as a seat too. Video above.

Via Treehugger.

Airbus A380 as Projection Screen

The arrival/launch of the new Qantas Airbus A380 demonstrating that a big white A380 works very effectively as a projection screen. The recently refreshed Qantas logo suits the shape of the big (and curvy) French plane nicely too.

Reverse Your Destiny (Now Leasing)

A video update (in Japanese) on the Reversible-Destiny Lofts mentioned on 1+1=3 a while back. More at Pink Tentacle. They're in western Tokyo, and available for rent. "... a home that keeps its inhabitants young and healthy should provide perpetual challenges." A interesting concept. Sunglasses not included.

And whilst you're at Pink Tentacle: "I am different from you".

Quote(s) for the Month: October 2008

A few recent gems from some of our clients:

"The blue needs to be more blue, not too blue. Not dark, but like sky, a darkish lightish sky... oh, you know!"

"We prefer version (if you could move the logos together move reduce white space fantastic)."

"Remove page 35. Replace with nothing."
From a 48 page, saddle-stitched publication – such publications work in modules of four pages.
Except this one.

"Can you please kern that column of text – there's an overhang."
For type and layout newbies: kerning is adjusting the space between pairs of characters, not the vertical space in a column of text.

Air Traffic Over Europe: 24 Hours

A dizzying information visualisation of a day's worth of air travel over Europe. Stay tuned for the 'flip' that shows a cross-section revealing the density of the air traffic. That's a lot of planes, passengers and cargo and a lot of C0².

Related: an info-vis of 24 hours of global air traffic (that link via Coudal) and an interesting visual overview on airport wayfinding signage (via Quips). It's good to see one of the classics of that particular field of design endeavour mentioned there too: the masterful wayfinding signage of Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, designed by Mijksenaar.

Now, where's my luggage?

Les Voyages au Centre-Ville de Jules Vernacular

Jules Vernacular is the typo-pseudonym (nom-de-typo-plume?) of French graphic designer Jack Usine. Jules's blog (which is really Jack's) is well worth a visit. Some wonderful French vernacular type and signage on display.

More on M. Usine. GUsto and Smeltery (all Usine endeavours).

Via Coudal (I think).

More on Robot Bike Parking in Tokyo

An update on that automated and computerised bicycle parking facility in Japan. See previous entry.

Via Treehugger.

30 Days of Night: End Titles

End titles are a developing graphic element within the language of cinema. When handled well, they can be really interesting filmic epilogues, leaving a memorable graphic signature as an endnote, rather than the usual long scroll of names. Sometimes the big 'statement' created by some film titles can be a little overpowering, or at worst quite gratuitious, or at the very worst, they can completely overshadow the film itself. With some films it's perhaps best to jump right, smack-bang into the diegesis, or narrative proper.

A cursory click through through the web sites of a couple of notable title houses: Kyle Cooper's Prologue and (also from the US) Imaginary Forces reveals that end title sequences are being taken seriously – and why not? Prologue's end titles for Iron Man are terrific: a rollicking, spirited, 'stay-tuned' closeout. Fun. Pixar, as they are wont to do with their films, also enjoyed themselves with the 2D-animated end titles of Ratatouille (although that film is certainly not their greatest work).

Vaguely related to the post below (but not blood-related... er, sorry), where we touched on things vampiric, above are the the chilling, eerie end titles to 30 Days of Night, an especially good, edge-of-your-seat vampire film (set in the winter 'black out' of a small Alaskan town – a very clever and novel idea). More on their creation. A hi-res version here. Creepy indeed.

Hammer Horror Down Under

Vampires, werewolves, the undead, people with claws and fangs, axe murderers, axe murderesses, cannibals and other sundry ghouls, scarey people and gruesome creatures (Dick Turpin?) often came to Australia via Hammer horror films. Oops, musn't forget the aliens. Here's a collection of posters for Hammer releases in Australia.

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BTW – I have an extremely busy few weeks of work ahead of me. Postings will be very infrequent...

Oh – and if you like Meta Serif as much as I do, check out FontShop's Meta Serif micro site and the poster (designed by Erik van Blokland) of all of the 709 glyphs of Meta Serif Pro. That typeface could be a very deserving winner of the Nobel Prize for fonts, not that there is one. But if there was...