Advertising

Museum of Communism (Really!)

By Delphine Hirasuna | September 13, 2011September 4, 2014

The fact that the Museum of Communism in Prague is next to a casino and above a McDonald’s burger restaurant is an ironic “thumbing one’s nose” at the oppressors who kept the Czech Republic under nearly a half century of totalitarian rule. The museum, which has as its slogan “Communism: The Dream, the Reality, the Nightmare,” is dedicated to relating what daily life was like living behind the Iron Curtain, right up to the Velvet Revolution that led to the overthrow of the Communist government in 1989. It includes everything from video clips, Soviet memorabilia, and a replica of a Soviet interrogation room.

Advertising

Chanel’s Dancing Fingers

By Delphine Hirasuna | September 12, 2011September 4, 2014

Chanel let its Le Vernis line of fingernail polish take centerstage with this choreographed dance number by Grammy-nominated director Patrick Daughters and French set designer Aline Bonetto. Sassy fingers strut down a mini-runway to the doo-wop tune of “Little Bitty Pretty One” by Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers and break into chorus-line steps. The set incorporates several of the couture house’s symbols including the double “C” logo, pearl necklaces, and Coco Chanel’s famous mirrored spiral staircase. The closing credit cites the starring roles of the nail polish shades.

Design Education

Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of Good Design

By Delphine Hirasuna | September 12, 2011September 4, 2014

World-renowned German industrial designer Dieter Rams defined the latter half of the 20th century with a parade of landmark products. Head of design for Braun A.G. until his retirement in 1998, Rams’ many designs — coffee makers, AV equipment, consumer appliances, calculators, radios, record players, office products – found a permanent home at many of museums, including MoMA. His Universal Shelving System for Vitsoe is still considered as contemporary and functional as it was the day it was introduced. Rams once described his design philosophy as “Less is Better.” In the early 1980s, he pondered the question: What is good design? The result is the 10 principles stated above.

Motion Graphics

CCTV Ad Makes Ink Painting in Liquid Animation

By Delphine Hirasuna | September 7, 2011September 4, 2014

For a Central China Television (CCTV) promotional commercial, Chinese ad agency, MMIA, undertook to retrace the history of China in an animated version of a traditional Chinese ink-and-wash landscape painting. Ink-and-wash is an art style that developed thousands of years ago and is noted for brush strokes that range from bold forms to faint ink washes that render scenes in a dreamlike mist. To simulate this liquid effect, MMIA turned to Troublemakers.tv, a production company based in Paris, and German director Niko Tziopanos of weareflink. The result is mesmerizing, a merging of design, computer graphics, visual effects and live action blending seamlessly together to appear that an ancient ink painting has come to life.

Brand Logos

Cricket World Cup Logo – Rich with Cultural Meaning

By Delphine Hirasuna | September 6, 2011September 4, 2014

There is more than eye-catching design to the ICC Cricket World Cup logo created for the matches to be held in Australia and New Zealand in 2015. When invited to produce the logo for the 2015 match, the international agency, FutureBrand, turned to the Australian graphic consultancy, Jumbana Group, Balarinji, to imbue it with cultural motifs significant to the indigenous people of the two neighboring countries. The result was the player’s torso made of the Maori Infinity Twist pattern representing the joining together of peoples and cultures in bonds of friendship and loyalty, and the legs and bat incorporating a familiar Aboriginal motif. Together the logo design is meant to symbolize toughness, glory, resilience and connection. And it was meant to be memorable, which it is.

by Corporate Design Foundation

Author: Delphine Hirasuna