Happy Thanksgiving!

This is going to be a random post about nothing in particular. Just an update on the life of a Grady ad student.

First, let me discuss projects. Grady is full of them. Typically, I like them. I love putting what I learned in class to use because I learn better with a hands on approach. However, I seam to chose the section of a course that doesn't give complete/ easy to understand directions to the project. The entire class always ends up really confused and, to make matters worse, the teacher winds up pushing back explanations or in class work time in order to spend more time explaining course material.

So now, I'm left, close to the end of the semester, dangerously close to the due date of my research project, and I'm still mostly confused about what I'm supposed to be doing. Basically, we had Thanksgiving Break to work on said project. And I worked all break. I have had no time to decipher, let alone be productive on it. Our group is gonna meet Sunday and hopefully we can get it worked out.

In addition to that, I have a Japanese final on Monday for which I also haven't had the time to study. And I have extra credit for that class that I have yet to complete. And homework that I haven't even looked at.

Then there's Christmas shopping. Even if I knew what to buy, which I don't, I'd have to find time to go out and make the purchase. And time is one of those things that I'm sorely lacking.

Then, too look way into the future, there's internships that I should be applying for. And an account on linkedin that I should be updating and monitoring. And connections with potential employers that I should be cultivating.

And so the stress mounts.


And so I lose sleep.


And so Thanksgiving Break becomes nonexistent. And the end of the semester continues to come closer.

Without Heinz

We all know the "Got Milk?" ads. This ad for heinz ketchup is similar to that in the respect that something is missing from the image. Instead of suggesting that something is necessary for our lives, Heinz suggests that food would be tasteless with out the vibrant flavor of Heinz ketchup. Though it takes a less direct path than milk in pointing out the necessity of the product, Heinz manages to show us how boring food would be if we didn't have ketchup.

There were a couple of other ads in this campaign but, this one is my favorite because I'm definitely an eggs and ketchup kind of person. This ad makes me wanna stock up on Heinz because cardboard eggs just don't sound tasty.

Give a hand to wildlife

Another post about art. This time its on the body instead of the ground (but still just as breathtakingly stunning). 

Its the ads done for World Wildlife Fund. I realize that they are a little dated but, like I said before, the internet is a wonderful thing. 

At first glance, these ads have nothing to do with giving money to wildlife. The beauty comes when you delve deeper into the image (which you are bound to do), read the text and connect the double entendre. Simply genius; and I love it.

These ads are the product of Saachi & Saatchi Switzerland and body painter Guido Daniele. Its simply astounding how gorgeously Daniele can replicate basically anything onto the body with paint, particularly animals. Its so lifelike that its almost scary. I mean, you can tell that they aren't actually animals but, its hard to believe that they are really hands; especially that they are really hands that haven't been photoshop-ed.

Once you have gotten over the sheer incredibleness of the hand painting, your eyes float up to the logo and copy.

And then the ah-ha moment. Giving a hand to wildlife can be taken as helping wildlife by donating or, as the people in the ad have so kindly done, volunteering your hand to be painted as wildlife for WWF.

Maybe I get too excited about things like this but, when I realized that those were hands painted as animals and made the connection between that and the type, I seriously did a little happy dance. This probably relates back to previous post with my new mantra " Obsessions make my life worse and my work better". I'm so in love with advertising and art (and font) that any and all well-executed piece is really exciting to me.

Photo source

Obsessions make my life worse and my Work better

The internet is so convenient. You can see so many things that otherwise you would never have gotten the opportunity to see. And, they never go away. You can see records of things long after they have actually disappeared.

This is especially convenient for some of my favorite art; gorilla art. (the kind that takes over our everyday living spaces, not the kind about monkeys). We all already know about the 3D sidewalk art of Julian Beever. But, there are plenty of other people doing miraculous things on sidewalks and the internet gives us the chance to experience them.

For example, I stumbled upon this beautiful piece of penny art. 

http://newgrids.fr/2011/11/07/obsessions-make-my-life-worse-and-my-work-better/

This spectacular sidewalk mosaic was created by Stefan Sagmeister in 6 days time with 250,000 coins. Unbelievably crazy, isn't it? It looks like something out of a movie, something created by a computer software program; those people aren't really standing next to a coin mosaic, it was definitely computer generated and photoshop-ed in.  Except, no. In actuality, that is real, those coins are actually meticulously placed to form the intricately designed text and floral pattern. And I am simply floored. 

Beyond the sheer magnitude of its difficulty and copious amounts of shiny material, I'm very interested in the font. I love font. Its a strange addiction that I developed from my Intro to Graphic Design class. My teacher is actually a famous type designer, among type designers, and knew every type simply by sight. It was so fascinating and I was introduced to so many historically interesting fonts that I couldn't help but develop a love for them. And it isn't so much the history of the fonts but, the way they look on a page, the way they interact with each other, and their connotations that draw me in and keep me interested. So, when I saw this piece one of the first things I thought was "what is this font?" and "where can I get it."

Honestly, I love it. I love every piece of it; the movement, the material, the font, the message, the photography, the floral design, everything. To top it all off, it applies itself to me and my chosen profession. I'm completely in love with advertising. Sometimes, that makes me the odd ball out in society, or a little overworked and crazy but, I wouldn't have it any other way. And my passion for advertising only feeds my work ethic. I may be crazy and stressed sometimes but, the results of my frantic perfectionism produces pure genius in the end (at least, I like to think its genius). 

Moral of the story: fonts are fascinating, Sagmeister is amazing, and "Obsessions make my life worse and my work better" is my new excuse for any abnormalities I may exhibit. 

Pore Billboards

Next topic: the scum of the skyline- billboards. 

No one really likes driving past them. No one really likes them dotting their precious cities' skylines. They are generally just an eye swore and, to top it all off, not very effective. 

But, every once in a while there are a few clever ones that sneak past the clutter and provide us with a momentary escape. Oddly enough, the escape is from horribly executed advertising to brilliantly perfected creative masterpieces. 

If you can't tell already, I'm definitely a fan of these flamboyant, eye-catching billboards. Below is one that I found recently while surfing the web.  

The billboard is for Ponds and, obviously, extremely attractive. I imagine that if I had seen this ad while I was driving I probably would have caused some accidents for being so enthralled by its ingenuity. There is a man in the center of the billboard for Pete's sake! I seriously sat here, at my computer, for minutes thinking about how they could have pulled off such a feat. To achieve that kind of interaction with the brand, especially with a billboard that people normally pay so little attention to, is quite remarkable.

I'm sure that this particular billboard cost relatively a lot of money but, considering the end result, I think its well worth it.

False advertising

Liars. Untrustworthy. Misleading. Profit before people.

These are a few of the negative connotations of the industry. Unfortunately, those opinions are there for a reason. Once upon a time, advertising was so hyperbolic, it was comical; well, at least it's comical to us now. At the time, however, I'm sure the people weren't so excited to be tricked so blatantly by advertising. 

Although I believe we have moved away from such a realm of lies, even I don't believe every ad that I see. I realize that some people hold different moral standards and rationalize lying to the public in different ways. 

But, when the product is so completely different from the ad, how could you convince yourself for even a second that people accept it? This image, for example, displays the drastic difference between what you see on TV and what you get at the drive thru window. 

Obviously, its disappointing. 

And everyone realizes its happening. People understand that what they order won't look like what they receive. And yet, they keep ordering. There is like some sort of agreement between advertisers and consumers on the topic of fast food. Even if you make it look outrageously better than the real deal, I solemnly swear to continue consumer mass amounts of your burgers, fries, and tacos. 

Maybe its because, as a culture, we just can't get enough of our fast food; we thrive on it. Well, maybe thrive is the wrong word... get along. We get along with our fast food. And with out it, well let's just not think about it!

And yet, that poster still astounds me! Fast food definitely isn't as appealing in real life as it is in advertisements! In fact, if advertisements featured actual images of burgers, fries, and tacos, I would probably never want to eat them again. 

Now what....?

So my group hasn't met since our last agency meeting... that was quite a while ago. And now, I'm very worried. I feel like we should have met with our client by now or at least have some idea of what we were working towards since our last meeting. But, as of yet, I know nothing.

I'm very worried about this entire process now. At the beginning, it seemed like such good experience; like such a well-oiled machine. And now, I'm worried that its less structured then I thought originally. And that makes me really disappointed.

To top it all off, this semester is coming to an end. And that means final projects and tests and tons and tons of stress. I'm most definitely not ready for all of that especially because everything happens right after Thanksgiving Break. Needless to say things are about to get messy....