MarkLives.com runs a regular slot featuring the best local and international magazine covers every week. We recognise well thought out, powerful and interesting (and hopefully all three in one) magazine covers and celebrate the mix of pragmatism, creativity and personal taste that created each of them. By media blogger MediaSlut.
Category archives: S’HOT
Shelf Life: Cameraland unveils new picture, new look for Hungry Lion
by Louise Marsland. Design Partnership roars; a new creative hub in the Mother city; Nike gets technical with soccer; and an update on the latest tobacco legislation.
Ad of the Week with Oresti Patricios – Savanna, now more can-venient.
Cans, we are told, are more ‘can-venient’, because you can enjoy your Savanna anywhere.
Design Annotator: New Creative Spaces and Illustration Work
Design Annotator with Uno de Waal is a new column featuring the top design work from South Africa’s biggest online creative showcase, Between 10 and 5, curated by Publisher Uno de Waal @Unodewaal.
Some great new creative work spaces and places to chill out have popped up. It’s inspiring to know that not everyone subscribes to boring, grey office spaces. We look at Durban based illustrator Wesley van Eeden in contrast his work with that of Andrés Pallavicini. Finally, be sure to check out more info from Portfolio Night – something that I hope will definitely become a fixture on the creative calendar.
Ad of the Week with Oresti Patricios – Sta-soft’s ‘tough guys’
Who’s tough? Who’s the roughest, meanest dude you can think of? Chuck Norris? Rambo? Hulk Hogan? If your answer was all three, say “Whoo-hah!”
And what do all tough guys need? Softness, of course, because when it comes to creating an advert to show how effective a fabric softener really is, only the toughest guys make the cut and the tougher you are, the softer you need your clothes to be.
That’s the message from Sta-soft’s new ‘tough guys’ print campaign that uses Sly Stallone, Norris and Hogan look-alikes made out of the softest cloth to drive home the contrast between what’s soft and what’s hard. All kidding aside, I’m glad to see a fabric softener brand go for something a bit cleverer (and a little less obvious) that the usual cute baby (or kitten) to illustrate its USP.
The cloth caricatures in the new Sta-soft ads were created by Shaun Hill of Says Who, a Johannesburg-based branding, design and illustration studio. The fabric versions of the world’s most popular ‘tough guy’ personalities are beautifully rendered through the use of different materials, and the clever use of light and shade which creatively adds to the depth of the ad. O&M is the agency behind this simple but oh-so-effective campaign.
The lack of copy is a notable feature of the ad. Everybody knows the brand; it’s not necessary to labour the features and benefits of the product that almost every South African has grown up with.
Design Annotator: Getting Lost in Design, Student Portfolio’s and CI’s
This week I’m particularly in love with Ilse Moore’s underwater photography – the complexity and style of her shots are incredible. Then also remember about Portfolio Night that’s happening this week at McCann – check out this series of interviews with local creative directors. But first… What happens when two creative’s decide to pack and go travel for 5 months? Jeff Tyser and Kerryn-Lee Maggs give us beautiful infographics from their travels across Southern Africa.
Angelina Jolie has something to say
MarkLives.com runs a regular slot featuring the best local and international magazine covers every week. We recognise well thought out, powerful and interesting (and hopefully all three in one) magazine covers and celebrate the mix of pragmatism, creativity and personal taste that created each of them.
Ad of the Week with Oresti Patricios – hip hop hooray
The origins of hip-hop culture date back to the urban minorities of 1970s USA, when ‘battles’ were introduced as a way of settling neighbourhood scores. Instead of having a gang fight, two crews would face off and compete, either in breakdance, rap, ‘turntablism’ or even graffiti.
Probably most exciting were the breakdance ‘battles’ where different crews would face off and take turns in showing off their breakdance moves. The tradition continues today and can be experienced at hip-hop events, even here in South Africa – mainly in Cape Town, but also in other cities.
DStv’s promotional ads have a history of humour, and of using cultural genres to make a point about the brand and the strength of its content, and the latest ad which features a gangland type face off is no different.
Design Annotator: Digital offroading and the fastest film ever made
Design Annotator with Uno de Waal is a new column featuring the top design work from South Africa’s biggest online creative showcase, Between 10 and 5, curated by Publisher Uno de Waal @Unodewaal.
I’m really liking the production efforts behind the team that put together the Fastest Film Ever Made – the level of commitment is fantastic and the work produced is great for the constraints placed on it. We also have a quick look at some of the work produced by NATIVE, and if you find yourself in Johannesburg on the 16th be sure to check out the Postcard Revival project. The Portfolio review night coming up is also an event that we hope to see more of.
Ad of the Week with Oresti Patricios – Chris Barnard, again and again and again
by Oresti Patricios. I have to admit to having mixed feelings about this ad… but I still have to give it credit for sheer production value.