Tom Ford...Sex Sells

Tom Ford is an American Fashion Designer, Director and entrepreneur. I have been taking an interest into different fashion designers recently and was looking at some of Ford's advertising campaigns at Gucci and YSL.

And it's true, no matter what anyone says, sex sells. Ford uses a vast amount of sexually provocative imagery that at times borders on pornographic. However he did turn Gucci from the brink of bankruptcy (although valued at $4.4 billion) to a $10 billion company at the time of his departure in 2004.

*********************WARNING*********************

If you are easily offended best not to go any further.

Today Was A Good Day

I am glad to say that my National Reading Week video is complete (before the deadline might I add). Sit tight and i'll upload it as soon as its been tweaked after assessment.

McQueen and I

I know everyones very busy around this time of year but take an hour out from your work and give this excellent documentary on the life of Alexander McQueen a view.

Video found here @ 4OD.

3 Days Till Good Creative Presentation

Note to self: Kill Kate and her Fruit Potions.

After Effects/Typography

After a lot of hard work I have finished my After Effects/Typography project with a little help from Kanye West, skip to 01:00 thats when I really get into my element...

...I wish.

Jackson Pollock

Recently I have been interested in American abstract impressionist Jackson Pollock.

I didn't previously know or understand much about his art. However after watching Ed Harris' adaptation of his journey to becoming a renowned artist it is clear that his art is purely filled with emotion.

Pollock suffered deeply with depression and alcoholism and sadly died in a tragic car crash aged only 44. His work though still is widely recognised today and he is remebered for his great talents rather than tragedies.

peopleperhour

Came across peopleperhour.com today, it looks quite good and possibly necessery for all the soon to be graduates out there who haven't got any jobs lined up at the moment.

Especially at this time were jobs are hard to come by, something like this is a great sign of initiative. With £20,ooo,ooo already been made by people using the site this shows that there are always jobs that need doing.

Free Typography

Free Typography? Why not, if its free...

Have a look at Free Typography if your getting a bit bored with dafont or 1001freefonts.

Foggy Today Old Chap

Be safe and keep the headlights on.

Breakthrough Time (Finally)

Today I finally had a breakthrough with my logo for the Good Creative brief for Kate's Fruit Potions. I have since changed the name to Fruitsters, I felt this name was appropriate to incorporate the children that drink the juice and give them a name, they are the Fruitsters.

So today while in lectures I was doodling away (and listening to Hamid of course) and drew up a rough logo that I was happy with, after a number of failed attempts. Now that I have this pinned down, I now feel that I have taken a huge step towards bringing this project to a conclusion YAY!

The deadline is just about a weeks time so alls hoping it goes well.

Klimt

This evening I watched the film Klimt, a film based on the life of Austrian Symbolism Painter Gustav Klimt.

I have been interested in Klimt's work for a long time. I was first taught about Klimt at Primary School, which is strange due to the highly erotic nature of many of his paintings. We were being taught by a student teacher and were to make a pencil holder painted in his style.

Gustav Klimt's paintings largely focus on the female form and although being quite erotically charged at times never lose their beauty and intricate detail. His style which was quite unique and controversial for it's time in Austria is still popular today and can be found quite frequently in modern design. GHD and a number of hair salons have used a stylistic approach to his gold leaf artwork.

The film, although about a great man with a great story isn't particularly great. Starrring John Malkovich, it is rather odd and confusing and focused quite loosely on his artwork and perhaps tried a little too hard to be "arty", the despite given the subject.

FREE BEER!!!

Ok sorry to dupe you fine people of Facebook. There isn't any free beer BUT....while your here why don't you take a little gander around my Design Blog here at stephenmckay.blogspot.com.

If anyone has any inquiries about any of my projects, photography, prints, work or any commissions please feel free to email me at:

stephenmckay69@hotmail.com

or

PM me facebook.com/ste69en

Feel free to follow me (by clicking by clicking follow at the top left of the page if you already a Blogger mamber) or by pasting http://stephenmckay.blogspot.com/ into your RSS reader.

Thank you, and Sorry about the beer.

Stephen.

Designing While I Drink

I've been spending so much time in Uni recently that I have started spontaneously creating logos everywhere I go.

I lifted up my glass the other day and saw what could possibly be the next World Cup logo? It appears to be a person on top of the world setting up for a volley.

See that London 2012, thats how easy it is!!!

Help and Be Helped

Sam Cumming on set of a video shoot for his latest typography project.

Helping other artists and designers is a key part of any project. If found that recently, especially with filming that it is essential to have contacts to help you. The best way to do this is by building strong ties with other designers and help as they have helped you.

Sam Cumming's Blog

Photography by Stephen McKay

YCN T-Shirts (for sale if interested)

Im currently in the later stages of my YCN project for Rise of The Apes, where im creating an advertising campaign for the upcoming movie. I made these t-shirts to hopefully drum up some interest in the film...Unfortunately the picture didn't turn out the best, but it was ok for a 1st go.

If anyone happens to be interested in obtaining a replica I would be happy to make one for a nominal production fee.

Assignment 2a - Post Consumer Poster

For our group poster, we thought that the most fitting way to profile a Post Consumer would be to make a Profile of a Post Consumer.

The profile details Emma Post-Consumer's (say it fast) interests in activism, green peace, gardening, reusing old products through recycling and D.I.Y. etc. It shows that she is stereotypically still at uni as this is where is likely to have picked up the post consumer theory.

Feel free to add her as a friend, she needs them...

Find Emma Here on Facebook

Yay For Photography!

I've been out this week doing some location research for a short video I plan to make for my YCN project entry. This requires me to create an advertising campaign for 20th Century Fox'slate 2011 release of Rise of the Apes (prequel style story of Planet of the Apes).

Brief found Here

Photo location: Verdant Works areas of Dundee.

With thanks to Connor Mcartney

Damn You INNOCENT!!!!

At the moment I'm tackling a brief set by Good Creative, a Glasgow based design company to rebrand and repackage all natural drinks company Kate's Fruit Potions.

During the research stage every road I went down while looking at; all natural products, healthy juice, exemplar packaging ideas etc, lead straight to Innocent. Innocent have been a roaring success since their creation in 1998 and dominate the british smoothie market as well as branching out into wider product ranges.

For Kate's Fruit Potions we are to promote a drink that has a personal feel as it was created by a mother who wanted a genuinely healthy drink for her son's packed lunch box. I have been weighing up the current healthy drinks and finally tried an Innocent smoothy for the first time... Annoyingly not only is it incredibly tasty but it also has the most simple and effective packaging and branding. The logo is consistant through all their ranges, and the little quirky comments that the have on their bottles could easily had been hand written by an independent juice vendor with a little too much spare time on his hands. Even the apparent natural colours of the smoothies give the bottles' their vibrent eye catching colours so the bottles are consistently the same no matter what.

Little touches make all the difference in such a competitive market so I think I may have to take a whole bushell of leaves out of Innocent's book to make my packaging such a success.