The Best Design of 2008 | Part 2

Drum roll please....

Best Ambient Media Advertising...

Click image for large view.

Title: IMPOSSIBLE HUDDLE
Advertiser/Client: ADIDAS
Media/Advertising Agency, City:
TBWAGERMANY (180TBWA), Berlin
Country: GERMANY

Strategy:
Don‘t merely show pictures of famous football players. Bring the footballers closer to the fans and the fans closer to them. Let each fan feel like a fly on the wall, as the tension reaches a crescendo, just seconds before the beginning of the match.
They created a 17 m high, 33 m wide, 3 dimensional 11 man huddle featuring the best players of the tournament in Switzerland‘s most frequented location: the Zurich main train station. A 14 tonne place of pilgrimage that was 10 times larger than the wax figures on display at Madame Tussaud‘s in London, Hollywood or Berlin. But every bit as detailed. During the European Championships, the Huddle evolved into a landmark where fans of all nations took millions of pictures and films and celebrated their passion for the game. The Swiss rail authority reported an estimated overall audience of over 13 million people over the course of the three weeks. The Impossible Huddle was launched live on N24, a European news network, and was on major stations throughout the continent within hours. Major news titles such as BBC, Financial Times, Die Welt, Gazetta dello Sport, Le Parisien and NRC Handelsblad featured it on their front pages or online editions. Online communities such as facebook and youtube featured groups and posts honouring the Huddle, as well as user-generated short films inspired by it. And one week before the final, the press declared adidas the winning sports brand of the UEFA EURO 2008. Recognized by 30 % of the audience, as compared with 12 % for competitors, they reported an increase of 50 % in the football apparel sales, earning them an estimated 15 % added market share!


Best Magazine Cover...
The June/July cover of Interview was inspired by the fact that the issue was dedicated to the magazine’s founder, Andy Warhol, who would have been 80 years old in August of that year. The magazine chose designer Marc Jacobs as the cover subject because of what he represents: someone creative who, with his work, his collaborations, and his perpetual inventiveness has come to blur the boundaries of art and business in his field, much like Warhol. Co-editorial Director Fabien Baron, photographer Mikael Jansson and stylist Katie Grand worked to design a cover that would not only feel contemporary, but also articulate ideas about Andy’s influence on the culture in a visceral way. The results were poignantly, brilliantly—and appropriately—pop.


Best Mobile Phone Design & Gadget...
The iPod Touch has already been featured in our blog. But the iPhone needs it credit!
Here is what Apple says about the product:
Phone, iPod, Internet, and more.
The iPhone 3G with fast 3G wireless technology, GPS mapping, support for enterprise features like Microsoft Exchange, and the new App Store, iPhone 3G puts even more features at your fingertips. And like the original iPhone, it combines three products in one — a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device with rich HTML email and a desktop-class web browser. iPhone 3G. It redefines what a mobile phone can do — again.

Best Television Advert...

A truly well produced, creative, eye catching advert for 2008
created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH)


Best T-Shirt Design...
A great use of colour, new and old, with a unique creative flair. Click image for further details.

Keep Creative,

James

The Best Design of 2008!

I know here at IP we have been slow to add new entries to the blog this month, so hopefully the next few instalments will make up for it! This is the first entry of "The Best Design of 2008!” This will be a collection of the best of the best, from artwork, to print, to album covers - if it's great it should be here!

The list is in no particular order...

Best Book Cover...

Designed by Isaac Tobin & Lauren Nassef.

We'll let the work speak for itself! This work is probably one of my personnel favourite book covers of all time. Clean. Simple. Sophisticated. Here are a few words from the creators of the cover...

Tobin:

Most of the credit for this cover should really go to Lauren, my wife and frequent collaborator. When I was assigned this project I knew it had enormous potential. Because the book discusses many ways of thinking about obsession, I wanted to avoid anything too specific (i.e. a stock photo of hand-washing), and thought it would great if I could make the design a result of obsession rather than a depiction of it. My first attempts were made on the computer, but just didn't work — the computer made the repetition meaningless. Lauren and I always discuss ideas for our projects, and we realized that the cover needed to be made by hand. We realized a pinprick drawing technique she had used before could work for this book.

I then designed the cover as if it were type-only and black and white, trying to get the title as big as possible so that the pattern would be clear and the title would still be readable. I gave Lauren a printout of the title type, which she traced with pinpricks. That took a very long time. We then photographed the results, and adjusted the design — I think the pin as a dividing slash (which makes everything come together) was Lauren's idea. Luckily the design was approved, although the author was disappointed that we couldn't afford to actually punch holes in every jacket.

Nassef:

Isaac decided to collaborate with me on this cover after we talked for about two weeks about potential directions for the design. We're married and so are always talking about his books at home.

We knew that the design itself should be obsessive and, thinking of this, I remembered some drawings I made in college using pinpricks. Since they were the most obsessive things I'd ever done, I suggested using the technique for the title.

Isaac chose his custom typeface Attleboro Gothic for the letterforms and then I punched them out of heavy white card. Once we scanned it in and Isaac laid it out, it was clear that the pin needed to be there to emphasize the act of making the letters.

Best Album Cover...
Gnarls Barkley second album, The Odd Couple, has been chosen because of it's great non-conformist approach not only to it's music, but to the cover art. The album’s cover reflects their unique urban awareness set with undertones of refreshing electronica and dynamic Brit-pop flavours that is embedded in their music.


Best Flash Website...
I do love a well-constructed beautiful flash website. Get The Glass is a fantastic example of one! The best this year I think. Not only because of it's ease of use, but because the graphics are outstanding, with captivating animation and a very slick cool approach.
Get The Glass is the work of the California Milk Processor Board and was designed to encourage increased milk consumption by inviting visitors to participate in a comically entertaining Flash based game whose objective is to Get the Glass - of milk of course!
Do check out there regular site GotMilk.com it is another great flash website, with outstanding graphics.


Best Free Font...

designed by Andrew Paglinawan

We really wanted to add something for free, and with a world of horrid free fonts we found something of quality that just sparkles with beauty. We found this font at booooooom.com where they also voted this No.1. You can download it here.


Best Print Ad...

click image to enlarge
(we added the tagline in large to make it easily readable)

Advertising Agency:
Young & Rubicam, Buenos Aires

Creative Director:
Juan Frontini

Art Director:
Alejandro Sibilla

Production Manager:
Horacio Marquez

Copywriter:
Rodrigo Ruiz

Illustrator:
Daniel Romanos

Other:
Executive Creative Director: Guillermo Vega.

Well thats the end of Part One; enjoy the last day of 2008!

Keep Creative,

James