Some updates

I've made some updates to the site.

Most noticeably, the portfolio now has some examples of the vast array of work that we can produce.

Also some minor design changes.

Go have a look:

http://www.foxy-design.com/

Here's a solution to the issue of driving whilst on the phone

Recent figures have shown that people are still using mobile phones whilst driving. It seems that people aren't too worried by the fine and 3 points anymore.

Anyway.

A while ago I came across this Welsh advertisement.

I don't ever recall seeing anything like this in England. Sure i've seen plenty of similar shocking campaigns for speeding and drinking but something like this would surely have a huge impact!

To succeed, your users must'nt read

With the emergence of cross-media platforms. Information that would usually have been read as an article would now be seen as a video or interactive activity.

Most major brands have all invested millions into the technologies. And let's be honest we all prefer to watch rather than read!

The problem for those smaller companies is that to produce content for all these different channels they need to invest in developers and content managers. This costs a bomb!

However, its believed that this problem will soon be demolished!

Adobe Flash CS5 is on the horizon!
With a release date yet tba. If Adobe deliver what they promise then the world will become a much less content read place!

It promises consumers to easily place together websites with video content, magazines with video content, Pdfs (yes now with embedded video) and most importantly! I phone applications!

No longer will you need to employ a developer who knows how to read chocolate (well cocoa). It can all be done with the visuals of the Flash interface!

Find out more

A personal word from God. Well Kevin Roberts - Worldwide CEO Saatchi & Saatchi

Click image to enlarge.

It was a great honour to receive a personal message from the main man! Took him a day before he managed to respond. Amazing, considering his very busy schedule!

The message reads:

Craig.

I see us on the same spectrum... just at different stages... both believers in the unmeasurable power of creativity

KR

One good idea, can change you forever!

On those odd occasion where you sit in a car waiting for someone and you happen to have your mac with you. Well maybe not the odd occasion as this will probably never happen again in my life.

I found myself opening up illustrator as I was bored. I began to produce a Julian Opie style portrait. (add link) You'll recognise his work from the Album Cover that he produced for Blur back in (date). I have always been an admirer of his work. I remember looking at his work when I was studying Art and Design for my A-levels and wondering how something so simple could be so iconic. Some things just work and stick with you. I'm sure that Opie's early work wouldn't have followed his strict guidelines.

Successful pieces of design can change you/ your company forever. It can become a companies identity that is so strong and so unique to the company and it's roots that you will never want to loose it. It's funny how success can ground you as a designer from being more experimental. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing. You stick to your rules and die by them. "If it ain't bad then don't fix" it comes to mind.

Ad agency BBH is another example of how success has dictated a companies brand. The black sheep that surrounds BBHs identity came from a very successful ad campaign for Levis Jeans. The advert was essentially a flock of white sheep heading in one direction and one black sheep heading in another with the strap line "When the world zigs, zag".

Brilliant!!!

AOL Re-brand

After their recent split with Time-Warner AOL today launched their new branding.

It can be seen here at:

http://www.aol.com/

First impressions... what the hell is that stupid bar at the top of the page! bit lame. Then I realised that it changes the header banner background to represent Aol sub-divisions (Aol.) Music, um Rock and Roll and er Aol.Goldfish! Seems like this was rather rushed and really doesn't communicate any kind of message. To me it says mess.

They have attempted (poorly) to integrate an editable interface where you can drop your own links into the side bar which is a good step. But it's half empty as thats about all the user can interact with the layout of the page! What's the point in teasing an audience with something they can do better. Aol should take a note out of the BBCs book. Aol have missed a huge opportunity with this.

Aol really needed to think outside of the Goldfish Bowl and not try and produce a rubbish version of what already exists!

Aol.ouch!

Boris wants to Re-brand London!!!

Story here

I've got a great idea to Re-brand London!

!!! HOST THE OLYMPICS !!!

Why does London need a re-brand that will cost the tax payer £600,000 when the whole world is watching us! Is the PR for the biggest event in the world not enough exposure?

Ridiculous!!! The way to re-brand London is to focus the attention towards reputation. knife crime and cleanliness need to be addressed before they start the cheesy 'Visit Lond-on' bollox again!

Did Beijing have to re-brand before they hosted the games? No!!! They focused on pollution and spending money trying to improve the city!

Fair enough, I have been impressed with the new campaign for the Police that has recently aired on our televisions and they have given me some reassurances, whether the 'pledge' will be kept to is another question. Also, the campaign is for the entire Nation, yes the Nation that is suffering all over the country, not just London (Just another reason why this is a stupid bloody idea) Ads like this will have a much larger affect on people in my opinion then telling people to visit because 'Lond-on is great'.

Silly Boris!

We are live!!!

The new website has launched...

visit www.foxy-design.com

Expect a few tweeks over the coming weeks with content being regularly updated.

Website almost ready to go live!!!

The site is almost ready to go live... been tweaking bits and bobs on Action Script and its taking its time as i'm new to Flash Developing.

Anyways, I will upload the full site, though only 4 pages it's carrying the brand identity across all links. In time, I may add little bits of animated characters and I will also be shortly selecting work to go into my portfolio page. This will change from time to time, I don't want a full portfolio online, I want people to request it! To compensate for this I have created space on the front page to showcase my latest projects! People like work thats current!

www.foxy-design.com

I'll repost when its gone live!

The New Brand (Leaking Creativity)

As designers we focus our minds towards problem solving. Wondering if our work is good enough and pondering on ways to improve it causes way too many sleepless nights. Personally, I kind of like those little spouts of creativity that creep up on you in the middle of the night. In fact, it makes me want to work on the idea right away and not let anything slip out of my mind. (For this same reason i'm posting at 2.34 in the morning).

You might be asking, why this is relevant ?

These sleepless nights are frustrating yet fulfilling, annoying yet moorish. You get the picture? No? Let me explain. We all leak creativity, no-one knows when an idea will hit them. You can work for hours and days on end and not come to any conclusion. Yet you go to the cinema to watch that film you've been waiting all year for the idea to hit you right at that random moment. You then dwell on it until you can do anything about it. It's like a drug addiction you can't control!!!

When I was contemplating as to how I would re-brand Foxy Design I decided that i'd stay true to my roots. We all know that to be a successful Brand these days you must connect with the consumers emotions. Kevin Roberts Ceo of Saatchi and Saatchi lives by his method of Lovemarks http://www.lovemarks.com/. Now, thousands of Brands are taking this exact same approach. For example Burberry have recently launched a Social Network (Yes that's right, facebook for fashion, well, chavsion). In which the consumer can upload a photograph of themselves in a Burberry trench coat and interact with other users by commenting on how well they wore the coat. Burberry had something stupid like 3million hits in its week! http://artofthetrench.com

Interaction is key in the move for success, but does interaction literally mean to touch or move something? I don't believe so, I believe that clever design and copy writing can have the same reaction as the so-called "Touch Interaction" as the same emotions can be felt without having to lift a finger.

Me? Well i've recently graduated from University and like I said, I leak creativity. This is what my Brand is focused towards. It contains a young edge with the colour scheme and visuals and communicates exactly what I do. I LEAK CREATIVITY!!!

My aim is to not only gain freelance work (I should be so lucky in this market) but to reach out to those fellow Design/Ad/Marketing/ grads and to give them an insight into my story.

The New Logo

I strive to produce design that has depth to it. Creating clever design reacts with a consumer more effectively than something generic. The logo can be seen in two ways F + D (Foxy Design) or FXY (X in the central negative space). Inspiration came from logos such as FedEx or my favourite F1 logo.

The clever use of negative space makes the audience think about it and therefore warm towards it. Here's the logo for all the budding designers out there. Not that you haven't laid eyes on it before: