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Do You Chat?

I'm sure everyone has heard of Chatroulette by now, but if not the basic premise is that the website makes it possible to chat via your webcam to anyone, anywhere in the world, and the unique part is that you are matched completely at random, so you have no idea who you will be chatting to next (but you can pretty much guarantee it'll be a naked fat bloke).

Publicis Conseil, an advertising agency based in Paris, have developed an incredible piece of viral advertising to raise awareness for Ni Putes Ni Soumises (Neither Whores Nor Submissives), a French feminist movement that deal with issues around domestic violence and violence towards women. You can see the video below or better still visit the fake website Publicis Conseil created... Do You Chat?

Following the events that unfold in the video and on the website, details are given about the charity and the message... 'In this case you can't help, but if it happens to your sister, your neighbour or a friend, there is something you can do.'

The most powerful and emotive piece of advertising I've seen in a long time.

Thanks to Ash for sending me the vid.

Another Boring Annual Report

Only joking... Sainsbury's effort is actually quite good, I like the Sim City style illustration and real peeps, you can see the online report here. Rob Kaplan is credited with directing the project and helped sculpt the interactive 3D store and Irresistable Productions took care of the rest.

Thanks Amber

Ashley Szukalski

 
Excellent work by Mr Szukalski, check out his website and blog, "a collection of thoughts, ideas and research that revolve around my dissertation topic, emigrating designers and cross cultural design. It's as much of a blog as it is a reminder that I have a lot of work and research to do, and this site helps me track of it all." It's an interesting subject and I'm pretty sure Ash is looking for input and opinions on the topic so have a shufty.

Ronskidoodles

Nice work by fellow Cardiff graduate, Aron Jones, see more on his website.

Pendulum 360 Video

Pendulum have taken advantage of new technology for their upcoming album and taken the music video to a new level. The video has been shot in 360 degrees and allows the viewer to interact with it by spinning the camera to something else that maybe happening off screen. It almost forces you to interact with it by having the characters in the video move around the camera which (unless controlled) is static. On top of that, there is the possibility of a free MP3 download, which can only be achieved by finding a 6 letter code in the video, so there's definitely some replay value. Visit the website here.

Bascule

Next few posts are kindly being provided by Ashley Szukalski, thanks for the input and contribution dude, take it from here...

Bascule is a Japanese based design company, with I think one of the most well considered websites and cases of self presentation I've seen. Unfortunately I can't find the button to turn down the music however if you can stand it you are in for a treat . The website operates on one page that is new and refreshing with every scroll. Several elements of the page are interactive and there is quite a nice surprise at the bottom. The colours and quality are amazing and well worth the visit (even if you aren't curious about what they do)

Wonderwall

Another cool website worth checkin' out is for Wondewall, an interior design firm established by Masamichi Katayama, they have created spaces for Nike, Uniqlo and Fred Perry, its a pretty slick site but the interactive wall/navigation system is ace, listen out for the sound effects.

I Am Not An Artist

I know this website has been doing the rounds on the usual design blogs but still thought it was awesome and worth a mention. I figured it was just some guys muckin' about with animated gifs (which I guess it is) but the rationale behind the project is more interesting, press info suggests the site aims to "highlight the harder side of creativity - that successful designers are just as familiar with perspiration as they are with inspiration!". Created by Johnny Kelly and Matthew Cooper in collaboration with Spanish agency Soon in Tokyo for Barcelona design school Elisava, designers are now able to upload their own gifs and add them to the site, pretty cool.

Cool Hunting

Always good to find new design blogs and websites, so thanks to Graeme for pointing me in the direction of Cool Hunting, a site/blog showcasing the latest design trends, and ideas in culture and technology.

Spotted Christopher Chiappa’s latest work, which includes covering a basketball with corn and dressing upside-down, “High Fructose Corn Syrup”, his latest exhibition is on show at Kate Werble Gallery until April, you can read more about Christopher here.

Another article that caught my eye was on Diesel’s latest “Be Stupid” campaign. I was in New York a couple of months back and saw the posters everywhere, the adverts are pretty bang on when it comes to visualising a particular cultural moment and I guess the dumbing down of society (although I don’t think this concept is much of a revelation), I quite like the idea that “without stupid thoughts creativity wouldn’t really evolve” and that taking risks and potentially failing is the best option. You can read more here.

Thanks again Gra

I'm Here

Spike Jonze's latest offering - a short film about two robots living in contemporary Los Angeles - is now online, the website and general experience is pretty cool, check out the site here but be prepared to wait in line for the next viewing.

Here's the trailer again if you missed it...