Pun-Tastic Postcards

These pun-tastic postcards have been designed for the Harvey Nichols Foodmarket by Ruan Milborrow and Mark Nightingale of Mr H. There are twelve designs and they can be purchased in packs of six - Girl or Boy. Other featured celebs include Cake Winslet, Banana Mouskouri, Skate Moss, Pea Diddy and The Artist Formerly Known as Mince.


Fizzy Rascal is my personal favourite, but some of the girls in the office quite fancy Bread Pitt and Wayne Pruney...

Posted by: Jenna

Springtime in Paris

Every year I visit my friend in Paris, and have just returned from this year’s trip. I spent three days enjoying the warm Parisian sunshine (it was even warm enough to wear my flip-flops a couple of times!), catching up and generally having a fantastic time.

No trip to Paris is complete without a little indulgence, and this year it came in the form of a visit to the luxurious Laduree tea shop – the home of the double-decker Macaron! The pastries were absolutely delicious – I did bring some back to share around the office but they disappeared before we could take any pictures!

Posted by: Jemma

Enviably Bendy Stuff!

Posted by: Clare

Spring Is Here!

My first ever "What We Like" is Spring! It's my favourite season - daffodils, lambs, the end of the long grey winter, and (hopefully) the start of a long hot summer...

Bring on the flip-flops, BBQ's and, if it's anything like last summer, the umbrellas!

Posted by: Roz

Man On Wire

Watch this film.

Why? "There Is No Why".

Posted by: Dan

Road Kill Rug

I'm thinking of getting this for my daughter's bedroom...

Posted by: Dan

The Jon Stewart Daily Show

I have become addicted to the Jon Stewart Daily Show – a kind of ‘Have-I-Got-News-For-You-meets-Jay-Leno’...I was bitten in the run up to the US election, and now I can’t get enough.

I like the ‘reporters’ on the show – particular the Brummy John Oliver – see him in action here at Obama’s inauguration:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Inauguration Day Unity
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Posted by: Dan

Good Old Bob... Paints A Bit Too

These fabulous images are taken from "The Drawn Blank Series" by Bob Dylan - it's well worth a look if you can get your hands on a copy.

Posted by: Jeff

Pirelli 2009 Calendar

I managed to get hold of the famous Pirelli calendar for 2009 the other day after visiting a new supplier called Beacon Press. They had printed the job and pointed out to me that, for the first time ever, it has been printed on an uncoated paper stock. The actual results look fantastic!

Oh, and just in case you thought I was only interested in the paper stock and not the scantily clad ladies in the superb photography, then you’d be wrong………of course I was!

Posted by: Richard

Friendly Fires, Live at Carling Academy, Leeds

I went to see the NME tour at Leeds Academy on Sunday night and was absolutely blown away by one of the best bands out there right now. If you haven’t experienced the Friendly Fires trio, check out their live performance on Jools Holland a while back...



Does anyone else agree with me that the lead singer bares some similarity to a young Mr Mick Jagger with those moves??!

Posted by: Andy

T-Mobile - Life Is For Sharing

Another one that impressed me on first viewing was the T-mobile ad ‘Life’s for Sharing’. Imagine being there when this kicked off – fantastic! Can imagine it was a nightmare to produce but congratulations goes out to the agency.



Posted by: Andy

Audi Q5 - Unbox The Box TV Ad

Cast your mind back to the first time you saw this ad. Hopefully you were as impressed as I was? Fantastic animation and a song that you end up humming throughout the day.



OK, so several weeks later and we’re all getting a little tired of the silly animation, the annoying song, and the fact that the car looks a bit ‘box-y’ – but, a great ad that makes a real impact.

Posted by: Andy

Simon's Cat

Cat owners will really appreciate these short animations by Simon Tofield at Tandem Films. Fantastic!

"Cat-Man-Do"



"Let Me In"



"TV Dinner"



The RSPCA have used him for a recent ad campaign:

”Simon's Sister's Dog”



Posted by: Steve

Dirty Street Ads!

I like the idea behind dirtystreetads.com. This Bristol-based company provide pavement advertising by pressure-washing stencilled logos/messages into existing grime. Effective, legal, eco-friendly and original!

Posted by: Steve

25 Years, Still Red Hot (Virgin Atlantic)

This celebratory advert works on so many levels, the music, the costumes, the red, the sexiness, the alignment of other iconic brands from the era... It’s a brave move and a vivid splash of colour in a climate which is today rather grey, gloomy and recession-focused. Virgin Atlantic’s Still Red Hot advert is confident, uplifting and reminds us that we’ve got through tough times before – and that Virgin Atlantic has kept its head well and truly above the clouds. A breath of fresh air ;-)

Posted by: Clare

Ten/SEA

Many thanks to Dan for this one. It’s been in my Amazon basket for some time, so when my Amazon Christmas voucher arrived it was a must buy. A compendium of work by London agency SEA from 1997 to 2007. Their work has brevity, simplicity, clarity and is a great example of british design.

Posted by: Matt

The Worlds Largest Snowman... Is a Woman!

Which begs the question:
What's the difference between a Snowman and a SnowWoman?
Answer: Snowballs!

Although the recent snowfall caused chaos across the UK, I was pleased to see that at least some communities get out there and enjoy it....

The World's Tallest Snowman was created in Bethel, Maine in 1999, standing at 113’7” tall. But in 2008 the community set another world record... building the World's Tallest SnowWoman at 122'1".

Angus, King of the Mountain was replaced in the record books by a woman named Olympia SnowWoman who weighs in at 13,000,000 lbs. of snow. 5 foot wreaths were used for eyes, 16 skis for eyelashes, 130 ft. scarf, 30 ft. spruce trees for arms and 2,000 ft. of rope for hair.

Now that's snow joke!

Posted by: Yvette

Come on, Al, were going home.

Reading about the Sam Peckinpah retrospective at the National Film Theatre reminded me of my favourite Peckinpah movie 'Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia'. I was compelled to get myself a copy as it had been many years since I had last seen it.

It centres on Warren Oates (his best role), as a seedy bar pianist in Mexico city seeking a reward for bringing to a feudal landowner the head of the man who seduced his daughter.

A visceral story of love & revenge set amongst the stifling heat of mexico.
A classic movie of the 70’s.

Posted by: Matt

BACK COVER ISSUE 1/NUMERO 1 Design Graphique, Typography, etc.

Back Cover is a new design publication from France. Rather than current work and trends its focuses on the designers influences and inspirations. All editorial content comes in both French and English.

Posted by: Matt

Owls do double!

After 95 years (NINETY-FIVE YEARS!) the mighty Wednesday have finally managed to do a league double over our porcine neighbours, winning at Bramall Lane for the first time since 1967 into the bargain.

Get in!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/4560253/Marcus-Tudgay-seals-Sheffield-Wednesdays-derby-glory-with-his-best-ever-goal.html

Casa Paracaima: Introducing a touch of the Bauhaus to Mexico

The Casa Paracaima building is a private residence designed by DCPP Arquitectos. I found this article on a Dezeen design blog and was stunned by its beauty and architectural brilliance. It is clearly inspired by the Bauhaus style and reminds me of the work of one of my favourite architects and founder of Bauhaus, Walter Gropius.

This imposing new 360 square metre development consists of two concrete volumes that intersect. The first section consists of an impressive structural arch reaching 7.5 metres high. This section then carries the second volume which houses the main open plan area with a large open terrace.

The fact that the building is made predominantly of cement, a cold and sometimes dull looking material, does not have any impact on the sheer beauty of the shapes and angles it creates. The contrast with rich dark woods and vast panes of glass make this a truly spectacular modern masterpiece.

One unique element to the build was that the designers made every effort not to waste materials and to reuse as much as possible. For example, the wood used to pour the cement was reused within the development as doors.

Read more here: http://www.dezeen.com/2009/01/13/casa-paracaima-by-dcpp-arquitectos/

Posted by: Coral

What do you buy for the girl who has everything?

A zip!!

I was given this as a present and at first, I’ll admit, I was a bit confused as to why my brother had given me a zip for Christmas, however all became clear once I began to zip it together and a bag appeared!

These funky accessories are made by London-based company uzipit.co.uk and there are seven styles and hundreds of colour combinations to choose from. I love it – it’s a great piece of design and it looks great!

Posted by: Jemma

Moules & Frites for Christmas anyone?

This year me and my brother Will (yes the one who doesn't work here!) spent Xmas at our dad's in Brussels.

Always a good place for drinking insanely strong beer, we now had the pleasure of wandering around the winter markets in between drinking insanely strong beer.

Highly recommended!

From Me To You

John Lewis Christmas 2008 TV ad



This is the best Christmas ad on TV at the moment, I just love the music with the simple shots of different people and the present associated with them, it’s cleverly been put together and love the line ‘if you know the person, you’ll find the present' ………made me go and buy a few from there actually.

Posted by: Richard

New York Baubles

My other half picked up these funky Xmas Tree baubles in New York - burger n fries! How festive!!

Posted by: Dan

What a mug!

I like the new mug that Claire got for me from Urban Outfitters.

The drip is part of the design, but looks so realistic that anyone trying to wash it spends at least an hour at the sink!

Posted by: Bew

Campaign Hall Of Fame

Campaign magazine don’t need much of an excuse for producing a “special” supplement – just think of all that lovely extra advertising revenue - but I have to admit that with their recent Campaign Hall of Fame they have really excelled themselves.

Published to celebrate Campaign’s fortieth birthday it contains in their words “the 40 most influential people who have shaped British advertising into the world leader it is today!” And for once that’s not publisher’s hype, it’s pretty much true.

The 40 biogs make fascinating reading and contain such insights as:

“Everyone wanted to live up to what he wanted and he never let you feel that you had done so. You were constantly working harder in a bid to win his approval” Tim Bell on Charles Saatchi.

Charles Saatchi apparently did not believe that creative flights of fancy were the way to grow business and once famously enquired of an art director “Who do you think you are, Michael – fucking – angelo?”

Each of the biogs is surprisingly well written and tells us about such luminaries as Ridley Scott, Alan Parker, David Abbott, John Hegarty, Martin Sorrell and not to forget the “other brother” Maurice Saatchi. For someone who has been in the business for a good few years it makes a fascinating read.

Posted by: Jeff

Loopy Music

Liam Finn - Lead Balloon (I'll Be Lightning)



Me and Matt went to see the Black Keys play the academy last week, they were absolutely brilliant as usual, but Liam Finn (son of Neil Finn from Crowded House) was supporting them and he totally blew me away.

He uses a loop machine to record what he plays live and builds it up - great voice and an extremely talented musician will definitely be putting his album (called I'll be lightning) on my Xmas List!

Check him out!

Posted by: Bew

GOA

My ‘What we like’ this month is my holiday to Goa. I could write a thousand words about this inspirational place however, I will limit it to one special experience which was visiting an elephant sanctuary in the jungle.

Not only was I able to meet these amazing creatures but I rode and washed them and watched intently as they played amongst themselves. The sheer size mixed with their gentle, laid back nature was incredible and there were times that you simply forgot how dangerous these creatures can be. It was a ‘once in a lifetime moment’ and I have such fond memories...

Posted by: Jemma

Goldfinger Lobby Card

I found this original lobby card – pics that were sited in the lobby of cinemas – in a shop just off Carnaby St. This is such an iconic scene from the Bond movies – perhaps THE iconic scene...


Posted by: Dan