It’s Complicated
GQ Layout April 2012
I continued to look through the April issue of GQ magazine. The “special issue” consists of 100 different “hot” things in the year 2012. They have everything from all the best clothes to tips on how to do everything better. I’ve been looking through the magazine layouts for GQ for years and when they tend to have a lot of information packed into an issue, it kind of looks overwhelming.
Difference=Good?
Glamour Magazine April 2012
Cosmopolitan Magazine April 2012
I was walking around this past weekend and saw on the newsstand an interesting magazine cover. I talked about this in the past but I constantly see magazine companies playing around with their magazine covers. The Glamour Magazine has issued their April 2012 issue with Lauren Conrad with untraditional looking magazine covers. Usually we see magazine covers to be more organized or possibly chaotic but we don’t usually see magazine covers like the one from Glamour Magazine.
Sex Sells. Right?
After looking at the Glamour Magazine cover, I was thinking about something. Nudity. We see from time to time magazine covers with nudity. I understand that sex does sell and it gets the reader to buy the product. But my initial thought was that, why would there be nudity of women in a magazine cover for women. (and for men as well) So I started digging around and I remembered couple nude magazine covers.
Too Boring.
Detail Magazine Advertisement
Ray Ban Previous Campaign
I continued to look through Detail Magazineand found something interesting and very different. I don’t know if any of you followed Ray-Bans print advertisements but they had series of Ray-Ban campaigns. There had series of interesting campaigns done by the brand Ray-Bans but in the Detail Magazine, I came across an advertisement for sunglasses and it seemed a bit off.
A Good Kind of Sweat
Gillette Print Ad
This week, I took a look at the April 2012 issue of Detail Magazine. In this magazine I found an advertisement that I’ve seen many times before. I was thinking about whether or not I should talk about this advertisement but I am in a very simple advertisement kind of mood. So, the advertisement that I am talking about is for Gillette body wash and deodorant. It’s their odor shield line where it’s meant for people who sweat a lot. Men are prone to sweating a lot because most of us are very active. We play sports and are constantly at the gym trying to look good.
Unconventional
Target Print Ad
This week I decided to take a look at Women’s Health magazine. I don’t particularly look at Women’s Health but I decided since I looked through Men’s Health, I would do the same for all the women out there. In the current issue of Women’s Health (April 2012 issue), you see Kristen Bell on the cover. When looking through the magazine, I came across an advertisement for Target.
Funny Faces
LifeSavers Mint Print Ad
I continued to look at Women’s Health this week, the April 2012 issue with Kristen Bell on the cover. I found another advertisement that I thought was cool. I rarely see advertisements for LifeSavers Mints but in this magazine I came across this ad. I thought it was really cool because I think it is their 100th year anniversary. They took the 100 years into consideration when creating this advertisement because you see that with the LifeSaver Mints, they made faces for the different time periods of the past. They focused on the important years like when people walked on the moon and when hip-hop was the trend.
Ads That Don’t Make Sense.
Geico Print Ad
This week I continued to look through GQ magazine (March issue) and came across an advertisement that seemed a bit off. We all know that little lizard from Geico. Well, in this advertisement they are using their phrase “15 minutes to see how much you can save”. In the print ad that appeared in GQ magazine, they used a creative device by comparing two different things. They said “It took forever to find those perfect shades” and comparing that to how it only takes 15 minutes to see how much you can save. They are comparing the time it takes to pick out the perfect sunglasses and to find out how you can save money by switching to Geico. When I saw this, I thought it was totally bizarre because why would they ever compare insurance and saving money to sunglasses? It’s good to compare products to show exactly what you’re trying to prove however, I don’t think this was the correct way to do so.
SO?
Sweepstakes
On the same issue of Us Weekly (February issue), I found another advertisement that I found interesting. It was a sweepstakes advertising for Stride and Trident gum. Well, come to think of it, it may not be that interesting however, it just caught my eye because I think they did a bad job with the image. Supposedly, Stride and Trident gum are having a sweepstakes of how you can win $50. You just buy a pack of gum and you have a chance to win $50.
3191 Miles Apart, continued!
Just a little update on the previous 3191 miles apart post!
3191 Quarterly: issue no. 6 is now available for you to hold in your hands!
” [the issue] includes features on cocktails, hanging plants, chocolate cake, London & Stockholm, forging, our homes, chai tea and much more”
All Covers Are Not Created Equal.
Glamour Magazine February 2012 issue
I came across the Glamour magazine and saw that Rachel McAdams was on the cover. But besides that, I realized there was so much copy on the cover I can barely decide what to read first. So I decided to investigate magazine covers. I looked through series of magazine covers for 2012 and I have found 4 that caught my attention.
Ms. Brown is Coming!
Super Bowl 2012
So this Sunday is THE day when we get to see the Super Bowl XLVI. When the Super Bowl comes near we know the best advertisements of the year will be making it’s appearance. If you look at Adweek, you can see the previews for some of the commercials that will be appearing. (Let me just say, it’s very interesting and funny so go check it out!)
3191 Miles Apart
3191 Miles Apart is a blog started by Maria Alexandra Vettese and Stephanie Congdon Barnes. Both Photographers, Art Directors, Stylists, and Designers. The two creatives met back in 2005 and in 2007 started their first project of diptych photographs: “A year of mornings”, followed by “A year of evenings”. “A year in mornings: 3191 miles apart” eventually got published, and is now the only place we are able to view the photographs. In 2010, they decided to take their series to a quarterly magazine print format, and post weekly on the blog.
Future of Dolce & Gabbana
Dolce & Gabbana spring/summer print ad 2011
We all know that high-end fashion print advertisements seem to have nothing to do with fashion. They usually portray bunch of people doing random things that seem to make no sense what’s so ever. For example, Louis Vuitton has print advertisements of people in exotic places laying down or doing things that you don’t really see in regular fashion advertisement. In my quest to investigate these high-end fashion advertisements, I looked through the February issue of Gentlemen’s Quarterly (GQ). I came across an advertisement that caught my eye.
Alphabet Cities
Treating solids as a kind of typography, French artist Armelle Carnon created a series of poster-style flat wall prints that seek order in the chaotic spirals, winding alleys and misshapen squares of famous cities. A strange and unique, but surprisingly alphabet-like, result emerges.
‘Hardcore’ History Ads by The Smithsonian
The bottom reads: “Historically Hardcore.” What a great angle- especially coming from an institution as regarded as the Smithsonian! Check out two other examples on the most excellent Behance Network.
Update: I wrongly appropriated these ads to the Smithsonian, when in fact they were done as spec by the very talented Jenny Burrows while at the Creative Circus. Her site can be found at https://www.jennyleighb.com/ Just goes to show the amount of professionalism and quality excellence that should be included in your portfolio!
Activia Campaign by Young & Rubicam
Okay, so Activia has a new campaign that just launched, developed by Young & Rubicam. They are an agency based out of Prague, Czech Republic.
I’m sure that they were going for a concept that they wanted to really spark an interest among society towards this apparent problem, I think they just pissed a few people off though.
The Hit Man…
Philadelphia Mob Hit Man John Veasey
This composition would make an amazing outdoor installation, but I could understand neighborhood groups not wanting to glorify mafioso (especially since the fascination has died down). It’s credited to mosaic portrait artist, Jason Mecier. It would fit right in at the Magic Gardens (of crime). It’s like MacGuyver’s war chest. I’m really curious as to where this piece ended up. If I could buy it, I’d turn it into a coffee table. Not a single piece of Scarface power art can touch this.
Nikon Pour L’homme?
This certainly isn’t a vintage ad, but it’s older than you may think. Personally, I can never get enough of those earth tones. Not to mention it’s a beautiful shot. It has an air of sophistication about it. I dig the subtlety of the type. I actually used a similar concept for my first art direction project. The Nuvis S looks like cologne. I made a bag that looked like perfume. I suppose that’s why this ad just jumped out at me.
Big Mac: Dynomite!
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that this guy looks like J.J. from Good Times. This ad was placed in the very same month that Good Times went off the air (August 1979). Back then ads probably had a longer lead time than they do now. Regardless, I don’t feel one way or another about McDonald’s “ethnic marketing.” Even today it ranges from “what were they thinking?” to others that are more tastefully done.