Design trends - scooters are back, inspired by Vespa

Do you remember Vespa? Yes, the Italian scooter legend...

We all heard the story of trends which come back from the past. There is a fresh example in automotive industry. Inspired by the economical crisis maybe and the aim being more practical now, leaving our cars at home, the trend of scooters as a transport in big cities returns!




We have two competitors with the similar concept for the automotive fair in Paris 2010 - Smart vs. Mini with scooters powered by electric motor:



Smart (Mercedes-Benz)










MINI (BMW)

















Which one gonna be more successful? Is it possible to stand out in front of the famous Vespa in this market at all? Let's wait for the result...

Armani's campaign for Acqua di Gioia - creating a dream world

This spring was released the new Armani fragrance for women Acqua di Gioia. Another new fragrance, one of many. What makes the difference?

The communication campaign concept goes a bit further than showing beautiful model posing for a picture (it's not that the model is not beautiful, Emily Di Donato is absolutely amazing here). The videos create a dream, a world dedicated to Acqua di Gioia, where nature and woman go together, supported by elements as rainwater, sea, green forests on islands, as Armani team declares.
The final touch is added by the music in the videos!
The result - seems that it made a difference in this year's new fragrances campaigns. Check it yourself and enjoy the 5 videos, shared by Armani in Series on YouTube!

Stop motion - the art of expressing actions with no moves

Freeze!
Catching actions and moving objects in photography is provocative objective and always interesting task. Stop motion, though, can be used in many ways. Sometimes even you can tell more with no motion than with a hundred movements.

This tool is used in art, especially in dance, to point out something, to create opposites, to impress in a different way. Dancers who are able to express a message with no motion, creating tension just standing still are appreciated as the best performers on stage.

Why not using this tool in advertising? Someone do. A good example is the Campari Orange Passion Spot - watch it and think about the exact action which is shown with this stop motion. An original strong atmosphere created using a different way to express an action leads to good results for Campari perception.

Fashion+Celebrities+Dance=Kate Moss for Topshop Spring/Summer 2010

The fashion brand Topshop from UK has a Spring/Summer collection 2010 designed by the famous fashion icon Kate Moss. This is a really big news for them... but they go even further in promoting it.

A promo video on Kate Moss's collection was launched in May and there you can see Kate... dancing! It is sexy, bold, but in the same time romantic and made with style...
The result is worth to see - watch the official video here.

Rhythm and moves in ads - Pacco Rabanne's 1 million example

Once again we can see the huge influence the body movement is making to the audience in the commercial area.

This time the example is about an ad spot using "par excellence" the power of music and body moves, improved dramatically by the virtuous editing of the video.

It's Pacco Rabanne's tv ad for the 1 million fragrance - a stylish black&white solution.

You probably all have seen it, but still it's useful to look at it from another point of view. Watch the spot here.

Interior Design&Branding: Leo Burnett's Offices Example

The advertising company Leo Burnett had big success creating the company's Offices in Singapore, made by the local designers team of Ministry of Design.

So, what's so different?

First, the whole design concept was inspired by the company's history and, above all, by the company's creator Mr. Leo Burnett. His portrait which welcomes everyone, is creative enough for an advertising agency office. It is not just a simple picture - it starts from the floor and finishes on the ceiling.. and the famous pencil, the agency's symbol is also there, in Mr. Burnett's hand.

Second, the whole office area is devised in 3 unique environments that separately capture a different aspect of the total creative process but yet connect in harmony with each other and with the company culture.
The corporate symbols are everywhere - colors, drawings, the famous pencil which is cleverly incorporated also at the company web-site, the red apples.

At last, don't forget the outdoor area - on the floor and on the white walls there are black lines which viewed in perspective are looking like "7+". This number represents the quality of the agency's ads (in the world of advertising there is an evaluation scale from 1 to 10 - anything marked with 7 and above is in fact marked as an excellent ad).

Just perfectly communicated brand. Well done, Ministry of Design.

Furniture design represented by dance styles - by Calligaris

Calligaris is Italian company - furniture manufacturer since 1923. Today it is a world-wide known brand for home design. This year Calligaris introduces its new brand identity where past meets present. You can see the new brand vision on Calligaris web-site by clicking here.

What captivated me the most, however, is the way the Classical and Trendy collections are represented in Lifestyle section - through the metaphor of dance styles.

Italian style shows its high class once again. Well done, Calligaris!

Furniture design with the body motion in mind - made in Bulgaria

It's a great pleasure for me to present the latest project from the portfolio of Alexander Christoff - a 23-year-old Bulgarian designer.

He is incorporating the idea of body motion and physical exercise in furniture design - his ergonomic chair "Active sitting" has a 42 cm gymnastic ball inside.

The young designer himself describes his creation as following:
Sitting on it your body is constantly making small adjustments with the postural muscles, abdominals, gluteals and leg muscles. It is "active sitting" rather than simply sitting upright in a chair with no movement.

Benefits of using an anti burst ball as a chair:
- Active sitting
- Promotes better posture
- Increases cardiovascular efficiency
- Improves toning and strength
- Strengthens core

Nice concept which I hope will be developed in a whole range of innovative furniture created with concern of active body motion...

Think Global, Act Local - How to communicate global brands locally

Communicating global brands in different cultural contexts is a real challenge. There are numerous global brands, however, that are doing it just perfect.
Now let's see some commercial spots in which are used music, body motion and dance like a communication system to make intercultural connections for different brands:

One of my favorites - Snikers/Don't Stop spot (Dubai)
Successful spot based on the KungFu Panda movie - MacDonalds for Beijing Olympics
One of the MTV local commercials - MTV Arabia

For more, search for videos in the right column YouTube search engine in this blog.

Fashion designer improvisation with Dance

In the end of 2009, Hedi Slimane, a fashion designer, made his Improvisation 1 - a short black and white video with the classic balletist from Danish Royal Ballet Oscar Nilsson.

The result: outstanding style, beautiful vision and mix of classical ballet and improvisation under the drums rhythm of a mysterious dancer with bear head... Don't forget that it's winter time - even the snow is falling over Oscar while he is dancing... This is one more example of how design and dance can work together to cross the know limits of creativity.
Enjoy the original video here!

Social messages through dance

Today I would like to point out the Social Role of Dance and the power of its messages.
The popular dance shows lately are becoming not only a place for a spectacular dance show but also a tribune for the choreographers and dancers and for their social appeals.

Let's remember these exceptionally strong performances:

Addiction - choreography by Miah Michaels for So You Think You Can Dance, Season 5
Addiction remake - VIP Dance (Bulgaria)
Home violence - VIP Dance (Bulgaria) - choreography by Milen Dankov

The Dance TV Shows Attack

During the past few years dance became more popular thanks to the Dance Reality Shows that appeared all over the world. "So You Think You Can Dance" is probably most rated and well-known, but the list of that kind of TV shows is long - Super Stars of Dance, America's Best Dance Crew, Dancing with the Stars, VIP Dance and more.

Just search on YouTube and you will find surprisingly big number of videos from these shows.
Now, I would like to share one of my favorites:
Kherington Payne & Stephen 'Twitch' Boss dance a Contemporary routine (better known as the 'Bed Routine') choreographed by Mia MIchaels, to Dreaming With a Broken Heart by John Mayer performed in So You Think You Can Dance 2009