Jo de Mornay Davies

A Little Smile

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 10:05:00 +0000

Beautiful stop motion animation by Gitta de Ridder:

And the message is simple - we all need a little smile sometimes. A smile can be infectious and really brighten up someone's day. I love the analogy of the darkness of the rain combining with the brightness of the sun to create a rainbow of colour. In life we need both these elements to live life to the fullest and show all the colours of our spectrum.

LOVE

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 13:03:00 +0000

This is simply so beautiful & uplifting I had to share.
An animated film produced and directed by Valentine Reinhardt for musician Sebastien Tellier, called 'Love' takes us on a journey through a colourful world in nature - flying on a bright green bird and catching the eye of a pretty purple mermaid. She emerges and crawls up the mountains for a dance, and all the animals in the jungle seem to have the look of love about the,. Our naked bearded character - (could he be John Lennon?!) plays guitar, as the sun goes down.

An uplifting and colourful piece that will brighten any day.

https://www.nowness.com/story/sebastien-tellier-love

New shoes?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 08:10:00 +0000

If these huge pieces of shoe art couldn't make you buy a new pair of shoes I don't know what would. Dotted around the shopping district of Madrid, the sculptures are all decorated by individual artists.

3..2..1.nature!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 11:47:00 +0000

Ex- radiologist Arie van’t Riet has created Ethereal photos by using a X-ray machine to expose natural objects, and the revert the black and white bromide film in photoshop. He composes familiar scenes from nature that result in dreamlike delicate images.

Love Your Mind

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 12:17:00 +0000

Happy World Mental Health Day people!

What does that really mean? The Mental Health Foundation & many leading charities focus on awareness of mental illness - which is an important cause nonetheless, however I support a campaign run by Mindapples that encourages everyone to look after their minds, whether they have had experience of Mental illness or not. The campaign asks people to think of their individual 'Mindapples' - an activity/task unique to them that they can do to make them feel better. In the same way that we are taught to look after our bodies, Mindapples wants everyone to look after their minds on a daily basis, by thinking of the '5-a-day for their mind'. The campaign has a really nice approach, that is all inclusive - people from all ages and backgrounds need to take care of their minds, and be aware that we are all vulnerable to stress and anxiety, that can lead to further problems if we are not more aware of our mental wellbeing.
So this World Mental Health day, think of what you like, what makes you happy - be it going for a walk, hugging a friend, singing a song, baking a cake or having a beer - then go forth & enjoy! For it really pays to LOVE YOUR MIND.

Once Upon a Time..Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 17:16:00 +0000

So turns out there are a whole collection of these little videos from Chanel - check the Youtube channel here.

For now, I've included the next chapter which also had me mesmerised..

Once upon a time..

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 10:06:00 +0000

A beautiful animation telling the story of Coco Chanel.

It's reigning cats and dogs

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 10:47:00 +0000

It seems just as in real life, and all over the net - it's the cats & dogs that entertain the general public the most. They are care-free, silly, awkward, unpredictable, quirky and never fail to make even the most avid animal hater smirk. You could say it's an easy laugh, guaranteed to touch the hearts of many out there, but let's face it - you have no worries of discrimination. That's not to say achieving clever, funny shots of animals is easy. The best are often by chance. So how, I ask did they manage to get a cat to be a dog in the latest O2 ad? It's absolute genius! Every move, camera angle, slight look - the references to dog are so well observed. Hope there's a 'making of' video - I bet it's hilarious. I reckon even the Cravendale cat's would give it the Thumbs up.

Sisters are doing it for themselves

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:28:00 +0000

Monday saw Shesays holding the first of it's 'TEDx' style events at The Hospital Club for SuckerPunch - all about women making a change in how business is run.

Pamela Ryckman, journalist and author of The Stiletto Network, really set the tone for an energetic and motivating evening. In her book, she has researched and discovered mini networks of women all over the States and UK, gathering together and becoming a force to be reckoned with.
She told how formidable ladies from a range of industries, formed natural friendships, through meeting for dinner, then going on to either provide support or form strong business relationships. These meetups were informal, friendly and open to whoever was interested. In an organic and female way. Women were genuinely seeking to help eachother out, form bonds, trust and create a more balanced working society.

She realised this was happening all over, with small groups thinking they weren't doing anything out of the ordinary, not realising they were part of a growing phenomenon.
By creating this sort of interaction, women were now feeling empowered to set up on their own, or challenge themselves in the workplace, not being afraid to move up the ranks. They now had someone they could call on they could relate to. Women could be professional, yet feminine - without trying to conform or fit into a male orientated industry. It became a strategic support network. She cited examples of the likes of Kim Moses - Founder of one of the most downloaded apps for Warner Bros, and other female leaders now at board level in their companies.
Pamela explained, by achieving this sort of status, women will change the way business is run. They have a different attitude. A different way of looking at things, and a different approach to business. they are the ones writing the cheques. They will invest in other women. They will donate time and energy to female related causes. They will push forward laws that see a more equal balance in the workplace, and in society. Women will change the world.

"We’re moving away from the corporate model. We’re coming into an era where women have the skill sets and core value systems. Being collegial, collaborative, leaving your ego at the door… being able to work in a non-hierarchical environment, listening, attuned to intuition." -THE STILETTO NETWORK

And this is exactly how Sarah Bradley and Karla Morales-Lee of The Art of New Business, approached eachother and came up with their company idea. Meeting through twitter, they found through a shared viewpoint and experience in various advertising and design agencies, that there was a massive yet obvious gap in the market when it comes to how agencies approach clients for new business. They found hours of sifting through client lists and cold calling was alienating and not the kind of strategic approach they would take. Their background knowledge, and cries from fellow new business professionals across the net all agreed things had to change. Targets cannot be met when you just bowl into a company and brag about how great your agency is, and how they should work with you. Even in this fast paced, changing industry, it seems inside agencies it is all still the same. And CEO's and board members aren't even concerned; in fact, they admit that their own self branding, marketing is crap. But why? Clients are even noticing it now. In a competitive market where budgets are tight, you'd think companies would be more strategic in their approach to new business. How can you boast your creative offering when your own communication is tired and blends in? Sarah cited W+K's attitude to new clients as an example. Neil Christie, MD of the London office has revealed to them how they approach new clients by really understanding their product, their business model & what needs to be achieved. They then present to them a unique creative offering in the form of a a personalised book, video or magazine. This way, clients really feel special, and above all, understood.
Sarah and Karla have tapped into this, and now run workshops and events providing professionals with a better understanding of what needs to be done to make a change in their agency. They encourage networking, and helping others much in the same way as Pamela mentioned; this being a more fruitful way to get ahead.
If clients are conversing with each other & requesting case studies of effectivity, MDs really can't afford to change their ways. And financially, with the UK ad industry spending almost £780k PER PITCH - our economy can't afford it either!
So it's time to approach new business as an art form, and no longer a numbers game.

The third lady making a change for the better in the design industry is Emma Sexton, founder of Make Your Words Work. Her consultancy aims to show clients that design is not just there to 'make things pretty' as an afterthought, but that it really is necessary for adding value. We are visual beings. And we're surrounded by thousands of images on a daily basis - and we respond to those visuals on an emotional level much more than words. Through her design expertise and interest in psychology, Emma ensures businesses talks to their clients in the right way, using language they understand and using beautiful design in a meaningful way. That's not to say content still isn't king - it should just be captivating and inspiring so that people remember you.

As an art director who has worked on many a pitch all of this really rings true. the number of times I am asked to just drop in the 'creative' to a 50 page powerpoint presentation, that to me, just goes on and on. Don't get me wrong, strategic thinking and storytelling are key but MDs & planners really need to step back every so often & look at the bigger picture. No wonder clients in the pitching process are waiting for the 'exciting' creative bit. The whole thing should be creative surely? Being freelance it has not always been my place to say - however the sheer confidence of these three women has certainly inspired me to go forth and speak my mind. For when you really have seen it over & over & it's staring you in the face - it's time to make a change. And there's no reason why it shouldn't be the women driving that.

Keep your eyes peeled

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 09:21:00 +0000

I absolutely love street art. It's brightens up the bland, grey walls and buildings of the city, and maybe even makes me smile.
A site that has collected some of the best is worth a share:

And for some of those clever little observational types..

Over & Out!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:19:00 +0000

Merry Christmas one & all - Here's to a blimmin' great 2013! notanyoldjo x

Glowing Fruit

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 13:29:00 +0000

I thought these were beautiful photographs when I first saw them. They are.
But they are not photographs - they're actually extremely detailed oil paintings.
Dennis-Wojtkiewicz, an Ohio based artist has managed to capture the translucent quality of fruit layers, in this photo-realistic series. I'd love to see them up close.

Hackney Types

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:26:00 +0000

Want to put my local area on the map & showcase the creative signage around Hackney Wick. These walls have been painted to sign the businesses around one street, with elegant typography in cream, blue & red.

The Magical Mastery of Blandini

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:47:00 +0000

Stumbled upon this beautifully designed & well written Little Book of 'Photo-shoppe' Trickery by Interbrand Australia, revealing tips, tricks and wizardry of Steve Bland, a skilled retoucher. Rebranded as 'The Great Blandini'. The piece is presented in victorian style photography and hand drawn calligraphic copy, showing tricks by the great man himself. From a woman sawn in half to the man who became a lion it is a beautiful and entertaining way of illustrating those tips us designer types really want to know. Tis on my Christmas list.

Sometimes it's good to just blend in...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:27:00 +0000

I have a fascination with Peru at the moment being that I plan a trip there sometime soon. So it was with even more delight that I discovered that this body artist/ photographer was born in Lima, Peru. Her performances involve intricate design and detailed make up to her whole body in order to fit in with and become camouflaged to her background. In all she aims to virtually disappear and become one with her background. She says of her work,

"The illusion of 'disappearing' .. is a blending, she is now 'part of the landscape' in her quest of belonging. The theme behind it all is re-location after displacement and migration and how one has to adjust in order to belong. Tough it is, but it has to be done, without forgetting our origin."

The poses she puts herself in add to the drama, and where sometimes we see the whites of her eyes, you almost feel as if you are imposing on an intimate moment. However they are viewed, they are amazing.

Hungry for Art

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:22:00 +0000

Stumbled across this quirky 'Sandwich Art' project by Portland based artist Brittany Powell. So you can really get a taste for your favourite art work:

Piet Mondrian

Damien Hirst

Mark Rothko

Book Landscapes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:16:00 +0000

My first post of the New Year, and it's been so hectic I have no time to reflect on last year & make predictions/ aims for the year ahead as one may traditionally do so.
I'll just jump straight in with showcasing these beautiful book landscapes carved & crafted by artist Guy Laramee. In the two series entitled Biblios and The Great Wall, dense pages of old books are excavated to reveal serene mountains, plateaus, and ancient structures across the cross section of the book. It makes contour maps far more exciting to look at than the dull pages of my geography textbooks back in the day..

Happy Holidays!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:40:00 +0000

A very Merry Christmas to One and All!

An important thing to remember...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:36:00 +0000

A beautiful illustration by Maira Kalman for a book entitled 'Food Rules' by Michael Kullen, a guide to the approach we should take towards food nowadays; that perhaps we should listen to advice from those elder & wiser than us rather than what is 'officially' advised by the government. If you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, you're probably not hungry, and, Place a bouquet of flowers on the table and everything will taste twice as good.
Sending out the message that food is as much about pleasure and communion as it is about nutrition and health.

Monsters illustrated

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:20:00 +0000

It seems one of the illustrators I love & and wrote about recently is the same person that did this print sold in The Hoxton Street Monster supplies, since it's opening last November.

'Zingoula Cudacuda' by BEN NEWMAN

School term has started again, so I'll be back there the odd morning illustrating the wild & wierd creations the youngsters come up with, as well as mentoring on the Saturday project The Hoxton AM. I'm kind of jealous really as I'd have loved a place like the Ministry to go to when I was young, to have a go at being a journalist, or local press photographer. These are some of the great workshops held regularly at the small shop located on the market, including the recent re-write of The Awfully Bad Guide to Monster Housekeeping. Children from the local schools worked with some top writers and poets on various sections to complete this important guide on on areas of monster Etiquette. But they are in need of some funds to get it published. If you can donate anything please do so here.

The Awfully Bad Guide to Monster Housekeeping from Ministry of Stories on Vimeo.

Alternatively feel free to pop along and buy your next jar of Pickled Eyeballs and support a great project.

Is it a shoe or a sculpture?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:32:00 +0000

Like most women, I absolutely adore shoes in all their shapes, sizes and colours. I make snap purchases, without even considering whether they'll o with anything, or the practicality of them..but these, yes these people are SERIOUS un practical shoes. But I love them! They fuse my love of shoes and art in one.
Created by Israeli born footwear designer, Kobi Levi, these creations are a visual feast, forcing you to look twice and work out how this object can actually fit a foot inside it. Levi says of his work, "The piece is a wearable sculpture. It is "alive" with or without the foot or body".

Amazingly, all the shoes are hand made in his studio. Follow more creations on his blog.

Making music look good

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:46:00 +0000

So I managed to get on down to GLUG the other week & I wasn’t disappointed. The theme was music videos with top directors from the likes of Partizan, SkinFlicks, and Sony Music showcasing some of their best work. It really made me stop and fully appreciate the creativity and crazy amount of hard work that goes into producing some beautiful mini films that you never fully see or just catch a glimpse of.

Here’s a selection of my best video’s & the odd fact or two:

</iframe Grum - Through the Night, directed by <a href="http://vimeo.com/tga">The General Assembly</a> Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PaMiVDZu_T4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

Phil Tidy who has produced some well known videos for the likes of Lily Allen, The Ting Tings, Dizzee Rascal to name a few, showed this great story of a hypocritical TV presenter in this video for Chase and Status.

Mike O’Keefe of Sony revealed Jonathan Glazer had a budget of around £100k to produce Jamiroquai’s floor sliding Virtual Insanity. He then went a quarter of a million over budget creating the 3D creature coming out of the sea in the opening sequence of Deeper Underground.

Aside from these facts he showed us the brilliant piece of marketing for the launch of Kasabian's new track 'Underdog'. By recreating Guitar Hero on a massive scale and getting a West London football club to hits the notes at the right time by kicking a football at the relevant colour dot. Hours later of practise, the team manage the full version of the track. You can only imagine their elation.

Directed by Dan Henshaw.

Found Collective have produced some highly creative & powerful films for Pendulum, Depeche Mode and LadyTron. What caught my attention though was this cool viral made for Vodaphone to show The Evolution of the mobile phone.

Found collective also collaborated on this piece for the Director's showcase in Cannes, making a kinect performance that can only be explained here. The effects produced as you can see are quite intriquing.

We also got a sneak peak into some of the test video tricks from Henry Schofield of Partizan which was a highlight for me.

And I'd like to leave you with this beautiful film created by an upcoming Mexican Director, Alberto Gomez whose response to Saatchi's 'Hello, Future' music video competition no doubt won him some fans in Cannes where he was announced the Winner. His stylish and beautiful art directed interpretation of Moby's track takes the viewer to another realm.

After - Moby from Alberto Gomez on Vimeo.

Psychedelic invigoration

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:09:00 +0000

Loving the tribal inspired work of Bristol born illustrator, Ben Newman as profiled in last month's Creative Review. Yes I'm a month behind. Work, holiday, you know how it goes. So I have about five 'drafts' to pop up here - Expect more action! Anyway, a visual feast while you wait...

The bold graphic shapes and colour palette have quite a retro style about them, while the symmetry plays havoc with your eyes - Love them!

Top TV

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:23:00 +0000

Well BETC & Evian had a job on their hands to better their dancing babies ad of last year, but I think they've done a good job with the latest 'Evian Baby Inside'. This one uses a stop frame technique of adults waering t-shirts with babie's bodies printed from the neckline in various positions, giving the illusion that these people with 'young' bodies are dancing around. Ending with the famous 'Live Young' strapline. Well resolved.

Another fav I have put up for my own purposes is the 'Cats with thumbs' ad for Cravendale released earlier this year. I must've missed it as only by chance saw it through a youtube link. But it did make me laugh out loud:

By W+K London

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 11:44:00 +0000

Oh crap.
There almost always comes a time in a creatives' career when an idea that they had many moons ago sits idle in their book/ bottom drawer and it isn't long before someone goes and bloody makes the thing. Is that flattering or just a case of ideas existing out there somewhere and people tapping into it as and when appropriate? In my case it was a campaign I thought up for Topshop to make the shopper's experience more bearable and convenient for those with fast paced lifestyles. It was more a technological solution as such than a conceptual idea, but it was based on the frustrations many feel (especially in winter) at having to undress and re-layer up to try on an outfit, This way,m with my special mirror, shopper's can try on clothes of their choice with minimum effort.
However with ever changing technology and brand competition it was only a matter of time before something similar was made:

Created by Russian agency AR Door

Using Microsoft Kinect and augmented reality, Topshop's flagship store in Moscow installed their very own virtual fitting room last month. A built-in camera recognizes a human body and superimposes a 3D model of a garment; allowing shopper to try outfits, switching clothes using simple gestures.

And below was my campaign thought up last November, quietly shown in my portfolio:

(All work shown above is original ideas by myself and not reproduced to the best of my knowledge at the time of production)

Had I had the contacts in the right places, who knows my 'Topshop Express' could well have come to fruition!
Oh well. Back to the drawing board.

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