Honda’s Shining Light

Honda’s brand new Let It Shine commercial, shot by Erik van Wyk through Bouffant breaks today. Written by Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, the spot features a vast grid of Honda’s new Insight model parked in the desert. The Insight is, the voiceover tells us, Honda’s new, “affordable hybrid” car. In the spot, each of the cars’ headlights act as pixels to perform an animated sequence. Click Read More to view the ad and also W+K’s making-of film…

CR April Issue

Rick Poynor looks back over two decades of the Designers Republic plus, Spanish type case art, Alison Carmichael and our very own Mumbai taxi – all in the April issue of CR

Welcome To Barnumville

Meet Doc Eddie Pluribus (above). He’s got a cart full of cure-alls. Dare you try one? He’s just one of 28 striking-looking circus and sideshow characters shot by photographer Matt Hoyle for his Barnumville portrait series…

Other animals

In a stunning series of photographs of creatures, a new book reveals just how far removed we are from the animal world. Giacomo Brunelli’s The Animals is no ordinary collection of wildlife photography…

Nokia Headset Comp Winners

I’m Flying headset design by Rodshakur, inspired by R Kelly’s track I Believe I Can Fly
Last year Wieden + Kennedy London launched the Nokia Music Almighty Headset Competition, which invited entrants to design a Nokia Bluetooth headset, inspired by their favourite piece of music. The winning designs have now all been made into fully functioning headsets, some of which are more wearable than others…

CR Taxi: Meet The Artists

Manohar and Samir Manohar Mistry are among the leading exponents of Mumbai taxi art, adorning the city’s cabs with wondrous typography. In this exclusive CR film (made for us by Grandmother India), they discuss the development of this urban art form and the design they created for CR’s April issue

The CR Taxi

Our very own Mumbai taxi. Watch an interview with the designers here
For any design-aware visitor, Mumbai’s yellow and black taxis, which constitute a major part of the city’s horrendous traffic, are a wondrous sight. The majority are richly decorated with a litany of the driver’s favourite things: like a MySpace page on wheels. The sacred and profane rub along on rear windscreens, wings and bumpers as visual references to gods mingle with film titles, western brand logos and complex geometric patterns. At night, these vivid forms dazzle under street lights and car headlamps. For our April issue, we commissioned our own Mumbai taxi

UNKLE, Spike Jonze, Skateboarding & Explosions

Still from UNKLE’s Heaven video, directed by Spike Jonze an Ty Evans
UNKLE’s track Heaven appeared on the soundtrack to acclaimed skate film Fully Flared (2007) directed by Spike Jones and Ty Evans. Now the two directors have created the official video for UNKLE’s track using footage taken of the Lakai skateboarding crew originally captured for their film: the video is essentially a re-edited sequence of shots showing the Lakai crew show off their impressive skateboarding skills as they negotiate various exploding obstacles – all in glorious slo-mo. Click Read More to view the video…

Groove Armada tie-in with Bacardi

Drop the Tough video for Groove Armada, directed by A+W
Here is Groove Armada’s video for single Drop the Tough, which features on a new 4-track EP. It is an EP with a difference, however, as it has been entirely funded by a brand…

Selfridges’ Kaleidoscopic windows

Design: Emily Forgot
Apparently inspired by the cut-and-paste aesthetic of the sadly defunct Amelia’s magazine and the illustrations of Alan Aldridge, Selfridges’ in-house design team unveiled the store’s colourful new windows earlier this month. The windows also received a makeover from illustrator Emily Forgot and RCA student Matthew Plummer Fernandez, whose previous Selfridges installation we featured, here. (All photography: Andrew Meredith)…