Beattie vs Beefeater
Dangerous business this advertising. Beattie McGuinness Bungay’s latest campaign for Ikea nearly ended up with an unfortunate creative being locked up in the Tower.
The 6 Faces of CR
The October issue of Creative Review features six different cover images, drawn from the winners of our Photography Annual. The photographers featured are, top row, left to right: Giles Revell, Matthew Georgeson, Julia Fullerton-Batten
Second row, left to right: Nadav Kander, Richard Bailey, Nick Georghiou.
As this is a double issue – a normal issue plus, turn the magazine over and start again from the back for the Photography Annual – each copy effectively has two covers (the issue cover and the Photography Annual cover). To confuse things further, and to make the most of some of the great work featured inside, we have produced the issue in three different versions. All three are available on the newsstand so you can choose the one you like best. Or, who knows, even buy them all…
Illustrators Give Economist Campaign New Face
Seymour Chwast’s ad for The Economist: Chwast was one of six illustrators brought in by agency AMV.BBDO in a radical departure from previous work for the magazine
There are few advertising campaigns as renowned or as revered as that created for The Economist by AMV BBDO. The beautifully-written, white out of red lines have become a classic of the genre. But what’s this? A new Economist campaign, in black and red? Using illustrations? Is this the end of an era?
Farrow’s latest for the Pet Shop Boys
The artwork and packaging for Disco Four, a collection of remixes by the Pet Shop Boys (featuring songs by The Killers, David Bowie and Yoko Ono) has been designed and art directed by Farrow, employing the photographic talents of John Ross. The album cover features a number “4” made with four fluorescent lighting units.
Esther Teichmann: Silently Mirrored
Part II of a diptych from Stillend Gespiegelt, 2006 by Esther Teichmann
Photographer Esther Teichmann’s first solo show has just opened at the Man&Eve gallery in London, running until 14 October. A graduate of Kent Institute of Art and Design and the RCA – and a CR Creative Future in 2005 – Teichmann’s Silently Mirrored show brings together a series of photographs and a double screen film projection…
What A Difference A Trim Makes
Big Rocket’s Trim project is one of the Best in Book winners in Creative Review’s Photography Annnual, published with the October issue of CR, out this week
Big Rocket (aka James and Will) shot Trim, a charming series of before-and-after portraits, at a barber shop in Soho, London. “We are interested in the idea of how a person’s image changes through the process of a simple haircut,” say the duo.
Designersblock Illustrated
Sandwiched between the grime of London’s Holloway Road on one side and the Islington Council dump on the other, Highbury Studios is not the likeliest site for a groovy showcase of contemporary imagemaking, but, if you happen to be in London, the Designersblock: illustrate show, on as part of the London Design Festival, is well worth a trip up the Piccadilly Line.
Short stories
John Simmons & Harry Pearce’s poster
Showing as part of this year’s London Design Festival is 26 Posters, a project by 26, the not-for-profit organisation for people who “champion the cause of better writing in business and everyday life”, in association with outdoor advertising company JCDecaux. The project sees writers from 26 teamed with designers to produce pieces of artwork that will be displayed on 48-sheet billboard sites in London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester.
UVA take on Battles
United Visual Artists have brought their light installation skills to the promo for Tonto, the next single from acclaimed US band Battles. Produced by Warp Films, the 8-minute video sees the group performing amidst a sea of poles of light – each one responding to the fractured sounds within the track, which is taken from Battles’ recently released album, Mirrored.
Craste animates Guinness
Marc Craste, the director behind the beautiful short JoJo in the Stars and the recent Lloyd’s Bank ad campaign campaign, has created two new ads for Guinness to coincide with the Rugby World Cup.
The campaign, created by Bern Hunter and Mike Bond at Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, is a straightforward one, and simply shows two opposing rugby teams pitched in an animated battle. Guinness is not an official sponsor of the tournament, yet the brand has managed to avoid breaching the official rights of the sponsor, Heineken, by creating animated players and therefore not featuring any imagery of real players. And quite lovely they look too. To view Guinness Play White, click here
Rams, Slimane and Koons line up for Wallpaper*
Many magazines have employed “guest editors” in recent times – CR included. The October issue of Wallpaper*, however, goes a step further and recruits three of them: Dieter Rams, Hedi Slimane and Jeff Koons.
Callum Bain: Radio Gabba
In the calm of Nottingham Trent University’s superb graphic design show at the Business Design Centre in London a couple of months ago, the atmosphere was regularly disrupted by the work of fellow NTU student, Callum Bain. He’d made an advert for a digital radio station; it was on his reel and he eagerly showed it to visitors every few minutes. Bain could have chosen any mainstream music genre for his particular radio station – but, instead, he decided to terrify people with gabba…
Creative Review’s Annual Awards 2025 are officially open for entries
One of the most respected and trusted awards for the advertising and design industries are back for 2025. Run, don’t walk to get your entries in before the Early Bird Deadline on 25 October
How to scale your design business
Growth is a dream for many businesses, but it comes with challenges. Daisy Crowder, brand and marketing director at design recruitment agency Craft, offers advice on how to navigate the change and keep staff on side
Cultivating community with Ganni
The Danish luxury fashion label has spearheaded the characterful evolution of Scandi style. Here, chief brand officer Priya Matadeen discusses its approach to collabs, the pressures of being a responsible brand, and how Ganni Girls grew from a hashtag to a badge of belonging
Why are brands apologising so much right now?
Brands are saying sorry at a more rapid rate than ever. CR’s advertising columnist Ben Kay delves into why sorry is no longer the hardest word and whether this is an effective strategy for winning audiences
How Guinness embraced social
By loosening its approach to advertising, and engaging with its audience directly, the drinks brand has transformed with the times and won a whole new set of fans
Tracing Banksy’s art history remixes
Kelly Grovier’s new book charts the artist’s persistent dialogue with classic and contemporary art
How Lego creates meaningful brand experiences
We speak to Lego’s VP of global brand development Alero Akuya about the brand’s rare ability to straddle the physical and virtual worlds with ease – whether through its immersive new art exhibition in Paris or collaborations with Epic Games and Nike
Matt Willey brings a human touch to Kaos titles
The Pentagram partner has created the titles for the acclaimed new Netflix show, which reimagines the Greek myths in a contemporary setting
A visual history of movie posters
A new book from Reel Art Press collates the first comprehensive history of film posters. We explore why they remain an underappreciated area of cultural design
The Monthly Interview: Rob Lowe, aka Supermundane
Mark Sinclair talks to the artist and designer about his new book, Lost Ordinary Magic, and the importance of recognising the power of simplicity and the everyday wonders that surround us
Unravelling adland’s obsession with 90s nostalgia
We explore how the 90s, an era the UK looks favourably upon for its thriving culture, are continually inspiring a stagnated creative industry
Building the visual world of Fontaines DC
The band’s surreal new album visuals explore a darker, more grotesque side of romance. We speak to the creative team behind the campaign about challenging the visual tropes of rock music