The Designer As Editor
Wallpaper* creative director Tony Chambers has just been made the magazine’s editor-in-chief. Jeremy Leslie asks him about this unprecedented switch of roles and his future plans for the title
Get Out Of The Sizzle Business
In the second half of his article on change in the ad industry, Tom Wnek explains how brands came to adopt unrealistic emotional values and how ad agencies can help them…
Shoe storm
The ads as they appear in the latest issue of Creative Review
It would appear that not all publicity is good publicity after a furore has broken out over the latest Dr Martens poster campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi, which features a selection of rock legends in heavenly poses wearing the boots. The campaign, originally approved to run as a one-off in Fact magazine, has caused heated blogging debate online and ultimately led to the shoe brand deciding to fire Saatchis. And Creative Review has inadvertently gotten caught up in the maelstrom by including the ads in our latest issue, after one of the creatives submitted the work…
Look mum, a Serif Fairy!
The Serif Fairy meets a frog (who’s actually a P and a Q set in Shelley Andante Script)
The Serif Fairy is in a bit of a typographical predicament. It’s nothing to do with her kerning, her leading, or even her italicised “O” for a head – it’s, in fact, far worse. She’s gone and lost one of her wings and can no longer perform her magic…
D&AD Awards Point to Past And Future
There are two Gold-winners at this year’s D&AD Awards: R/GA’s Nike+ prroject (website shown top) and an ad campaign for the Misereor charity for war orphans from German agency Kolle Rebbe (above)
You can generally gauge the value of a prize by the amount of complaints it provokes. If no-one moans about who won and who shouldn’t have, then you have the worst result of all – irrelevance. The D&AD Awards are always relevant.
D&AD: Who won what and why
This year’s D&AD Awards were announced last night. With astounding speed (OK, we got tipped off beforehand) we gathered the thoughts of a panel of leading industry figures on this year’s winners and the organisation’s current status in the creative community
Got a message to send?
It’s pretty easy to be cynical about branded messages these days. But we’ve been looking at a new message-sending tool, Get The Message, created by Glue London to help promote The Royal Navy and – perhaps surprisingly – using it is enormous fun…
Empire Strikes… Nah, That’s Too Obvious
To celebrate Star Wars’ thirtieth anniversary, the new issue of Empire magazine has 30 different covers featuring characters from the films. We’re going to go out on a limb here and predict that this one (above) will be the best-seller
How Ford Made Cars Float Across London
Still from the new Ford Mondeo spot, Desire, which aired for the first time last night. If you missed it, click here to watch it
In Desire, Bikini Films’ latest spot for Ford (which screened for the first time during the Champions League final last night), a host of superfluous old cars are lifted heaven-ward by bunches of colourful baloons. We find out how the ad was made as SFX supervisor Mark Mason of Asylum describes his role on the commercial…
Tasty motor
Fallon ad agency takes the old adage that the way to our hearts is through our stomachs to extremes in its latest spot for Skoda, directed by Gorgeous Enterprises’ Chris Palmer.
The spot sees the car lovingly recreated as a cake and before you ask, cookery fans, we at Creative Review have the list of everything that went into it…
(Almost) All The President’s Men
Ben Terrett of The Design Conspiracy and Noisy Decent Graphics reviews last night’s
Pentagram D&AD President’s Lecture
Last night saw the much anticipated Pentagram D&AD President’s lecture. A packed young audience, as much as 1,200 people, nine Partners on stage, more in the audience and your humble correspondent sat down at the front memorising every word for you lot.
How We Are: Photographing Britain
1. Nancy Hellebrand, Marion in a Bed Sitter, July 1974 © Nancy Hellebrand
How We Are: Photographing Britain, currently on show at Tate Britain, celebrates nearly 170 years of British photography, from 1840 until the present day. The exhibition explores our relationship with the medium and the ways in which the camera has been used as a tool for recording, assessing and evaluating both information and our own culture.
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