UNITED COLOURS OF BENETON

ADVERTISING - This image first captured the public's imagination in 1996 when the fashion brand Benetton unveiled it as a way to commemorate World Anti-Racism Day.

It just goes to show that a great idea never dates...

joes[a]fiend

ADI DASSLER IS A REAL DIAMOND

SNEAKERS - This year marks the 60th birthday of the Adidas brand founded by Adi Dassler who is the younger brother of Rudolf Dassler, known for founding Puma.

We've managed to get our grubby hands on a really fine selection of Adidas imagery ranging from iconic vintage kicks to some of the very first print advertising campaigns the brand ever created. Head over to our Flickr page to check them out or just click here.

joes[a]fiend

VOTE FRED OR ELSE!

Photograph of Fred by Dan Wilton

FASHION - So lets no bother beating round the bush. We all know Fred Butler runs one of the best blogs on the interweb. If you're into fashion, arts, culture and general rainbow coloured fun Fred Butler Style is essential reading.

Fred's blog has been shortlisted for the Dazed Raw Blog Award, so show her some love and click here to vote Fred.

VOTE FRED you know you want to...

joes[a]fiend

PS

Sorry for the lack of blogging we've been real busy. No more excuses though, we're back!

ABSOLUT ANTHEM

ADVERTISING - "A group of artists comes together in locations around the world to create art pieces that spell out the philosophy of Absolut Vodka. See something different in an ABSOLUT WORLD"

A great one minute video that really embodies the philosophy of the Absolut brand. If you visit the Absolut Facebook profile you can see how they made each section of the advert, which we highly recommend. It's interesting to hear the director, Rupert Sanders talk about his vision for each section.

Nice work Absolut.

joes[a]fiend

AIR TALK

SNEAKERS - The Nike Air Max 1 [originally released in 1987] is an amazing shoe, yeah it's not our personal favourite, but there's no denying the impact it's had on youth culture, sneaker design and the wallets of teenagers parent's. Whilst talking to a good friend of ours from Nike, he went into the history of the shoe and the origins of the visible 'air bubble'. We thought it was interesting and worth sharing. If you know where the inspiration came from... sorry.

The inspiration to make the air bubble visible came from The Pompidou gallery in Paris [above] designed by Italian starchitect Renzo Piano. The building is famous for the exposed internal piping. All of the functional structural elements of the building are colour-coded: green pipes are plumbing, blue ducts are for climate control, electrical wires are encased in yellow, and circulation elements and devices for safety [e.g., fire extinguishers] are red.

When the idea was proposed to Nike, the designer was almost fired for such a ludicrous piece of sneaker design. Well, lucky for Nike they came to their senses and allowed a great bit of architecture into their running shoes. Lets face it, we all like to see the innards of the things we own. Whether it's taking things apart when they work perfectly well or being fascinated by the crap your Dyson picks up.

joes[a]fiend