YOUTH IN REVOLT [2009]

CINEMA - Youth In Revolt directed by Miguel Arteta starring Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Jean Smart was a visual treat. Click here to see all 44 moments that we captured.

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THE NAMESAKE [2006]

CINEMA - This new addition to joes[a]fiend is pretty simple. Each film I watch from now on, I will compile a series of screen grabs to catalogue the visual delights within each film. These could vary from extreme emotions, scenery, fashion or anything that I find visually arresting.

The first film of the new section is The Namesake [2006] directed by Mira Nair. To see all 30 or so 'movie moments' click here.

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WHO'S BEEN GIVING APPLE THE FINGER?

ADVERTISING - The Apple adverts created by TBWA have always shunned the 'harder, faster, stronger' approach that many consumer electronic goods opt for in their advertising. Instead they go for a benefit based approach to their campaigns. Whether it be how an app on the iPhone can help you spot tree leaves or aid your cooking, the user benefits are always clear to see beyond a bigger screen etc.
The thing that has been bugging me of late is, whose finger is that in the Apple adverts? Are Apple adverts the Holy Grail for finger models? Is it even a real finger? Do Apple localise the finger for specific regions? The more I look at it the stranger it looks.

Do you know who the finger belongs to?

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LUXURY MAKES ITS WAY INTO THE DIGITAL WORLD

DIGITAL - In a world where the oxygen we breathe is digital and Facebook has reached 500 million active users, it is clear that the way we communicate, consume and create has fundamentally transformed. Brands are beginning to realise that the ‘old’ way of retailing might not be the best way. When it comes to the luxury industry digital is often completely ignored.

Marc Jacobs is a prime example of an innovative, edgy luxury brand yet is only entering the world of e-commerce this September. Let us not forget that Net-A-Porter was founded in 2000; so it has taken the Marc Jacobs brand 10 years to realise that online is not just a place for bargain fashion. I personally thought 2010 would be the year for flying cars, not luxury brands realising that the Internet might be a key retail space.

This brings us neatly to the events of last week, I was kindly invited to the Veuve Clicquot Polo Gold Cup: nice to be invited but men on horses hitting a ball isn’t really me. However, when the guys at Veuve mentioned their new iPhone app [iTunes link], my eyes began to roll into the back of my head, with undertones of yellow. Then they mentioned GPS and a champagne concierge and my ears were pricked. The Veuve Clicquot iPhone app allows users to order champagne within the polo ground, which is then delivered to your location via the iPhone's GPS tracker.

In my day job as a trend forecaster for The Future Laboratory we talk about living ‘inline’; this is the notion that living online or offline no longer exists due to ubiquitous connectivity and we now live ‘inline’. To me the Veuve Clicquot app was the embodiment of ‘inline living’. The brand is offering the ‘luxury moment’ facilitated by a digital device.

One of my favourite restaurants in London, Bob Bob Ricard, has a button at each table stating very simply ‘PRESS FOR CHAMPAGNE’. It is quite incredible how often your finger ends up pushing the magical button. Both of these levels of service work because they make your life simpler; they allow you to consume the product in a seamless manner and, most importantly, they make you feel special.

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SCAN TO SEE WHAT INSPIRES ME...

BRANDING - The 600+1 video was commissioned by Nike Global Design Team. The aim was to create a 2min video about what inspires Shanghai based creative Yehenala.

There are nine stories in the video, and a QR code is always centered in the frame. 'inspiration' is hiding behind the code, audience need to scan the code and receive a URL link to a web page. The web page contains photos of 'inspiration' in each of the nine stories in the video.

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GEOTAGGED IMAGES BECOME ART

London

New York

DATA VISUALISATION - I'm currently slightly obsessed with infographics and data visualisations. If you haven't got InformationIsBeautiful.net bookmarked or on your RSS reader, you should!

The maps above of New York and London created by Eric Fischer show where photographs have been taken. Location data comes from the public Flickr and Picasa search APIs.

As you can see the more photographs that are taken in a specific location the higher the concentration of lines. The images start to depict an interesting narrative as to where is popular and were isn't. It would be great to see this map in real-time, you would begin to see physical parts of your city 'trending'.

To see all 100 maps click here.

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HUMAN BILLBOARDS MAGAZINE BY STUDIO ROOMSERVICE

PUBLISHING - Some of you may know that eBay is rife with people selling their bodies as an advertising medium. For over two years, graphic designer Jacco Kranenburg purchased as many of these human billboards as possible to advertise his design studio Roomservice.

This is what Jacco told us about the reasoning behind the project:

"Out of sheer curiosity, I started to bid personally on several human billboard auctions. One thing that struck me was the utter confidence with which the different providers presented themselves.Without an exception, they were all convinced that they could provide unique and valuable advertising opportunities. For over two years I purchased as many of these human billboards as possible, advertising my design studio and web address. Instead of actual effective advertising, it did provide me with some delightful views into personal lives. Some of these most fascinating transactions are presented in this magazine."

How much would you sell advertising space on your body for?

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A CLEAR BRAND MESSAGE

ADVERTISING - In a time of 'brand blandness', it is even more important for brands to step up. American Apparel has a pedigree of doing this, although its efforts are sometimes over shadowed by it founder's [Dov Charney] somewhat questionable behaviour.

For this advertising campaign American Apparel gets eleven out of ten. It takes courage for brands to take the lead and it can leave them somewhat vulnerable to the press if their credentials don't stand up to scrutiny. If the brand can withstand the pressure, why not step up, be counted and make an impression?

joes[a]fiend

SUPERMARKET FASHION

SPOTTED - The term ‘fast fashion’ has become common in recent times, as of last week it gained a whole new meaning for me. I found myself with half an hour to spare before a meeting near Topshop [Oxford Street, London], so thought why not pop in have a little look around to kill some time?

Whilst loitering in the store, observing what people were picking up and generally being nosy I heard a familiar voice. Not the voice of a friend, family member or celebrity, but the voice of Tesco. When I say this I don’t mean from an advert, I mean the voice that summons you to a vacant cash register to pay for your uninspiring lunchtime sandwich. This provoked a whiplash inducing double take. I moved closer to the till to confirm my initial hunch. To my shock it was the automated voice of lunchtime doom, moonlighting by beckoning the followers of fashion to ‘till number 4’.

In my line of work we talk about the ‘Theatre of Retail’, this includes the level of detail required to ensure the physical retail experience is a memorable one. TopShop offers a great retail experience. They just need to remove the voice of the supermarket from their store. Why not use the voice of an employee? Wouldn’t it be nice to be served by the voice that came over the loudspeaker?

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FANCY DESIGNING THE COVER OF WALLPAPER* MAGAZINE?

PUBLISHING - Wallpaper*, the home of wonky legged chairs and expensive 'lifestyle' items is inviting readers to design their very own cover for its August Handmade issue [on sale in July].

Budding designers can access the application at Wallpaper.com where they can create a cover. On the site you can select and manipulate images, graphics and patterns by James Joyce, Nigel Robinson, Anthony Burrill and Kam Tang.

Each reader’s cover will front their own copy of the Wallpaper* Handmade special issue.

Editor-in-chief Tony Chambers says, 'Wallpaper* readers are a very creative bunch and they are going to love this. After all, they’ll be joining the ranks of Philippe Starck, Zaha Hadid, Anish Kapoor and Karl Lagerfeld – all of whom are previous Wallpaper* cover artists.'

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30 YEARS OF ALLY CAPELLINO @ THE WAPPING PROJECT

EXHIBITION - We finally got down to the Wapping Project to see the 30 Years Of Ally Capellino exhibition and were throughly impressed with the retrospective of British designers work. The exhibition runs until the 6th June, if you're in the area it's worth a look.

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Images via Akira Chatani

MANYSTUFF #1: ONE POSSIBLE CATALYST

PUBLISHING - Graphic design blog Many Stuff have just unveiled their beautiful printed publication 'One Possible Catalyst'.

Many Stuff explain the publication as 'A graphic design publication with the objective to use the printed support, paper, to fix a laboratory of experiments and meditations released from formal and theoretical prejudices.'

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TUBE TRACKING: CHROMAROMA

DIGITAL - Chromaroma is an online multiplayer game played out as you travel the city with your Oyster Card. By using Oyster data they are able to show you your Tube travel, and every journey means you amass points, taking a few steps further along the way to owning London.

Chromaroma is a type of location-based top-trumps. Where you collect places, identities, modes of transport and passengers as you travel around the city; discover and investigate mysteries attached to different locations and build alliances with fellow passengers that share your journeys. It's a game you can play on your own, or part of a team.

Location gaming is all the rage at the moment, Nike utilized payphones with their Nike Grid and Starbucks is using Four Square. It's going to be interesting to see how location gaming evolves..

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VIA Dave Haynes

UPDATED: NIKE MUSIC SHOE

ADVERTISING - So after much digging we found out that the Nike Music Shoe video is by Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo Lab, the track is by Hifana.

I do like the disclaimer at the end of the video, "Shoes sold at retail will NOT make music when bent or twisted."

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SPOTTED [VOL. XIV]

SPOTTED Whilst is Soho [London] taking a stroll I spotted this amazing Rapunzel like art installation in the Riflemaker Gallery.

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