I picked up a picture book recently, so I want to share it here. I’ve missed visiting book shops and food halls this year just to see modern designs on full display (in their natural habitat… in competition with each other). The book I picked up is called The Song of the Tree, and it’s written and illustrated by Coralie Bickford-Smith.
I’ve seen Coralie Bickford-Smith’s designs at work on cloth-bound reprints of classic books in different stores before, but I was never interested in the gift-market classic literature reissues myself (I don’t seem to have a lot of family or friends who read physical books).
Cloth-bound children’s book by Coralie Bickford-Smith
I’ll share a few of the photographs of the book I took. Bear in mind that these are taken in natural winter light, and I feel in person, the colours are much more vibrant and deep.
The deceptively simple shapes that make up patterns, plants, and animals give the impression of Lino or wood-block printing. There’s a great balance of detail and negative space.
The use of text makes reading the story engaging. Some pages, you have to tilt the book to read.
On most pages you’re rewarded for looking closely at the illustration – you’ll see delicate little animals hidden about the foliage.
Anyone who appreciates storytelling though words and pictures – child or adult – can enjoy this book; it’s a decent length, about 50 pages long.
This image shows Coralie Bickford-Smith’s book illustration development
Some of the development work that goes into creation of Bickford-Smith’s books is recorded on her own website. In the above image you can see great understanding of editorial layout being put to use in a picture book’s layout.
I have other books on the shelf that I want to photograph and share here for those who may be interested. I’m also eyeing some new design-related publications to add to my small collection of creative books. I hope to share more soon.
When next you’re able to visit a brick and mortar book store (safely!) I’d recommend checking out the children’s section if it’s not somewhere you usually check out – you may even find some unexpected stimulation for your creations by flicking though some choice books.
Since any significant travel has been restricted for months, I’ve tired to satiate the desire for exploration by traversing the local woodland and such. It’s a solitary activity, and thus I’ve much time to think to myself. I thought about how much overseas traveling there is to look forward to in the future once such movement is safe.
Luggage labels like this were crafted to advertise airline and hotel services in the 20th centuary
When I looked through my last passport, I found very few ink stamps on the pages despite how much I had traveled with it. A lot of the documentation of our travel these days is digital. Long gone is the era of travel ephemera such as luggage labels; the kind that airlines and hotels used to slap on vacationer’s suitcases. Never have I seen luggage labels in person. But exposure to them in vintage cartoons and film leaves me with a romantic impression of them. (And perhaps, a romantic impression of travelling itself.)
Vintage airline and hotel luggage labels
In searching for these specific paper ephemera, I ran across the flikr account of Tom Schifanella, Art of the Luggage Label. All of the images I have shared here are sourced from Tom Schifanella’s account, and so I encourage you to browse through the albums if any of these designs pique your interest.
Different shapes that baggage labels take on
I want to share a few labels that stood out to me for one reason or another, even labels that I don’t feel affinity for – because it’s still possible to appreciate and understand the thought and concept of the designs.
Location-Centric Illustration
The following couple of labels are minimalist depictions of Italian holiday destinations surrounded by water. I like these designs for their limited use of colour; while the design for Hotel Capri uses three colours in total, the Grand Hotel in Lake Como uses four. The bold, sans-serif typeface helps the text read on the small scale that these images would be printed.
A baggage label illustrating the island of Capri, ItalyLabel for a hotel situated in Bellagio, Italy
Despite my attraction to these illustrations for their deceptively simple designs, the corporate illustrations of luggage labels are not all subject to strict restrictions of colour or texture.
Typography-Focused Design
These French hotel luggage labels are almost excessively ornate. While the highly-detailed graphic direction doesn’t appeal to me personally, these designs communicate clearly feelings of grandeur and wealth.
The label for Grand Hôtel de LyonHôtel Mirabeau labek
These decadent visuals aren’t ubiquitous today as this visual direction isn’t always practical or very suited for many modern services and goods, thus the old-school draftsmanship skills used to create these are not so freely taught or learned to students of design today.
Swiss Style
These circular labels are all happen to be advertisements for hotels in Switzerland. They’re all functioning on a limited colour palette, too.
Fox Label from a Hotel in Lenzerheide, Switzerland
This illustration brings up feelings of outdoor activities and exploration in the mountains. The stylisation is nostalgic to European children’s books from childhood.
A peacock promoting a hotel located in Einsiedln, Switzerland
‘Pfauen’ here means peacock, and peacocks bring to mind elegance and beauty. This design takes advantage of the circle shape with a clean, considered illustration. The registration of the pink ink looks to be off, but it also lends this piece more character.
Sun label from a hotel in Arosa, Switzerland
While this graphic doesn’t immediately communicate to me traditional ‘hotel’, I can feel a connection to mountainside spas where one can enjoy the closeness of nature. I can’t help but think of The Sun tarot card when looking at this…? The design does interest me, and makes me wonder what the hotel attached to this sticker was like.
More examples of mid-century Swiss Style
There is so much variety in these miniature illustrations, it’s a little overwhelming tying to take them all in at once – they’re in competition with each other, after all!
A number of these label illustrations are a shock as I would not have even contemplated some of the colour combinations employed, and yet I enjoy them. Other designers have made considerate use of black and I also consider that bold and brave – I’m always wary of how absolute and black is and its power to overwhelm an image. So, in reflection, I realise I can be more adventurous when illustrating in the future.
While it was an impulsive action to seek out these luggage labels, it was rewarding. I found a whole world of corporate design I knew next to nothing about. There’s definitely a lot to pull from if you’re looking to find inspiration from past eras. But in imitating past design it’s important to think about why you want your work to be informed by older works, and if it really does communicate what you want.
Think about why these illustrations have been saved and are still appreciated now – many able to outlive the services they promoted. A lot of thought and heart went into these labels to ensure their impressions stuck!
The summer is fast approaching. The academic year is reaching it’s end. Sure, student timetables are out of whack now, but it’s important to keep going. I need to set myself goals over the summer months to keep my creativity and interest in design up. I’m looking back at a project not long since handed in, and I know that I want to revise elements of it already.
I handed in my responsive project – a live brief outcome from the UN and the World Health Organisation. I will admit that I swayed the brief to suit my own emotional and mental-wellbeing, from ‘raising awareness of Covid-19 to prevent the spread’ to ‘coping with the pandemic through activities’. The thing is, I had to write a proposal, so I found justification in the angle I ‘tackled’ the brief. In modifying the brief, I could focus more on subjects that would help me cope, while being – theoretically – more productive.
Essentially, to address the problem of Covid-19, I chose to design for a child audience, and ‘market’ an activity that would be cultivating inside-grown plants from mail-order seed packets. The real drive for the project being to give kids more structure and short-term goals at home when schools were closed. I wanted to include two mini zines (8 pages each) with information and facts on the types of plants that can be grown from the seeds, and garden insects that are beneficial to outdoor plant growth.
I explored a couple of different illustration routes to see what could suit seed packet design and little booklets, but it was a lot to take on in such a short space of time. I only got as far as making mockups of the basic layout for a proposed packet design, and one zine. I made many illustrations, but I don’t think they’ll go to waste. This project included my first tries at creating digital collage.
Hover fly digital ‘paper’ collage
Although it’s far more time-consuming than I had thought – I still felt a lot of gratification upon finishing any insect collages. I am very happy with how some of them turned out.
I wish I had shared more of my development work as I was working on the responsive project. I shared a little over some Microsoft Teams DMs and Discord, and got some interesting insights into other’s thoughts on paper collage. I realised the variety of the papers I could use – the ‘paper’ being digital – were bigger than I thought. Newsprint and even photographs can be utilised for different textures and to suggest different patterns.
Ground beetle digital collage
I’d like to make more bug collages over the summer, and fill a whole printed, colour booklet. I want to finish the black and white zine full of line garden insect drawings I started for my responsive brief, too. I’d want to make the hand-drawn illustration version downloadable, printable, so that folding it and colouring it is an activity on top of learning bug facts.
There’s a lot go milage in my proposal as it’s not explicitly Covid-19 specific, it can exist outside of the initial brief timeframe, which lends the ideas longevity. That’s why it’d be worth returning to the project in my own time.
One of the last modules of the academic year is a ‘personal project’. Again, I have full reign over how I want to approach design. It can be anything. ANYTHING! Naturally, I generated a number of ideas that I can’t possibly address within the soon-approaching deadline. Some ideas probably aren’t worth looking at closer than I already have. But the ideas that I can’t address in the meantime are worth looking at in the future. I can set myself goals to achieve some of these projects.
I thought a lot about different routes to take a ‘personal’ project
Some routes I was interested in were stationary sets – letter-writing sets… sticker design – health and wellbeing product packaging, spotters guides, and the good old bestiary. Here are a few notes I took in my sketchbook while musing over spotters guides and bestiaries:
SPOTTERS GUIDE??
I even thought about phone applications in relation to spotters guides
Etchings and ink illustrations of grotesques by Arent van Bolten, made between 1604 and 1616
Books full of creatures from folk tales, or video game monster indexes have always interested me. There’s definitely fun to be had in illustrating (and writing for) such things. So I can see myself making images for some variation of a bestiary myself.
Whatever routes I can venture down, it’s all an excuse to make illustration that I can put my heart into. Digital or analogue; I don’t think it matters much which I use, but the medium would probably change in relation to the illustration style I most want to dive into.
… But I chose what I had thought to be the quickest and most useful route to myself, thinking about the near-future. I’ll be looking at packaging design. I’ve worked on some before. I’ll put to the test the knowledge I’ve learned in the past!
Planning out projects during the summer months and staying up-to-date in wold design news is vital as to not lose the heart I need to find work in the creative industry. It’s also important to keep up my blog; write about any design I find of interest, show any development of interest, and so on. The next logical step… is to finish all of the modules I have already! But then… then I can work out a schedule for the summer. And meet unrealised goals.
In January, the company Siemens approached graphic design students for logo work. Presumably because the belief that students face less creative constraints due to their freelance status. (But boundaries are set by briefs, regardless!) The brief presented was a challenge for me, with highs and lows.
As with all clients that approach you, it’s important to understand where they are coming from. I needed to do a lot of reading up on the company, as I knew next to nothing about the history of Siemens or the specific line of work that the logos were requested for; their off shore wind farms.
Diagram showing Hohe See and Albatros’ planned number of turbines
I did end up researching what the daily routine of an engineer is, what environment they are working in, the clothes they wear, and the equipment they use etc. But the brief strained the importance of the place the work was at. The brief also made it clear that the The logos were not for the farms themselves, but rather the people who work on the farms. The workers were keen to wear emblems that reflected themselves as a ‘team’.
The specific farms that required logos wereHohe See and Albatros and Horn Sea Two. The most important of the key desirables was to create a symbol that represented the men at work and their ‘team spirit’. The workers were very interested in emblems such as the ones created by Bands FC (Football league and Album cover crossovers). This element of the brief was not received too well by a number of students (for being restrictive from the get-go) and many approached the brief in other directions initially.
MIT Media Lab directory that used symbols for departments
I even approached the brief by attempting to create logos that shared visual elements (shapes or pattern) to keep some consistent identity across the two teams. The decision to explore this was made concrete after looking at logo work by Pentagram for MIT Media Lab. This approach was not well understood by the client, and I understood that they disliked it.
Logos made using arcs that can be read as waves or wind
When I presented pencil scamps to the client, it was very much a case of straying too far from the client’s wishes, and my scamps were not meeting the goals. I had in mind a more conservative and corporate logos – ones that work great in monochrome, and on any scale – ones that could be easily replicated on clothing, letter heads, stationary etc.
Hohe See and Albatros logos that use the same arcing shapes
Versatility of the logo was something that actually wan’t a necessity. It wasn’t stated in the brief that the logo would be for anything more than ‘personal use’. But it also wasn’t stated that the workers would be the only ones to sport the logo either. I had drafted and crafted a number of logos thinking they’d have to adhere to the general rules of logo design.
Vectors I made to explore Hornsea Two colour options
I experimented a lot with the pen tool and manipulating the lines ever so slightly to get very smooth curves in some of the logo concepts. I was really happy with the vague images of the logos above – I thought that because the viewer could interpret the lines as they wanted the logo could represent what they want. Is it the wind, is it turbulent waves? It’s what you make it.
The abstract angle is the wrong road to travel for this particular client tough. They were less enthusiastic with examples from students that were a less direct answer to the brief. What was demand was something ‘simple’, something ‘obvious’. And I can admit that it was deflating. It took a lot of potential avenues out (experimentation, and fun). But it just means I had to attack the problem from another angle. I did find it difficult to get exited over the sports logo direction, and don’t feel that my best strengths are able show through.
Early vector of a more football-like emblem
I returned to looking at the issue of providing the client with a crest-like logo. I drew many new scamps focussing on the albatross and the wind turbines. The sort of logo work I ended up vectorising became more of an illustration. (It also wound up looking a lot like a pre-existing Football emblem, I later realised.) Arriving at this conclusion, I feel that the brief really wanted a illustration from the start; not a logo.
I was given pointers by a tutor to help ‘modernise’ the feel of my first digital attempt of a ‘sports-inspired logo’. Varying the line width of the rings and removing the lines around the type gives the image a more contemporary look. It was desirable to remove the lines from the bird itself. I added a SOV vessel and wind turbines into the sea.
Revised colour ‘Hohe See and Albatros’ logo
The logo as above does not function (or read) well in monochrome, however. This is because this logo was not initially conceptualised as a black-on-white mark, and is relying on a lot of colours and lines to communicate to the viewer. Without colour, it suffers a lot. (Believe me.)
I had wanted to work on this logo more and refine it with the aforementioned details before presenting digital logos to the client, but I was occupied overseas and busy with a work placement before I realised the time to pitch had arrived, and I hadn’t the program to do so. Since I wasn’t present for the presentation of student works, I do not know the outcome of the project. I would have liked to have heard some feedback on the vectors of my scamps that were dismissed beforehand, and the opinion of the emblem-like logo that was made closer to the client’s wishes.
Looking back on this project, I feel proud of the progress I have made recently using Adobe Illustrator, and how fast I can move when I need to. I feel happy with my more abstract symbolic designs even if they are not going to be utilised – they were genuinely enjoyable to craft.
On the 31st of January 2020, I visited the preview night of the creative industry staff artworks exhibition, held within Newcastle College’s Mandela Building. The exhibition runs until the 21st of February this year. The opportunity to visit during opening night brings with it the usual perks; conversation, atmosphere, and drinks.
Print (detail) by Hania Klepackia
Within exhibition were photography, digital photomontages, prints, collage, sculpture, watercolour paintings, acrylic paintings, oil paintings, mixed-media, video, pottery, found objects, and more.
The exhibitions space is relatively small, but it was used most practically; there wasn’t any wasted space.
Here are a very small number of photos that I took of artworks on display. Not every piece had a name, but all of the works were credited.
Wire bird sculptures by karl Mercer
Close up of karl Mercer’s sculptures. These are 1:1 to the bird they’re modelled after.
I’ve had conversations with friends in the past about sculpture. Some who create sculpture believe that the medium used to create pieces should be embraced; that is, the materials should not be obscured and be readily obvious to the viewer. I have not yet formed a view on that particular argument myself. No deception is involved in the presentation of these birds.
Photography by Laura Sedgwick
Photography by Graham Stouph
Getting to talk to some of artists was an opportunity that felt good to take advantage of. When asked, staff shared the thoughts or reasons behind creating pieces, the inspirations, or the mediums used with me. Overall, it was a very casual opening night.
I don’t believe that every staff member exhibiting happened to be present at the opening show. None of my tutors were exhibiting work, and I only talked to a few of the staff to ask about their pieces – admittedly, the staff members I already knew.
Stories by Steve Baxter (driftwood cast in resin)
These pieces were created with found driftwood cast in opaque resin, displayed over a lightbox.
Most of the artwork on display was for purchase. There was no price tags, but the artists were happy enough to talk to those interested about pricing.
Since most everything I’ve made recently has been digital – for the sake of replication, mostly – it was nice to see work that there are only single copies of. It’s harder to share these works because of their solitary existence, but of course, as with any gallery viewing, it feels as if I am privileged to see them in person. And that’s not to say that digital artwork – sometimes freely circulated on the internet – is not as valuable, but it certainly is refreshing.
As it’s been a while since I have visited any of the art galleries in the city of Newcastle, I wish to see their current exhibitions. Maybe some of my peers will show an interest in seeing them together, if I invite them.
A staff member from the college’s computing department sent out an e-mail to tutors requesting student aid to realise a ‘cartoon bumblebee illustration’. I knew it was a good request when the e-mail started off with “Hey up Muchachos” and stated the desire for the cartoon illustration to be ‘cute’!
The e-mail contained a bumblebee sketch by the staff member. The requirements were to either create a colourised and realised cartoon interpretation of the sketch, or a polished black and white drawing. I opted to go all-out and made a coloured illustration in Adobe Illustrator.
The finished Adobe Illustrator vector illustration!
The task was half-way realised by the staff’s sketch, (the body language and the level of anthropomorphism) but I watched some bumblebee videos online to look at the bugs closely and see if I could caricature them desirably. I very much liked the fluffy collar around the bee’s necks and wanted to show off how fluffy these bees are!
I drew a swarm of bees after watching the videos. My early sketches of the bees are so scrappy and wonky, I don’t want to share them here! I shared the final sketch over e-mail with the staff remember before diving into Digital art working. I simply traced over the finalised sketch in Adobe Illustrator.
Vector outline traced over my pencil drawing
I used different (default) brushes and of different thicknesses. (I’m reminded that I should make my own brushes for personal use.) I did use several layers for the brush outlines, and I could have made due with three or so. Every layer was labeled (that is, named correspondingly). Once I was satisfied with the outlines, I felt it was time to apply colour! Then the image took on life.
Block colours
I used the pen tool to draw block shapes under the outlines to colour large areas. If I took more time, these coloured layers would have been more smooth. Most of the shading was made using blob tool with the opacity lowered.
All outline and colour layers switched on
I made good use of opacity settings when adding (minimal) shading to the coloured layers. The wing’s opacity are especially low to emulate how thin and delicate real insect wings are.
Because the outlines are on separate layers, their colour can be changed easily
I was hesitant for the image to become too busy, so I down-played the shading. I’m happy with my outcome, but now feel that if any element should have been pushed further, it was the shading!
HAPPY!
Because the original file is a vector, the staff member the bee went to can be used at any scale. It would make for cute stickers…! The coloured layers can always be turned off at any time to make use of the outlines on their own. Come to think of it… I didn’t think to ask what the illustration is being used for! Huh!
Rendering the cartoon digitally was a relatively quick process – it was a day’s work to polish up the sketch I was provided with and to re-create it in a digital format. Still, each time I use a digital program, I feel better adjusted when using it. I gather that I’d feel the most comfortable if I created my own library of brushes for use in such jobs – it’s much faster than fumbling through the pre-made library of brushes just to find the closest tool to the one I want!
Writing to good friends and close family is something that I enjoy. I always have a reserve of stationery for when the need to write a letter arises. I enjoy discovering uniquely designed (illustrated) stationery, and I hope that those who receive my letters enjoy receiving them as much.
Let’s look at a few stationery items that I hand on-hand, and why I felt the need to invest in them!
FURUKAWA SHIKO mini stationery, featuring a hedgehog motif.
The attraction to this tiny set of washi letter paper and envelopes, for me, was thee-fold; the hedgehog illustration, the material, and the diminutive size. The envelopes are 120×80mm. Not sure if they’re too small to send in the mail…!! I’ve used them to hand out notes in person.
A petite letter set; good for brief letters. This letter set is made of sturdy, shell-patten envelopes (15×11cm) and washi letter paper (14×10cm) with a cute otter caricature at the top of each page. Fuzzy otter stickers are included to seal the envelopes. The simplicity and economic design is what persuaded me to buy these… alongside the cute otters.
A set of iCHiGO EC stickers, and MIND WAVE Summer Selection (firework) stickers.
Everyone loves stickers, right? Both kids and big kids can enjoy them! Stickers are handy to have on-hand decorate envelopes or plain writing paper.
The Wakayama Electric Railway stickers are exclusive to the iCHiGO EC line – a strawberry-theemed, red and white train boarded with natural wood and wooden furniture. I like how minimal the use of colour is in these strawberry train stickers; most of the stickers are simply red on white. Along with two other themed trains on the Kishigawa Line, iCHiGO EC is a tourist attraction.
Firework (花火, Hanabi) stickers by MIND WAVE. I really like the stylisation of these fireworks. The material is a craft paper, with gold foil finish in places. The characters used to write ‘firework’ are ‘flower’ and ‘fire’ respectively, and you can see in these illustrations that the fireworks do look like flowers.
Portable washi tape stickers produced by KITTA.
All of the designs of these stickers are drawn analogue. All of the designs are made on paper with different pencils, markers, paints and such, and then scanned to make washi stickers, which lends the imagery a warm feeling.
The package design itself is neat. The stickers are tear-away strips stuck to a small sheet of card that folds in on itself. The card ‘wallet’ can be tucked away into a pencil case or planner, or wherever else is convenient.
Cozyca Products My Room letter writing set, illustrated by Midori Asano.
I’ve used a number of Cozyca Products’ letter writing sets in the past. The envelopes and paper has always been washi, so they have a translucent element and delicate feel. Coupled with the types of illustrations chosen, the sets always feel mature, sophisticated, and even ‘cozy’.
Cozyca Products have made goods in collaboration with a number of well-established Japanese illustrators. Maybe I should look into writing about them in a future post? There’s certainly a varied range of visual directions.
Have the illustrations – visuals in general – of a product ever persuaded you to invest in it? Or perhaps the convenience or design itself won you over?
At some point, I’ll end up writing about the Digital Skills Application module in-depth; once I’ve some feedback. But I can already look on this module now and say with satisfaction that I have learned a lot.
During this module I’ve been met with some personal concerns. They have impeded progress somewhat.
One of the food package (for macaroni and cheese) presented as it would be for printing; with a cutter showing the net on top.
I always feel a level of frustration that the work that I produce doesn’t reach the level that I aim for. My skill level is always lower than needed for my desired outcome. I think, overall, I should be proud of myself and how far I’ve come in regards to digital artworking and using programs one entirely unfamiliar. I’ve made a food packaging box that’s convincing enough!
It may be strange to say so, (and maybe a bad sign) but I’m most pleased with the reverse of the package! I think the amount of information that was legally necessary to include aided me in deciding on the layout.
The back of the mac and cheese ready meal box.
Even from just glancing at the completed packaging net, one who knows what’s up can see the mistakes that I’ve made this time around. I will be sure to have a more coherent flow of assets when making such packaging in the future. Since I made each side of the box independently, the assets end jarringly at the edge of each side. I also learned a thing or five about scaling. I never drew these to scale! A big mistake.
One learns more from mistakes than getting things ‘right’ the first time. If everything went accordingly right off the bat, I wouldn’t be questioning myself so much; and actions or precautions I must take to avoid error might not stick. With all that’s gone on during this long module, I feel that I’m ready to move on and start a new one. A change is as good as a break.
Visual assets… For the “children’s food packaging” module that I’m wrapping up, I’ve been needing to make visuals to integrate into the design of the package. Of course one can recruit fellow students from other departments to aid in any visuals that may find out of their set of skills. I have enough knowledge and skill to illustrate essential image assets on my own.
Early illustrations of animal sailors.
Although they’re ubiquitous about children’s marketing, I decided that I needed anthropomorphic animal characters for use on my food packaging. I could have decided to use illustrated children, but in a strange way, I think it’s easier for someone to project themselves onto something non-human; there’s no ethnicity (or sometimes sex and gender) to get in the way.
I wanted characters that would compliment the food product name (Little Explorers) and I went through ideas of pirate and sailor characters, to scouts.
Experimenting with colour direction.
I used the Sketchbook Autodesk app to make all assets so far. I don’t want to waste time on assets that I won’t use. At this point, I need to use my time carefully, and make sure any time spent on illustration is indeed time well-spent. I understand from making a number of variant coloured illustrations that I want full-colour images. I have yet to decide if I want shading to give the illusion of depth. The only way to find out if it ‘looks good’ is to try.
Item assets… twigs and logs.
Some simple illustrations such as these sticks and wood above, I could have tried to make in Adobe Illustrator. I’m comfortable using Illustrator for text-based graphics. But not when rendering a drawing from scratch. I worry that I move too slow, but it’s the only way I can move in the program right now.
I will try my hand at making some simple illustrations in Adobe Illustrator. Once I have enough imagery, the next move is to begin placing purpose-made visuals that I’ve made onto a mock-up packaging net and work out the most functional positioning. That’s also an element that I’m still unsure of; visual hierarchy is something I’ve only just begun to actively think about, thanks to this module! …I’ve a lot to think about!
We previously looked at the advertisement agency Mother; now let’s look at a “banned” advert that they produced; Iceland‘s “no palm oil Christmas” television advert. It did not comply with the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) code that Clearcast requires an advertisement to do, in order to be approved for airing on television.
The advertisement is not “holiday-themed”; it’s Iceland’s statement of intent to remove palm oil from their own products. It highlights the impact of palm oil on the environment, and was deemed “too political” (due to it’s roots as a Greenpeace video).
In spite of – or rather, because of – the television ban, it quickly gained awareness and support over social media (Facebook) and by word of mouth. The controversy surrounding the ban was covered in several newspapers, such as Metro, The Guardian and The Independent, further promoting Iceland’s stance on palm oil, and the store’s image itself. Clearcast became an easy mark for negative thoughts on the whole ordeal.
Iceland’s official video even flaunts the word “Banned” in the title.
But, surely, Iceland knew – before submitting the commercial – that it would not pass Clearcast’s standards? Why then, use a retooled Greenpeace campaign video, knowing it would be deemed unfit to air? Because Iceland’s executives also knew it couldn’t be outright forbidden from public sight, and they knew that it would thrive online. It certainly propelled Iceland into the minds of the public unlike ever before. Iceland’s public image and stance on palm oil became a heated discourse thanks to this piece of media. It was a carefully calculated move.
Still, it should be noted that advertisements do have the power and potential to change the target’s mindsets and behaviour. They don’t simply have to market something, but can be used as campaigns. Iceland’s bold, environmentally-conscious move here puts them ahead of their competitors in the minds of many who realise that their everyday consumerist choices do have an impact, and also wish to take environmental conservation and sustainability seriously.
DESIGN WORKS 