Our Loerie weena weenaz!

September 21st, 2011

Well done to our creative students! We’re super proud of you!

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Interview with a Copywriter

September 16th, 2011

Matthew Moss – Copywriter extraordinaire, and he of soft boofy hair.

Why did you choose Red & Yellow?

I chose R&Y, I think mostly because it looked a little crazier than the other schools.

What do you mean ‘crazier?’

The prospectus was crazier than the others. And, Wendy emailed me back, which I though was awesome. Advertising looked like fun.

Why did you choose Copywriting?

I had a choice between becoming a river guide, or a copywriter and copywriting seemed to be more adventurous.

When you’re given a copywriting assignment. How do you get to your insights?

Whenever we get a big assignment, firstly Josh and I try to find a way to race along the wall in front of Wendy’s office. We had a shrimp race the other day.

Who won?

I did. I think it’s because I’m lighter.

After racing along the wall, how do you decide on the best insight?

The winner gets to poke the loser in the ribs with a pencil, which hurts and wakes us up to the realisation that we have work to do. If you can’t find a fun insight into what you’re writing about, it’s harder to stay with it. You’ve got to enjoy what you’re writing about. And you have to enjoy figuring out what to write.

How many drafts would you say you do when writing copy?

Pages, and pages, and pages. I’ve had to upgrade my laptop bag to accommodate the rainforests I’ve destroyed. When you have to look back at the extra acre of Amazon forest, you realise it’s just there to fuel your writing.

It’s not all wasted. Sometimes I make Origami Swans.

I know you do! They’re very pretty. You must be so proud.

You should see my bedroom. I have to dig through them to get to my cupboard.

Aaaah, it’s like a swan pond, without the poop.

Where do you see yourself after graduation? A river guide perhaps?

Ha, ha, ha, ha. I suppose a caffeine addict with a desk job, but it’s the coolest desk job on the planet.

I think the best part of this place is that messing around and having fun quickly becomes part of your work. I can’t remember the last assignment that didn’t end in a Wendy’s wall race.

If this is what it’s like in the real world, even if you never get to leave the office – you’re guaranteed to have tons of fun.

What will you miss most about Red & Yellow?

Other than wasfi?

Everyone misses Wasfi after they leave. What else is there?

(Loooooooong pause)

It’s hard. There are so many different things. All of it. The breakdowns. The manic laughter. The people you don’t get along with are some of the people you’ll miss the most.

If everyone just got along with everybody…I picture a Teletubbies scenario. By the time you’ve left this place, you would’ve shed a tear for fear and uncontrollable laughter.

Do you think my hair’s long enough for a ponytail?

Yes I do. A small, pretty boofy one.

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Interview with an Art Director

September 6th, 2011

Naomi Bossert – 3rd year art direction, and owner of many pairs of cool shoes.

Where are you from?

The Hague, in Holland. It’s where the Queen lives, and the government is seated.

Why did you choose Red & Yellow?

I was accepted by both AAA School of Advertising, and Red & Yellow. I clearly had to choose, and as a foreigner it was difficult because I could not attend open days. When I came to Cape Town, I visited Red & Yellow. Hazel showed me around, and everything about the school just felt right for me.

What felt right about the school?

The friendliness of the students, the work ethic, and how much love students put into their work.

Why did you choose Art Direction?

Hmmm, I’ve always enjoyed drawing, and truthfully I didn’t know what art direction really entailed. I knew it had something to do with making ads. Once I understood what it was, I chose it because I thought I was going to like it. I turned out to be right.

When you’re given an assignment. As an art director, how do you go about finding insights?

Sometimes it just comes to me while I’m listening to the brief. Otherwise I do a lot of research on the subject, what it stands for, what it does. I also go through the dictionary etc., and then I make a list of insights.

How do you decided on the best insight?

The best insight is the one that produces the most ideas. Or the one that carries well across all mediums.

How do you decide to visually execute that insight?

I guess it depends. You always scamp your ideas first. Who is going to be in it? Two women, one man, three kids, five dogs? And then you look for images on the net. Most of the time you cannot find what you’re looking for so you go out and photograph two women, five dogs etc.

For your graphic design, how do you decide on a design based on a brief? The concept.

I normally do a lot of research on the product. The tone, the colours, who the target market is. It’s like finding insights, a concept for a design project. It’s always based on something. Design comes to me more easily. Normally late at night when I’m about to fall asleep.

Where do you see yourself after graduation?

Ha, ha, ha. It’s a difficult question to answer. This is a tough business but I hope someone will pick up on my portfolio and see me out there. But I guess that’s only short-tem.

What about long-term?

I’d like to go back to Europe and work for a design agency in Holland. I hope to eventually start my own business.

What will you miss most about Red & Yellow?

The people and the atmosphere. It really attracts passionate and talented people.

Then Naomi, and her cool shoes, went back to work.

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Loerie, Loerie, Loerie. Here, Loerie.

August 16th, 2011

The real Loerie bird is quite elusive. The not-so-real ones are even shyer, but if you want to see a real not-so-real one, pay a visit to any well-known advertising agency, and salivate over their awards strategically placed in cases, on reception desks, in offices, and possibly a few in the ladies and gents.

As creative students, to see awards around agencies is to dream of winning your very own. To be told you’re nominated for a Loerie is akin to being cast alongside Brad Pitt / Angelina Jolie in a blockbuster. You feel like a superstar. It’s like you’re so close to holding your very own little Academy Awards Oscar (sigh).

And so, Red & Yellow currently has 24 student finalists, each dreaming about their very own Loerie – their pretend ‘Oscar.’ They’ve worked unbelievably hard to achieve this, and we are holding thumbs, crossing fingers, toes, and soaking four-leaf clovers in fairy dust, in the belief that they will be recognized for their insightful work.

All the nominated students are rising stars, and there’s no doubt that, post-grad, they’re going to turn the advertising world upside down and inside out while paving the way for more Red & Yellow genius to follow.

Considering the size and exclusivity of the Red & Yellow School of Advertising, one would say it’s quite a mean feat to have 24 Loerie finalists. Actually, no. This school of ‘metaphorical mountaineers’ churns out excellence because students are required to work their booties off to create amazing work, take the ad world by storm and bring home lots of pretty birds. And, the Course Directors / Drill Sergeants won’t settle for anything less than greatness.

With that in mind, well done to all our students who met the high-standards and tough requirements set out by the formidable judging panel. We’re extremely proud of you.

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D&AD Win

June 21st, 2011

Read all about it on our ‘News 2011′ page.

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JinWook’s SRP

July 22nd, 2010

How the JinWook’s Skin Retouch Platform works:

Most photographs are not shot in the correct light and the model usually needs to be retouched to look professional. Photoshop is more than capable of handling these common photographic problems but it takes a little bit of knowledge and a fair amount of time. The retouch platform action is a very cost effective action designed to execute a number of built in photoshop commands to greatly reduce the time it takes to complete an effective retouch. The photoshop action uses photoshop’s built in algorithms to select the subjects skin by asking you to identify the skin in the photograph. It then uses a combination of blur, high pass and color rechanneling to smooth out the complexion and soften any harsh light. It bases all alterations to the photograph on a duplicate of the original and uses non destructive adjustment layers so you end up with an editable platform with your original unedited photograph underneath. You can then use the platform for any destructive editing you wish to do such as liquefying with out damaging the original photograph.

All you have to do is click play.

Video of the SRP in use http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn2ZwpST2Gw

Purchase JinWook’s SRP

Tags: action, jinwook, photoshop, retouch, skin, srp
Posted in resources | Tags: action, jinwook, photoshop, retouch, skin, srp |

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Suburban Bliss

June 1st, 2010

Dead at the heart of the church-gorged suburb of Pinelands, under siege by tatty old-age homes and crumbling apartment blocks, squats the Howard Centre Community Shopping Mall.

Visiting Pinelands – unrelentingly ordinary, thunderously mundane – is like wondering into an episode of the Twilight Zone, like living behind the eyes of a Stepford wife.

As I drive past signs for the Hellen Keller Society, The Rotary, and yet another old age home I get a chill that freezes me to the core.There’s a veiled evil here, like the outline of a herpes blister under a thick layer of base. It’s on the frozen smiling faces of Mr Tobias’s topiary Daschunds, it’s in the year-round brown-dry lawns in front of every house, tattooed on the faces of the Golden Oldies Night-Time Jogging Society, and written in the suburban constitution banning the sale of all liquor within its borders. Nobody wants this. And yet they’re happy, or at the very least, sedated.

Nowhere is this malevolent serenity more keenly felt than in Howard Center.

As I arrive at 12:34pm the mall is already shrouded in columns of long shadow emanating from the ‘Restful Meadows’ and the other aptly-named geriatric wards.

There’s a library here, and a post office. You can stop in for groceries at both Woolworths and Pick & Pay. There’s a book store, a Musica, a few clothing stores, undoubtedly a Glomail Homemark store, a health store for the anti-establishment, and a bite to eat at Joe Fish, The Spur, or Susan’s Christian Coffee Shop (where the serviettes are printed with a different biblical quote daily, a little Christian Truth woven into your buttered scone experience).

There doesn’t really seem to be anyone here. The quiet is unsettling.

Nervous, I buy a pie from the little mom and pop bakery at the entrance, and chewing tentatively I find a bench between the Tobacco Hut and the Biltong Barn, waiting outside the Pick ‘n Pay for signs of life.

Then it happens.

A clock chimes one o’clock. There’s a low rumble, indistinct at first, but then louder and crueler until it’s all you can hear, reverberating thunder off the sunshine-yellow walls. It’s the wet slapping of flip-flops on linoleum, and the sandy shuffle of thinly-soled sheepskin slippers dragged behind creaking rickety knees. It’s the moist gnashing of anxious gums on slipping dentures, and the Ring-Wraith scream of walkers scraping the pallid plastic tiles – a death march kept in time by rasping coughs and incoherent banter.

Palls of purple hair cloud my vision, the smell of acrid perfume and sour skin fills my nostrils until I can hardly breathe. I scream, but there’s no sounds over the ‘Just the other day’s and ‘What’s that!?’s which fill the corridor.

The octogenarians pass, marching on the Pick ‘n Pay.

I’m drawn inside, curiosity overcoming my fear, and I dawdle at the vegetable aisle watching them crooning over prices, their long withered fingers clawing at oranges and garlic, questing for answers to unnamed questions.

Their eyes are hollow as they weave in and out of aisles. Some don’t even pretend to look at the shelves. They move as if by instinct, an inexplicable purpose encoded in their DNA over millions of years. Part of the crew, part of the ship.

The rumble gets nearer, washing over cashier in an avalanche of cataracts and confusion. I throw a fist full of coins and grab the bag of Fine Green Beans, my only cover for being there. The atmosphere screams intrusion. They can sense I don’t belong there.

They file out in the same listless stampede; some lost, some vacant, but all drawn as if by instinct back to the pink, green and baby-blue towers which surround the Howard Centre. Its 1:30, time for Judge Hatchet. They can feel it in their organs.

The mall is suddenly quiet again. The cashiers stare into space, shell-shocked but vigilant

You’re never quite the same after Howard Center.

Josh De Kock

First Year Copywriter

Tags: copywriting
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My favourite places for great inspiration

May 14th, 2010

We all get stuck now and again, not knowing where to start, not having that initial creative nudge that sends us over the edge into the splendour of creative exploration. I have 15 great resources, I call it my “Black Book” of friends. I call or click on them when I’m in need of some creative help, I will share it with you.

Illustration

Illustrationmundo, They call it, “A place where illustration gets all the love” and it sure does!

Illustrationfriday, Illustration Friday is a weekly creative outlet/participatory art exhibit for illustrators and artists of all skill levels.

drawn, Drawn! is a collaborative weblog for illustrators, artists, cartoonists, and anyone who likes to draw.

Illustratorslounge, Kyri Kyprianou, George Neocleous and Tarkan Paphiti make up the London-based illustration / animation collective called the ILLUSTRATOR’S LOUNGE.

behance, Fantastiic love this site, for everything, illustration, design, everything is super cool!

Graphic Design

grainedit, Grain edit is focused on classic design work from the 1950s-1970s and contemporary designers that draw inspiration from that time period.

graphic exchange, Graphic-exchange is an alternative to the “links only” web site, showing you the a selection of work directly on this site.

graphic fetish, Resources and Creative Inspiration for Graphic Designers

Typography

typographicposters, This is the ultimate place to find the most amazing typographical inspiration, wow, I’ll love it!

welovetypography, If you are in love with type this site is just a gem.

ideas.veer, Whenever I pop in I leave feeling so inspired, ready to take on the world!

designflavr, You will find such a variety of inspirational ideas here to take your mind and creativity to new heights

logodesignlove, Logo Design Love is a website (and now a book) devoted to logos. Launched in January 2008, this blog is regularly updated with news, features, and opinions from the world of brand identity.

fubiz, this is another must visit on a daily basis or at least weekly, just click on the ENG tab as this is a native french site (the translations are also sometimes a little bit funny), but a truly mindblowing place, especially for installation design and motion graphic inspiration.

And for colour, there is one amazing place colourlovers.

I hope you enjoy the creative ride as much as I do with the little help as Lennon said from our friends, what a beautiful community we live in.

Tags: Inspiration - ADs, resources, type inspiration
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Wordsmith – Public transport won’t kill you. No, really.

May 14th, 2010

My latest hobby is telling people that I make use of public transport. Their reactions give me a bigger thrill than eating chocolate in my bed late at night. Public transport is like sushi, gross at first, but the more you use it, the more you like it.

In the mornings I get up at 05:45 am, take a shower, put on some make up, get on the train at 06:50, and then I relax. I get out my iPod, put on my favourite song, sit back and relax. My best ideas for projects have come to me on the train. I have a full 70 minutes to do ANYTHING I want and when I arrive in Cape Town, I take a bus from the station to campus. Think about your mornings. You most probably get up a bit later than me, but then you sit in traffic, using your foulest swear words while the sweat drips off your forehead. You don’t think of anything except creative ways to hurt the person who cut into your lane, or who drives slower than your grandmother. At the end of the week you’ve used R280’s petrol which is the equivalent of a month’s train rides for me.

I love observing people on the train. I’ve seen more interesting people in this one month on the train than I’ve seen my whole life in Paarl. It’s also amusing to watch people’s sleeping habits on the train. Some sleep with their mouths open, others end up on their neighbour’s shoulder. The latter is usually followed by scowling or awkward stares.

I have a friend who takes a taxi in the mornings. It only costs her R5, and she doesn’t have to worry about parking or traffic. What makes the taxi even better? The black people in it call her Lily, which is code for “young white girl”. If anything, public transport will make your life more interesting. I haven’t been attacked or hurt in any way, except for falling down an escalator at the station (which was my own fault). Public transport won’t kill you, but traffic stress might.

Anja van der Spuy

First Year Copywriter

Tags: copywriting, writing inspiration
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Random Beauties – Visual Diaries

May 10th, 2010

When I am bored I scribble, or doodle but they don’t really tell stories, or maybe they do, stories of a tormented mind maybe, but I always doodle, while speaking on the phone, listening to the radio and whilst watching television. At school we encourage the Visual Diary, a scribble-book if you like, but it should be more than that, it should be your creative bible, where you pour your deepest creative thoughts into, or where you just create for creativity sake, where you have fun, where you are totally spontaneous and where fabulous ideas are planted as small seeds.

Drawing is such an important skill for any designer. A scamp should communicate the big idea. Drawing has also become really trendy as part of ads, online on websites etc etc. Coz let’s face it, beautiful individually created pieces will set you apart from being just another tooler.

Here’s a few I picked up last week.