I'm retired now, but there was a time when I 'did' ideas - advertising and design ideas. It started when I was first lambasted by Bob Gill as a student at the Royal College of Art ('68-'71).
Unfortunately much of the stuff I designed over the years has disappeared, rotted away or was rejected and ended up binned, so the task of producing documentary evidence of my creative efforts is an almost impossible one. But something is better than nothing. And this is it.
P.S.
The
creative director of a leading London ad agency once told me that
creatives shouldn't include rough ideas in their portfolios, only
finished work. I
disagreed because all too often a good idea may be rejected by an
ignorant account handler or client, while a rubbish idea (or no idea at all) gets
the go-ahead. So, for that reason, my portfolio includes quite a few roughs.
P.P.S.
In the unlikely event of anyone arriving at this site (probably by accident) there is a second page to be endured which pops up by clicking the very small 'older posts' wotsit at the bottom right of the first page.
David Pelham, creative director of Penguin Books back in its '70s heyday, was one of the first people brave enough to try me out with a proper freelance design brief. It marked the start of a great working relationship. Shown here are two of my fave early works. Apparently de Bono wasn't impressed with these designs but David pushed them through regardless.
An A4 leaflet produced by the Health Education Authority to convince pub landlords and restaurateurs etc. that a no-smoking area would be good for business. Tough task. Nowadays, of course, smoking's banned almost everywhere, but back then things were different.
This was a tough one to crack. Initially I was playing around with penguins conducting orchestras etc. and doing things with records and record players. Crap. Then at the last moment I latched onto the word 'stereo' which opened up a new direction. Had an idea using HMV's dog 'Nipper'. So far they haven't sued. This bookjacket's been bouncing around in my folder for years which is why it's looking a bit dog-eared.
Four A5 informative leaflets issued by the British Dental Association. Written by Barry Delaney of Delaney & Delaney. Bullied ex-college mate Chris Moore into doing the illustrations. He's now a world famous sci-fi illustrator and we're still in touch.
"We need a logo and stationery
range. Is that the sort of stuff you do?" Thus began a working
relationship with one of my longest-standing clients. Back then Quadrangle was a
fledgling outfit operating from a tiny office in Soho. Now, years later,
they're a leading research company with flashy riverside offices by
Tower Bridge. Am chuffed to say they're still using my original symbol. The type's changed a bit over the years though.
To increase their brand
awareness, I was briefed to produce a series of four dps ads in
'Research' magazine. Having just designed their latest brochure, I knew
the main problem would be imagery. While their competitors were happy to
use hackneyed images such as phones, clipboards, ticked boxes etc.,
Quadrangle weren't. They're different. So their ads needed to be
different. Space limits further
explanation but suffice to say that the four ads achieved their
objective of promoting Quadrangle as being an intelligent, if slightly
eccentric, cat among the pigeons (they'll probably hate that
description!). Shown here is one of the ads -
chosen because I took the photo (a holiday snap from Venice), wrote the
copy, art directed the layout, designed the symbol, etc. Jack of all
trades, master of none? Hmm, probably.
More
recently, Quadrangle decided to relaunch as a research agency
(previously they'd promoted themselves as a marketing consultancy with
'in-house' research back-up). To support the relaunch there was talk of a
website but mailers and ads were the immediate requirement. The project began with a
discussion of their keystone brand positioning statement: 'Quadrangle.
Research for marketing directors.' Thought this was a bit stuffy so I
suggested 'Research for decision makers.' Luckily they went with it
which opened up a whole new area of visual possibilities.
My first idea was a
situation where I find it extremely difficult to make a decision: the
choosing of a chocolate from a box. From that point on, the rest was
easy. Shown below: A3 (big!) four
page mailer cover and left hand page of centre spread. Actually I've
cheated a bit here to save space - the page just featured the single
chocolate and the copyline was the heading for the copy on the right
hand page. Still, it shows the basic idea.
After applying the idea to a
mailer and some ads (two consecutive right hand pages in 'Research'
magazine, among others), I adapted it to work as the website intro. Then a second idea was required for a follow-up mailer and further ads. The single swatch is, of course, magnolia. Apologies for poor quality of pics. I'm working on it...
Elly
and Lora are a couple of classical musicians who teamed up, called
themselves Ellora, and set about looking for gigs playing at weddings,
conferences, bar mitzvahs, etc. When they needed a graphic symbol to put on
business cards and stationery range items they asked if I could come up with something.
Aviator, a small
start-up agency, was about to pitch against some big guns for 'The
Drinkwise Campaign' - an exciting new project from the Health Education
Authority. They (Aviator) hadn't yet hired any creatives so they asked if I could
come up with some ideas for a campaign logo and strapline. I scribbled just one. They won the pitch. I joined as creative director.
My original idea was a pink
elephant. However, the client thought this implied 'drunk' (too extreme)
so the elephant was watered down with just the cheeks being pink. The
aim of the campaign was to increase public awareness of alcohol 'units'
and recommended weekly limits. The campaign's tone was to be friendly
and informative rather than dictatorial so the cartoon elephant became a
central feature. Lost count of how many times I drew that damned animal.
Must have been hundreds.
With the elephant being the
focus of attention, opportunities for 'ideas' were somewhat limited.
However, an opportunity would occasionally arise such as the invite
shown below (message in a bottle) for news reporters to attend a press
launch.
Another idea I rather liked was
for a poster I did in the campaign's third year (we had to re-pitch
each year) when the focus was 'alcohol in the workplace'. By this time
the elephant had mercifully taken a back seat.
Two CD packs each containing
four discs and a booklet. Unavailable in retail outlets, they were
marketed by direct response, five minute 'infomercials' on American and
European commercial TV channels such as MTV. Purchase was by phone and
credit card.
'The Love Generation' quickly
became one of the best selling compilation sets of all time. Am chuffed
to say that the pack and cd designs were key to this success.
'The Century of Rock' also sold well. The design for the four cds featured four stages of the smoke rising.
While waiting for a tube train
I stood looking across the track at a poster for Cruft's dog show. The design featured a
dog. Seemed a bit unimaginative. Thought a scared cat (possibly drawn
by Gerald Scarfe) would be far better. Scribbled a rough and contacted
the Cruft's people saying that I'd had a great idea for next year's
show poster. Presented it to them the following week. Disappointingly, they told me that the idea had been used a few years previously (blowed if I can remember seeing it anywhere). This idea should therefore be in the 'Rejects' section but I reckon it's good enough to warrant a section of its own.
Moving cards.
The first was for Aviator, a subsidiary of BDDH, when we moved from a dingy basement to sunny top floor offices. The second was for TSP, a
subsidiary of Leagas Delaney, when we moved from sunny top floor offices
to a dingy basement. (Sorry, can only show a rough - the original's
moved.)
A couple of 30 second radio ads
for a chain of opticians in SE England which were aired by various local
commercial radio stations.
Design loosely based on an Ordnance Survey map with hills in the shape of a footprint and all wording on the map relating to walking in some way. Fave examples were sea area Sole and Cherry Blossom Forest (geddit?).
