GET OFF THE PHONE

Copy: "Don't talk while he drives"

This print ad for the Bangalore Traffic Police created by the Mudra Group in India is a refreshing new angle on the effect that the product/problem has on its participants. A public awareness ad could communicate a common formula like: "if you talk on the phone while driving, this bad thing will happen to you." Or, as this ad does, it could communicate: "if you talk on the phone while driving, this bad thing will happen to the person you're talking to." We are reminded that car accidents resulting from distracted drivers are not just the fault of the driver.

The concept is good because it is unexpected. However, the art direction could use more work in composition and staging. The desaturated tones of the image allow the red blood to stand out, but the blood itself could use an increased level of gore by being a bit heavier and thicker, maybe even with some clots, since it looks like thin paint as it is now. Compositionally, the diagonals of the blood line, the arm, and the side of the woman's body effectively guide the eye from the focal point of the phone. The only problem is that the woman seems distorted from the angle of her head, as the hairline is uneven and is shaped to make the head appear elongated. It is really is quite annoying once you notice it. Also, her expression could use a touch of disgust. Check out this other execution in the same campaign.

ME-OWWW

Since the cat (or "dog") doesn't actually purchase a bed for itself, it could be argued that pet owners project certain fantasies or idealizations onto the bed they buy for their pets. What could their therapists wrestle out of these owners' subconsciousness?

Top Row, Left to Right
• "You're not really a cat. More of a cat fish. I love taking embarrassing photos of you to make myself seem comedic."
• "Scurry into the glory hole like a good kitty!"
• "I refuse to buy any furniture that is not featured in Dwell magazine."

Middle Row, Left to Right
• "Form always trumps function. Now we have matching beds!"
• "I stole this from MoMA."
• "Well you seem to have no trouble jumping up ten feet to sit atop the refrigerator."

Bottom Row, Left to Right
• "If you run away I could use this as a shoe brush."
• "Tee pees are so underrated."
• "My flatbed scanner is now officially your bed."

YEE HAW, MOTHERFUCKER

The Western is the most enduring and most successful Hollywood genre in history. John Wayne. Robert Redford. The Williamsburg Hipster. The cowboy represents the desired image of America by embodying a specific set of traits.

Independence
Autonomy
Ownership
Strength
Virility
Protection

But the cowboy is not unique to America. It evolved out of the medieval English knight. Our cowboy -- that we have constructed and shaped to our needs since the turn of the 19th century -- is an archetype that furthers a dominant ideology. What these figures do is provide a central icon around which to establish an identity as a nation. The cowboy offers a myth that seems to substantiate the ideology behind it, which is certainly capitalist. At the turn of the 19th century America needed to cultivate an idealized self-image characterized by the individual, self-reliant, transient qualities of the western hero in order to further capitalism as the dominant ideology. The myth prevails and masks the violence of the West, class and racial unrest in America, and capitalism’s control over American culture.

Cowboy boots. So damn American. We wear them as aspirational participants in the myth in considering ourselves to be strong, independent people. And maybe we like seeing them because at some level we like to feel that we have a strong, independent leader to take ownership of us and protect us against the evils in our lives.

MOTIVATIONAL POSTER

We all have seen motivational posters (especially if you watch The Office) with self-help adages. They're blatant pieces of propaganda designed to propagate action for the self within a specific environment. We are supposed to be encouraged by an image. On one hand it is the satisfying recognition of the power of art and design. But on the other hand it is a forced way of manipulating ourselves vis-à-vis a visual substitution for a voice above us. Perhaps we should consider who is telling us to conceive, believe and achieve. The wall? The designer? Your boss? Your company? Your god? Your superego?

Or is it all a subconsciously accepted sham and therefore really just a pretty poster on the wall? So the better looking, the more motivating (i.e. the image above). Since we intellectually know it is a poster designed to motivate us, do we nod in acceptance and focus back on our present task? Or do we use it to justify our slacking?

Conceive, believe, and achieve. The design of the image above is decadently polished with the simple but strong color palette of medium blue, steel gray, black and white. Blue. It is one of the most popular colors for design, especially for banks and law firms. Psychologically, it conveys trust, which makes sense in the context of motivation. Visually, the blue in the design above is a particular shade of blue that does not saturate the eye's cones, but rather softly eases in to sit comfortably with the white and light silver. There are many hues of blue out there, however most blues we encounter are of the common medium-navy, ocean blue type (such as that of Blogger, the New York Knicks, NYPD -- the kind that looks atrocious when paired with orange). One theory on the pervasiveness of this particular blue is that it is close to the Crayola crayon blue that we all encounter in our first decade of life and therefore somehow feels "right."

The custom typography is that of a solid sans serif letter form with lines of equal weight; it is reminiscent of French enamel signs from the 1930s. The type has the feel of retro medicine drugstore bottle meets galactic space invaders, which are two opposites that posit old/antique with new/futuristic. This could make the poster work on a deeply subconscious level by easing our minds into a happy middle place found between that dichotomy.

STORY TIME: DATE NIGHT

EXT. CAFE IN PARIS, FRANCE 1896 - EVENING

WOMAN
My, this is so lovely!

MAN
Yes, it's one of Paris' finest cafes.

Enter WAITER

MAN
Garçon, one cognac for me and an absinthe for the madame.

Enter WAITER with drinks

WOMAN
Oh, this, what is it, absinthe, has a very curious taste.

MAN
Yes, it's good for you. Here (nudges cognac across table), now try this.

MAN leans on elbow on table and grins cunningly

MAN
Drink up, darling, drink up.

FADE OUT