Nostalgia over use?

During my conceptual development for my current ad campaign, I ventured into into the subject of superheroes. This in turn led to researching hero parodies...namely: Mr Muscle.









Ah yes, Mr Muscle, 'Loves the jobs you hate'. I'm sure that you, like me, have a degree of nostalgia and fondness towards this nerdy character. To me, he represents a significant area of 90's design. Now, I'm sure that I'm not alone when I say that I was outraged to see the latest Mr Muscle adverts. The second image is NOT Mr Muscle! This 'new and improved' digital version has been unanimously rejected by anyone that I've spoken to about it. However, it brings up the question of...why?

In actuality, the new character makes much more sense to the product. For one, he actually has muscles! He looks like he could be a bit of a hero, and genuinely help you out. Whereas the former looks a bit, weedy. He doesn't represent the concept of the product at all. I know that it was meant to be humorous and ironic, and that's all well and good. But if the current design was released first, then nobody would have questioned it.

It makes me wonder, does our nostalgic side make us instantly reject new ideas? Do we take it as a personal insult to our childhood when a famous character is changed, re-branded, or digitalised? It would be interesting to see what different generations feel about this subject.

A final thought:- Do we as a society reject the ever changing world around us? Is this because we want to cling to our youth? Are we sometimes afraid to move on?

(I bet you didn't think that I could go this sociological over Mr Muscle did you)

Thoughts anyone?

Keeping it Unreal...

I recently had the pleasure of watching Mr Scruff play at Leeds Uni. It was a pretty special night; 5 hours of music covering such a vast array or genres. As a rule, he plays right across the board...seemlessly blending styles together. By the end of it, the crowd were eating out of his hand, with 'Could You Be Loved' by Bob Marley closing the set.

However, I'm not blogging to just hurrah his music. As a designer, I'm really interested in his illustration work. He creates such querky little characters, but they work very well with the music, almost giving it a personality. Scruff provides a lot of the imagery for his music videos, as well as providing much of the soundtrack for popular iPhone game 'Rolando'.

Scruff is a hard working, honest guy who genuinly loves his work. That's all we can ever want, and aspire to be

If your interested in Monsieur Scruff...visit http://mrscruff.com/

Burial & Four Tet - Moth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czl6-4lrr6Q

Now I'm not going to put this video up on here, I want you to click the link and check it out for yourself. Simply because through the 'Related Videos' section, you will discover a wealth of fantastic tunes. I strongly advise you take a peak at the featured video, 'The Field-Over Ice'....I think it's pretty special.

Now that the admin is out of the way, I'll discuss this link. It is a wonderful piece of music; the result of collaboration between two great artists - Burial, and Four Tet. I can't really describe to you what genre they come under, although ambient hip-hop may be a start. I think that this song and video come together to create a perfect audio-visual delight. It is a true example of how music and design can work as one, to communicate something pretty special. This is an area in which I am very passionate about...blending design and music is, well...made to be.

Please let me know your thoughts on this video, and what you think to the link between music and design, if indeed you think there is one.

Rate it/slate it

Hydro74

It only seems appropriate to begin blogging by talking a bit about one of my favourite websites - hydro74.com

I came across Joshua Smiths site a couple of years ago now during college, yet I still find myself coming back for more! I just really love the gloss and general attitude of his work, it's so striking. His typographic and poster work in particular look immense. When looking through his extensive portfolio, it's clear to see that some pretty impressive commisions have came his way over the years...I'm highly jealous.

What do you think of his work? Admittedly it is an acquired taste, prehaps not one for the purests amongst you. There is clearly a very brash, americanised feel going on. For me, it is very good graphic design. I think it's highly important for you to develop a distinct style as a designer, it gives your work that sense of instant recongition. This is something I'd love to achieve one day...for now, I think I'm still searching for my niche.

Thats it for my first post, short and sweet. I jsut wanted to share this brilliant catalogue of work with you all...

Keep up the good work Josh.

http://www.hydro74.com/