LUONblog

Een boek met een open einde

Als ik een vriendin had, dan wist ik het wel. Dat kocht ik een boek voor der. Het nieuwste boek van kunstenaar Michaël Borremans, "Whistling a happy tune". Het bevat enkel tekenwerk. Prachtig werk, zoals we van hem gewoon zijn.

Maar leest u even mee wat uitgever Ludion te vertellen heeft:
----
De tekeningen, die een oeuvre op zich vormen, zijn voor Michaël Borremans een middel om na te denken, om de verbeelding in gang te zetten en ideeën te ontwikkelen. Net als zijn schilderijen lijken Borremans' tekeningen gestolde fragmenten uit een onbestemde en ongrijpbare tijd. Ze brengen de toeschouwer in een somber universum, wars van felle kleuren, waarin personages met een zekere gelatenheid vreemde dingen doen of bizarre rituelen uitvoeren. Via gedetailleerde ensceneringen maakt hij ons deelgenoot van complexe, surrealistische scenario's, die zich afspelen in een ambiguë wereld.

Voor zijn tekeningen, die relatief klein zijn en waaraan hij heel lang werkt, put Borremans vaak uit kranten, boeken, magazines en fotoarchieven van de eerste helft van de vorige eeuw. Hij maakt beeldelementen van hun oorspronkelijke context los door in te zoomen op details, objecten uit verschillende bronnen samen te brengen of ze allemaal in een verschillende schaal af te beelden. Hij speelt met referenties, laat elementen weg of voegt er toe. Borremans combineert potlood, aquarel, balpen, witte inkt en wassingen met koffie of een tikje olieverf voor het creëren van zijn subversief universum vol tegenstellingen.
----

"Whistling a happy tune", toont de wereld van Michaël Borremans. Een wereld van metaforen. Een intrigerende wereld. Een wereld met een open einde...

Forget that Deus cover. U need this book.

Hello postman

I'm proud. Proud to have never ever bought nor listened to a single music track online. Why shoud I, when there's labels around like Warp Records and their offshoot WarpMart?

Warp Records release limited editions of vinyl that are only availiable online through their own e-shop. Smart move one might say, but at WarpMart, what you get is more than what you see. So no complains here.

I loved getting records in the mail when I was 15 and still do as much now. Here's why: last week, I ordered myself a copy of the latest Flying Lotus 12"; number 1 in a series of 3 only available from WarpMart. This morning, the postman delivered the package. Slip into beautiful packaging paper, my order as accompanied by lots of cool freebies; 2 pins and a couple of stickers. Ahhh, feeling 15 again.

Check that new WarpMart logo; it's brillant in it's simplicity.

My next order will be from from WarpMart. Sure et certain.

Can I touch?

�Next to being one of the signature phrases of Borat Sagdiyev, it seems to be a question a lot of people are asking these days. Especially user interface experts.

About a year ago, Microsoft unveiled Surface. More recently Microsoft announced that their next OS, which is scheduled for release in 2010, will also come with multi-touch technology as an alternative to the mouse. Here's some more multi-touch magic:

Obscura Digital demos multi-touch wall

Bill gates demoing Microsoft's TouchWall

Perceptive Pixel multi-touch wall

Asus takes it even further with motion sensing

Via Webware

Alex Salinas in de Vitrine

For ten days solid, a selection of Belgian fashion designers and artists present their work in shop windows and surprising locations all over the city of Antwerp. Taking the general idea of a shop window to the creative limit, the participants will work around the theme MUSIC/ SOUND together with curator Senjan Jansen.
All locations get radically redressed, stocked with surprising goods or transformed into imaginative playgrounds.

VITRINE 2008: MUSIC/ SOUND takes over the city of Antwerp on various locations from June 12th until 21st 2008.

Including installations by A.F. Vandevorst/ Alex Salinas/ Anita Evenepoel/ Christian Wijnants/ Distortom/ Elsa/ Haider Ackermann/ Hannelore Knuts/ Heaven Tanudiredja/ Il Galantuomo/ Nicolas Provost/ Pelican Avenue/ Walter Verdin/ You Wear It Well 2 - Diane Pernet/...

The real star of the event is � ofcourse � photographer� Alex Salinas.

The images shown in VITRINE 2008 are a small selection out of a series of studies where a disrupted distance is created between the viewer and the subject. The picture becomes layered through the presence of the medium(flash) which actively distracts the attention from the subject hereby manifesting itself in the image. As an audience you experience a corresponding point of view to the original subject, which raises questions about position and identity.

About Alex Salinas
Alex Salinas was born and raised in Antwerp, Belgium. After studying fine arts he moved on to an evening course in photography and started assisting various fashion photographers. During which he started to develop his personal technique of extracting subtle fragility out of a raw and direct approach. Meanwhile he has worked on various assignments for Fashion Designers, brands, international editorials, portraits and a selection of record covers. Today Alex is balancing his time between assignments and personal work.

Waar heb dat nou voor nodig!

Vaktijdschriften lezen voor het slapen gaan is een slecht idee; daar slaap ik slecht van. Net voor het eten dan maar. Ook geen goed idee. Daar eet ik slecht van. Want wat zie ik? Een kort stukje over het gloednieuwe logo van Vlaamse Opera in de nieuwe Pub.

Potdomme, wat een draak! "Des gouts et des couleurs..." zeggen ze dan, maar zo simpel is het gelukkig niet. Een goed logo moet namelijk aan een paar basisvoorwaarden voldoen en dat doet dit logo duidelijk niet. Het is niet leesbaar, het is niet consistent en het is niet bruikbaar op klein formaat.

Raar toch, wat d'artagnan, de makers van deze grafische uitschuiver, maken anders meestal alleraardigst werk.

En dan te bedenken dat het vorige logo van de Vlaamse Opera ronduit fantastisch was. Kijk eens aan:

Maar goed. Zat ik van de weekend in het briljante boek "Things I have learned in my life so far" van Stefan Sagmeister te lezen. Quite a brilliant book; heerlijke verhaaltjes en prachtig vormgegeven. Hij moest al op uw boekenplank staan!

En wat zegt Stefan? "Complaining is silly. Either act or forget."
I will now act AND forget.

Topgear op TV!

Educational Complex Onwards, 1995 � 2008

When in Brussels, be sure sure to visit Wiels, a brand new museum for contemporary art. It's hosted in the �Blomme� building; one of the rare examples of modernist industrial architecture in Brussels.

For the first time in Belgium, Wiels currently presents a retrospective dedicated to Mike Kelley, one of the most significant artists of the last 30 years.

Educational Complex Onwards, 1995 � 2008 is composed of a large selection of recent works � installations, videos, photographs, sculptures and paintings � on loan from some of the most prestigious international collections. The exhibition is conceived as a history, in which every work forms a chapter. Its unfurling allows to understand how and why Mike Kelley has, since 1995, made use of the notion autobiograhy to explore, in a poetic way, the forms of power and the power of forms.

Mike Kelley�s work is characterised by the way it integrates popular culture in an aristic practice, nourished by philosophy, literature and art history, and by the exuberance of his visual style which is opposed to the smooth surfaces of minimalism as well as to the neutrality of pop art and abstraction. With elements from his personal story as well as from a broader cultural history, Mike Kelley pursues a poetic deconstruction of the structures surrounding us.

Great show, great place and great graphics too. Identity by friend Sara De Bondt and lovely type by Jo.
I just love that font; the numbers look even better than the characters do.

Old school

Wat een klassieker. Die staat op m'n want list. Hélemaal bovenaan. Reeds!
Met onze eigen Danny Lademacher op gitaar. Leuke lamp overigens, maar dit geheel terzijde.

About time

Antwerp Glamrockers A Brand release their newest hit today. Hoorah! Get it on iTunes. Straight away.
New full album "Judas" out at the end of august; here's the promo artwork as a teaser. By me.

Inspiration, anyone?

The sequel on Microsoft Advertising's awarded campaign "The Break Up". Coming soon.

53-css-techniques-you-couldnt-live-without

CSS is important. And it is being used more and more often. Cascading Style Sheets offer many advantages you don't have in table-layouts - and first of all a strict separation between layout, or design of the page, and the information, presented on the page. Thus the design of pages can be easily changed, just replacing a css-file with another one. Isn't it great? Let's take a look at 53 CSS-based techniques you should always have ready to hand if you develop web-sites.

LUON wins big at the 2008 Communicator Awards

Four awards, that’s LUON’s booty at the 14th annual Communicator Awards of Excellence. The awards honor LUON’s creative excellence. Great functional design that reinforces the brand experience of LUON’s clients like Sony Ericsson and MCE.

Award of Excellence for the Sony Ericsson SnowGlobe campaign

Silver Award for the MCE Executive Issue Catalogue (category Print Design)

Silver Award for the EmailGarage website (category IT/Software)

Silver Award for the Ello Mobile website (category NonProfit) If you wouldn't know the url yet: http://www.ello-mobile.be/

LUON is a Belgian marketing & sales company. LUON’s code words are customer marketing, customer intelligence, customer dialogues and highly personalized communication.

Check out www.communicatorawards.com

Breathtaking...

Check these amazing 007 book reissues. Available from Penguin007.com.

Collect them all!

What is the future of email?

According to an April study by Habeas and Ipsos, nearly three-quarters of adult email users in the US said they used email every day.

Two-thirds of respondents said they preferred email for communicating with businesses. And just as many claim they will probably feel the same way in five years.

Email is expected to remain an oft-used communication tool, despite the rise of social networks, which lets consumers pass messages to each other in other ways.

That is not to say that they are ready for random, untargeted email. Opt-in is still key.

Consumers are even willing to help marketers custom-tailor their messages. More than 88% of respondents said they would like more choices in email content and frequency, including options on advertisements and special offers.

69% reportedly worried about email scams. Daily emails from marketers were identified as among the most annoying uses of email and are perceived as capable of negatively impacting a company's reputation.

Source: eMarketer.com & Mediapost

(via twitter.com/glennvh)

Restaurant of the Future

The University of Wageningen in The Netherlands has developed the Restaurant of the Future. It is a highly experimental field laboratory and has nothing to do with the test tube food served at elBulli for which you have to make reservations 3 years in advance.

At first glance it looks nothing more than your everyday company restaurant. But in fact, the restaurant is fully equipped as a sensory consumer research lab. 28 cameras follow every bite you take, visitors get secretly weighed before and after each meal and overall behavior is influenced at will through changes in lighting, odor and setting. Each day, gigabytes of data are registered and analyzed: from the decision process at the buffet, the order in which the customers finish their plates, to the time spent on actually chewing the food. All this data is processed in order to gather insight in the way consumers behave when eating out and to find ways to influence this natural behavior.

It is apparent that companies are standing in line to get a hold of such valuable customer intelligence. Multinationals that are already partnering up include Heinz, Hewlett Packard and InBev.

Old wine in new cases

Duval Guillaume won a Grand Prix at the CCB awards this friday with their campaign “A Blind call”.

I love that campaign; it's a great idea to raise money for The Braille Liga. The idea is very simple: program the “A Blind Call” number in your mobile and every time you call the first number in your address book by accident, you donate a small amount of money to the Braille Liga and help the blind. Pretty smart idea.

However, when I asked one of the creators of this campaign a few weeks ago how many people actually programmed the number in their mobile, I got an “I don't know” for an answer. Apparently, my question was totally off topic and irrelevant: “As long as people talk about the campaign and remember the brand” I was told, “it’s successful”. Discussion closed. I couldn't believe my ears.

My question wasn't that stupid, though. Last week, Phara asked Guillaume exactly the same thing, founding member of DG, in her TV show the other week. The answer she got? “I don't know”, Guillaume said. “You should ask others that question, not me”.

So is the Blind Call campaign actually that great? It's a great campaign bound to win awards, that's for sure.
But did it actually raise any money? And how much? Who knows. And who cares apparantly.

Therefore, thumbs up for Famous and their decision to no longer enter awards. It’s an act of courage and it puts our work as marketeers back into the right perspective. When you launch a campaign to raise money, wouldn't you want to know how much money actually was raised? I certainly would, wouldn't you?

Gucci guides customers to mobile web experiences

Check this Gucci handbag poster in a Tokyo subway station. It lets you get a Gucci coupon just by touching the handbags with your cell phone.

Only by keeping your mobile next to the poster, within seconds you receive a message on your screen that you received a Gucci coupon. You get a url for a mobile site, where you can explore the range of products, register as a member for additional benefits, opt-in for news, and so on.

This is a good example of a technology that helps companies to connect the physical world with the virtual world, using the mobile devices that are already in our pockets. And it asks no more efforts then waving your phone in front of the ad. It's a simple and delightful example of guiding customers to mobile web experiences.

(via Forrester)

Mercedes Benz's strive for the least substance

For a while now I see the ads for a range of new Mercedes-Benz models: the title "From the Mercedes-Benz Dream Factory", added to an image of a shining car and a range of (dream) women hanging on and under the car.

These ads show some superb technical art work, that's for sure. And sex always sells. But can we get at least a bit of substance in the marketing message, please?

Or is this what the Mercedes Benz brand strategists defined as the information their target group is able to handle? I don't know, but I do know I feel a bit embarrassed, each time I see this campaign.

LUON win Cuckoo Award 2008 for Best Targetted Campaign

How targeted can you get?

The story goes back to 2002. Sony Ericsson and LUON join forces for an ambitious worldwide e-DM program. The goal of the program is threefold: acquire new customers, grow existing ones and keep them loyal to Sony Ericsson. The strategy: interact with the customer and really get to know them - 7 million Sony Ericsson users, go figure! - in order to send them relevant, entertaining and highly personalized e-newsletters and e-mailings.

And Sony Ericsson fans seem to love them, as the results are quite staggering: the campaign double.tripled the industry benchmark with solid ROI figures.

The proof and the secret of this success lie in its continuity. You do get quick results, but the longer you run the program, the more you can adjust, optimize and personalize your messages. And that’s exactly what targeting is all about.

This e-DM project is a perfect example of what LUON does best: setting up ongoing dialogues between brands and customers, creating personalized spot on communication and designing the perfect customer experience. In other words: keeping your customers happy – and profitable.

Want to know more about the campaign? http://www.luon.com/html/portfolio/ser/1enews.asp

www.sonyericsson.com

Cubeecraft DIY papercraft toys

Download. Print. Cut. Fold.
www.cubeecraft.com

Nike Champions' League ad

The Nike ad about tonight's Champions League final, Man United vs Chelsea, in Moscow.