Article: 2010 August : The Dot Creative : Graphic Design Blog

Archive for August, 2010

Fast Food FAILS: Ads vs Reality

August 30th, 2010 by Bored Panda | No Comments | Filed in Design

So, I went to some fast food places (I won’t say “restaurants”, just “places”), and picked up burgers & tacos, so I could compare them with the ads (I love little projects like this.)

I brought the “food” home (different stuff over 3 nights), tossed it into my photography studio, and did some ad-style shoots (with pictures of the official ads on my computer next to me, so I could match the lighting, angles etc).

Needless to say, the results of my little project were unsurprising… which shouldn’t be a surprise.

(A guest post by Dario D.)

Don’t ask me how this advertising is legal. It seems that the law – at least in the US – is sometimes designed to please the God of Technicality (who I imagine as a big, super-angry robot, who demands absolute conformity to rules and formulas), while blatantly insulting man’s ability to perceive and judge. The law for this stuff should take into account things like the “innards-to-bun ratio” (in other words, if the ads show 70% innards, 30% buns, the real thing can’t be 10% innards, 90% buns), or, better yet, whether or not something is false advertising should be determined by an ordinary group of people.

In all cases, I gave the items as fair a chance as absolutely possible, though I didn’t take the time to buy multiples of anything except the tacos (whether that would’ve been to choose the BEST stuff I could find, or pick out an average). …though, you know, that Whopper really is from Hell. I want to leave it, just so that the Burger King people can enjoy a little, what, maybe disappointment?

Fast Food FAILS: Ads vs Reality originally appeared on Bored Panda on August 30, 2010.

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Tags: ads vs reality, advertisement, Angus, Big Mac, boredpanda, burger king, Cool Ads, Crunchy Taco, fast food chain, fast food restaurant, fast foods, Featured, Latest Posts, McDonald's, Miscellaneous, Taco Bell, tacos, Whopper

Tiny Sculptures On The Tip Of a Pencil

August 26th, 2010 by Bored Panda | No Comments | Filed in Design

Meet Dalton Ghetti, a 49 year old carpenter, who makes probably the tiniest sculptures in the world. It can sound unbelievable, but he manages to carve a highly detailed sculpture on the tip of a pencil from available graphite. Now living in Connecticut, USA, he has been doing these mind-blowing works for about 25 years.

“At school I would carve a friend’s name into the wood of a pencil and then give it to them as a present. Later, when I got into sculpture, I would make these huge pieces from things like wood, but decided I wanted to challenge myself by trying to make things as small as possible. I experimented sculpting with different materials, such as chalk, but one day I had an eureka moment and decided to carve into the graphite of a pencil” – says, Dalton, who is originally from Brazil.

All he needs is three basic tools – a razor blade, sewing needle and sculpting knife. Dalton doesn’t even use a magnifying glass! While a standard figure will take several months to make, he has spent two and half years on a pencil with interlinking chains. [via demilked | 2 | 3 | 4]

Tiny Sculptures On The Tip Of a Pencil originally appeared on Bored Panda on August 26, 2010.

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Tags: Art, boredpanda, Featured, Latest Posts, micro, micro sculptures, microscopic, pencil sculptures, pencil tip sculptures, Sculptures, small, tiny, Weird

15 Cool and Geeky Gadgets For Your Kitchen

August 24th, 2010 by Bored Panda | No Comments | Filed in Design

Who says that cooking has to be a boring and serious business?

There are already a lot of fun gadgets and inventions to help you in the kitchen, but we want to show you some of the coolest ones – like Hillary Clinton nutcracker, cement coffee machine or Sharky Tea -Infuser (this is probably my favorite one).

These things will definitely make you smile, and hopefully even make your work in the kitchen easier and more fun.

So, what are you waiting for?

Use the scroll, and later tell us which one would you like to have in your kitchen.

1. Sharky: Tea-Infuser

Designer: Pablo Matteoda

2. Lego Collection

3. Dog End Towel Holder

Designer: unknown

4. Cookie Crumbles No More!

Designer: Entresuelo1a

5. Cement Your Love for Coffee

Designer: Shmuel Linski

6. Milk Shaker

Designer: Anderson Horta

7. Ironius: The Coffee Mug Iron

Designer: Art Lebedev Studio

8. Spicy Invaders: Salt and Pepper Shakers

Designer: Anderson Horta

9. Click Kitchen Gloves

Designer: Anderson Horta

10. Edible Jello Cups

Designer: The Way We See The World

11. Hilary Clinton Nutcracker

Designer: unknown

12. R2-D2 Rubbish Bin

Designer: unknown

13. Star Wars Toaster

Designer: unknown

14. Knife Holder

Designer: Maarten Baas

15. Egg Separator

Designer: unknown

15 Cool and Geeky Gadgets For Your Kitchen originally appeared on Bored Panda on August 24, 2010.

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Tags: boredpanda, cool gadgets, cool inventions, creative kitchen inventions, Creative Products, gadgets, inventions, kitchen, kitchen gadgets, Latest Posts

Perform A Classic Pig Prank [Pic]

August 23rd, 2010 by Bored Panda | No Comments | Filed in Design

Grease three pigs. Mark them “1″ “2″ and “4″. Set loose in a public area. Watch the search for the “3.” – Try it. Works every time.

P.S.: thank you everyone for sending this one over and over again – now you can finally stop doing that.

Perform A Classic Pig Prank [Pic] originally appeared on Bored Panda on August 23, 2010.

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Tags: boredpanda, funny, joke, Picture of the Day, pig prank, prank

Real World In Miniature: 20 Tilt Shift Photos

August 19th, 2010 by Bored Panda | No Comments | Filed in Design

The photos you are about to see are not miniature toys or models. It’s a real world in Tilt Shift photography!

It can be achieved in two ways: 1) optically or 2) digitally with some photo manipulation.

First method involves taking photos with a special tilt shift lens which allows you to control the plane of focus. These lenses are usually used for simulating a miniature scene.

However, if you want to do it cheap way – there’s always the second method – where all you have to do is defocus certain areas of the photo. Although these basic digital post-processing techniques can give you results similar to those achieved with tilt – the term should be used only when the effect is produced optically. The digital result is often called “fake tilt shift”.

If you are interested in transforming the real world into a miniature in a cheap way, there are lots of simple Photoshop tutorials, you can start: here and here. If you happen to be a rich bastard then buy some tilt shift lenses as Real Tilt-Shift photography requires, not surprisingly, a Tilt-Shift Lens.

Here are 20 beautiful examples of real world turned into a miniature. Can you tell the fakes from the real ones?

Bamboos for GrinGod

Bamboos for bunchofpants

Bamboos for Michael.Sutton

Bamboos for Zevotron

Bamboos for mr.beaver

Bamboos for mre1965

Bamboos for EasyTiger3

Bamboos for Express Monorail

Bamboos for andreakw

Bamboos for Swiss Bones

Bamboos for pattagon

Bamboos for Rutger de Moddertukker

Bamboos for gTarded

Bamboos for neilalderney123

Bamboos for Jeff Cushner

Bamboos for EmBe79

Bamboos for Suviko

Bamboos for lordshrike

Bamboos for [MART!N]

Bamboos for dutchb0y

Real World In Miniature: 20 Tilt Shift Photos originally appeared on Bored Panda on August 19, 2010.

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Tags: boredpanda, Latest Posts, miniature, miniature world, photography, tilt shift lens, tilt shift photography, tilt-shift, toy world

Merkel’s Problems With Super-Glue [Pic]

August 18th, 2010 by Bored Panda | No Comments | Filed in Design

The super-glue problem could happen to everyone. It’s not funny. However, try changing your clothes before every press conference with glued hands – now that’s magic. (Bamboos to Eddie for sending us this pic)

P.S: for those who didn’t know – Angela Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany.

Merkel’s Problems With Super-Glue [Pic] originally appeared on Bored Panda on August 18, 2010.

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Tags: angela merkel, boredpanda, Picture of the Day

Merkel’s Problems With Super-Glue [Pic]

August 18th, 2010 by Bored Panda | No Comments | Filed in Design

P.S: for those who didn’t know – Angela Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany.

Merkel’s Problems With Super-Glue [Pic] originally appeared on Bored Panda on August 18, 2010.

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Tags: boredpanda, Picture of the Day

Merkel’s Problems With Super-Glue [Pic]

August 18th, 2010 by Bored Panda | No Comments | Filed in Design

P.S: for those who didn’t know – Angela Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany.

Merkel’s Problems With Super-Glue [Pic] originally appeared on Bored Panda on August 18, 2010.

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Tags: angela merkel, boredpanda, demotivation, demotivational poster, germany, Picture of the Day

Another 25 Creative Ambient Ads

August 15th, 2010 by Bored Panda | No Comments | Filed in Design

Everyone who liked 33 Cool and Creative Ambient Ads will definitely enjoy 25 more creative examples of ambient advertising.

It may be hard to believe, but an average North American sees 3,000 ads per day [1]. They are everywhere – at the gas pumps, in a bathroom, in the movie theater, on a bus and in the bus – advertising is impossible to avoid.

Due to advertisers’ dismay at the declining effectiveness of traditional advertising mediums, ambient advertising has increased in popularity over recent years[2].

However, some think “ambient advertising contains the seeds of its own destruction… because once the approach is copied and becomes commonplace, it ceases to surprise,“ Guardian, August 1997.

Another problem is that “genuine impact of ambient media is difficult to measure as it often takes TV and press coverage to attract wider public attention to it.” Sunday Business all the way back in 1998.

In the end, whilst not taking off in a huge way, ambient advertising shows no sign of going away. And to prove that – we collected Another 25 Creative Ambient Ads. Enjoy, and don’t forget to tell us what you think!

1. Master Magician’s Luggage

Advertising Agency: David&Goliath, USA

2. Indus Pride: Beer Mug

Advertising Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Bangalore, India

3. Anti-Dandruff Shampoo: Dandruff Is Not Appetizing

Agency: Grey G2/Group, Düsseldorf, Germany

STOPS IT: Anti-dandruff shampoo by Pantene Pro-VAdvertising

4. McDonald’s: MacFries Pedestrian Crossing

Advertising Agency: TBWA Switzerland

5,6. Smart: Giant Bike Lock & Shoehorn

Advertising Agency: BBDO, Toronto, Canada

7. Supor Non-Stick Pans

Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett, Shanghai, China

Results: A rise in sales of 20% in the selected Shanghai malls.

8. Gillete: Hairy Elevator

Advertising Agency: Ponto de Criacao, Brazil

Prefer it this way? 98% of women do too.

9. Basketball Players Wanted

Advertising Agency: BBDO Russia

Our idea was very simple ” Stick up Announcements of the trials for the basketball team in the streets..BUT… we stuck them so high that only the tall could reach the announcement and rip off the unique code needed to get into the trials.”

10. Dubai Metro: I Haven’t Left

Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Dubai, UAE

I haven’t left Dubai, I just love the metro!

11. Wong Dog Food: Hand

Advertising Agency: Mayo Draft FCB, Peru

They had tied up a human arm in dog’s neck to prove the power and strength of the new dog food.

12. Nintendo Toilet Crosswords

Advertising Agency: Ogilvy&Mather, Frankfurt, Germany

Nintendo transformed a bathroom into one big brain teaser.

13. Extremely Long Brush. Extremely Long Lashes

Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Canada

14. Alfa Romeo Helps Other People Sell Their Cars

Advertising Agency: Duval Guillaume, Antwerp, Belgium

Within days the poster sites were completely full.

15. Motrin: Targets Your Pain. Where It Hurts

Advertising Agency: TAXI 2, Toronto, Canada

16. Audi: Garage

Advertising Agency: Lowe Roche, Toronto, Canada

17. Ponytail Train Handle

Advertising Agency: Fortune Indonesia

Local beauty salon franchise, Johnny Andrean launched a hair-strengthening product and wanted to communicate it with a low budget.

18. Altschul Orthodontics Gives You A Straight Smile

Advertising Agency: Marked for Trade, USA | Art Director: Phil Jones

19. Real Woman In a Real Suitcase

Advertising Agency: Serviceplan, Germany

A real, living woman was forced in a crystal suitcase and afterwards put on a running baggage claims at various airports.

20. Bikini Waxing On The Third Floor

Advertising Agency: Tempo Advertising, Bucharest, Romania

21. Together We Get Rid Of Pounds

Advertising Agency: Euro Rscg Zuerich, Switzerland

22. KarstadtQuelle: Dental Implant Insurance

Advertising Agency: Jung von Matt, Hamburg, Germany

23. Xdress – Online Boutique For Male Crossdressers

Advertising Agency: Spring, Vancouver, Canada

Client: Xdress.com is an online boutique for male cross dressers. | Problem: Lack of awareness and traffic to their website. | Solution: Create a memorable guerilla piece that can be easily applied | Function: Adhesive dresses containing the site’s URL that could easily be applied to public washroom symbols.

24. Divorce Lawyer – Sabina Stobrawe

Advertising Agency: g k k DialogGroup, Frankfurt, Germany

92% Of Guys Say They Washed. 34% Were Lying

Agency: JWT

Gel Manix Lubricant

A girl was sitting on a bollard to demonstrate the effectiveness of Gel Manix Lubricant. I’m just kidding – it’s a print ad, not ambient. To see more cool ambient ads – check part I.

Another 25 Creative Ambient Ads originally appeared on Bored Panda on August 15, 2010.

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Tags: ads, Advertising, ambient ads, boredpanda, Cool Ads, creative ads, Latest Posts

15 Vintage Computer Ads That Used To Be Cool

August 10th, 2010 by Bored Panda | No Comments | Filed in Design

“640K ought to be enough for anybody” – Bill Gates 1981

“The cost for 128 kilobytes of memory will fall below U$100 in the near future” – Creative Computing magazine 1981

It’s always funny to read those old computer magazines, because nothing gets old faster than the technology news. Can you believe that the computer in your cell phone already has more processing power than all the computers in the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander that put 2 men on the moon? Did you know that the first HDD introduced in 1979 by Seagate was only 5 MB and cost ~ $1500 USD?

These facts make us feel so good about our current gadgets, but our kids will laugh at our 2TB portable HDD disks or 8GB DDR3 Ram memory. Here are some very cool vintage computer ads for you – laugh while you can, because next time someone will be laughing at what you have right now.