Author: Wade Johnston

I'm a designer living and working in the Kansas City area. I'm into art, design, music, food, adult beverages, auto racing, architecture and more.

TRIPWIRE Daydream

I often step back when I see an ad and ask myself “What do you think the pitch was like when presenting to the client?” This ad for Tripwire is one of those ads. The 60-second spot takes the viewer on a trippy little adventure, and the payoff doesn’t arrive until the very end.

I’m not saying the ad is bad, in fact, the production value is top-notch, and once you get to the end of the piece and realize what is going on it works. I’m just wondering how the team sold this concept to the marketing department at an IT / Data Security software company, and what the pitch deck would have looked like.

Agency: PMG
ECD: Kyle Kelley
ECD: Andrew Harper
ACD: Lori Wittig – lori.wittig@pmg.com
ACD: Justin Prichard
Writer: Benjy Joung
AD: Kevin Yurasovich

Camp Lucky
Director: Adam Littke
EP: Brandon Tapp
Producer: Elizabeth Spiva
Editor: Logan Hefflefinger
Assistant Editor/Junior VFX: Jake Odgers
Graphic Artist: Seth Olson
Color: Neil Anderson
Audio: Scottie Richardson
Finish: Mark Sullivan
EP: Jessica Berry

Nipponpaint Automotive “LOOP”

Director/animator Kakeru Mizui has created an animated short for the Nippon Paint Automotive Coatings division that develops new paint colors for the company. I’m not going to claim to understand the logic behind this. It’s titled “Loop” and is being presented as a “brand film”. I don’t get the brand part of it, and that’s OK. Maybe it’s something that is getting lost in cultural translation between my American Brain, and his Japanese creativity. None the less it is a wonderful animated short that feels heavily influenced by the late illustrator Charlie Harper. It also has some 1980s color pallets and gradients going on which pair nicely with the illustrative style of the animals and other nature elements. Does it make me want to buy paint from Nippon Paint Automotive Coatings? No. It does however have me watching this for the third time now.

Creativity Explained – Color

I’m really loving the “Creativity Explained” series from Adobe these days. In their latest installment they teamed up with Portland based OddFellows and Pentagram partner, Eddie Opara to talk about color. The impact color has on design, and Opara’s view on how color influences graphic design outcomes. OddFelllows work is once again spot on and does a wonderful job of bringing Opara’s voice over to life.

“Multifaceted design-mind and Pentagram partner, Eddie Opara sheds light on color and helps demystify the rainbow.

Creativity, Explained is an animated series from Adobe that explores the fundamental principles of art and design. Part education, part inspiration, each segment is voiced by a luminary in the field and provides highly relevant advice for hobbyists and working creatives alike.

Our challenge was to create a consistent storytelling approach and wrap it in an aesthetic unique to each topic while feeling like part of a cohesive series. In this second segment “On Color,” we explored the emotional side of color along with its theory and application in design.” Chris Kelly – Oddfellows

A Campaign for Alzheimer’s Research

4 years ago this December my late mother had a stroke that affected her ability to read. She tried to describe what was going on, but couldn’t put into words how her brain was failing to process the words on the page. She used the phrase “jumbled” on more than one occasion but always said it was more than that. I could never fully wrap my head around what she was going through no matter how hard I tried. All of this leads me to the ad campaign shown below.

This is such a simple concept and executed so well. Produced by BBDO in Düsseldorf, Germany this campaign for Alzheimer’s research visualizes the confusion and fading memories Alzheimer’s patients experience in a way that the average person can instantly understand. Using the metaphor of a jigsaw puzzle reinforces how the memory slowly fades away piece by piece and how finding a cure for Alzheimer’s is truly solving a giant puzzle.

Great imagery, combined with simple and direct copy nail it. The only thing missing is a statement on how the viewer can help the Alzheimer’s Research Initiative.

Agency: BBDO, Düsseldorf, Germany
Chief Creative Officer: Wolfgang Schneide
Creative Managing Director: Kristoffer Heilemann
Executive Creative Directors: Daniel Haschtmann, Tobias Feige
Creative Directors: Sebastian Steller, Jacobo Concejo
Art Directors: Martino Monti, Dejan Handjiski
Jigsaw Idea: Alma Haser
Copywriter: Sebastian Steller
Post-Production Company: Stefan Kranefeld Imaging
Photographer: Stefan Kranefeld