Design Debate

Pickle Design have launched their new website, and by all accounts are very proud. It has taken some time to get the look that they felt represented the company well, and also guarantee that the dynamic between company and client is clear. It was very much a team project, but Emma took on the task of realising the site, lending her unique style to a design that was a departure for her in some ways. "The new website was designed to make work for our clients the main focus, so we ensured the image dominated the page, with only minimal typography in a very structured format. The toolbar consists of swatch style colours, as a fun way to reflect the tools of our trade, these lent themselves successfully to forming categories and sub-categories using a hierarchy of tones. We also included our new, refreshed branding, consisting of a simplified hand-drawn logo to reflect our illustrative style." Emma Julian As Emma brings out, the toolbar was integral to the site's success. Whil...

Over the last month, the commercial breaks have been packed with adverts for perfume and cologne. There have been some dire offerings and a few great spots, the two that have really stuck with me have been for Dolce & Gabbana, advertising The One, male and female fragrances. They are both constructed in similar ways, shot in opulent black and white with a classic jazz record as a soundtrack. Both focus on one attractive celebrity, their exposure to the press as a sign of adoration and compliment, and each conclude with a transformation into colour with the flash bulbs. Matthew McConaughey and Gisele Bundchen star. McConaughey's follows him from the car as he looks weary (but still cool!), he enters his palacial apartment and, after removing his shirt, reclines on an expensive sofa. Colour floods the screen as suddenly he is photographed from what can only be a previously invisible group of paparazzi. His face breaks into a smile. It is as if he can only exist with the affirmati...