Most of the logos in the film are depicted in a harmless way. Some logos even recede into the background as part of the “wallpaper” that is the landscape – they are there, but mostly go unnoticed. In this story, the characters are familiar icons. Ronald McDonald is a villian. Not sure what McDonald’s has to say about that, but they can’t be terribly happy.

Part of the reason the film works is because we have brand associations with these logos, and when a logo is used in an unexpected way, we are in on the “joke” because we know this depiction is not true to the brand. It’s really one of the reasons the film is getting attention.

The movie is the “labor of love” of a French motion graphics studio called H5. I wanted look up and see what else they had done. What I found, was something my inner design geek found even more interesting. Think of all of the product instructions, safety cards and diagrams we encounter everyday, and what it would be like if they told a story. I imagine it would look something like this.

Directed by the French motion graphics studio H5. It features a day in the life of a woman working in the London’s Square Mile solely through infographics; this includes labeled close-ups of everyday objects, product lifecycles, schematic diagrams, charts, and is generally illustrated in a simple isometric visual style.

What did your favorite designers make and think at AIGA’s national conference? Hear from Michael Bierut, Julie Lasky, Stefan Bucher, Chip Kidd, Bonnie Siegler, Kurt Andersen and more about what they made and thought that day (the answers may surprise you). Includes some special Make/Think choreography from Design Observer’s party at the New Daisy Theater!

Includes…michael bierut, chip kidd, stefan bucher, jamie koval, julie lasky, kurt andersen, emily carr, gaby brink, pam williams, michael vanderbyl, david gibson, david burney, ric grefe, robin tooms, steve hartman, bobby martin, liz danzico, hank richardson, zelda harrison, clement mok, michael lejeune, jim coudal, shel perkins, jim ales, petrula vrontikis, william drenttel, marc english, dan covert … and more.

I suppose you can run this “app” right before you press the “D” for “Design” button. Just remember that it’s OK to poke fun at ourselves once in a while.

I was happy to see this video posted of a presentation Gladwell made at the October 2008 AIGA GAIN conference for design and business. In it, Gladwell discusses some interesting insights into the creative process, and how we, as humans, innovate.

In this are a couple of lessons:
1) The “magic” behind creativity and innovation is largely driven by devotion to practice and mastery of your skills
2) Experimentation is an evolutionary process. Most of us are “experimental innovators” who through a series of trial-and-error create something great (vs. having an effortless flash of innovation – the “conceptual innovator” as Gladwell describes).

Any of you who make your living off of your “ideas” knows how difficult it is to come up with something truly great. Gladwell’s presentation underscores the need for all of us to be constantly looking and applying what we learn in our everyday practice. Always be a student. Don’t be afraid to try (or fail).

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/video-gain-2008-gladwell

Watch the full title sequence.