Shigeo is, well…. I don’t really know what he is… but I am going to go with an “optical illusionist”. He creates some of the most amazing artworks, both printed and sculptural, and has a truly mind bending perception of, again.. I don’t know what!?

I think it’s best I stop trying to explain, and just let his work do the explaining!

Here are just a few:

The Green Man

Flaming Lips

Flaming Lips

End of the rainbow

Lone Wolf

Girls

A great festival. Can’t wait until next year.

Brazilian ad agency Moma Propaganda has just added a Twitter ad to their collection of retro future posters for social media services as part of the ‘Everything Ages Fast’ campaign for Maximidia Seminars. The viral campaign has become something of a hit over the past few weeks.

The campaign which includes posters for Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Skype, reminds us that social media is continuously evolving at such a fast speed, that it won’t be long before we’re looking back at what it started as with different eyes…

The viral campaign for “The Last Exorcism” takes advantage of these helpless souls. Enticing them in with the prospect of a young lady undressing and then scaring the living hell out of them, as she transforms into a demon possessed by the devil.

With already over 200,000 YouTube views, The Last Exorcism is receiving global recognition on a shoestring media budget.

There is seemingly a “technological revolution” released every second day in the digital industry, however every now and again something pops up which really makes people take note.

With the release of Facebook Places last night, it seems we are really entering the next phase of social media, a more diverse level of real-world interaction, as well as a completely new level of targeted marketing.

Places takes the existing concept of applications such as FourSquare and takes it to where people already are, Facebook.

While primarily aimed at iPhone users for now (Android and Blackberry versions are planned), Places introduces location-based services to the world’s most popular social network.

Places enables users to share their current location with friends, find out where their friends are, and discover new places of interest. Users can also add their own places of interest to the platform, whether it be a business or a residential address.

In the same manner as FourSquare, users can “check-in” to places, as well as tag people who are at a particular place with them.

As with the release of most new technology of this kind, there will always be concerns about privacy. Traditionally,  it was easy to alleviate these concerns by only making the information available to (and from) users who had opted in to use the service. Where Facebook face issues with their implementation is that, by default, a user can “check-in” somebody else (without their approval or permission) into a venue. There is potential for this to get rather messy and I foresee this being one of the first changes made to the privacy settings within the application.

So while this just seems like a new aspect of already existing Social Media technology, it is the “openness” of the Facebook application which is exciting for us in the digital industry.

From tomorrow, Facebook are releasing an API which will enable developers to “pull” data from the Places application, which really does open a whole new world of possibility in terms of targeted marketing. Being able to track people’s behaviours, regular hangouts and social activeness, amongst other things enables us to truly reach the audience whom are most likely to be interested in a  particular product.

While this has huge benefits for companies advertising strategies, it should also benefit the consumer in that they will ideally only be receiving and viewing advertising which is most relevant to them.

Unfortunately for us outside of the U.S, Places is not available to us at the moment. It is intended to be rolled out internationally, however no release dates have been revealed.

We are getting closer and closer to the reality of being able to go to a random venue and meet new people with similar interests via our phones, but I truly wonder if this is a good or bad thing in the long run. We already hide behind technology so much that it would be a real shame to take the face-to-face interaction out of going out in public all together.

I think new technologies such as this are really exciting and enable us, as marketeers, to reach our audience on a new level, whilst on the flipside also enable us as consumers to better connect to both our peers and brands.However,  I believe, as with all technology, it should be approached with considered usage and should never been seen as a replacement to face-to-face interaction.

Reference: Mashable: Social Media News

Getting that first foot through the door into the design industry can be more hard work than getting through a 10000 word dissertation on brain surgery. Especially if you didn’t listen to your teacher back in science class!! As the most recent member of  We Love I have learned a lot of tips, tricks and routines of industry life and I am continuing to learn! As I have recently finished my degree I know the struggle it is right now to get into the industry! Here is a few tips to help you not only get a foot through the door but to smash your whole body AND your portfolio through it!

• Be prepared to work for free (for a while). Creative directors find it very reassuring to employ you if you have experience on your belt. Work where you can, When you can!
• Get your CV to SCREAM praises for you! Imagine looking through 50 CV’s a day…  Be creative!
• Make your work easily available to employers and the public, so create a blog, website, digital portfolio, posters, business cards etc  (you never know who that person sitting next to you on the bus is!).
• Express your personality!! Remember the employer is hiring YOU. Not your final major project you done at university!
• Be polite! Even if you get turned down by a company, send them a reply to let them know you appreciate the response and to look out for you in the future!
• Be prepared to be turned down. But don’t panic, an opportunity will come!
• Be passionate about your work, CV, and especially yourself. Confidence and Ambition is very important to have!
• Have a LOVE for your chosen art! No love, No Job, find a different career!
• Last but not least: DONT BE AN AVERAGE EGG! be golden, blue, pink or bright orange! Just not ur average cream!

With the current “keep up or fall behind” state of digital design it is more important than ever to be seen as a leader in the industry.

There is so much amazing technology at our disposal that what seemed impossible 12 months ago is now totally achievable with a touch of creative thinking.

We have to strive to continue pushing the possibilities of what current technologies can achieve. It is about taking the standard information available to us and using it, or presenting it in a new manner.

While Facebook Open Graph Plugins are relatively new to the scene, there has already been some really top examples of putting them to use in a manner that benefits the user (as opposed to using them for the sake of using them).

Levis

Trip Advisor

Simply Hired

The internet is becoming an increasingly social experience. Combining the social opportunities with the traditional methods of storytelling is the future of the web, so now is the time to take charge and start thinking of the possibilities.

Look past what has already been done, and move the web forward. We need to be using what has already been done as a basis for improvement, and as such the door is open for any young, or old, designers to step up and move the industry forward!

While you are there why not tweet us via our rather lovely and revamped Twitter page. Join the conversation.

Thanks to @gopalraju  for the twitter bird icons.

After recently putting the call out for some fresh new talent to come and join the We Love team as an intern, we have found our “Robin”.

Reiss has been with us for the past week and has been working on a very cool project for one of our big clients, and is yet to even make one cup of tea. What kind of internship is that!?

We are all looking forward to having Reiss work alongside us for the next 3 months to share our knowledge and experience to help him learn the ins and outs of the industry, as well as have him inject some of his own style into the studio.

I’m sure we will all be pressuring Reiss into becoming an active blogger for us, so to get the ball rolling this is what Reiss has to say for himself -

“My name is Reiss Butler from East London. I studied Graphic design at Barking college from 2005 to 2007 finishing with a National diploma and a Higher National diploma both at distinction levels. I became a fan of print design as the majority of my projects were based around Book design, typography, Poster design and logo design. I then swiftly moved on to the University for the Creative Arts at Maidstone. Studying Graphic Design. I then moved from that course and onto the BA Hons Graphic Media course where my interests turned from print to digital. I graduated in June 2010 with a 2:1 upper division Honours Degree in Graphic Media. I have recently finished being a part-time teacher in Graphic Design and am now currently enjoying my time at We Love.”

In the run up to the festival, they have launched a nice stop motion video for Lone Wolf’s 15 Letters, a song especially written for this competition. Hidden in the video are 15 clues that will lead you on a treasure trail at the Green Man site and one lucky winner to a single pressing of the single on 7″ vinyl and more. Keep your eyes peeled for those 15 clues and it needs a bit of thinking too. Check it out here >