I took loads of abstracted footage (well not that much actually), when it rained in St Lucia.
Here’s the results.

Music by Four Tet ‘Circling’

Over the past few days, I have been gradually posting images of my adventures (with some dear friends) to Burning Man on flickr (also enclosed in this post). Pictures and words can not describe how amazing it was.

The image you see above here is a satellite image of the whole dam thing…. just look how amazingly organised it is.. we lived at 9.30 and Detroit. Work it out for your selves.. Lots of Rum, Vodka, Miso soup, beef jerky the Gourd and what not, were consumed.

Surreal, creative, fun, bloody mad, exhausting, inspiring –  are just a few one worders that only scrape the surface.

There was no animosity whatsoever and this was so much better than any English festival experience I could possibly imagine. No rubbish, carnage, mess, just a deep respect for the surroundings.

A huge 200 art installations where dotted around the Playa and mutant vehicles, bikes, dust storms, lots of  laughs etc..
I just want to thank the lovely people that joined me on this amazing adventure, they know who they are….

On the organisational front, I’ll be going again next year for sure. Get in touch if you need some hot tips etc.. I hope you enjoy my photos.
See you at 9.30 and Detroit.

I’ll definitely be doing some sky diving over the Man next time.

Context synopsis
There are 300 Street View cars dotted around Europe, each car and driver has a support team.

Project requirements
Picture needed to design an appropriate design solution that was ‘on brand’ and that would cover the car. This would soften the initial impact of the sinister looking car. However, to implement this in a cost effective way was going to be tricky.

What we did
Picture produced a design that would allow the individual drivers to apply the stickers and decorate their own cars.
Each driver received a large tube of to 200 stickers and some basic application instructions. They were also encouraged to purchase and apply localised stickers from the towns and cities on their travels. The results were much like a well travelled suitcase, full of colour and character, showing the tell-tale signs of a well travelled car.

Results
With 300 cars now covered in stickers they are ready to go round the world over the summer. We plan to get some pictures of the cars as they gradually get covered.

Context synopsis
Street View in Germany is a particular troubled hot spot with the elder politicians and older generations opposing is very strongly.
This was an opportunity to have some visibility and reach to all trade fair goers, technologists, politicians and the global press.

Project requirements
20 cars where allocated to Germany. We felt that the remaining visible black on the cars was still playing a negative role especially with the derogatory press that Street View had received in the past year.

What we did
We co-ordinated with Google’s Geo team, logistics team and Street View car teams to produce a full car wrap that would cover the whole car. The chosen designs were then implemented by Picture onto 20 cars over a period of 5 days in Stuttgart.

Context synopsis
There are 300 Street View cars dotted around Europe, each car and driver has a support team. From the first stage of out project, each car is decorated from a ‘travel-sticker’ pack, by the drivers.

What we did
We felt that, whilst the drivers are on the road being ambassadors to the brand, and adding items to their cars, they might as well have some branded items to hand out.

We suggested to Google that, since the drivers were driving such huge distances and were playing such an important role as ambassadors to Google, they should be able to distribute branded stickers that communicate the fun aspects of the product.

This would leave a trail of stickers on the back of pads, laptops and windows all over the world.

We art directed, designed, illustrated and produced a range of 20 stylised on brand stickers, that are colourful, stylised and edgy.

Context synopsis
The Germans, in particular, have reservation about Street View, especially with the elder politicians and older generations opposing it very strongly. The CeBIT trade fair in Hannover, Germany, is Europe’s biggest technology trade fair and a great opportunity to have visibility and reach to all trade fair goers, technologists, politicians and the global press.

Project requirements
At short notice Picture needed to design and implement an experiential event, a trade fair stand and product branding, to represent Street View at CeBIT in a fun and engaging way, and to reduce the ‘big brother’ image.

What we did
One of our initial concepts for the European livery was the ‘Art Car’, whereby at each new location a car visited, it would be painted/repainted by someone local, be this school children or local artists. While it became apparent that this wasn’t practical at this scale, everyone liked the idea, so it became the central element of our trade-fair solution.

We designed and implemented a simple, well-lit stand, with a neutral backdrop and a minimal amount of Google branded elements and Art Car branding, to house three Street View cars.

On the first day of the trade fair, six local art students, in Art Car branded boiler suits and with Art Car painting kits, proceeded to decorate the cars, with a slightly bemused public as an audience.

The result was a furore of interest and curiosity – many TV and radio interviews drove the PR value of this project through the roof. It featured on the national news, in national papers and was heavily blogged.

Over the remaining days of the fair, passers by could take pictures of the car, touch the car and get a demonstrations of the product.

We also produced a short film, documenting the decoration process and the audience reaction.

Results
PR coverage: Bild.de (6.3m uu), Focus Online (3.8m uu), Welt.de (3.3m uu) and Heise Online (2.5m uu), FAZ.net (1.7m uu). Several TV interviews such as ZDF Heute Journal (8.7m viewers). Also Google News / Archive (English language).

So… here we have it. I’m looking for a designer to come and join us at Picture.
Probably a middle to senior weight designer and must have digital experience and “get-it”, interested in tech, interested in print, have a love and aptitude for motion design and generally be a pleasure to have in our studio.

If it’s not for you but you have a friend that fits the bill, please forward it on.
You can contact me on the form thingo on the right of this page and or use info (at) picture-ltd.com

Picture

Thanks

L

Have a good one everyone.. See you’all in 2010.

x

Rain rain go away