04 - ORANGE (LIVE)

Brief : Produce images using illustration based around the theme of optimism.

See Also : YCN Website

Background : Orange is a company that prides itself on its unique philosophy of optimism, centered around the brands slogan "the futures bright". In past campaigns Orange has played with both the surreal and the 'mundane'. The company Mother is the brands advertising company, I think that after firmly establishing Orange's quirky humour and brand ethos they have cemented a public approval of Orange.

See Also : Orange Website

Past Campaigns :

Print : Orange gained massive PR opportunities from their 'togetherness' campaign featuring the wind up dolls in a variety of environments, viewers plagued stores wishing to buy the toys, ebay users hunted them down, and eventually Orange satisfied its customers, giving the majority of the profits to their charity of choice 'sense', further establishing the public opinion of Orange being a 'good' company.



Film : The Orange dance advert won several awards for Best Cinematography directed by Stephen Hoggart, featuring a middle-aged couple effortlessly clear up after a meal and leave their house with a style and fluidity as a beautifully choreographed dance.



Cinema : Featured predominately as a nationwide cinema slot, the new york city black out has been the talk of much discussion. The advert is drenched in the Orange optimistic 'philosophy, executed beautifully to play towards the intelligent audiences of today, Orange have cleverly embraced the change in advertising by locating its key concepts away from the product their selling and instead advertising a philosophy they want people to join in with.



Copy : Orange has got smart with copy by understanding consumer desire. By suggesting, good things can happen when your phones turned on, but also good things can happen when your phones turned off. This angle penetrates deeped into commodity consumption by the mobile phone company itself imploring that the mobile phone ceases to be a functional object and instead becomes a pure object of desire all the better when not being used.



Other Campaigns : A number of other companies are establishing their stand in modern day advertising as happy, honest and fun companies such as Diesel with the recent campaign of 'The Future, a musical to believe in.'



However, I think that Orange has a much more subdued simple take on things, an understated approach that flows over viewers rather than trying to grab them somewhat superficially.

Brainstorming the key concepts :

-------fast
-------new direction
-------bigger networks
-------hero
-------evenings and weekends
-------upgrade
-------mobile phones and internet (in one package)
-------your group
-------register
-------visit
-------celebrity
-------books
-------data and technology
-------charity and community
-------caring for the environment


Playing with concepts:



Accidental scanning (but nice composition)



Just for a play, decided to look at oranges themselves...









Sifting through some of my ideas, I really like the paper cup method of communication, it nods to a childhood nostalgia that a lot of people can associate with, I began by playing with the literal visual of lots of different paper cups coming through the bedroom window with different friends names on. The notion that all of your friends are that close to contact is quite comforting and also promotes Orange as a communication company.

Have since been looking at the idea of orange transforming you with their poignant philosophies,

Ideas:

1. Cardboard facorry, perhaps with white screenprints on the boxes of butterflys packaging symbols, and cardboard insects sitting on top of some of the factory boxes. Have a few ideas regarding what the factory is making, perhaps real trees (little versions) for the key word caring for the environment, need to consider how I'd feature the Orange colour pallete. For your group I'd like to have the factory making plant pot people, 'grow your own group'.

2. Street Orange campaign (to be updated), have been looking at past commercial street campaigns, would quite like to do some installations, big switch board, with giant paper cups coming out on strings from a plain urban building perhaps near the Carnaby St. orange plug... Painting the insides of bins Orange's signature colour, painting playground lines in orange - diverting from the normal netball/tennis/lots of other court layouts by creating a simple line art work.

3. Simple drawings for my favourite keywords, your group, bigger networks, and register, perhaps pushed further to screen printing on a layers then photocopying and acetoning...

I'm quite aware of the fact that framing of photographs may be problematic with the templates Orange have shown, in the ycn book the images shown are free and easy to place on a page, by doing small quirky illustrations it may be a better answer to the brief.

Little mock up of my Cardboard Factory



Yesterday I showed my group this idea and although they really liked it I still felt a bit unsure so went to seek some advice with Suzie, and consequently got really inspired by another idea involving a hanging mobile of drawings in different paper types of different objects that relate to an honest representation of friendship. Too often at the moment do we see a glittering view of life and its intertwing connections through stars, flowers and birds, although I do think its pretty I would really like to see Orange push its 'Optimistic' brand ethos into a more honest observational feel that I think will develop its own poignant resonance.

So I've been listing a few things that friends do together, have had to hold back at some points because although the fact that friends borrow tampons off one another and men watch porn, is a more honest representation of friendship this may be a tad too much for Orange so have come up with these,

-----chinese takeaway boxes
-----borrowing shoes/clothes
-----cups of tea and half eaten biccies
-----sharing desserts
-----shopping bags
-----ripped cinema/gig tickets
-----piles of crap dvd's and videos
-----c.d's and headphones
-----spilled pints of lager and crisps
-----slumped rackets after a game of squash
-----bottle of wine and glasses, lipstick marks
-----tandem bicycles parked up outside a cafe
-----dominoes
-----playstation controls
-----open crappy magazines
-----box of tissues, some scrunched up

These are just a few to get me started, might change some along the way, am conscious of the illustration being accessible to all audiences so would like the interconnecting sectionss of the mobile to relate to different types of friendship groups inclusive of gender and a diverse age range.

The magazine Karen, is a new publications that has had only two issues out so far, but it is so beautiful in both concept and design, the founder Karen Lubbock creates each issue in her own time, the last one had a lovely front cover:



Here are some pages from the interior of the magazine, she features stories of people she meets and some say in a reaction to the massive escalation of celebrity magazines Karen celebrates the ordinary interviewing people about their everday lies, listing recipes and weather diaries, what I really like about it is it isn't try hard at all, its so honest.



I went to find Issue 2 at the Tate Modern yesterday afternoon but surpise surprise it had just sold out, but they were expecting it to come in the next couple of days, so will plague them with calls until then. Issue 2 is still for sale on her website and comes with a handpicked leaf, 'like her granmother' used to.

Here is an extract from an interview with Karen Lubbock featured in The Guardian

"Karen is a reflection of the rise of celebrity magazines," explains Lubbock. "I am interested in how magazines focus on celebrity culture and how we're regaled with the minutiae of their lives. But I'm really interested in the minutiae of non-celebrity lives and elevating it to that kind of celebrity status through the magazine - however mundane, ordinary and boring it might be."

Karen is observational, quirky and gentle, consisting of conversations that Lubbock has had with friends, acquaintances and strangers. Photographs are affectionate, and its layout is bold and clear. It also has a unique relationship with its contributors. "I value the people in the magazine and make sure they're agreeable to appearing in the magazine, and they check the copy," explains Lubbock, who produces the magazine from her base in Rodbourne Bottom, Wiltshire. "I don't want to abuse the trust I have with the contributors. Without people contributing, I would have no magazine."

For my drawings ideally I would like to drwa them from stil life or from referencing photographs I have taken, I'd refer to do it this way because recently there has be much more discussion about copyrighting issues, would like to get into the habit.

I'm going to handdraw the images as I think this is more ftting with the idea and will look more aesthetically pleasing with free line drawings, I would also like the audience to be aware of the human element of mistake, evident in illustrators such as the Hungarian, David Foldvari's work that I think promotes Orange in an optimistic way.









The mobile is a representation of the keyword ‘Your Group’,
it explores the notion of interconnectivity within friendship
through visualising activities friends do together. The mobile
allows the images to sway freely reflecting Orange’s unique
brand ethos as a communications company encouraging
freedom. The paper silhouettes hold a nostalgic resonance
as an activity we would create as children, yet the detail of
each image implies an intricacy and beauty within friendship.
This poignant undertone is achieved through a creative
method, which is both tactile and stylistically dynamic, in
keeping with the current advertising campaigns at Orange,
whilst simultaneously pushing their concepts further. As a
hand-made object the mobile implies a softness that
envelops the audience with a subtle feeling of optimism
that encourages the audience to think about their own
friendship groups and what they mean to each individual.

Since Friday's crit, I have been looking at the mobile designer Alexander Caulder, he created kinetic sculptures, he considered the engineering balance needed for his mobiles. I would really like to use wire and thread to ensure a delicate mobile from which to hang the paper cut outs.





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