This is a story of my friend

This is really a cool campaign no matter in the perspective of art direction or the idea it conveys. The idea is that the pill can help you dissove anything you swallow. It conveys the idea by telling us three interesting stories: the small potato swallow the camero, bow and drug and get himself out of the trouble.

The visul is cool, simple and amazing. The idea is very well conveyed that I bet that you will smile or even burst into laugh the first sight to the ad. Another detail that may surprise you is that the bubble of the pill is actually words that construct the taglines. How considerate the designer is. It looks like the moment that pill get into the water and begin to dissolve with a white and clean backgroud.

You may find that using a 3-D illustrate to tell the story is a wise choice, as the photography will make the visul either disgusting or violent. The philosophy behind the art direct I think is the one of the start an embarrassing story with the opening words like that this is a story of my friend. In most cases, actually, the "friend" is the speaker itself.

In all, a great idea needs a proper media to convey it.

humour is a way against the authority

This is definitly a tanlented poster playing with words. This is also something impossible to be seen on the street in the mainland, or even on the Internet. Do you know who the guy is? yes, it is the head of HKSAR, and where did I see it? yes, right on the pole in the street. The words on the botton left corner even encourages anyone who sees the poster to copy and communicate it.

Humour always works in political issues, as it is a way to express ideas without direct conflict with the authority. China is a highly collective country and we are not encouraged to say bad words that bear the risk of harming the stablity of the nation. Peopel who challenge the rules will get into trouble. The situation is much better with the development of the Internet, where people can express their ideas more freely. Therefore, you can always find something very interesting on the Internet. People invent various new words to substitute ones that are not encouraged to discuss and enjoy themselves in such as humorous way and keep updating them when the majority make the sense of them.

I once learned that humour is not as pleasant as it presents. Humour is a bent way to express the idea to avoid the direct conflict. As one is not allowed to say it seriously, then it makes sense that he says it in a humorous way. This kind of humorous is always meaningful and sometimes even with tears behind.

the biggest mistake is that she should not have been in the position

All Chinese people are angry with her, the Empress Cixi, the legendary women in Chinese history, and foreigners just wonder how could this women do those ridiculous things.

I am also angry with her. But what about herself, would she feel sorry or regretful for what she had done. Maybe not. She may insisted that what she had done was for the sake of the fortune of the nation and the loyalty.

She was a traditional Chinese women, deeply cultivated with the Confucious culture, which emphasized on a lot of morals that are totally opposite to ones nowadays. For example, they put family at a especially high status. What is nation? it is just the family of the emperor. As a result, Empress Cixi would do everything, sacrificed everything to keep the family. If the nation is controlled by a man in other family name, then the nation is done, another dynasty begins. Civil are loyal and crazy about the family of the emperor. For them, the emperor is everything. Nothing is more important than the existence of the family of the emperor, which is the deadline of the nation.

However, the late 19th century was quite different. Chinese territory was invaded by the westerners as well as the system of Confucious under threaten by western thoughts. People rethink about the meaning of nation and themselves as individuals. They begin to accept the western, new, modern system. Empress Cixi, still holding the old concept and system, should not possess the leading position as the trend was the change of system. In this condition, all she has done would be against the trend, and would do harm to the nation going to developing with the new system, even though she didn't mean to hurt the nation at all.

Of course, doing the wrong with a good heart is more dangerous and terrible than doing the wrong with an evil heart. Human will stick to what they think is good, and the concept is hard to change. However, what is wrong and what is right? what if the Qing Dynasty has succeed and Chinese nation kept going with the Confucious system at that time, then I supposed Empress Cixi must would be the heroin of the nation. Confucious system and western system, which is superior? It is hard to say, they are just two systems. Even if we now consider western system superior and criticized Confucious one on a lot of perspectives, all the perspectives are based on the modern system.

buy the idea instead of the product

The print ads of Wonderbra always makes me expected. No products appear in the visual but some amusing life scenes caused by the wear of the product. Reading these ads sometimes like solving a puzzle, which is that you has already konwn what it wants to tell, and you explain the ads yourself.

Even though audiences may have been quite familiar with the theme of the ads, they may not get tired of these ads since everytime the execution is different. It is in the same way as the series of successful ads of Abosult Vodka. Some of the ads may even amuse audiences a lot because of unexpectedness and leaves audiences a deep impression and conduct a positive attitude. People who buy the products can not because of believing the exaggrated idea of the ads but loving this method of expression. The ads construct the product's characteristic as amusing and funny, that's what makes audiences fall in love with. Just as that one like another not because what he said but because how he sait it. And it makes sense that if two products have similiar function, people will choose one they emotionally like.

the power of words

People like me who are not interested in economy may have a deep impression with The Economist by its unique and breath taking advertising campaign.

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In an era when visual dominants, The Economist stands out by exploring and taking advantage of the power of the words. Theory goes like this: ous is increasing a visual culture, no one's got time to read anymore. However, The Economist finds an exception which proves that words still have its place especially when the world are filled with visual. Words are the basic elements we use to think. Even when you understand a visual, you will transfer the visul elements to words and analyse. As a result, using pure simple words makes advertising more readable, understandable.

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Reading The Economist advertising is like reading a small joke, amusing audiences as well as giving out the message. In addition, the large white words against the bright red background is eyecatching. It seems that audiences can get the whole sentence at one glance and smile in the next second.

A Spreading Hand

If a gesture has some certain or universal meaning, then the reason for showing in a design must be similar.

These two pictures both impress me with single big spreading hand. In what conditions will we use this gesture? When we have something to say or show, when we want to protest, argue or fight for something connected to us. It is a serious gesture and mostly with political meaning behind.

Paying attention to the detail, we can discover that in the second picture, the fingers are a little bent, which makes that hand has a trend to grab something. It is more aggresive than just spreading hands apart. As a result , I consider the second picture is more likely to contain the meaning of fight.

The abruptive appearence of hand is eyecatching as well as emotional shocking.

words on the skin

I really don't like those behavior art like carving words on the skin. This is the work designed by American designers Jenny Holzer and Tibor Kalman for a German magzine. They mixed blood with printing ink and wrote it onto the skin to enhance the power of the work.

Such behavior will certainly attract attention as well as making people nervous and serious, especially when they are carving instead of wrting words on their skins. The skin is the symbol of life, so using skin as a media of communication is a serious problem, as they are likely to take their own lifes as a risk. People who act in this way must have something really important or vital to say or who must be very characteristic, or at least, desperate for people's attention.

It is an action can arouse audiences' attention, echo as well as sympathy. Seriously, it must be an effective way to communicate. Howerver, to me ,it just makes me feel insane and disgusting just as a blood letter.