Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.
—Erich Fromm (1900-1980)
The Vatican, Rome
It would seem that the Italian State Mint needs a better spellcheck program. The Vatican had to hastily withdraw more than 6,000 papal medals (commemorating the beginning of Pope Francis’ papacy) when the misspelling of “Jesus” as “Lesus” was discovered earlier this week as the medallions went on sale.
“Blame the Lesuits.”
(source)
Manitoba, Canada
Last year, over 1.1 million of us Mo Bros and Mo Sistas around the world participated in the Movember movement, raising CAD $146.6 million to help combat prostate and testicular cancer and mental health challenges.
Here’s how it works… “Movember encourages men to join the movement by growing a moustache for the 30 days of November. After registering on Movember.com, Mo Bros start the month clean-shaven, then grow and groom their Mo (slang for moustache), asking friends and family to donate to their efforts. With their new moustaches, these Mo Bros act as walking and talking billboards, bringing awareness to men’s health issues and prompting conversations wherever they go.”
Please consider becoming a Mo Bro or Mo Sista, or making a donation.
In 2012, Canada raised the most Movember funds, a whopping CAD $42.6 Million. The UK was next, with GBP £26.98 Million; then Australia (where Movember began in 2003) with AUS $29.1 Million. The USA trailed these front-runners considerably with donations of USD $20.8 Million… and another 17 nations made up the balance.
New York, New York
Banksy’s latest body of work takes the form of a “residency” in New York entitled Better Out than In, featuring a new graffiti work daily in one part of the metropolis or another. Some of the pieces have 1-800 telephone numbers stenciled beside them, allowing viewers to listen to an audio recording that compliments the visual work.
“The thrill is in the chase for many of the graffiti artist’s fans, as they rush to figure out the location of the next piece.” As might be expected, you can now trace NYC’s “Banksy Art Walk” via a live feed, here.
See more (with links to audio) here.
Zürich, Switzerland
Like most graphic designers, I love posters. Like many others, I’m also somewhat of a collector (stamps, books, publications, ephemera, 100s of posters)…
This week I had the chance to unroll and look at some 30 or so posters I have from the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Zürich, acquired during a visit there in 1986. Beautifully designed and printed (many are silk-screened), these large A0-sized pieces (841 mm x 1189 mm) are truly a joy to view.
Shown above is a small selection — enjoy.
(the latest from my friend Chaz Maviyane Davies)
Bucharest, Romania
Back in January, news spread that Britain was considering running an anti-immigration campaign in Romania and Bulgaria tagged, “You Won’t Like It Here.”
People all over Europe were nonplussed by the lack of tact shown by The Brits. But Gândul, a daily Romanian newspaper, saw an opportunity where others saw only red. They launched a cheeky response campaign tagged, “We May Not Like Britain, But You’ll Love Romania.” They placed the ads on Facebook, and even bought some outdoor media in Britain.
The campaign has gone viral, resulting in massive free coverage for Romanian tourism, and it just won a Gold Award at AdStars, one of Asia’s biggest advertising awards festivals. Well-deserved… watch a case study on YouTube here.
Thanks to Phred Martin for the link (source).
Ad agency: GMP Advertising, Romania.
All images via: Gandul.info.