The art form of paper cutting and folding dates back to the 6th century in China, where Cai Lun invented paper. The well-known technique of Origami was also developed in this century after Chinese Buddhists brought paper to Japan. Fast forward to the 21st century and artists are still pushing the boundaries of what can be created from the humble piece of paper, proving that, in an age when computer-generated technologies make anything possible, pritt stick and scissors prevail.

Danish artist Peter Callesen transforms paper into whimsical works of art from installations of paper stairs to intricate paper cuts depicting fairytales and childhood memories.

Inspiration really has come from the strangest place for Jen Stark, whose sculptures, made from hand cut layers of card stock, were inspired by post-mortems and anatomy textbooks. In her own words they are “mathematically organic, colourful paper explosions”. In my own words it’s visual candy at its sweetest.

San Fransisco based Advertising Agency, Publicis & Hal Riney enlisted the award-winning director Olivier Gondry along with artist Su Blackwell, to create an engaging stop motion animation for Beringer Vineyards. To see just how much blood, sweat and paper went into creating the ad, you can see the making of the animation here.

Brazilian graphic designer and illustrator, Carlo Giovani, has a quirky style of paper engineering, which can be seen across his impressive portfolio including packaging for MTV, stop frame animation for Leo Burnett and paper animals for the New York Times. I particularly like this witty packaging design for Chinese tea.

These 3-dimensional paper sculptures are the work of British artist Richard Sweeney who scores and folds sheets of paper to create perfectly formed shapes, inspired by complex geometries, architecture and biological structures.

Argentinian ad agency Vegaolmosponce, come up with these charming ads for Rexona Skin Care which combine real life video footage with an animated paper doll, illustrated by Marguerite Sauvage. The animations were created by Passion Pictures, who scooped a D&AD award this year for their work on the Sony Bravia ‘Play-Doh’ ad.

This is recycling at its most creative. Brian Dettmerr dissects old textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, atlases, maps, and comic books to create complex three-dimensional sculptures that breathe new life and meaning into these once discarded items.

LA-based artist Chris Natrop creates room sized installations from the most delicate of paper cuts. Like an overgrown garden, the intertwining organic shapes interact with the light, casting a myriad of shadows which add another dimension to his work.

Matt Hawkin has created a world of paper creatures - robots, super heroes, monkeys, and even a guitar playing Rudolf. If you fancy making your own paper toy, you can get your mitts on one at www.custompapertoys.com There’s a different one to collect every month. Yay.

So what’s a girl to do once she’s suffered a paper cut or two making these toys? Put them in her new Hermes paper handbag of course!

Like a chocolate teapot or inflatable dartboard, this customisable bag is highly impractical and yet I feel compelled to own one. All I need now is a pair of paper Jimmy Choos to match.

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• using paper in a 3-dimensional form (eg origami), rather than just for printing
• creating typography out of a variety of objects, arranging them to create the letter forms
• adding character to objects by giving them a face through illustration to create installation art

Typography has been something which lends itself well to a 3-D transformation, my particular favourites being the YCN alphabet and Stefan Sagmeister’s Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far. Breaking it away from the traditional grid system and rules of typography has been refreshing to see and has introduced an element of fun to that is often considered to be a regimented area of design.

These images were created for a Beefeater Gin promotional magazine entitled WET.

WET by Beefeater Gin
2005
www.serialcut.com
www.serialcut.com/makingofwet.htm

The use of light and reflection of the black surface is particularly effective in bringing out the 3-D form of the imagery.

Studio NB created these posters for D&AD to advertise all the benefits of membership.

D&AD Membership Collateral
2006
www.nbstudio.co.uk

Rather than creating a heavy type-based approach to list what was on offer they chose to physically display them in a photograph, which I think makes a far more interesting visual.

Jennie Hancock created the publicity for the Central St Martins Degree Show in 2007. She wanted to represent the vibrant nature of the variety of graduate shows by being playful through use of colour and prop. Each of the creative courses which were exhibiting were represented by a relevent object with an assigned colour.
watch?v=pIISU0rnqVE
This 2007 Persil advert by Bartle Bogle and Hegarty is my favourite motion example of 3-D design.

The advert has an animated feel as the children make their way through the elements of the pop-up book, with the typogarphy being incorporated into this.

YCN Alphabet
August 2007
www.alexbec.com/ycnalphabet.php
http://www.ycnonline.com/blog/show/5

This alphabet was created for the YCN annual book 07/08. 26 different designers and illustrators were invited to create a letter, reflecting the wide variety of creative work within the publication.

Alex Bec, the book’s art director was given a very broad brief which asked for a typeface which could be used both as a 2D typeface and as 3D title page photographs.

Some of the contributions included a letter W made from wax, a perspex A, a chocolate marshmallow D and a pinata J.

Paper was used here to create this colourful environmental awareness poster by Brazilian designer Carlo Giovani. He specialises in using paper as s 3-D object in his designs.

In Nature Everything Turns Into More Nature
2007
www.carlogiovani.com

These Adidas Originals ads were created by 180 Amsterdam. Photographed by Viviane Sassen and Martine Stig.

Adidas Originals
Winter 2007
www.180amsterdam.com

I like how they have taken this standard scene within an airport and a new fantasy dimension to it - the way the information board is displayed and the twisty form of the conveyer belt.

The other advert is a good example of how 3-D installation art is featuring in graphic design and advertising.

German agency Pixel Garten seem to me to be one of the leaders in 3-D design and were the agency behing the editorial design of Tactile, a book which focuses on 3-D design or “high-touch visuals”.

Intro magazine cover
March 2008
www.pixelgarten.de
Tactile – http://www.pixelgarten.de/index.php?id=119
This is a magazine cover for German fashion and music magazine Intro.

6MP is a French magazine based in Toulouse.

6MP magazine spread
May 2008
www.pixelgarten.de

This is a good example of typography being created out of other objects. The type actually becomes the main element of the image.

I love how the number 6 has been created out of a roll of paper.

Sagmeister’s self-initiated type project displays the most valuable things he has learned througout his life.

Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far – 1
Published May 2008
www.sagmeister.com
www.thingsihavelearnedinmylife.com

He looked at various different approaches to creating the type, with this particular example being created out in Arizona’s desert.

He often used organic elements, such as the wood, leaves and cacti shown here.

Starting a purely personal project, he ended up being commisioned by various companies to use these elements for advertising.

Commisions have included
- New York’s School of Visual Arts
- a casino in Linz, Austria
- .copy magazine, an art, design and technology publication
- Esquire magazine in Japan
- the city of Paris
- Superbock, a Portuguese beer brand

Marque Creative (previously Third Eye Design) created these 3-D visuals for the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe programme.

I really like the colours they’ve chosen, but the hanging stars depicting the camera’s flash are my favourite element.

These last couple of examples move a bit away from 3-D graphic design to show howadding elements to everyday things can produce a new form of 3-D illustration.

Tel Aviv Roofs
2006
www.waynehorse.com

Wayne Horse, a Dutch designer, specialises in this form of imagery.

These two examples of his work show his Tel Aviv roof dogs and his discarded furniture family.

Lastly, if anyone fancies having a go themselves you should have some fun with these stickers which can be adhered to any objects to create a face.

These particluar ones have been nicked from my friend Ben’s Flickr site.

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The communications challenges that brands and organisations face are greater than ever. There’s more noise in the market. More competition for the spending and attention of the consumer. More ways of reaching people. And even greater resistance from the audience. More cynicism. More demands. Less trust.

And yet, if you look at the real history of ‘advertising’ in its widest sense, plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. Literally, for the marketing challenge, it’s more of the same.

So, why not take the long-term view? Take a few minutes to view our interactive history of advertising. As well as giving your fevered marketing mind a breather (and that’s a good thing), you’ll benefit from the perspective. After all, when you recall that writing itself was once considered so new and remarkable, you may begin to remember that ‘new media’ itself is not the issue. Developing trust - built on frequency and relevance of communication with your audience - that will always be the issue.

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When The Gate Worldwide embarked on its annual trip to France, maybe they shouldn’t have taken the advice to “have a smashing time” so literally.

Every year the agency takes a trip over to the shores of France to enjoy a picnic and a few glasses of Le Vin – or as we like to call it in Scotland, a piss up.

This year’s trip was apparently going smoothly, with the coach-load of ‘Merry Gaters’ on their way back to the ferry, happily having enjoyed their day. Only for, to quote Pete Martin, creative director of The Gate: “A wee old french guy” to come around the corner on the wrong side of the road.

Martin continued: “He totalled his car and our bus took a count of 10. He got stretchered away by les pompiers. It was a crappy end to a pretty good day out.”

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Your customers never recognised the old distinctions between ‘above-the-line, below-the-line, online, offline’. Why should you?

That’s why we describe our business as something new.

The Nonline Agency.

We don’t draw a line between consultancy and implementation. Our experience of ‘what works’ underpins our specialist advice.

We see no boundary between strategy and creativity: if it isn’t effective, it isn’t creative.

We like to cross borders in international markets.

We see that, in many instances, all that protects your brand is a line in the sand.

We recognise that overcoming objections is the ‘killer app’ in selling.

Finally, we refuse to have your choices limited by conventional barriers between different communication disciplines and media channels. Inspired by a cohesive, core strategy and driven by specialist teams, we deliver. Totally.

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Early one frosty morning, the unfortunate remains of a piñata were discovered at Leith Docks. Once, it had been a promising young box of paper and treats from the Young Creatives Network. Now, it lay, strewn across a carpark – its insides removed.

How did the piñata meet its end? Kirsten Murray, Art Director at The Gate Worldwide rounds up the suspects.

Was it Ali in the boardroom with the lead pencil?
Shiel in the stationery cupboard with the hole-punch?
Or perhaps it was Zoë in the kitchen with the microwave?

No, we haven’t been playing Cluedo in the office. This is, in fact, The Gate Worldwide entry to the Young Creatives Network (YCN) Piñata Challenge .

To launch this year’s awards, YCN commissioned 50 Piñatas – handmade by Jiggery Pockery . They were sent out to 50 creative individuals and agencies internationally and gave them one mission: to break open the piñata in the most ‘interesting’ way possible.

The arrival of the piñata at The Gate Worldwide caused quite a stir. What did that brightly coloured box contain? How best to break it? http://youtube.com/watch?v=wjdnFze42NA. It was therefore agreed that no-one would touch it until the right method of opening had been agreed upon.

But the temptation proved too great for one member of the The Gate Worldwide creative team. And what began as a creative challenge was now a crime scene investigation . Super-sleuths that we are, myself and fellow Art Director Jill Murphy tasked ourselves with solving this case.

We had seven suspects.

Ali Duncan (Artworker), Shiel Yule (Studio Manager), Jonny Gould (Creative Partner), Zoë Martin (Copywriter), ourselves and Pete Martin, our Creative Director.

Soon we found evidence too.

Exhibit A: Tyre tracks at the scene of the crime.
Exhibit B: Fingerprints on a page from last year’s YCN book.
Exhibit C: Charred pieces of coloured paper in the hall.

But whodunit? We have our theories – but what do you think? Let us know who you think the true perpetrator is.

• Ali in the board room with the lead pencil?
• Jill in the library with the YCN book?
• Jonny in the car park with the company car?
• Kirsten in the studio with the No.3 scalpel?
• Shiel in the stationery cupboard with the hole-punch?
• Zoë in the kitchen with the microwave?
• Pete in the archive room with the Scottish Advertising awards dagger?

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David Bernstein, our friend at New York hotshop The Gate Worldwide, offers up insights into some of Adland’s most cherished misconceptions. De-mystifying a couple of do’s and don’ts – and killing a few cows on the way – he gives us a taste of what’s to come from their new book: ‘Death to All Sacred Cows: How Successful Business People Put the Old Rules Out to Pasture‘.

“Never say something offensive in a headline.”…..BANG.

“Clients should be charged based on hours worked.”…..BANG.

“It’s okay to act like a jerk if you’re talented.”…..BANG.

When you think about it, there are a lot of sacred cows in the advertising business. We think it’s high time someone shot them. Dead.

We’re The Gate Worldwide and we were born with an itchy trigger finger. First of all, we believe people are less likely to buy when they think they’re being sold. Little wonder direct mail is called junk mail, e-mail blasts are considered spam and guerrilla tactics are written off as graffiti. Or worse.

The problem, however, isn’t with the media. It’s with the advertising agencies. Too much of what our industry creates either chases, harangues or interrupts the very people we’re trying to seduce. Which naturally leads us to this conclusion:

True success comes not from selling to customers, but by attracting them.

How do we get paid to attract customers to you? By killing another sacred cow. Sorry to be difficult, but we don’t believe in being paid an hourly rate. After all, what if a great idea takes thirty seconds to invent? Does that mean we should charge you $1.50 for the idea? Of course not. That’s why we split our compensation in three units.

1). Brainpower (the highest price) for generating the ideas.

2). Arms and legs (a commodity price) for executing those ideas.

3). A bonus structure based on the results of our work.

In short, the more money you make, the more money we make. A perfect segue to what is arguably the most famous sacred cow: “A good idea sells itself.”…..BANG.

Having a good idea is one thing. Selling it is another.

And that, young grasshopper, has cost implications, too. If you approve our work and sell it into your management, it saves us time. Which saves us money. Money we can then cheerfully return to you in the form of a nice discount. Or some frilly lingerie - your choice.

Truth be told, there are many more sacred cows we’d like to sacrifice for the greater good. If you’d like to hear about them, call The Gate New York on 212-508-3400 and ask for Beau Fraser, David Bernstein or Bill Schwab. Trust us. It’ll be a fun conversation. Almost as much fun as killing this sacred cow: “No one reads body copy.”…..BANG.

‘Death to All Sacred Cows’ is out in March 2008, published by Hyperion. The book is co-authored by David Bernstein and his two colleagues at The Gate Worldwide in New York, Beau Fraser and Bill Schwab.

See http://www.deathtoallsacredcows.com

Pre-order your copy now at Amazon

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You’ve bought all your presents online. Sent virtual e-cards. Now, go elf yourself. No, that’s not an insult. It’s the latest Christmas Internet must-do. Elf Yourself, much like the Will Ferrell film Elf, is a slightly creepy but highly enjoyable piece of festive fun. This ingenious site allows you to transform yourself into an elf. A talking, dancing elf. And once you’ve done it to yourself, you can upload photos of everyone you know and do it to them too. There’s something strangely satisfying about seeing your best friend, other half and your boss dancing to an irritating Christmas jingle.

Yes, this time of year, the Internet is truly, wonderfully jam-packed with more time-wasting websites than you can shake a candy cane at. Got an hour to spare? Log on to Facebook, send a virtual gingerbread man or two, and make yourself a virtual Christmas tree. You can choose the base, type of tree and background – and then agonise over whether to have blinking bulbs, tinsel or baubles. Pretty much like the real thing but without the hassle of carrying it home and trying to keep the cat from climbing it.

Liking the virtual tree? Then you’ll love virtual snow. Since the likelihood of seeing snow is, well, as likely as seeing Cliff Richard kissing someone under the mistletoe, you may as well make your own. Make A Flake allows you to create paper snowflakes but without the mess. Once you’ve made your masterpiece, you can compare it to other peoples’ – which will lead you to the swift conclusion that some people definitely have too much time on their hands.

If all this decorating and cutting out sounds like too much work, then treat yourself to a classic Christmas film in 30 seconds – re-enacted by bunnies. Angry Alien has taken all the essential bits of It’s A Wonderful Life and made it even better. (Their version of The Shining and Titanic are also particularly good too, even if they’re not seasonally appropriate.)

Still doubtful of the Internet’s place in the holiday season? Then It’s A Wonderful Internet will set you right. This storybook style animation follows what happens when a man wishes the Internet had never been born. After watching it, you’ll feel all warm and fuzzy inside… and strangely compelled to go back onto Facebook and throw a snowball at all your friends – real and virtual.

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The Gate Worldwide creative director Pete Martin set out to make a short film about his Dad’s boyhood, growing up in depression era Glasgow, casting a small boy who couldn’t read was just the first obstacle. With just 3 days’ filming on 35mm, here’s how re-created a slice of personal - and Scottish – history.

I’d had the idea of making a wee film about my Dad’s boyhood for a while. He’d had a hard upbringing in depression era Glasgow. His mum had died, his dad turned to the drink and he was brought up almost single-handedly by his older sister, Sadie and I thought it would make a touching story people might enjoy - even those who weren’t in my own extended family.

I wondered though, where I would find a small ’smart boy’ to play my Dad. Then I met little Harry at my mate Rob’s Christmas party. Harry is his nephew and had just squirmed and giggled his way through a party piece. But there was something about the boy – behind the shyness, a bit of charisma, maybe – that made me think he could do it.

The film weaves together two events from my Dad’s life in 1932. It’s a fairly simple tale. Most families will have similar hard-luck stories. And yet, in the typically tiny unimportant events, I hoped to give a sense of a larger pattern.

Contrary to the ‘miserablist’ view that Scottish working class life is grim, I felt that the poor don’t necessarily experience it that way. ‘The sun also shines on the poor’ was an idea I discussed with the cinematographer John ‘JB’ Brown. So, we didn’t want to make the look predictably ‘grim up North’.

The feel of the film was intentionally ‘rich’. Even so, the aim was not to be sentimental but to try to hide a harder question in the simple story. The themes of faith and fate are woven through the piece. If there is a God, he doesn’t move in mysterious ways. Events are not just arbitrary, they’re often perversely cruel. Just at the point you need a little luck, that’s the very moment you won’t get any. Even small hopes are dashed, and harsh endings seem undeserved.

“Them that’s got shall get, them that’s not shall lose, so the Bible says, and it still is news.” That’s one reason why we considered re-naming the film ‘God Bless The Child’ (after the Billie Holiday song quoted above) but we’d lived so long with Sadie’s Story it somehow felt right.

When we set out to make this film - a period drama, shot on 35mm, with a child actor who couldn’t really read… for the amount of money we had in our pockets - everyone said it couldn’t be done. It was madness to try.

And it was. But, we did it anyway.

We shot over 3 days in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The crew and cast were magnificent, and the weather wasn’t exactly kind. So, almost from the off, we were dropping shots and scenes. We got to the end of the shoot with enough stuff, more or less, to make a film.

We didn’t quite get everything we wanted, which made editing a bit tricky, but probably achieved as much as we had hoped for, and more than most expected. (It was shortlisted for the JP Short Film Awards, so we must have just about got away with it.)

Basically, a big thanks to all those who gave their time, talent and enthusiasm to make it happen. If you’d like to see a small trailer, there’s a link here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upRae97UHYU

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The London School of Economics has published a study on the economic impact of immigration in the UK. Using 35 years of data, the researchers found that increased immigration has no impact on the wages of indigenous males. This counters the ‘popular’ view that an increase in the supply of ‘cheap labour’ tends to suppress wages for native workers. (It’s a more sophisticated version of ‘immigrants steal our jobs’.)

The research shows that ‘immigrant workers’ are an imperfect substitute for locals. They do not readily ‘displace’ natives in the workplace. At the bottom of the market, migrants may lack language skills. At the top, they may have high-level skills that are under-supplied among natives. There may also be ’soft’ reasons why demand for native staff stands up: negative perceptions of migrant accents or simple racism.

In an area where strong feelings are more common than facts, it’s an important finding. But there are three further observations I’d like to make – and you’ll understand why in a moment.

Firstly, the LSE study shows that immigration makes marginal economic activity possible. Jobs that would otherwise go undone, get done. And that enhances productivity and output. From eras and countries when immigration was not constrained (for example, the USA), the evidence suggests that immigration brings significant economic benefits.

Secondly and more crucially, we are all of immigrant stock. Even if you trace your cultural roots back to the days of the Angles who founded ‘England’. Yes, the people who Pope Gregory famously punned as looking like Angels – they immigrated from Germany… (And early European languages share a common root with early Asian languages. And doesn’t your DNA show that we all descend from one people, moving out of Africa anyway?)

Finally, as a trip to Berlin reminded me, the issue raises sombre questions about human nature. Regardless of economics or cultural considerations, can we really let ourselves be tempted towards that terrible path where people are judged by their origins?

I went to a business dinner recently and found myself sitting next to a man of nodding acquaintance. Professional, articulate, civilised, you’d think. Maybe he thought we knew each other better. Or he’d had too much to drink. But he began a line of argument that began with right-wing economics and ended with a diatribe on immigration.

Carefully worded, he explained how – while he personally did not support the BNP – he could understand how poor white communities would support to racist thinking…

Sadly, that doesn’t strike me as a particularly unusual or surprising view. The government seems to be responding to popular pressure to ‘tackle’ immigration. And, more palpably, at the last airport I went through, uniformed officials now staff Homeland Security (a phrase with chilling echoes, anyway) – instead of the friendly civil servants in civvies.

What does surprise me is how the anti-immigration propagandist doesn’t feel the need to offer any real evidence for his views. (Especially when a neo-racist machine like Migration Watch offers propaganda puffs aplenty.) When challenged, my dinner companion had next to no idea about the economic impacts of immigration today or the long-term truth about human migration: for example, when immigration controls were first introduced into the UK or how the USA became the world’s dominant economy and political force.

The reason is simple. Anti-immigration is a smokescreen for racism. There’s no human logic in it. But look at 20th century history. You know where it tends. And you know how it ends.

Let’s not go there, Scotland. As a nation, we’ve often been the emigrants, and expected to be received kindly wherever we landed. It’s time to return the favour with true Scottish hospitality.

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