Everything Matters is much more than a consumer-facing website. It is the entire comms platform for Panasonic Europe through to 2010. And its the culmination of almost a year’s work which began with the strategy, in conjunction with Vizeum (UK) and Strawberry Frog (NL).

As a website, ‘Everything Matters’ is a content portal. It was created to be a central repository for the various brand stories that Panasonic has to tell, but has not for various reasons. The content can be filtered by the user, and of course the site is fully dynamic and modular.

Awarded the FWA Site of the Day 02.09.2008
Awarded the Interactive Pick of the Day 05.09.2008 by Creativity Online

Both in style and approach, it is a radical departure for Panasonic. There is very little product detail on the site and the soft grey gradients on white was dispensed with for a more tactile, human art direction. Major battles that we fought very hard to win.

The content on the site was conceptualised to be varied in both form and depth – sitting somewhere between a print ad and a website. In other words, some information but with the visceral impact and simplicity of a print ad, aided where possible by interactivity.

It is scheduled to grow massively over the coming 3 years, from world-firsts through to tiny details that make their digital cameras the best in their class. All reinforcing the philosophy that ‘Everything Matters’.

I was the conceptual and creative lead on this project, with a team of 3 designers, 3 flash devs, a 3D animator and a sound designer.

Launch Everything Matters

The phrase “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer” was the departure point for the latest t-shirt in the-affair’s quest to clothe the creative men of this world in something that not only looks good, but starts intelligent conversations.

If Machiavelli didn’t actually say it in 1513, he sure did mean it. Instead we had to wait till 1974 and Don Coreleone, who was actually far better at getting to the point than poor Niccolo. So to cut this short, your enemies can always be counted upon to be just that. Unfortunately your friends often cannot.

Just another Jesus shirt you’re thinking, right? Not exactly… ‘Muslim Jesus’ is a reflection on the futility of religious intolerance. From afar, Jesus stares serenely at those surrounding you. But up close, Islamic crescents cluster together in abstract patterns. Anyone close enough to know this and still want to have it out, should’ve already registered on your fuckwit radar.

‘Muslim Jesus’ is one of the t-shirts I designed for the-affair. The graphic itself is the output of a Flash engine I developed which takes an image and replaces the pixels with a symbol. Its actually an iteration of a previous project Your Own Personal Jesus, where you can read more about the process and Flash engine.

2007 saw Adidas (global) focus most of their marketing budget on the second version of their ‘Impossible is Nothing brand campaign. de-construct created this destination site to house the inspirational content of Adidas’ stable of world-class athletes including David Beckham and the current men’s 100m World Record holder, Tyson Gay.

Awarded a Gold Clio 2008, Content & Contact.

With deeper user-generated content ruled out by Adidas, we were left with tonnes of video content – courtesy of the ATL agency 180 Amsterdam – but nice films do not a website make. So we set about translating the athelete’s ‘impossible’ stories into a series of interactive games. We also opened the engine up to all users, allowing them to create their own ‘impossible’ games and then embed them in their myspace/blog.

As the Art Director, I was responsible for 3x online shoots in London, Madrid and Los Angeles as well as a team of 8 people including 3x designers, 3x flash developers, 1x sound designer, and the external agency creating the games.

Launch Impossible is Nothing

the-affair is a brand that creates beautiful conceptual t-shirts for the intelligent consumer tired of the cute-sy threadless aesthetic. Its the love child of myself and Dangerous Dave Black.

With no physical presence on the high-street, we began with the simple insight that fitting rooms have full length mirrors for a reason. The website was thus created to mimic the actual experience of trying the shirts on.

Awarded the FWA Site of the Day 29.03.2008

To list my responsibilities would simply take too long, but ‘absolutely everything involved in starting and marketing a business’ would be pretty close.

Applying what I do everyday for other people into my own concept/business has been nothing short of exhilarating. Every day I am learning first-hand what we sell to clients on a daily basis – and this is very valuable information.By far the most interesting part is the blog marketing. Obviously as a start-up brand we have nought but our wits and instincts to get our message out there. So how do you get an unknown brand known? And how do you sell t-shirts that aren’t expensive in your home market but are pretty expensive everywhere else? If you’re interested, check our press-to-date here.

Launch the-affair

de-construct won a 5-way pitch for the design and strategy of the Sony / Sky PSP video download service, psp.tv.

Whilst the PSP would be the device on which you would watch the content, the interface had to function across multiple devices including the PS3 (TV) as well as a traditional computer. This meant the interface design had to platform independent and truly scalable. In effect, it had to adapt to each new device in the most appropriate way. This was achieved by designing for the most restrictive device first – the PSP – and adding functionality where possible and relevant.Work continues today in collaboration with Neil Brody’s Research Studios. Estimated launch date is Summer 2008.

The Museum of Illustration (MOI) is a concept spearheaded by Quentin Blake, famed for bringing all Roald Dahl’s characters to life. By 2011 they will have a building in London’s newly redeveloped King’s Cross area, but until then, they have a website.

Intentionally austere graphic design allows the diversity of illustrations to come to the fore. The Flash site will use the map paradigm to allow the user to navigate content in a more exploratory way, making use of layouts within layouts within layouts.As the Art Director, I am responsible for the look and feel of the site as well as all video shoots and all creative presentations to client. The MOI continues to be a work in progress. A basic HTML site will be online from November 2, 2007 and the full Flash site will be online in early 2008.Launch the Museum of Illustration

After the extremely successful Da Vinci Code campaign, de-construct was asked to provide speculative ideas for a new CRM system with digital at its heart. We created the idea of Eurostar Live as a way of sharing content across multiple channels – online, mobile and digital outdoor.

We suggested Eurostar should provide city-guide content for both London and Paris from celebrities that epitomise each city, such as Damien Hirst or Jean-Paul Gaultier. Users would be able to download these guides to their mobiles before exiting the Eurostar station. After their break, they would be able to upload their own experiences/photographs of that city into their own ‘locker’. This content would then form part of a larger content pool which could be accessed by other users. Massive digital outdoor billboards at both Eurostar stations would advertise the idea and drive incentives such as free tickets, to encourage interaction with the campaign.

de-construct was asked to pitch the strategy and website for TeamVertu – Vertu’s high-profile sports sponsorship programme, currently centred around the Ferrari Challenge. We pitched an integrated concept where ‘Attention to Detail’ became the overarching message across every facet of their communications – from registration on the website through to the event itself.

Effectively communicating to high-end luxury users is a big challenge, especially online devoid of the usual materials used to convey exclusivity. Our proposal thus revolved around a fullscreen immersive video experience of the Ferrari Challenge Finale in Monza, delivered with ‘Attention to Detail’. Many small video vignettes allow the user to engage with the content they are most interested in – the racing enthusiast can focus on the car and the pit whilst the aspirational networker can focus on the hospitality truck and the interviews. Hotspots in the video would deliver the ‘Attention to Detail’ message by allowing the user to get closer to their chosen subject.

The strategy was modular by necessity – beginning small in 2007 with only the Ferrari Challenge whilst giving flexibility to scale through 2008 as new events were added. Throughout 2008, we proposed ever-tighter integration between the website and the event – such as an online auction, RFID invites and an exclusive on-track ringtone generator that would allow users to create their own unique Ferrari ’signature’.

Unfortunately the project, and the ambitious shoot (2x crews, 4x days, 2x countries) was never realised. However, the final image above gives an indication into how we proposed to shoot the first film.

Boredom Is Your Fault isn’t just another blog – its a lens through which you see the world. Think of it as a personal ethos, a manifesto for living if you will.

Begun in January 2006, its an uncompromising filter of the best creativity that our little globe has to offer – be it art, design, advertising, music or fashion. In other words, its an archive of all the coolest stuff I come across over the countless hours I spend scouring the web. Its the space where I can say what I think about other people’s work whilst shameless promoting my own.

The logo was intentionally created to mimic the magnets you get as a child to play with on the fridge. And in many ways that is part of the manifesto – to look at the world as with the eyes of a child. To constantly be in awe of everything around you.

It was the first wordpress theme I designed and coded. It was always my intention to release it into the wild, but my coding leaves a lot to be desired ;-p. Many thanks to Chris Blackburn for his help in this department.

Launch boredom is your fault

Ascot Botannica is a boutique bric-a-brac shop cum nursery in Brisbane, Australia. The simple concept behind the brand is that the shop acts like a filter – leaving only the four-leaf clovers for you to come and find. Final production involved business cards, street signage and printed carry bags.

Leveraging the heritage of the UK’s best selling small car, the launch strapline for the Golf Plus was “A Golf. Just a little bit bigger”. We translated this concept online into a series of experiments an obsessed owner does involving the car and his (seemingly) shrinking dog, Roscoe.

Launch VW GolfPlus

Cast your mind back to the old days, when 2.0 was something you’d find on the side of a box of software. Remember, before Flickr? When having your photos online was anything but easy?

Launch pre-Flickr

Brand identity for a Virtual Reality system developed in Australia. Within the marque the negative space represents the projection screens of the system, and also symbolises the real/virtual interplay that defines VR itself. This interplay also manifests in the dialogue between the rounded exterior of each letter its geometric interior.