Typography Raped And Beaten by Designer
Ariel, serving up some smack talk, offers us her review of a recent campaign for high-end women's athletic apparel boutique Sporteve and it isn't pretty. Designers take cover. Since there's no women in the testosterone-fueled offices of Adrants, we felt it only fair and balanced to ask the opinion of someone a bit closer to the audience with whom the ad is actually attempting to communicate. If you like a good ad trashing, give her a read and let her know what you think.
Comments
what typography?
beautiful and functional as a stand alone ad and well the website is awesome. horny toad dude girl tilly hats...this is a well conceived and superbly executed ad and store and a good model of how to make it woerk. reminfds me a bit of Mariam Nafficy's efforts back in 99 (eve.com) that MN sold at the dizzy heights pre-bubble burst. Now the site forwards to the sephora.com site which bears zero resemblance to sporteve.com
Has this blog become an "I love ariel, please give me some action" blog? Everything is "ariel said..." or "go read what ariel has to say about..." Or is ariel your wife, steve?
Maybe layoff the ariel posts? Or is it just me?
Ariel is my office slut, Sean. Does that make you happy? It is just you. She's a blogger I happen to know and like and one who writes stuff that is related to advertising and that I think might be interesting to readers. No one's forcing you to click on the Ariel links.
Why didn't you hate it when I used to mention Bucky Turco all the time? He sent in stuff all the time that I thought was worthy of publishing. What if Ariel actually worked at Adrants? Would you still hate reading her stuff? Does it matter where she publishes? Is it because she is female? When I link to her in the future should I mention the name of her blog instead of her name? Would that make you feel better? Because, please, I am here to please the every whim of all my readers including you, Sean.
Wow Steve, you are a real dick.
So far, Bucky da Animal's imput was far more interesting.
Ariel adds spice to the broth and makes me think outside the box. I seldom agree with her, but Ariel pulls no punches. She always offers clear personal insights to an otherwise all too often 'preaching to the choir' experience. Thank you Steve for including this Advertisng Prima Diva in the conversation.
"Raped and beaten typeface" is a criticism more applicable to the masthead of Ariel's blog.�http://swbu.blogspot.com/
Although this particular ad isn�t incredibly thoughtful or earth shattering, It�s not deserving of such mean-spirited ridicule. It�s an average execution. To say that the typography was raped and beaten is extreme and unfair. The type isn�t the victim of a violent crime� -- or even incompetent art direction -- as the reviewer suggests. The worst crime that the designer committed was something more akin to jaywalking. In fact, judging by the copy it would be reasonable to assume that it�s not an ad at all but an in-store POS. In which case it�s probably five feet tall. Thereby rendering the type quite readable.�
And frankly, the photography isn�t awful. I guess you could argue (and even this is reaching) that the composition is relatively static. The lighting and color are fine. They are warm and delicate in a way that captures the Arcteryx brand. I think the worst you could say is that the model has a wedgie.
A note to the �blossoming typographers� out there. Be selective about where you glean advice. Ariel may be an aspiring young creative but she has a lot to learn. I happen to be acquainted with Ariel. I also know the director of brand strategy at VML, and when I asked her about Ariel, she politely referred to her as �the intern.�
Speaking of VML: Again, be careful who you consider an expert. On his best day, the ECD of that joint couldn't lay out an ad this nicely. Like I said before, the ad isn't special, but it�s head and shoulders above anything that comes from that particular Kansas City production house.
FYI: Arc'teryx makes really good stuff; mostly high-end, high technology outerwear.