Space invaders QR Code hijack

Mark posted in Graphic Design on 24 June 2009 - 0 Comments

I knew these reminded me of something. Consider your blog 'Space Invaded'.

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QR Codes are everywhere!

Matthew posted in Graphic Design on 23 June 2009 - 0 Comments

A couple of weeks back, (as part of the Eurocultured weekend), artist Yuri Suzuki created “Graffiti Radio”.  Dotted throughout the city, 2D graffiti QR codes (unusual square shaped barcodes) were sprayed onto any available surface with s stencil.  People who find the graffiti around the city can take a snapshot of the code on their mobile phone which then triggers music - in the form of an internet radio stream created by the artist.  The idea was to musically map the city of Manchester by using this informative form of graffiti. 
“Yuri is interested in a connection between graffiti and pirate radio. Both are creative expressions that hack into public facilities. In the case of graffiti, the hacker uses the wall. In case of pirate radio, the hacker uses public radio waves illegally. It can be said that pirate radio is sound graffiti and Suzuki proposes to combine these two methods of graffiti.”

The technology has been used in numerous advertising campaigns.  In 2007, posters of QR codes were used to “Spread the virus” for the DVD release of 28 Weeks Later.  Recently Editoras Online bookshop used the format to create “The Living Book”.  And glancing over my desk this morning I I spotted one on Dave’s Pepsi bottle.  QR codes are everywhere!

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Low Impact / High Impact advertising

Matthew posted in Graphic Design on 03 June 2009 - 0 Comments

Most businesses these days are concerned about their carbon footprint and the impact their service has on the environment.  Here’s a few creative ways of advertising without it ‘costing the earth’ so to speak. 

London based design agency KentLyons created a wonderfully eye-catching advertising campaign for ‘Get London Reading’, using a beautifully simple technique called ‘clean advertising’ - a process which includes intricate laser cut stencils and some clever cleaning equipment.  The stencil art of various book quotes was laid throughout the streets of london along with the Get London Reading logo to encourage Londoners to make more time for reading.  And it did the trick.  People stopped in the street and took the time to read.  Clean advertising lasts anything from 2 to 20 weeks, is completely legal, incredibly versatile and highly targetable.

There’s many other forms of low impact/high impact advertising.  Howies have creative a great sand imprint to advertise their summer catalogue.  Curb advertise themselves as ‘the natural media company’ and have some great new ways to promote business and events with minimal environmental impact, including solar art, snow tagging and rake ads.  Take a look at what they can do here.  It’s pretty impressive!

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Ghost in the Machine

Matthew posted in Graphic Design on 20 May 2009 - 0 Comments

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Standard Dots Per Inch?

Dave posted in Graphic Design on 13 May 2009 - 0 Comments

I was recently tasked with creating two promotional banners at 850mm x 2000mm size, one of which used a bitmap pixel based image as apposed to a vector image.

I have always been unsure when it comes to the correct dpi (Dots per inch) settings for large format images. Some people say ‘save out at 72 dpi others 180 dpi and even the London Underground posters out-put at 300 dpi’, So what is the correct number of Dots per inch for large format printing?

The primary factor that determines the resolution settings for an image is of course clarity for the viewer. Billboards, banners, posters and vehicle liveries, all of which, are viewed at a further distance, use lower resolution to keep file sizes down and can still be viewed at a reasonable clarity. Although what determines the clarity is the distance a person is from the image itself.

A magazine for example will use images set at 300 dpi due to it’s very close proximity to the viewer. Posters and banners vary from 300 dpi to 120 dpi depending on where they are situated (say high up on the side of a building for example) and their overall size.

So should the standard be, 72, 100, 120, 180 or 300 dpi?

Through looking on the web and speaking to fellow designers I have come to the conclusion that there can be no standard resolution for large format printing. In the end it is down to the designers discretion to use the resolution settings which are appropriate, resulting in the highest clarity for the image to be viewed clearly.


As a guide I would recommend the following resolution settings:

Posters

A4 - 300dpi
A3 - 300dpi
A2 - 200 dpi
A1 - 180 dpi

Banners

850mm x 2000mm - 180dpi
1000mm x 2000mm - 180 dpi
2000mm x 2500mm - 180 dpi

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