Digital Arts Awards 2009 - The Winners

Last Saturday night the Digital Arts Awards 2009 were held at the Intercontinental, St Julians. Awards to the best entries in a variety of disciplines were awarded, namely, Advertising, Graphic Design, Print, Audio Visual, Photography and Web.

Here is the full list of winners:

Best Outdoor Campaign Award
Winner: JP ADVERTISING
Client: DISCRIMINATION AWARNESS CAMPAIGN

Best Advertising Campaign Award
Winner: JP ADVERTISING
Client: DISCRIMINATION AWARNESS CAMPAIGN

Best "Client Rejected Artwork" Award
Winner: MPS
Client: VODAFONE CHRISTMAS CAMPAIGN

Best Press Advertising Award
Winner: RED ORANGE
Client: VODAFONE JOIN THE DOTS TEASER ADVERT

Best Communication Design Award
Winner: RED ORANGE
Client: VODAFONE EURO COIN LEAFLET

Best Illustration Award
Winner: GEORGE MARIO ATTARD
Client: BIRDS EYE

Best Branding / Logos & Typefaces Award
Winner: EDEN LEISURE GROUP
Client: BAY

Best Commercial Photographer Award
Winner: PIERRE CAMILLE

Best Digitally Enhanced Photo Award
Winner: MATTHEW GRIMA
Client: PHASE MAGAZINE COVER

Best Offset Print Award
Winner: LOGIX COMMUNICATIONS
Client: ROCS TRAVEL BROCHURES

Best Website (Content + Design) Award
Winner: JOSEPH PAUL DARMANIN
Client: PINKISHLINE

Best Flash Website Award
Winner: MARK CASSAR
Client: CASASOFT

Best Radio Commercial Award
Winner: MPS
Client: PELITO

Best Digital Animation Award
Winner: BLAZE
Client: PIANOFORTE

Best TV Commercial Award
Winner: BLAZE
Client: KRISTAL

Best Student of the Year Award
Students: MAURO PIRRONE, KEITH GALEA, JAMES ABELA, BRIAN FENECH
Project: IMAGINE CUP

Grand Prix / Best of Show
Winner: BLAZE
Client: PIANOFORTE

Pictures of the winning entries can be found here.

tsek-tsik

Tsek-tsik is a book event featuring '10 and a half guests' who will each get 15 images and just 20 seconds to chat about each image. After 20 seconds, the image will change to the next. This exercise is being organised by Merlin Library at MCC - Valletta this Thursday 12th November at 19.00 as part of the 25th edition of the Malta Book Fair.
REDWHITE^mt asked artist Pierre Portelli to talk about the Tsek-tsik ident which he created. He was kind enough to reveal the whole recepie:

"The Brief for the Tsek-tsik logo was to create an identity which reflected the light-hearted fun element of the event it is being used for. Speed, creativity, fun, theatre were keywords. It was decided that zekzik (gossiping) would be spelt phonetically - it's more graphical. Ts really had a sort of horizontal bracket underneath and this really reminded me of the smiley symbol. I also took the liberty to create some new 'phonetic' accents and markings that do not really exist, kicked around and flipped some lettering too. The rough red brushstroke as background tied all the elements together making the image more logo-like. I mixed all with a bit of fun and cooked for about an hour. I think it tastes good."

Article grabs attention of main newspaper

As some of you indicated, REDWHITE^mt was referenced in an article published yesterday on the Times of Malta. The Vodafone campaign by Redorange was exposed once again to public discussion following the feature published last Wednesday on this blog. In the meantime the online article has provoked further discussion.

Vodafone Malta - JustPlay Campaign

Client: Vodafone

Advertising Agency: Redorange

Brief
"Vodafone have to stand out amongst 50 odd different exhibitors on University Campus during Fresher's Week".

How we did it
According to a recent student survey conducted by Vodafone, students were considering Vodafone's offers as not appealing enough or unsuitable for them. Redorange were assigned by Vodafone the task to come up with a package name, identity and concept that would deliver results.

"During our brainstorming session we came up with several ideas, some of which were good, some verging on the genial (kidding) and others outright wacky" Redorange's Creative Director Ms Lara Parker told REDWHITE^mt.

"Well, this time round we decided to push the boat out, so we gave birth (excuse the pun) to the concept "What colour are you?". In collaboration with Vodafone we designed four student packages which were colour coded, each relating to a coloured condom."

• Play Now was associated with colour orange
• Play Daily was associated with colour purple
• Play Weekly was associated with colour green
• Play Monthly was associated with colour yellow
  

Given that this approach was entirely unrelated to mobile services and telephony served a twofold purpose. It rendered this initiative more interesting and appealing to the target group and it projected Vodafone Malta as daring and innovative.

"We were fully aware of the endless debates as to whether the University of Malta should, or should not, have a condom vending machine on campus. We were also sure that this promotional stunt would stir up some controversy and could have serious implications had it been stopped at inception. To steer away from this we decided to introduce a challenge, whereby students who were given a condom attached to the promotional flyer, were asked to think of a best creative alternative use for it (unrelated to sex), and participate in a competition to win a BlackBerry phone."

The campaign was given a little twist by replacing the condoms with coloured lollipops when it came to students attending Junior College and MCAST (the under 18's).

Post Campaign Results
The campaign was a hit during Freshers's Week and generated endless debates on various media channels. It featured on a daily basis on the Times of Malta, timesofmalta.com, MaltaStar, YouTube, The Insiter Magazine and various other channels.

This was the most successful and daring student campaign ever entertained by Vodafone Malta.

Above concepts are credited to Lara Parker (Creative Director) and were developed together with the Redorange team.

Adobe Reveals 2009 Design Achievement Awards Winners

Adobe announced the winners of their ninth annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards (ADAA), one of the world's most prestigious student design film competitions in the world. In partnership with the International Counsel of Graphic Design Associations, this year's competition attracted a record-breaking number of 3,300 entries from 37 different countries.

The award ceremony took place at the Icograda World Design Congress 2009 in Beijing, and honored the most promising students in various fields of design.

Below are the winners in each of the competition's 12 categories. All winners received a complimentary trip to Beijing to attend the awards ceremony, a US$3,000 cash prize, a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection, a certificate, and a trophy. Students were also offered a one-year mentorship with a design leader working in their area of interest and appointed to an Icograda Youth Advisory Panel. The winning entries can be viewed at http://adaaentry.com/adaalive.php?year=2009.

• Animation: a team led by David Prosser of the Royal College of Art in London.
• Application Design: Bryan Berger of Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla.
• Browser-based Design: a team led by Jayheun Kyum of Hongik University in Korea.
• Illustration: Joerg Block of Hamburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany.
• Installation Design: a team led by Margherita Rubini of Università IUAV di Venezia in Italy.
• Live Action: Varathit Uthaisri of Parsons New School for Design in New York City.
• Mobile Design: a team led by Marc Oßwald of University of Applied Sciences Swabian Gmund in Germany.
• Motion Graphics: David Harper of Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.
• Non-Browser-based Design: a team led by Jared Weinstock of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pa.
• Packaging: a team led by Adam Paterson of Royal College of Art in London.
• Photography: a team led by Barnaby Coote of Gobelins in France.
• Print Communications: a team led by Jiwon Park of Ewha Woman's University, and Chung-ang University in Korea.

Reclaim the World campaign; designer/artists needed

Moviment Graffitti is currently in full swing with preparations for the annual Reclaim the World event which is going to be held on Saturday 24th October. The theme for this edition is food and the event will be tagged "you are what you eat". Graffitti are seeking the help of a local artists/designers to create and produce five information posters in relation to this theme on a voluntary basis. Anyone interested should get in touch directly by email or by joining Graffitti's facebook group. Detailed information about the Movement can be found on the official website.

Interview [Issue 5]: Jon Calleja

REDWHITE^mt welcomes you to the first video interview. We met up with our friend, designer/musician Jon Calleja from Unbrandme.com

Not much to add. We hope you will enjoy this and find it interesting.

Climate Change Logo Competition

The European Green Party of which Alternattiva Demokratika is a founding member invites you to take part in a competition for the creation of a Climate Change Logo

"Time is running out for agreeing a global climate deal. We want to make your message heard.
Upload your slogan or logo for a global climate deal and convince your friends and family to vote for your slogan or image. We will use the winning message as part of our campaign for the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December 2009. This means it will be seen by global decision-makers.

The winner will also get to go to Copenhagen for the finale of the climate summit. More instructions can be found here."

YWCA (Malta) Cosmetology Scholarships

YWCA (Malta) is offering three scholarships at the Peach & Sorrel College available for young women aged between 18 to 30 years who would like to pursue a beauty career but are unable to afford the relative expenses to attend a beauty College.. The Cosmetology Scholarship are available in Nail Technology, Fashion and photographic make-up and beauty Therapy.

All courses also cover the relevant qualifications in Health, Safety and Security Standards. Peach & Sorrel are VTCT accredited centre and students can acquire qualifications which will be recognised both in Malta and in other European countries. Basic English literacy and Communication Skills are required. The closing date is this Tuesday, 15 September.

Further information and application forms ad available from YWCA (Malta) e-mail: ywca-malta@hotmail.com or on telephone: 2131 4844, 7900 2930

Screaaaam 4 Halloweeeeen

Today, REDWHITE^mt speaks to Lisa Falzon about her latest work; a poster for upcoming children's Halloween musical Screaaaam 4 Halloweeeeen.

Lisa starts off about having to present a sketch to her clients: "I am a bit infamous for crude sketches that seem to only make sense to me, so I decided to block this one out in grayscale first rather than sticking to linework. This way they could get a better feel of the impact of the poster without dragging them in the chaos of colour.

Sometimes, depending on a whim, I work like this also when creating personal pieces that need to be compositionally strong, because in the initial phases grayscale gives a better sense of where the eye will rest and allows me to map out where best to have my lightsources."

Mostly known as Meluseena through her online presence, Lisa was raised in Malta but currently lives in Ireland. She is an artist and illustrator and usually works through Adobe Photoshop using a Wacom tablet pen.

"The principle is that of 'blocking out colours in loose flat areas over my initial sketch and slowly refining it. I like to work from bright to dark but I know some artists prefer to work in the opposite direction. Though I keep adding highlights right till the end, I find having the brightest point set down from the start gives me more structure when dealing with my light composition."

1/3 of the way through this poster Lisa felt the need to decide on the type to be employed and the composition had to be shunted up to make more room for dates, venue and sponsor information.

"I love the challenge of creating marketing and poster material... balancing the need to relay information via the imagery with the need to capture attentions first and foremost and allow room for type. It's a bit like being an illusionist and creating a magic trick; drawing eyes and interests of your target audience.

Once a long time ago, someone had told me that illustration is all about solving problems in a visual manner and back then I did not understand... but now I do."

Visit Lisa Falzon here