Back soon

I'm in Japan on holiday for a couple of weeks. So posts to DNA may be infrequent or possibly non existent. Normal service will be resumed on 5th October. Sayonara! 

Enough awesome already

Maybe it's because I spend too much time on Twitter.

Or maybe it's because I work a lot with young people.

But I'm all awesomed out.

Seriously.

Return to Snake River

As a kid growing up in the 70's there was no shortage of people for a young boy to idolise.

But for me there was none cooler than Evel Knievel.

He was equal parts Muhammed Ali, George Best and David Bowie.

On a motorbike.

His biggest most ridiculous and ultimately most famous stunt was went he attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon in a what was loosely termed a rocketship.

Truth be told it was anything but a rocket and the stunt failed. Sadly.

38 years later for some obscure reason Audi decided to recreate the Snake River jump to promote the Audi RS5.

With a 4.2L 450hp V8 engine under the bonnet the RS5 is obviously seriously powerful.

Whether it's powerful enough to pull off what Evel Knievel couldn't remains to be seen.

Makes for a cracking little video though.

Why design

Interesting series of interviews with designers around the world from one of the greatest names in design - Herman Miller. This is the trailer. Click here to go see the rest 

Dual Screening

I don't know about you but I often tweet while I'm watching something on TV.

My wife wants to know why I keep looking at my phone.

But I think that's 'cause she still thinks of it primarily as a phone not a pocket sized computer.

Anyway it seems I'm not the only person doing what is now termed Dual Screening.

Google have recently published a terrific preso on this very topic.

It's well worth a look my friends.

Click here to take a peek and download it.

Lack of feeling

Over in the US Toyota has just announced that it has a new tagline for next year.

Let's go places.

Yep. That's it.

You're probably wondering who came up with it.

Well even though it is verging on underwhelming those three words are the result of a lot of expensive people at several agencies.

Yet that's right. Several.

Agencies involved include Saatchi, Dentsu, Conill, Burrell, Intertrend and a research company.

Bet it didn't take that many agencies to come up with one of the greatest taglines of all time.

Oh what a feeling.

Pass the paracetemol

Mate of mine posted this on Facebook this morning.

Really made me smile.

At least until the migraine kicked in.

Come Home Droga

Everyone's heard of David Droga.

He's highly regarded internationally and close to becoming a national treasure in Australia.

Problem is he's not in Australia. He's in New York.

Now a group of enterprising young Aussies are running a campaign to bring Droga home.

Not forever.

But long enough for them (and us) to show him some love and get inspired.

Come on people. Give these kids your support.

Visit Come Home Droga asap. 

Not so great

Number one rule of direct marketing - Get the name right.

And what's worse than getting the name wrong?

Not knowing it at all.

Come on AFL. You can do better than that!

Must try harder

Cute idea.

Hardly campaignable but definitely cute.

Sadly let down by some truly uninspired art direction.

Nuff said really.

Headline of the week

Saw this in the window of a chemist in Port Melbourne.

Not sure what's worse - the appalling headline or the glaring use of a foot mark rather than an apostrophe.

Bonus points for using the word 'doddle' in the copy though!

Underground naughtiness

 I just had to share these cheeky reworkings of signage from the London Underground.

Really made me smile.

Hopefully they do the same to the many miserable faces to be found on the London Underground.

Hat tip

Scroll baby scroll

Every once in a while a website comes along that makes me go wow.

Mostly these belong to Uniqlo.

Yesterday I got sent a link to the site for the Nissan Note.

It's Japanese. And it shows.

No idea how they manage to make gimmicky stuff look and feel cool.

But they do.

And the Nissan Note site is no exception.

24 hours after I first saw it the novelty has worn off a little.

But it's still a heap of fun.

Click here. Wait a few seconds. Then start scrolling. A lot! 

Kern with care

I may be a copywriter but I secretly wish I was a typographer.

Although sadly it seems to be a dying art these days.

Not because people don't care.

Because art directors and designers primarily set their own type.

But if I was a typographer I'd never ever allow kerning like that shown above.

Ever.

Being boring

Given how many outdoor posters I see with overly long (and not particularly interesting) headlines it's a wonder more people don't fall asleep at the wheel when they drive past them.