Class Critique and Lecture with Liad Baniel

Liad Baniel, of Liad Baniel Studio, visited my Digital Design class last week to help critique our early stage Marketing Videos for our products. He first gave a lecture on marketing and advertising in general. It was a great lecture and I naturally took copious notes. Some of my favorite points he hit on were:
- Marketing and advertising is about finding a point of CONNECTION with your viewer
- The holy grail of design is to get your viewer to experience something they will never forget
- Visual communication is the face of any company, product, idea, concept, etc
- Putting a poster out into the world is like a first date. Play by the rules - you know what people are attracted to, but you can't be boring

He also pulled up a few projects he thought were really successful at grabbing an audience's attention, in very different ways. The first two images are print advertising by Marc Atlan Design, Inc (a new favorite design studio of mine!). They are both for Commes des Garcon - one for nail polish and one for perfume. The ads are approached in two VASTLY different ways, which I love. Baniel hit on that something to always remember - an advertising campaign does not all have to look the same. For the nail polish, the bold use of color and scale are great. A sense of drama is created. For the perfume, a more intimate product, you feel like the bottles are hugging - a time when you're most likely to smell someone's perfume.

The second project here that Baniel discussed is Wolff Olins' branding for the New Museum in New York City. The branding is variable based on the content the museum needs to include and serves as an active graphic device. I love variable logos and I think this is really successful - it even picks up on the stacked architectural elements of the building itself.