(Unofficial) portrait of the Pope

An unofficial portrait of the Pope appeared opposite the Royal Albert Hall in the early hours of this morning. This sinister stencil of Pope Benedict XVI stroking a fluffy white cat (a la Blofeld from the James Bond movies) is in relation to various tensions rising with the regards to his arrival in London this week after 25 years.

eBay's re-usable box

eBay has launched its new re-usable box which inside has space for shippers to write messages to their recipients. Six white boxes provide a space for a message to be written. Along with these spaces the box also contains tips on how to use such things as old phone books for packaging materials.

The box is made from recycled, FSC-approved cardboard and is also designed in such a way to minimise the use of tape. The company will release 100,000 of these boxes in three different sizes as a pilot programme. You can get hold of yours by signing up with eBay Green Team here

Nigella Bites (or should that be Zoe?)

We are all very sad at Vivid as our Bake-off slowly draws to a close with only one week left. With this in mind (we assume), Zoe made some very comforting chocolate chip cookies to help us ease the pain. As the photo shows, they didn't last long. The recipe for the darker variety is one of Nigellas which you can find here.

Tailored for England

I was lucky enough to watch the England v Bulgaria match on friday, which happened to be the first to show off the new england kit which features a subtle addition from Peter Saville. The new kit is emroidered small multi coloured crosses which aim to represent the multi cultural element of England. Its just a pity that from a distance they loose their visibility, which has been a criticism which has been noted by many. However when we look at the England kits through time it is certainly the simpler designs that seem to be the most striking.

Winter Padding

Yup, its the time of year when diets get thrown out the window and we all have to start embracing the cold once again. This is no exception at Vivid towers where we have been continuing our bake off with some very indulgent (fattening) creations.

Our chairman Andy arrived with some yummy brownies the week before last. Designer Dan later followed with a white chocolate cheesecake. Then most recently Gideon our MD, produced our most cake-like gluten free cake so far, a chocolate espresso.

Only 3 more to go before we decide who will be our in-house masterchef. The prize?... The pleasure of baking us all cakes every week for the foreseeable future. Just Kidding.

Print vs Digital

After an ad we posted on the YCN website for a design intern, we were amazed by how many responses we received. With over 90 applicants emailing us their PDF portfolios we got to see a lot of great work. People had branded themselves in amazing ways and had spent some time writing cover letters. One thing that we couldn't understand was how much work was just being screen grabbed digitally.

A poster can look very boring when viewed as a flat image, there are many ways in which you can bring life to your work by simply printing it out and photographing it. Some simple ways this can be done include holding it up, hanging it on a wall with bulldog clips or even laying it on the floor. With a little life given to your work you can really bring out the finer details. So what do you think; Print or Digital?

Made for walls since 2010

Ever walked past the sad remnants of wall painted ads from a time gone by and marveled at their retro beauty? Well fear no more. Anchor butter has embraced this medium as part of their latest ad campaign 'made by cows' as a way to bring heritage back to the brand. It goes to show living in the past isn't all bad. CHI (the ad agency) commissioned illustrator Paul Slater and hand lettering artist Alison Carmichael to help create the ads.