Kyle Weeks – OvaHimba Portraits

We love nothing more than seeing our students and alumni excel and we are proud to share with you some amazing work from Kyle Weeks. Kyle studied photography with us and graduated in 2013. Here, we see his portrait work with the OvaHimba men in Namibia.

You can read more about Kyle’s work in this week’s Mail and Guardian, which explains a good deal about his process and thinking. Have a look at that here.

This honest portrayal of local men, with their mish-mash of Western fashion and local flair is such a beautiful series of portraits – we do suggest you go see them in the flesh!

This work is currently on show at the Johans Borman gallery in Cape Town until 7 November. To read more about Kyle, check out his official bio page here.

To see more of Kyle discussing his work, check out the video below.

http://vimeo.com/74041121

Roofings Uganda: Shock

For our Hallowe’en post, we thought we should try find something just a little bit creepy – and this campaign from Scanad Uganda ticks all the boxes. In order to show the effectiveness of Roofing Uganda’s electric fencing, Scanad shows images of just how powerful this electric fencing is – with hysterical portraits of would-be burglars being shocked by Roofing Uganda’s electric fences.

It is great to see good quality work like this coming out of Africa. More of this please!

Sumelax Supplements

When you see packaging for supplements – protein powders, vitamins, weight loss products etc. they tend to look a certain way. Often they have big bold type, some silver and real power graphics. Often they feature images of bulging muscles and other such things to give you an idea of what you could look forward to (were you to work out like crazy and use their products almost religiously). But this health supplement brand from South Korea, Sumelax, has taken a design-centric angle to their packaging that delivers all the feelings necessary from a health supplement brand, without falling into the cliched traps we see other brands falling into all the time,

The type is strong, the colours are bold and the packaging screams health and muscle – but most importantly, it does so in a way that you can proudly show on your shelf.

Harman/Kardon Noise Reduction Headphones

Great art direction work here from McCann India. We love the snappy idea and quality visuals that show just how well these noise reduction headphones work.

Beautiful work!

Sierra Mist – Rebrand

Sierra Mist is an American soft drink with a lemon-lime citrus flavour. After carrying the same design for years, they reached out to Little Fury to help them update their look for 2014.

Here you can see the old look for Sierra Mist. Serviceable… but definitely in need of an upgrade.

And below, Little Fury’s redesign. There’s nothing we love more than a great brand getting a fresh new coat of paint and this is a great example of updating a look but keeping the essence of a brand, to give it a strong design aesthetic for years to come.

Dior – Addict

This film for Dior’s Addict fragrance is directed by the cult filmmaker Harmony Korine (he wrote the hard-hitting ‘Kids’, if you weren’t aware) and features music by none other than local favourites (or not least-favourites, depending on who you ask) Die Antwoord.

We love the bold colours and lush visuals – amazing art direction and a beautiful film all round.

Johnny Cupcakes T-Shirt Packaging

Johnny Cupcakes is a T-Shirt and fashion label that specialises in limited edition designs. With their iconic cupcake motif, they have created thousands of shirts loved by people all over the world and often have people lining up to try and stand a chance to own one of their new designs.

Here, Johnny Cupcakes has taken packaging cues from their T-Shirt design (a meat cupcake with crossbones – why not?) and packaged the T-Shirt just as if it were a cut of meat in a butchery or grocery store. From the clingwrap around the package to the sticker and the tray it comes in – this packaging is authentic.

It’s playful, fun and engaging. Everything you want from good design.

To see more from Johnny Cupcakes, have a look at their website right over here.

Two new amazing courses from the Stellenbosch Academy

http://vimeo.com/109217920

We are very pleased to announce two new short courses that will be starting at the Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography.

Motion Design

With the move toward video content worldwide, we felt it was time to offer a short course to the market that can really help hone skills and put new ones in place and give people that competitive edge. We know that video is where it’s at and motion design and information design are becoming more important than ever as we use moving images to tell stories and impart information.

This eight week course will have six components: Introduction, The World of Digital, Infographics, Animated Commercials, Basic Compositing and Professional Advice.

This course will run in November this year and then again in March 2015.

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DSLR Filming and Editing

With the rise of DLSRs we have seen the democratisation of the film industry. This means that with the right digital camera, you are able to produce some of the highest quality film. No longer are people held back by expensive equipment and clunky gear – you can do it all with one device. If you’re interested in telling great stories and bringing them to life, this is the course for you.

This course focuses on the technical challenges related to DSLR video production and will help students learn: How to light scenarios for documentary interviews and corporate filming, camera movements and how to plan and execute a shoot from start to finish.

This course will run in March 2015.

Interested? Got any more questions? Fill out an application form here or contact Sally Currie via email here.

Vivienne Westwood – Virgin Atlantic Uniforms

When you think Vivienne Westwood, you can be forgiven for thinking of Punk; of ripped up clothes held together with safety pins and Johnny Rotten singing about Anarchy in the UK. But even punks need to grow up some time, and with this new work for Virgin Atlantic – Vivienne Westwood has brought her keen eye and design aesthetic to something most people may not even consider: aeroplane uniforms.

From the cabin crew through to the male and female pilots – we can see smart design decisions and real style brought in. With Virgin Atlantic, you can be sure their work will be both smart and easy on the eye – remember their food trays we featured just a few weeks ago?

Remember – great design thinking can help almost any problem.

Paul X. Johnson – Illustration

Paul X. Johnson is an illustrator based in the UK, who has worked for a number of musicians and international brands. We cannot get enough of his 50’s inspired style, using gouache and ink.

To see more of his work, have a look at his website over here.