OFFSET2010 in association with ICAD present George Lois in a special Q&A session in our second room Sunday October 3rd at 1600hrs.. Moderated by Fionn Davenport (Culture Shock, Newstalk) with an introduction from Pearse McCaughey (ICAD President) it promises to be an engaging occasion with a true legend and a great character.

Lois has a reputation of being among the greatest innovators in advertising: he put MTV on the map with the ‘I want my MTV’ campaign; brought the Tommy Hilfiger brand to international attention; and renamed Stouffer’s frozen foods products, Lean Cuisine and of course his iconic covers for Esquire remain icons in publishing.

George Lois’s main stage presentation takes place Saturday October 2nd at 1800hrs.

We are very excited and honoured to announce the addition of George Lois - advertising executive, designer and artist to the OFFSET2010 lineup. George is the brains behind a plethora of popular and industry defining campaigns (including “I Want My MTV”), but he is perhaps best known for the covers he produced for Esquire from 1962 to 1972.

Here is a great article by George as he describes his normal day on Madison Avenue in the 60’s. It has been said that George was one of the inspirations for the Don Draper character in TV’s Mad Men.

For more details on the OFFSET2010 lineup and how to avail of our early bird and student ticket offer visit the OFFSET2010 site.

‘Up There’ is a new minifilm produced by Mother NYC for Stella Artois detailing the awesome work of Colossal Media, the guys who paint rather than print the massive advertisements on to the side of buildings in NYC. A fascinating insight in a dying out craft, it’s also an interesting way for Mother to promote the beer. Why not kick back with one of said beers and enjoy!

Portfolio Night is the world’s largest simultaneous advertising portfolio review event, which sees advertising’s top creative talents come together to review the portfolios of students, emerging creatives and freelancers in a ’speed-dating’ setting.  Each participant will receive three 15-minute portfolio review sessions with three of the country’s most prominent Creative Directors, who will offer them advice on improving their portfolios.  On May 20, Portfolio Night will be held simultaneously in almost 40 cities around the world.

This event is strictly for those who either already work in or are interested in becoming an advertising creative and possess an advertising portfolio (hence Portfolio Night). If you are a photographer, industrial or fashion designer, illustrator, fine artist or filmmaker/director then this event is NOT for you.

The Dublin leg will be hosted by Ogilvy and will feature sessions with some of Ireland’s leading Creative Directors. For a full list of those participating and for info on tickets visit Portfolio Night 8.

…I wish, as my mum would really dig this and it’s her birthday soon. The shoes used in the video are the real sound controllers. Tomoaki Yanagisawa of 4nchor5 la6 was responsible for the hardware part. He added flexible and accelerometer sensors to the shoes. Daito Manabe of Rhizomatiks.
They were both commissioned by Wieden + Kennedy Tokyo for this project.

Have a read of this interview with an amazing illustrator Sheilah Beckett over on Today’s inspiration.

Sheilah Beckett is 97 years old and still illustrating – for the last five years, in Photoshop on a Wacom tablet no less!
Entirely self-taught, Beckett managed to secure a spot in the best New York art studio of the ’40s and ’50s, the Charles E. Cooper studio, (think Mad Men) where she rubbed shoulders with some of the titans of the illustration industry.

I met Tom Gauld about 10 years ago at a comics convention in Bristol, he was showcasing his lovely comic books that he published with Simone Lia while I was there with issues 1-3 of Toenail Clippings (an anthology of mostly Irish comics). I thought his work was great and I’ve been following his upward trajectory since. Regular Guardian readers will recognise his work immediately.
He has recently worked on putting his artwork onto cans of Diet Coke (below) only released in the US. The limited edition cans are designed to raise awareness of The Heart Truth, the woman’s heart health program. he has also helped create a series of animations for the campaign, one of which can be viewed above.

Some recent additions to OFFSET2009’s speaker Serge Seidlitz’s blog showcase some of the different treatments he worked up for ITV’s new drama. The work appeared across platforms (quite litterally in the case of these TUBE station advertisements above) and showcase his loverly hand-drawn type. Below are some unused treatments.

The annual Creative Circle Awards are upcoming and to promote it Mark Denton and Seth Watkins have created the piece below featuring nigh on a billion references to classic ads from years gone by as well as now. How many can you spot?

Great news! ICAD have just secured a screening of the much celebrated documentary exploring the world of advertising ‘Art & Copy’, along with a Q&A with its editor Philip Owens, this Thursday at The Sugar Club. Doors open at 6.30pm with the film starting at 7pm and Q&A straight after so if you can make it make sure you do. Tickets are 15 euro and got by emailing elaine@icad.ie or on the door.