Blog Action Day: WWF Climate Change

Today, in honor of Blog Action Day for climate change, our post will be dedicated to how World Wildlife Fund is acting now for our future. "WWF is participating in Blog Action Day today (15 October 2009). This is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. This year’s topic is conveniently climate change. Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices." 

Climate change has been a priority for WWF for over 20 years as climate disruption poses a fundamental threat to the vulnerable places, species and people WWF seeks to protect. To adequately slow climate change we urgently must reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. We are leveraging the power of WWF’s network of organizations around the world to build support for the new post-2012 global climate agreement at Copenhagen that is fair, effective and science-based.Read more here.

WWF has also used the power of design to fight climate change. Many of the campaigns that involve WWF contain strong graphics and messages that greatly affect their viewers. WWF has worked hard to promote their causes and grab the world's attention and through the use of many creative minds, they have succeeded. We have found some very effective WWF campaigns and wanted to share them with you today. 

Remember that you can take action too! 

• Check your lights

• Check your thermostats

• Check your water faucets/showers 

• Turn off appliances you are not using

If you want to learn more about WWF and what they are doing please visit their website today. 

* Make this Halloween healthy for both the kids and the environment while also helping WWF! Learn more at this blog.

Read more about this campaign here.

October: The Best of the Breast!

So we're 8 days into October and two things come to mind: Halloween and Breast Cancer Awareness. Our last blog post was dedicated to our Halloween campaign so we wanted to showcase Breast Cancer Awareness this week. It seems as though everywhere we look things are "going pink" for Breast Cancer Awareness month. From websites to advertisements, television, clothing, buildings and the NFL... Breast Cancer Awareness has made its mark.  We think it's a wonderful campaign that has greatly evolved over time and allowed designers to put their talent to work for a good cause. We are now seeing social networking and the online world taking a big part in spreading the word to large masses (check out the pink for october campaign for example). Because these campaigns have used various medians to broadcast awareness, designers might find it difficult to "stand out" amongst the competition. Some of you may be thinking competition? Who is in competition when we are all fighting for the same cause? As designers we still want to create a piece that really jumps out at our viewer and grabs their attention right from the start. The goal of all campaigns is to raise awareness, but who can do it the best? We have researched some Breast Cancer campaigns/advertisements that we found to be very well thought out and executed. Take a look below and let us know if you have found others! 

And because we have to give some Chitown love! 

JB Chicago: Milkin' Halloween For All It's Worth!

In our last post we talked about Microsites and how they have played a crucial role in today's marketing environment. Our company, JB Chicago, is a forerunner in the online realm and has made its mark in the Twittersphere. We have successfully created a niche in this ever-growing medium as the go-to company for launching successful online strategies. Our research shows that centering such launches on holidays is highly effective. Our latest project that we just launched was a Viral Marketing Halloween Campaign for "milk boxes" (learn more about the product at tetrapakusa.com). The campaign we created is fun, silly and for a good cause – every time you play we donate to World Wildlife Fund. Sound good? We’re just getting started! 

The goal of this campaign is to show chocolate milk as a great alternative to candy, whether you’re giving it to kids during the holidays or simply as an after-school snack. By utilizing viral and social networking components we can achieve this in a fun, engaging way that allows the message to spread among moms. Hershey's and Organic Valley want to spread the word about milk in single serve, shelf stable cartons. To do so, we have created applications for them on Facebook, Twitter and the Web. On the social networking sites, you can choose whether your friends deserve to be treated or tricked – all the while supporting World Wildlife Fund. And on the Web, you can upload headshots of yourself and your friends, only to have them appear atop the dancing bodies of monsters, ready to trick or treat at your friends’ doors. These applications are easy to do and easy to become addicted to! It’s easy to get swept up in the Halloween spirit. So take part in this all-around great campaign and share it with your friends. Remember: while you’re sharing a laugh with your friends, you are also helping protect the future of nature with the World Wildlife Fund.

Look below to see how the JB Chicago designers stepped up to the plate to make sure this campaign didn't "scare" people away! From designing the twitter profiles and pages, the facebook application and fan pages, the twitter microburst, the blogs, and the flash piece we took Trick or Treating to a whole new level. Help us spread the word and make this Halloween a friendly one for both the kids and environment!

Twitter Microburst: Tweet out Tricks or Treats with this fun application and find out who is the "Scariest Twitterer" of your friends. Receive access to coupons for the products and a link to our blog.

Visit at http://budurl.com/C2PTW

Facebook Application: Send and receive Tricks or Treats to/from your friends and publish them to your wall, while also showing people the benefit of handing out chocolate milk instead of candy this spooky season!

Visit at http://budurl.com/C2PFBApp

Facebook Fan Page: Become a fan of the Trick or Treat page on Facebook and help spread the word about the application by posting photos, chatting in discussions, and posting your own thoughts!

Visit at http://budurl.com/C2PFBFan

Flash Piece: Have fun with your friends and create personalized Trick or Treats for your friends using uploaded photos.  

Visit at http://budurl.com/C2PWebApp

Blog: Read up and comment on the latest news from Tetra Pak and receive coupons for the products. 

Visit at http://budurl.com/C2PBlog

Mad for Micro-sites

Brands are seeing some serious traffic online recently by creating micro-sites. They are hooking unique visitors with contests, coupons and content that can be spread easily through social networking and email.

Here are a couple examples of micro-sites in the food industry: Reynoldsrecycled.com, Taco Bell's bajablast.com, cicispizza.com, Hellmann's buildtheperfectsandwich.com. Notice how these sites entice visitors with fun graphics and special offers.

The last example for AXE was made by our team here at JB Chicago. Visitors were encouraged to create their own twist on "Kiss Me I'm Irish" and tweet on to their friends.

What's Bloggin' Got to do with it? (got to do with it...)

Well we're on to about our 30th post and we figured we might as well take a step back and ask ourselves why exactly we decided to take part in this whole blogging phenomenon. Does blogging really do designers any good? You might be asking yourself this same question... so let's investigate. We realize that the design world has changed quite a bit over the years. We all get our inspiration for design somewhere: books, artists, friends, pictures, magazines, teachers, etc., but now more than ever inspiration can be found right at our fingertips via the web. Design blogs have become much more popular with new bloggers popping up each day lending out extra tips, tutorials, inspiration, and experience. 

Design blogs have many different benefits. Here are just a few we have found:

• They allow us to gain exposure where maybe we wouldn't have had the chance to before. 

• They keep our brains and creative minds churning at all times coming up with new posts and ideas to blog about.

• Blogging can be a challenge. Just like any other project that comes our way, we must be proud of what we put forth.

• Design is all about communication; visually communicating with your viewers. With blogging, we are able to embellish on those communication skills and learn new techniques.

• Creativeness. Of course as designers, we love to be creative and push things to the extreme and blogging allows us to do just that. We are our own clients! What we say goes!

Each of us decided to highlight one of our favorite blogs that we enjoy visiting from time to time to keep up with our fellow bloggers in the design industry. Enjoy!

First up is Jim's:

Sometimes designers need to look back in order to move forward. One of my favorite blogs is Grain Edit. They are focused on classic design work from the 1950s-1970s and contemporary designers that draw inspiration from that time period. Site content includes interviews, articles, designers’ libraries as well as examples of rare design annuals, type specimens, Ephemera, posters and vintage kids books.

Visit the blog: www.grainedit.com.

Next is Christina's:

Web Designer Wall, a wall of design ideas, web trends, and tutorials, is designed and maintained by Nick La, who also runs N.Design Studio and Best Web Gallery. He's been designing for several years and his work has been published on numbers of magazines. He loves to share ideas and design techniques. Web Designer Wall serves as his public blog where he posts design ideas, tutorials, and talk about modern web design trends. I like that his site is kind of a one-stop-shop; I can search through how-to tutorials, new inspiring trends and read up on some design news. Not to mention his blog is well designed. Thumbs up to Web Designer Wall!

Visit the blog: www.webdesignerwall.com.

Last is Megan's:

One of my favorite blogs to visit for inspiration is Bad Ass Ideas. The author, Samantha Warren, communicates well with her audience, while also giving it that extra edge that I love. She adds a personal touch to her blog, while also providing great resources for the beginner designer and the advanced designer. While her focus is on web design, she offers great inspiration for all designers. She calls herself a "people person," and in my book is one of my "people." Great job Samantha!

Visit the blog: www.badassideas.com.

Illustration Inspiration

Illustration may be the best way to give any campaign a fresh look. Why settle for contrived stock images? Try a more artistic interpretation to distance yourself from the competitors. Here are some examples that may inspire you to reach for your own pen and paper! All images courtesy of www.behance.net.