"Heroes" Clive on Bernbach
123 KLAN
In response to Clives lecture about Doyle Dane Bernbach, who are acclaimed as one of the most influential creative advertising suits ever. Bill Bernbach, Ned Doyle and Mac Dane all formed together using their skills to form DDB. I found what Clive had to say about Bernbach very inspiring, especially hearing how passionate he was about DDB in particular Bernbach. It made me think about other creative agencies who have influenced me. My particular tastes and interests may be slightly different than Clives, however his passion and enthusiasm of his "Hero" can be projected by me and my so called "Heroes".
I started to look through my earliest graffiti/urban art books, to try and find who had originally set me off with this obsession for urban visuals.
I had always enjoyed work from such artists as Banksy, Robbo, Stack, Arron Bird, who are all pretty much solo artists making their name through the "old skool" illegal form of Graffiti. It wasn't until i left secondary school that i started developing a love for sharper, smarter, digital forms of this "graffiti" style.
In the last 7 or 8 years i have seen an increase of this "street", "urban", "graffiti" style of work making its way onto advertisements, music videos, websites and magazines.
Not always necessarily stereo-typical wildstyle graffiti done with spray paint, yet a more sharp, clear and expendable design with some form of urban visual influence. Logos, icons, backgrounds, characters, 3D, shapes, colours, typography have always been a part of advertising yet i believe there is a demand for urban inspired graphics that moves with our ever growing cities and youth culture.
123Klan were probably one of the first "crews" to open my eyes up about urban design digitally. A more versatile, sharper, more appealing form of graffiti design. I have always loved the messy, scrawl type designs that are mocked up illegally on street corners, yet 123Klan have taken this influence and turned it into something that can be shown on a wider platform attracting more audiences for their unique style of work, that now has been used in advertising campaigns for some major companies.
Originally a Graffiti Crew, 123Klan were based in France, and was founded by husband and wife collaboration Scien and Klor.
Usually using the traditional spray paint techniques they would spray out their creations onto blank walls.
In 1994, one man named Neville Brody, inspired the pair to seek a different platform within graphic design. They never dropped the spray cans altogether, instead they started to apply their graffiti work into their graphic design (and vice versa).
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| Some Examples of traditional graffiti work |
"When street knowledge meets technology, and graffiti melds with graphic design'. One of the great things about graffiti is the opportunities it gives you to travel around the world and paint with different people".
They have shown off their imagery at venues across the globe which has attracted a number of high profile brands/companies who are eager to advertise using their highly recognizable style.
Sper, Skam, Meric and Reso 1 are all the other crew members. Like Bernbach and his team of people who formed DDB, even if it is a completely different style and era, 123Klan are a team of creatives who have formed and united to project their work not only onto walls but onto advertisements and branding.
Some Clients
Adidas: 2009
Commissioned 123Klan to work on Adidas' "Celebrate Originality" campaign, and to create several designs. Their vision was to make the visual message, via the type of font, colours and shoe styling, strong enough to by itself target different cultures; whilst still keeping them all gathered for the same celebration of originality. Before they began the campaign they asked themselves, "How do we spread one single message and state of mind through different designs?"
A fantastic range of fonts, styles, colours all aimed at different audiences but keeping them all in the same celebration.
2007: Involved in the heavily graffiti influenced "End to End" project which was a collaboration between Adidas & Footlocker which invited several graffiti artists from over the globe to help design and promote a new range of Graffiti inspired footwear and apparel. Scien and Klor designed the "End to End" logo and used a signature yellow and black colour scheme throughout their designs. Again it shows how groups of different people can form to make something truly fantastic and creative.
Motion Graphics Video used in Promotion
By Scien & Klor
Coca-Cola: Commissioned to design special versions of Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola light which were to be sold at summer festivals. The Coca-Cola light is aimed at rock & roll fans. I can already see the type of companies who are approaching 123Klan and i get a real sense of youthfulness and fun coming from their work.
Nike:
World basketball fair held in New York city, commissioned do design a T-shirt design. They used the idea of the iconic representation of The Big Apple intertwined with a basketball.
2008:
Nike approached 123Klan to design 3 promotional posters that would announce the opening of the very first Nike Sportswear flagship store in Mexico. The illustrations represent Mexico in their own ways: a luchador, a sugar skull, and a mexicano B-boy. They create an instant visual impact, visual hierarchy enables the catchy characters to grab peoples attention, then leading them to the overall message at the bottom. "This Is Sportswear".
123Klan have worked for an array of "positive" brands, which goes to show the effect it has on people. A lot of graffiti work is seen as negative and a menace to society, yet when it is portrayed digitally on different platforms it becomes something positive and fun.
I take great fascination from the amount of platforms and mediums that the crew use, it's not just clothing they make their mark on.
Some examples of different mediums:
Toys/Figures
Skateboard design:
Instruments:
Game Design:
Just some of the very many different "canvases" 123Klan portray their creative work on.
Clive sees Bernbach and DDB as his Hero(s), and was influenced by them from an early age. For me, and the era i have grown up in i can say that 123Klan have influenced my way of thinking about graffiti and graphic design in a similar way.
Two completely different sets of creatives that are miles apart in more ways than one, yet the constant is the love for good graphic design.
Both groups of people have really inspired me to push myself, and i would love one day, for myself and my work to have the effect that Bernbach had on Clive and the way 123Klan have inspired me.
21st February 2012
"Heroes" Clive on Bernbach
123 KLAN
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