Craft is arguably the most important part of a creative’s job. I really believe anyone can have great ideas it’s how they are made that makes the difference. It can transform a good idea into a great one and turn a great idea world-beating but done badly it can make the best idea absolute garbage. Because I think it’s so important, I thought it deserved it’s own section. Great craft is hopefully visible in all my work, but the work on this page highlights some particularly crafted work.
The campaign for Santander and TfL was completely handcrafted from paper with the models and bikes shot to match into the scenes. We made 10 scenes in total, all based on real London locations you could visit with the aid of a Santander bike. The behind the scenes shots really show the exquisite detail that was put into these. Each image was also animated and fully layered so that we could adapt and fit any media format. They were incredibly bold and bright on the grimy streets of London. My northern-bias showing there.
The ‘Have More Fun With Your Fingers’ work for Betfred was created together with Aardmann Animation. Accidentally smutty strapline aside, classic Aardmann style sets were made with a lot of beautiful detail, the movie posters above featured in the backgrounds. Into each set we had hand models act out everyday scenes before they had a bit more fun on the Betfred app. Casting is often the most important part of an ad, the casting for this job was particularly bizarre, tapes of hands acting and dancing.
Ernest Jones, H.Samuel, Beaverbrooks and Thomas Sanderson are all high-end clients I’ve worked on, each needing beautiful design work. But we carried that approach over to paint brushes. The Purdy’s ads were shot by a photographer who specialised in high-end luxury goods, the likes of Chanel and Gucci. This craft highlighting that these brushes were the best around, with massive stand-out in the decorator trade media the ads ran in.
