Design Context: September 2011

How to Promote Notting Hill Carnival Events

The annual Notting Hill Carnival takes place on the streets of West London each August bank holiday weekend in the UK.

In recent years the Notting Hill Carnival has attracted nearly 2 million people and is the second largest street festival in the world.

Problems with rioting around London and other major cities across the UK made some fear that this year’s Notting Hill Carnival would not go ahead but luckily it has been confirmed by organsiers this week that the 2011 Notting Hill Carnival will go ahead.

What are the best ways that event organisers can promote Notting Hill Carnival events?

5 Examples of How to Promote Notting Hill Carnival Events

1. Connect with local bloggers
Connect with bloggers who are considered experts in the local area. West Londoners in particular are fortunate to have access to lots of different blogs about their area including The Hill and Notting Hill.org. Many of these popular blogs host dedicated events sections too.

2. Use the official event hashtag
Mark some event promotion tweets with #NottingHillCarnival to connect with other Twitter users who are talking about the carnival and encourage them to join in with the events that are happening.

3. Use venue’s email database
Take advantage of the venue’s email database to connect with regulars and locals in the area who may be interested in Notting Hill Carnival events.

4. Be informative
As well as providing information about the event itself, try sharing facts or tips about the carnival and local area to position yourself as an authority on the carnival. Use social networks and blog or website to list important information about timing, travel directions or advice on how to get the most out of the carnival experience.

5. Get listed
Make sure that the event is listed on all relevant London-wide listings websites and don’t forget local government forums like the events pages of the Kensington and Chelsea website. The Notting Hill Carnival attracts a diverse crowd from across the capital and thousands of tourists so it’s wise to target websites that non-locals will check too.

Find at least 5 diverse examples of the effective/creative use of print in the following areas of design:

Branding and Identity

I really like the combination of different stocks with this logo, I think it's really clever and executed well. Along with the use of a spot colour, the pink stands really well against the white stock and trace.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Freq-Nightclub/465402

Dry is a creative agency specialising in graphic design, branding and art direction. They are a relatively small agency based in London, but with some big global clients such as, Ben Sherman, Channel 4, Dr Martens, Converse and more. At the beginning of this year they had a revamp of their website. I love everything about it, especially the logo being so sleek and simple.
I am also drawn in by the printing techniques they have used across their work, including their business cards. Their embossed, spot varnished logos go with the sophisticated, yet stylish branding.

Some lovely eye catching business cards for JBA digital agency. They are kept simple, but a spot colour is used to make the green just that bit more vibrant which in my opinion gives it that extra edge and makes it stand out. I also like the combination of the bright green against the slightly grainy stock.

http://www.qubekonstrukt.com/branding/jba-digital-agency/

Branding and business cards for Cream, a boutique production company. I really like these designs, and think they are a great example of how foiling can be used in a classy way. The aim with this identity is to create something that had attitude with a contemporary feel. Rather than coming across tacky, the gold foiling adds an air of quality to the brand.

http://www.qubekonstrukt.com/branding/cream/

Hotel Ambrose identity. The main thing I like about this logo and branding set of prints is the stock used. I feel like its a perfect combination of print and stock and hasn't been overdone.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/HotelAmbrose-identity-2011/943407

Packaging and Promotion

The Beck's canvas project is something Beck's beer launched in 2008. It started off as displaying the work of emerging artist and then of well known artworks. They have recently chosen the winning labels for the most recent competition. This is a great way to personalise the packaging and to get the consumer involved with the branding of the product. The design on the far right in the bottom image is my favourite, I have seen it in pubs before and the use of a metallic spot really makes it stand out from the rest.

BYO- build your own

I love this packaging, it is good on so many different levels. It was Designed by Andi Yanto for The Creative Method. The idea was to promote the brand for Christmas in a brand new way and to feature all of the staff in a way that reflected their wit and sense of humour. The solution was to include stickers within the packaging that can be mixed and matched and allows the client to BYO- build your own. This is great, it gets the consumer directly involved with the brand and packaging, which is bound to make them remember it. It definitely reflects different and innovative ways of thinking how print can be used.

This packaging is for Jealous fruits, Canadian cherries. The general idea is that the other fruits are crying out for attention because they are jealous of the cherries' success. I think that what makes this packaging successful is not the initial concept, but the aesthetics of it. The visuals are really appealing, and have even been repeated by others.. including on the cover of The Package Design Book.

Here! Sod have a line of t-shirts that resemble different foods.. it may seem obvious but that is how they have also been packaged.. like foods you would find in the supermarket. It kind of reminds me of when you get the candy rock at the sea side shaped like a fry-up. It's a little bit deceiving at first but quite quirky and attention grabbing.

This is a limited edition poster to promote a website called the strange attractor. It is a three colour screen print, and the website even included a write up of the process that the designer went through to print this.

Printed in a blue to red split fountain, the colors almost vibrate off of the paper’s muted grey tone. Much of our work at Sonnenzimmer is improvised. Meaning, we often don’t have the poster completely planned out when we begin printing. The printing process itself becomes part of the creation of the poster. In a sense, we sculpt the image by working through it layer by layer. This project was no different.

To really bring the thing back around full circle, we used imagery from our previous versions of this poster to finish it off, printed upside down over the title in a transparent silver ink.

http://thestrangeattractor.net/?p=7891

Publishing and Editorial

Creative Review is the world's leading design, advertising and visual culture magazine. The initial thing that strikes you about this magazine is the format, just producing a magazine in a square shape as opposed to the traditional A formats immediately makes it unique. They also have guest designers to do the covers, and are always attention grabbing. The other thing I love about this magazine is that in every issue they feature a guest font, this is a great idea and helps me to keep up to date with the kind of type that is being produced today.

Wallpaper* is an internationally aimed design, fashion, travel and technology magazine. It is another personal favourite, and I love one issue in particular.

This cover uses a clever technique using vertical lines on acetate to create the illusion that the image beneath is moving. I think this a really creative way to get the consumer to interact with the product, it original and definitely makes you remember it.

Boat magazine has a great concept that keeps every issue unique and exciting from the last. The studio that creates it relocates to a new city while editing every issue. I love this idea, and actually going to and working in the cities means that you get a view and feeling of the place that you wouldn't get from researching from the web. The next place they are set to go is Detroit, and so far are only based in America, but intend to spread further as it grows.

Eight:48 is a paper that centres around ideas and inspiration. I like like the simplicity of this print, using block colours in just CMYK. It just goes to show that you don't always have use complex printing techniques to make the final print look great, it's all about what is most fitting to the design.

I really like this page in particular in Slanted magazine. It uses really simple printing techniques, using only CMYK. On this page just cyan and yellow are used, but when overlapped they create a green colour, this demonstrates to me a way to be creative with print.

Information and Wayfinding

These posters are great, they consist of different layers all printed with the same image but varying colours which have been cut out to create a 3D effect.

http://creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2011/july/dad-new-blood-crs-picks

This book displays and dissects the career and design motives of graphic designer Joost Grootens. It uses very simple printing methods and doesn't try to show off, as to not take away from the design and what its trying to do- communicate information and statistics in a simple and clear way.

I quite like this series of wayfinding posters designed for the Columbus Society of Communicating Arts. I like how the designer has used a monochrome print in the background and then laid type over the top. Also it looks like a spot varnish has been used on the leaflets below, either that or a slighlty heavier ink has been printed over the top to subtly display some type.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/RoAndCo-Posters/1902959

3 invites a wayfinder and adverts all designed for print. The invites use a thick coloured stock with a black foiling, which I love. The backs of the invites were also printed silver.