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Best Design Awards sponsors launch design compeition

The sponsors of the Best Design Awards (GEON, MINI, The Pond, BJ Ball and ProDesign) are running a design competition because, well, they can. Design awards - design driven sponsors - design competition. It’s a perfect match!

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Parinto - New Zealand's first collaborative t-shirt design company

Similar to The Pond (proud sponsors of this year's Best Design Awards), new t-shirt company Parinto is also all about supporting the design community. The website features designs by a range of New Zealand and international artists, painters, photographers and designers. But it's more than just a place to buy t-shirts, it's a destination where you can keep up-to-date with your favourite contributors through news blogs and links to their own sites.

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Retoucher Daniel Evans ready to work his magic via The Pond

Daniel’s the first of a select group of independent retouchers we hope to add to our books (much in the same way that we’ve added niche specialists including storyboarders and animators).

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iwrappeditmyway

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I was approached by the sponsors of the Best Design Awards to design a suitably eye-catching spread for their promotional competition (official launch date 30th June 2010). It's all about wrapping a Mini Cabriolet however you want, so I busted out some big type and let these strikingly graphic eyes do the rest.

Golden Ticket

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Check out Narelle McAllum's art direction for a campaign designed to promote Sky City's Gold Class cinema experience. Narelle worked alongside Auckland agency Colenso to create the look and feel for the roll-out.

Vodafone, McLaren, Mercedes

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Check out this collection of images retouched by Pond member, Daniel Evans. The work completed in the UK includes; Johnnie Walker Red Label 'Win a Drive' promotional shoot at McLaren Technology centre, a portrait of Lewis Hamilton colour corrected and retouched.. and more!

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Natalie Smith

MIDWEIGHT . Specialist writer

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Natalie’s an avid blogger whose site attracts nearly 3,000 readers a day. This experience means she could easily execute your social media strategy, particularly if your market is youth-oriented. Her work at design agencies in Sydney such as The Garden and Curious Film (for clients including Woolworths, Roxy, Audi, American Express and Coca-Cola), also makes her a good choice if you need someone to script podcasts or presentations.

Helene Ravlich

SENIOR . Specialist writer

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Chances are you’re already familiar with her writing. The journalist and editor, now in her 14th year of freelancing, is a regular in the New Zealand Herald’s Viva section and the Sunday Star-Times. She’s the editor for New Zealand Fashion Week, editor-at-large and beauty editor of Black magazine, and a regular contributor to high profile Australian titles, Harper’s Bazaar and Grazia.

Daniel Evans

CONSULTANT / CD . Retoucher

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A Kiwi who cut his craft teeth at DDB and WRC, Daniel has spent the past five years fine-tuning and expanding his retouching skills with the best agencies, photographers and creatives across London. Along the way he’s worked on jobs with celebrities including Lewis Hamilton, Sir Alex Ferguson and Marcus Wareing. He's also contributed to campaigns that have won Gold and Silver at Cannes.

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Wordsmith turns film festival cooridinator

Pond midweight writer Lil Cameron (author of the recent Writing for Youth article that's been making a splash on StopPress) is once again the main co-coordinator behind this year's Out Takes Film Festival. She picked the films, hauled in the sponsors, organised publicity and keeps her group of volunteers running smoothly.

So be sure to say hi if you’re rubbing shoulders down at Rialto Newmarket or one of the two special festival bars (Sugar, Newmarket and Candy Bar on K Rd). Lil will also be hosting opening and closing night parties, special theme nights and has organised drinks specials for all comers.

Winner of the Illinois Governor's Tourism Best of Show award

Congrats to Daniel Thomas (ex-kiwi Sky Tower GM) and Carey Randall for taking out Best of Show at the top Illinois Governor's Tourism awards for their marketing campaign which transformed John Hancock Observatory top to bottom and upped sales significantl last year. VIEW

You’ve got to be in to win. Congrats Tribal DDB’s David Rhoades

David Rhodes is the winner of our $50 petrol voucher. No one else bothered entering in so sadly we haven’t been able to give away our 4 x 4 cents off New World dockets.

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5 seconds of fame for The Pond

If you’ve had a recent urge to come and visit The Pond, but can’t work out why, then I’ll let you in to a little secret - it’s no coincidence. Think back to where you were on the evening of Thursday 23rd of July. Because, if like many, you were sat in front of the telly watching TV One News, then you may recognise the image above. Just like Brad Pitt in Fight Club, we’ve been sneaking subtle images into mainstream mediums. The story was about design, and shot at DINZ offices, where The Pond’s Writer’s Block sat in the background as a BeST Award Winner. Below the line, above the line, and subliminally behind the line - you name it... The Pond is everywhere!

Who’s cooking tonight? Norman Bates is.

This is a chopping board featuring Janet Leigh from the infamous shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho”. Conceptualised and designed by Pond-members-to-be Drus Dryden and Sanjiv Menon. Watch this space.

$60. To purchase, contact Drus Dryden on drusdrus@gmail.com

Popular t-shirt design crashes web-server

After being publicised by several international design blogs, demand for Pond member Arjan's 'love' t-shirt design went through the roof. It proved especially popular in Brazil when the t-shirt sellers were bombarded with online questions in Portuguese. It was the build up of questions and random clicking of Brazillians trying to find the 'buy' button that caused the website's server to crash, consequentially ending sales. Which just goes to show - too much love can be a bad thing..

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Enviro-Mental Secret Agents

A spy-style movement for social change which has captured the imagination of young urban New Zealanders is rallying its ‘agents’ to set a national record for mass tree-planting on Auckland’s Motuihe Island on May 16. Nikolai Organisation leader and Pond member, Hadleigh Averill, hopes to beat the existing record which sits at around 5,500 trees planted on Motutapu Island in 1996 by 219 volunteers.”

The Mint Chicks Puppet Designs

The brief was to design a set of original toy band puppets for The Mint Chicks Music Video '"I Cant Stop Being Foolish".

View project here

View music video here

Kiss cold showers goodbye

Pond art director Richard Gourley has unofficially been crowned 'genius' after winning the Supreme Award at the PSP Design Challenge. If you're sick of cold outdoor showers at the bach the SunShower is the perfect solution! Just plug into mains pressure water supply and voila – you have a constant, regulated flow of heated water. Nice work, R.

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