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Having seen the new brand for UEFA EURO2012 which is designed by Portuguese group Brandia Central I have to say that I’m less than impressed. The logo is the stalk of a flower with three branches. A ball is depicted as the central flower, with the left flower being red and white (the colors of Poland’s flag) and the right flower being yellow and blue (the colors of Ukraine’s flag). One thing I do like though is this video revealing the new brand.

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Brandia have used wycinanki as a basis for the branding, but the end result looks a bit like a bad computer game, maybe it would of worked better if it looked more traditional and less computer generated. Wycinanki originated in Poland with sheepherders cutting designs out of tree bark and leather. Paper wycinanki dates from the early to mid 19th century and colourful wycinanki were pasted on furniture or roof beams as decoration, hung in windows, and given as gifts.

Original wycinanki

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New designs

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Some of the black and white designs are quite intricate and the more you look at them the more references to football you spot. All in all they all look ok, but just dont say football, they seem over designed. Dieter Rams once said “Good design is as little design as possible”.

After a night out in Leeds, heading home (a flat on North Street) is always a colourful experience. Not just because of the delightful characters that are wondering about after dark, but the array of fast food outlets.

These are not your McDonalds or KFC’s though, Im talking about Perfect Fried Chicken and Chicken Cottage, you know the ones, offers like chicken and chips for a pound adorn the window. It got me thinking though who designs their signs.

Morris Cassanova (aka Mr Chicken) designs and makes signs for around 90% of the fried chicken shops in the UK his company is called MBC Signs. Siâron Hughes a designer from London has written a book on the subject called  Chicken: Low Art, High Calorie.

One thing you notice is that nearly all the signs have some reference to America, whether it be name, colour scheme or general design. Mr Chicken said on the subject “The majority of shop owners out there they want for some reason or other, because Kentucky Fried Chicken is an American company, they want to give the impression that they are linked with the American fast food chain. In the past Kentucky usually have a little logo, a little slogan, “American Recipe,” people used to copy that. I mean a lot of people still try, and we say, “Oh that’s old fashioned, people not using that again.” Because they try to pull the wool over people’s eyes, you get your Dallas, it’s American, you get your California, it’s American, you get your Mississippi it’s American, and so forth and so on, and people just use those names to link with America just as well as they’re using their recipe, y’know. You hardly ever see a sign saying English Fried Chicken, or with an English name or anything like that”.

All in all I think credit is due, most of the signage appears the same but there are differences, subtle as they may be.

Having just seen Avatar last night at the cinema I can say for the first time in ages, well since Starwars, I’ve been truely amazed by a cinematic experience.

3D Glasses on myself and 3 friends watched avatar at the Vue in Leeds, the whole film experience was immersive and soon we sat in awe as the characters on screen were interacting in an alien world. Having seen other 3D films years ago… Jaws 3D springs to mind. I wasn’t expecting the depth every shot has, and it’s not just large objects that appear to be 3D, everything from the countless ferns swaying in the breeze, the floating mountains, the millenia old giant trees, the waterfall cascades, even the bioluminescent nighttime landscapes all pop out.

Obviously without a story all this wouldn’t make Avatar a great film. The basic plot is that of an indigenous race (The Na’vi) under threat from a superior force (Humans). It’s technology vs the ecosystem, people who want to ravage an environment and mine it of it’s resources and aliens who are happy coexisting with it. Paraplegic hero Jake Sully learns to become one of the Na’vi tribe through his Avatar body and…. well I won’t say any more just in case you go see it.

Any bad points to Avatar, well some of the dialogue is a bit cringe worthy “Come get some” should never be shouted under any circumstance and the main bad guy is a bit cartoonish and obvious, neither of these point ruin the film though.

So in summary, go see the film and even if your not amazed by the story the visuals are well worth the ticket price alone, it definitely wont be as impressive on dvd at home with only bifocals on.