Creative Block - Help.

[Straythought]

Hi Guys,

I'm working on a D&ADbrief "selling sand"for a part-time degree course I'm doing... and I've unfortunatelygot creative block at the moment!

Basically the college want me to promote sand and make it richand famous (in their words)in the minds of the general public - which is a fair and do-able brief.

My ideas up to now are:
- Applying sand to models as if they're actually wearing it as an item of clothing, attaching a bit of glamour and high fashion to the humble material.
- Drawing peoples minds to the fact that each grain has gone through millions of years of refinement before it's mature enough to be considered sand - possibly bottling sand in a vintage wine bottle and using that sortof theme...
- obviously I've been thinking about sands links with time - the hands of time & the sands of time, eggtimers, wasting time, mad hatters, etc etc

I just can't seem to think of anything tangible that I can nail to the wall! I'm progressing the fashion idea at the moment but I'm having real difficulty getting the sand to stick to the images in a pleasing way (havn't got the time to arrange for any student models to photograph!). Unfortunately I havn't got an art background and was advised during my first NVQ that not all designers can even draw so I would be ok (possibly misadvice?)

I suppose the purpose of this post is to bounce some ideas off you guys and see what your perceptions of sand are - maybe there areaspects that I havn't seen for looking!

Thanks

Straythought
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[Keyare]

Computer chips - silicone - made of sand.
Sand is a great electrical insulator.
Make glass of sand.
Sand breast implants.
Sand is used to make molds for cast iron...
.5 grams of sand as a daily dietary supplement will help with digestion and keep you regular plus it gives you iron, silicone and calcium without having thee big expense of vitamin supplements.
Use touch of sand in your cooking for that outdoorsy crunch!
It's a great weight loss aide.
Combine sand with a vitamin e or analgesic cream and you have a great exfoliant. Wonderful to battle that acne!
Mix with an orange or lemon oil and you have a wonderful hand cleaner that will cut through grease and won't hurt the environment!
Bathe with sand and get all those hard-to-clean areas nice and clean. Prevents scaling! Use it in your shampoo! Get rid of dandruff!
Mix in sand with your lawn seed and you'll get a golf-course like lawn. it helps aerate the soil...
Keep sand in the trunk of your car and you'll never get stuck in the snow.
Package up moist sand and sell it to kids to make INDOOR SAND CASTLES!
Use sand to draw pentagrams for all your satanic rituals! Fun for the whole family!

[Vikia]

How about those beautiful sand designs/paintings done by the Buddist Monks that teach patience and other equally important skills.

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Corporate Communications, Graphics & Design

[uncle carbunkle]

i like the diet one. i can just see 50's american mom dishing up a bowl of steaming sand to her freckle-faced kids. yum!

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In
practice, there is.

[YellowDart]

uncle carbunkle said...
i like the diet one. i can just see 50's american mom dishing up a bowl of steaming sand to her freckle-faced kids. yum!

LOL, yea, then instead of that Low-Carb Atkins garbage, everybody will be taking the 'Sand Diet.' =P

[Kool]

One more. bury your root vegetables in bin full of sand in your refrigerator. They will keep almost forever. /emoticons/cool.gif

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'I used to be with it. But then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me.' Abraham Simpson

[woodwardo]

This guy does some amazing stuff with sand - check it out....

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/sand-sicaf.html

it's a video, damn cool.

[Straythought]

Thanks for thereplies everyone... I wasn't sure whether I'd said the right things cause I'm completelynew to participating in online forums.

Here are my thoughts that have sparked from all of your posts:

Keyare (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/profile.aspx?f=8&m=43428&p=496)
This would go along the lines of promoting sand through pointing out its multitude of interesting and unusualuses... a sandbag could save a soldiers life from a speeding bulletor help us protect ourhomes from floods... sand has probably been closer to Pammy Anderson than most men have dreamed...

Vikia (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/profile.aspx?f=8&m=43428&p=2267)
Patience, passing of time, mystery, contemplation, good things come to those who wait... sand and beauty... sand as a means of expression...

uncle carbunkle (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/profile.aspx?f=8&m=43428&p=2202)& YellowDart (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/profile.aspx?f=8&m=43428&p=2396)
Firstly, I wouldn't feel like putting on much weight if I was faced with a dish of steaming sand ;) Freckles, they seem similar in my mind to grains of sand themselves???

Kool (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/profile.aspx?f=8&m=43428&p=23)
Sand will last forever and take other things with it... each grain being a crystal of frozen time...

woodwardo (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/profile.aspx?f=8&m=43428&p=2495)
Great video - I wonder how long it took the guy to master the techniques he used!

Lastly, I havn't really introduced myself to you lot - I'm 22, Male, working in Prepress (packaging)mainly processing artwork and imposingcompleted graphicsfor output to lithoplate via CTP (and some flexo as well). Though I enjoy my job and its well paid I'd really like to get into the design side of things as a natural progression of my career. I'm some way off this goal at the moment but I think my production background has got to be worth something to me once I have broken the ice! (I hope)

Thanks http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/emoticons/thumbsup.gif

Straythought

[Kool]

Straythought, welcome to the forum. Your pre-press skills will be of tremendous value to you as a designer. These are the skills that most young designers are lacking in. Also the way you interpreted our random (and mostly incoherent) thoughts about sand into your theme shows me that you have excellent copywriting skills. This is another skill that too many designers ignore. You should do great.

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'I used to be with it. But then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me.' Abraham Simpson

[Vikia]

Welcome to the forum Straythought.

Ditto what Kool said. You have a leg up with pre-press skills. Many designers just starting out, don't even realize what they don't know. Their print jobs can be a nightmare in rework and cost.
I am sure you will do just fine.

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Corporate Communications, Graphics & Design

[Joshua]

Ok, the goal is to portray sand as an expensive commodity, right? Something glamorous, that people should be willing to pay mucho bling for? Well...why don't people think of sand that way? As opposed to, say, pearls or diamonds? For one simple reason: sand is abundant. I would eliminate the perception of sand's abundance in a campaign to make it seem more expensive.

Maybe some ultra-close macro shots of a few sprinkles on a dewey, green leaf. The wonders of nature! Rich saturation, etc.

Or, sticking with the macro idea, an ultra closeup of a few grains falling through an hourglass, and you could tie it into the sands of life.

If that doesn't work, just get a supermodel to sit on a ferrari's hood, blowing some sand from her palm. That should do it.

[alekdesign]

Joshua got me thinking.. Do you know the movie (and books) Dune? The action takes place on a desert planet where water is sparse, hence its considered the second most valueable thing on the planet. In your ad series I would only have pictures with just a bit of sand, never show more than a handful. Less = More expensive. If you wanna go farout, make up a scenario where having sand would be crucial, but there is a very low source of sand around.

just my 2 cp

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[alekdesign]

oh and omg, that sand video ROCKED!

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[Straythought]

Hi all,

Been busy with my college stuff so I've only just seen all the replies...

Firstly thanks for the encouragement - I can see already that taking the time to locate and take part in a forum has been well worth while. I hope I'll be able to make a worthwhile contribution myself as things move on.

I'm a little strapped for time now on this sand brief so I plan to spend another day working with the ideas you've all helped me with (and then I'll have to nail something to the wall and finish off!). I suppose this has been one of my drier projects, but working a rotating three shift system at work doesn't help!

I'll post the final pieces when I've finished if I'm feeling brave.

Straythought