So that’s what you get when a management consultant hires a digital agency; an ‘Appbook’. The book, titled ‘The Next Ten‘, shows us the expected challenges and opportunities of the coming 10 years by combining old skool press with an iphone (app), to be inserted in the center of the book. Some great Dutch thinkers like Robbert Dijkgraaf (on science), Rem Koolhaas (on architecture), Onno Ruding (on the economy) and Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten (picture) – founder of The Next Web – (on digital media) give their view on the future and provide insights on how our life, work, and the way we interact will change. This fine book was created by Fitzroy in collaboration with Accenture, celebrating its 10th anniversary with its clients.

Very nice concept by Incl. – which stands for all-inclusive communication design. It is to promote a poster made by Rop van Mierlo, exclusively for Found by James. Found by James is a design blog and online webshop selling arty exclusiveness from around the world. The limited edition illustration of the housecat was sold out for €350 (!) a piece in no time – there were only 9 copies, since the cat’s existence is also limited to 9 lives. The guerrilla campaign spread a note around Amsterdam and Eindhoven (home of the Dutch design week) which said ‘Found by James’ instead of ‘Missing’. “I’m quite surprised someone lost this well-fed housecat, since it has the incredible size of 84.1 cm high and 59.4 cm wide. I’m not sure about its gender, but a big brown dark spot distinctively marks half of his/her face” it says (click on pic to see full text). The wonderful book Wild Animals in which Van Mierlo draws animals in the same distinctive style won a Dutch Design Award last weekend.

Recently Russia celebrated the 50th birthday of the first man in space; Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968). In Russia he is still a hero and revered throughout the country. This inspired director René Nuijens (328 Stories) and writer Steve Korver to visit Russia in search of Gagarin. Nuijens and Korver created a booklet with photographs of Gagarin statues and portraits; 50 Years of Human Space Flight. You can order the booklet on roadtogagarin.com.

This week it is the national Book Week, an initiative of the ‘Collective Propaganda for the Dutch Book’ (CPNB). For this occasion CPNB asked Erik Kessels (KesselsKramer) and writer Christine Otten, to create an essay around this year’s theme ‘Written Portraits’. The result is Good Luck, a story based on a found photograph album of two unknown lovers. The two lovers were given a new life by Kessels and Otten; they became Betty and Pierre Vincent. Kessels is known for his fascination for lost photographs. He already created several books and exhibitions with pictures he bought or found on flea markets – e.g. the wonderful series In Almost Every Picture. Unique about this essay is the fact that it comes with a perfume, especially designed for the story. This makes it the most complete love story you can imagine; in words, images, and scent.

We always thought that Doom & Dickson were two gimmicky fictional characters made up by Amsterdam agency Doom & Dickson. But to our surprise we received a hard covered Christmas story that is not just Doom & Dickson’s client-christmas-card, but also reveals that Jack Doom &  Bill Dickson actually started as MadMen in New York. What’s more, the story “How Christmas Came To Be” explains that Christmas originates from the agency’s sketch book. We know, it sounds a little pretentious – especially when you say Coca Cola’s Christmas story is “crap” – but if you read the story – in rhyme – the matter of the fact is that a forester from Maine, called Paul, knocked on D&D’s door – when they just started in New York – and asked them to help him sell his Nordmann trees. Paul could already picture himself a rich man, but he just didn’t know how to persuade the consumer to buy his trees. After a lengthy brainstorm the creative team came up with an ‘Event’, which for that time was revolutionary. “An event with a man in some sort of big suit, He must be an example for men to do good”. So for those of you who thought Christmas had something to do with Jesus Christ; you are all wrong. Christmas is an event conceived by Doom &  Dickson to sell Nordmann trees. We agree, a little far fetched (or creative, if you will), but the beautiful illustrations made by Bart Bus and Adri van Geldere make you want to believe it’s true.

We are a bit late with this post, but only last Friday did we receive a copy of the ADCN (Art Directors Club Netherlands) book 2010. The annual, featuring the best (as in, most creative) work conceived in Dutch advertising, was accompanied by a little note saying “We look forward to receiving your review in our inbox”. In other words: “Quid pro quo, Dr. Lecter”. A bit cheeky, but fair enough. After all, we were quite happy to receive our personalized (“No. 790”) Limited Edition ADCN book. So to post about it, is the least we can do. The book that celebrates the ADCN awards – including the prestigious ‘lamps’ – is created by a different agency every year. This year the honour went to …, Staat, an ad agency that specializes in design. Though years ago VBAT created a mandatory grid for the book, …, Staat took the liberty to change the fonts into Helvetica and Times. The reason was that the fonts had to fit the concept, which is putting classic bookbinding on a pedestal. And that is why the book breathes craftsmanship; it has a distinguished gray textile cover, is gilt-edged, and has a traditional ribbon-marker. The concept was further translated into a sub-cover underneath each chapter, with a pressman’s jargon equivalent of the chapter itself and a matching photo. So for example the chapter “Print and Outdoor”, is subtitled “Landscape”, with a short explanation. All in all, …, Staat’s concept fits the holy bible of advertising like a glove; craftsmanship meets craftsmanship. Cause when you leaf through the work and see things like Philips Cinema 21:9 , Kit Kat Jesus, and Stanislav, you realise that apart from all the mumbo-jumbo, advertising still thrives best through craftsmanship.

Since 1999 Amsterdam based The Stone Twins, ‘a creative communication agency’ – with a profound feeling for design – is run by the twins Declan and Garech Stone. This month the talented Irish brothers reached their 40th birthday and to celebrate this they published ‘A catalogue of CRAP’. It is one of the most original pieces of agency advertising we have come across in a long time. While most ‘creative’ agencies cannot do any better than a spread in Adformatie with commercial stills – together with some copy along the lines of “we love advertising” – The Stone Twins created a catalogue about their lives. Or, as described in the introduction; “this catalogue is a potpourri of venerated objects and people. A visual timeline of a life conveyed through curiosities, relics, art & propaganda” (read: C.R.A.P.). More…

Though Zack McDonald recently left KesselsKramer and moved to Sid Lee, he wanted to share his last KK project with us. Together with Christian Bunyan, designer Angela Lidderdale, and Happy Pets, he created INK. The book is about tattoos and people’s often unusual motivations for getting them. The tattoo stories are quite diverse and well written, featuring drug-fuelled trips to Thailand, Scottish teenagers running amuck, and the world’s most precise tattoo artist. Each story has inspired a special one-off illustration by Swiss designers HappyPets. INK appears in a limited and numbered edition of 250 – you can order the book here.

This portrait is part of an outdoor exhibition, drawing attention to a book by Dutch photographer and art director Krijn van Noordwijk. Van Noordwijk is famous for capturing the essence of the personality of his portraits – something he probably picked up from his previous career in advertising. The book, containing 140 full colour studio portraits of DJ’s from all over the world, is a tribute to today’s musical hero’s.  The outdoor exhibition, created by Bureau Pindakaas, coincides with the Amsterdam Dance Event. The ADE is the world’s biggest club festival, with over 700 DJ’s and acts performing in 40 clubs, bars, record stores and galleries.