High Five: The Art of ‘Keeping It Real’

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always enjoyed putting pencil to paper. (Or anything I could get my hands on really, including scribbling on the backs of our nice coasters aged five – sorry mum). The creative bug clearly stuck as I pursued graphic design throughout college and university and into the not-so-big world of design, where ironically, I’ve come full circle and I’m back seeing my designs on coasters!

During our time at university, we would enthusiastically show our design tutor our work. Sometimes it was a collage that we’d meticulously crafted on Photoshop. Other times, it was our work on that perfect book mock-up we’d spent hours trawling every corner of the internet for. And every time, my tutor’s first question back to us would be:

“This looks great, but why don’t we make it for real?”

As AI spreads across the industry like wildfire, I wanted to shine a spotlight on the projects and campaigns where the creatives asked themselves the exact same question, and ran with ‘real’ for no other reason than because they could.

Co-op - ‘Owned By You. Right By You.’

Agency: VCCP London x Girl&Bear x Blinkink

Co-op’s new campaign brings the humble-but-often-neglected receipt into the spotlight to educate consumers on what it means when a business is a co-operative (according to a survey, 50% of consumers didn’t know).

The creative process was both tricky and time-consuming – firstly, everything was animated frame by frame. It was then tied together by meticulously printing everything through the receipt printer, which was then shot in stop-motion. This created a gorgeous animation, with the thermal print giving a lovely authentic smoky effect.

“Every frame of the film is literally a receipt – just like the one scrunched up in your pocket. It’s always a joy when you get to do these things for real!” Unfortunately, they cannot claim that no printers were harmed during production, after one overworked printer packed in due to overheating!

WWF - ‘In Hot Water’

Agency: NOMINT

Animal charity WWF teamed up with agency NOMINT to create an emotive film that reveals the catastrophic effects of global warming to our oceans. Completely shot using a thermal camera, it introduces a fresh dimension to filming – thermal imaging.

Each and every frame required precise temperature control to within 0.1°C to create specific colours. Ovens, heated lamps, heat guns and freezing sprays were used to achieve this careful balance of hot versus cold, which they fondly called “painting with heat”.

The beauty of the project was all the imperfections this technique captured; organic textures from slight heat gradients, thumbprint-shaped heat marks indicating the hand-touched process. Co-founder of NOMINT, Yannis Konstantinidis said that “audiences will always gravitate toward the authenticity and emotional resonance of meticulous craft”.
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Guardian UK/US Politics - Coverage 2024/2025

Agency: In-house at The Guardian

This one’s straight from the cutting mat of The Guardian’s editorial design department. For their coverage of the political campaigns both in the UK and US, they adopted a stylistic approach that was in direct response to fake news and AI, trying to capture what trust looks like in 2024.

“The rise in disinformation and fakery cemented the idea to do the opposite and lean into the craft of doing things for real.” said Harry Fischer, lead digital designer.

The team cut, tore and placed each individual element, amplifying the inevitable imperfections that came out of the process. Accidental rips, imperfectly placed arms, well-loved cutting mats and dirty toner were all embraced. This raw, honest style works well in tandem with the fast-paced nature of live news -- with some of their quickest pieces only taking 10 minutes from start to publication.

Corona - 'Fishermen Storytellers'

Agency: Black Madre x Africa Creative

Carving their own compelling case for the power of craft, Black Madre collaborated with Africa Creative to create Corona’s ‘Fishermen Storytellers’ campaign.

Its beautifully crafted and colourful stop-motion animation is made entirely by hand and focuses on traditional Caiçara fisherman’s tales: 'The Cracked Island', 'The Smallest Fish', and 'The Fisherman of Fisherman'. The key visuals are possibly the most unique aspect of the campaign. Sculpted from raw wood, every single element – whether that’s the fish, boats, hands or islands – were hand-carved using traditional gouges.

The colours and textures within the visual and animation are purposely sun worn and weather-beaten to tie in with the spirit of the subject matter. To finish, each layer of wood is lit individually to give the scenes added depth, resulting in key visuals with a cinematic, storybook quality.

Honda - 'Cog'

Agency: Wieden+Kennedy x Partizan Midi-Minuit x The Mill

An oldie but a goldie. This 2003 Honda commercial is the perfect example of how going the extra mile can create memorable work and secure 'legendary' status. Promoting their seventh-generation Accord, the ad follows a chain reaction of parts taken from a disassembled Accord in an otherwise empty gallery space.
Inspired by a Rube Goldberg machine, children’s board game Mouse Trap and the Swiss art film 'The Way Things Go', director Bardou-Jacquet wanted to create this ad with as little CGI as possible.

The film’s final cut consists of two continuous 60 second dolly shots that were stitched together in post (the stitch being where the exhaust rolls across the floor). Between testing and filming, it took approx. 100 takes to film the commercial, battling small variations in ambient temperature, humidity and settling dust along the way, which continually threw off the movement of the parts enough to disrupt the sequence.