"German Tuesday - Deutscher Dienstag": A creative Christmas tradition

Where does creativity come from? Well, in my case it runs in the family I guess as the following example will show.

Every year, a couple of days before Christmas, my father will ask us "Now, what's the nativity scene going to look like this year?". And he will go into his workshop and won't be seen again until Christmas Eve…

Setting up the nativity scene under the Christmas tree, mostly with the figures of Jesus as a child in a manger, Mary, Joseph, Ox and donkey, shepherds and sheep (not forgetting a sheep dog), the three wise men with their gifts and at least one angel in a landscape model of Bethlehem, is a beautiful German tradition and very cherished in my family. On Christmas Eve - we exchange presents then, have a nice dinner and go to church - the nativity scene is presented to the family under the lit Christmas tree and at the Feast of Epiphany (January 6th) the three wise men are added (they come from very far away, so it takes them a bit longer). The nativity remains until the end of the Christmas season which in our home is Candlemas (February 2nd).

And every year our scene will look different. We had a small river (yes, real running water - I kid you not! Though this year my father is going to use clear nail polish instead just to get a water effect) and the holy family in a stable or in a cave. Here are a couple of examples from the past decades.

And just as I was finishing this blog post I came across this Mercedes Benz advertising from the year 2007 that fits quite nicely. "Be there first. The GL 500 with 388 hp."

via adsoftheworld

Frohe Weihnachten! Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas from all at Mako

Have a very Mako Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

From all the happy Mako Elves

Alan, Dave, Jane & Ellen

Bronze Helper Badge

I've been awarded the Bronze Helper Badge and I have to admit I didn't even know something like this existed. Thanks very much. And if you've got any questions feel free to ask.



Twithelp™ Answers Questions

Tolo Play Table

We were asked by our client DACTA to see if we could improve on the existing in-store play table for the internationally recognized award winning Tolo toys company. Using our experience of working within the toy industry enabled us to produce a design and concept taking it through to prototyping within 8 weeks, and I think you will agree, what we came up with looks visually stunning.

Alan one of our director’s, was given special dispensation to visit children’s nurseries to monitor and take measurements on a wide variety of day to day things that little ones use. From that he was able to make sure all ergonomics and anthropometrics factors were taken into account. Quite often little ones in this world struggle to use adult sized things, so it was especially important that this was made specifically for their needs. It had to be the right height, it had to be the right seat size, the right level of stretch to get to whatever they wanted to play with and above all it had to be fun!

The play table was designed with a play train track on the outer perimeter and a play house feature in the centre that can be easily removed with a handle on the roof, revealing a mesh basket that contains more happy little Tolo figures and vehicles that add to their play experience.

The table top graphic has a generic playhouse garden feel to it with a garden path, flowers, bushes and a lake. To make it more fun the seats had large blow ups of some friendly Tolo characters and of course an ideal opportunity to increase the branding and awareness of the products.

The beauty of this design is that we can change the graphic and seats to tie in to all of the range or new products. The next two play tables going out will have interactive seats that squeak when the children sit on them!

Here you can see the progression from the outline line specification drawing to the visual and then to the finished article, all designed, prototyped and completed for an installation into Hamleys in Oxford Street within just 8 weeks!

Initial outline specification

Hand drawn visual

Prototype

Installation in Hamleys in front of
the Tolo display we designed

Even mum fits

"German Tuesday - Deutscher Dienstag" Part 13: It's Christmas time

Every year I know Christmas time has come when I receive a huge box in the office. It's with compliments from my parents and filled with the most delicious speciality Christmas biscuits like various types of Lebkuchen (sort of German gingerbread), Dominoes, Spicy Speculatius Biscuits and Christstollen.
And what is even more is the lovely packaging they come in. There is for example a Fairytale House, filled with chocolate coated Lebkuchen hearts, a Ducat Box, filled with assorted Lebkuchen and a Festive Tin, also filled with Lebkuchen.

Unfortunately the box doesn't last that long and so I had emptied some of the small boxes and binned them already without even thinking of keeping them to show them on the blog. So below are pictures of the original box (www.lebkuchen-schmidt.de) and some of the nicer packaging I have still left.

The Large Festive Box in its full glory

Notice the nice packaging in the shape of a fairytale house?

Lebkuchen tins

Other Lebkuchen packaging

And, obviously, thanks to my parents - everyone at the office loves you ;-)

'That Calls for a Carlsberg' - Carlsberg stunts with bikers in cinemas

To reinforce the new baseline ‘That Calls for a Carlsberg’ Duval Guillaume Modem proposed an original experiment.

In Belgian cinemas some innocent couples were confronted with a theatre filled with 148 not-so-friendly looking gentlemen and only 2 seats left… How will they react?