Nola Creative - A Printeractive Design Group

Carnival Cruise Lines has been advertising in Dallas with several non-traditional methods. In November, they created the “world’s largest beach ball” and bounced it down Elm Street for a national television commercial. This time, across from our studio farther down Elm Street, Carnival transformed the windows of a vacant building into an interactive aquarium where anyone can “create a fish.”

Here’s how it works: participants dial a toll-free number and follow voice instructions. A fish in a bubble then appears on the screen with the last 4 digits of your phone number. By talking or making noises into the phone (the louder and crazier the better, they say) the fish changes into different shapes, sizes and colors until you are satisfied. When you like your creation, you can swim your fish around using the number keys on a phone. The fish responds by moving up, down, right or left with a surprisingly fast reaction. Swimming into different color bubbles produces different sounds effects and video reactions. Up to 20 fish (from different participants) can be swimming around at one time.

Being located on a busy corner of downtown Dallas, several people pass by this location every day but pay little notice on their way to the office. Its location next to a popular theater and night club create constant traffic. When we walked by there were several other people playing with the aquarium. The interactive experience encourages people to stop their busy schedule and take a moment to enjoy some fun.

We like to keep informed with what’s happening in the design world. Our designs must remain cutting-edge to remain relevant in a changing technological world. The internet makes the research of emerging trends easy through online portfolios, blogs and websites. It allows us to see what’s happening in cities around the world, and plan for how those influences will affect local marketing.

Some of our favorite design blogs include Brand New — showcasing corporate and brand identity work, and adgoodness — showing the best (and sometimes worst) around the world. Design Tagebuch, a German design blog, features interesting European design. Even if you’re not a designer, you will be intrigued by some of the clever solutions designers are providing.

These examples are studied during the Requirements Gathering phase of our creative process and inspire us to design and explore new solutions for our own clients.