Bola is a design institute which uses behavioral research as a premise to its projects. We believe that in investigating and understanding what happens in society in order to develop ideas which are in tune with its aspirations. This is the foundation for what we call meaningful design. We work with the same research methodologies used by our sister-company, Box 1824, and with a multidisciplinary structure that includes anthropologists, semioticians, photographers and, naturally, designers.
May 19th, 2008
Nokia’s concept ‘Music gets you talking’ was brought to life during travelling event Nokia Trends Mobjam 2007. After carrying on an investigation about the global e-music scene, we developed an environmentalization project based on lightting design, ecologically more correct, because it reduces waste of material.
Music Soul is a software that materializes a person’s musical aura. A system of sensors located near a projection screen captures the beat of the music and and the movement of the person close to that screen, turning these factors into dynamic graphics. These graphics are made up from patterns of circles, triangles and beams, which change according to two variables: music and movement.
Connection Map, on the other hand, is a system that connects people who dig the same kind of music. During the party, guests sent SMS messages containing the names of their favorite bands. The information was projected onto a large screen: people were symbolized by blue squares and bands by green circles, which grew in size according to the number of fans. Guests were linked to one another through their favorite bands. Definitely a good way to strike up conversation.
Comments and full article »
May 16th, 2008
After an immersion in the environment of 9-12 year old children, we found out that the childish aesthetics, normally used in cereal packages is not the most admired and consumed by people in this age group. So we created the visual concept of the 1st Sucrilhos Water Balloon Championship Hot Site using an aesthetics that was cleaner, although still fun and childlike. Brighter colors, images of children posing with a model attitude and elements that resemble theme parks — such as moving targets like “shoot the duck” — have a stronger appeal to this target public, the tweens, term coined after the word between, since they are in between childhood and adolescence. We also explored the strategy of participation and collaborative content. Children could sign up online and publish videos, photos and comments before, during and after the championship.
Comments and full article »
May 15th, 2008
The greatest challenge of this job was to turn something as mundane as rice into a symbol of sophistication and industriousness. We designed highly intricate, delicate patterns, with a handmade look for caterering company Arroz de Festa (the company’s name literally means Party Rice, a Brazilian idiom that refers to someone who is always around). Rice as an element references the brand name and pays a tribute to the values of simplicity and casualness. Just as the caterers’ chef believes rice can be used in several recipies, from entrées to dessert, our proposal is that the patterns be present in every instance of the brand’s contact with consumers: from staff uniforms and packaging to the automobile in which food is delivered.
Comments and full article »
May 15th, 2008
We translated the brand’s universe in concrete ways for Brahma’s new brand book: The Red Book of Brahma. The wavy shape references to the logo’s movement. The cover was made from molded aluminum, painted red, to resemble the main consumption environment of beer: bar tables. We also created a note-taking system to simplify content updates, once the book represents the life of the brand, and therefore deserves to grow along with it.
Comments and full article »
April 30th, 2008
The relationship between youth and football in Latin America is portrayed in this book we’ve created for Nike. Box1824 carried out a research with boys and girls from Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. Bola was responsible for the images, taken by photographer Jacob Langvad, and by the graphic project. We visited four cities – São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Mexico City — in order to capture these youngsters’ relationship with football in images: how they play, what they wear, what the place they live in looks like. The green grass is represented by the texture of suede (material of which our cover was made) in the graphic project. The Nike brand was molded over a pattern made with one of the main symbols of football: the goal net.
Comments and full article »
April 30th, 2008
The new website of NGO Iniciativa Verde (Green Initiative) was supposed to gather several types of information, from technical explanations to the history of carbon neutralizations that took place in Brazil. In order to make the content more organized and easier to access, we designed the web site’s structure as information drawers: summarized texts that develop when the user clicks the ‘more’ button. In that way, users can have an overview of the website, and have an in-depth view only on the subjects they are interested in. We also had an editorial reformulation which included, for example, a Q&A section, which instructively explains how carbon neutralization works and what the NGO does. In the website, people can also quickly calculate and neutralize their carbon emissions. We have developed a visual calculator that reveals how many trees it would take to neutralize CO2 emissions in several environments (flights, cars, homes). At the end of the calculation, each user can order the trees to be planted right there and then, thus taking part on the initiative.
Comments and full article »
April 30th, 2008
A hot air balloon resembling the shape of the pin used to point locations in Google Maps flew over São Paulo on 30 November, 2007. The action was a collaboration with agency Live AD, and it marked the launching of the Brazilian version of the website. The pin that marked virtual maps was actually shaped like a balloon in the first place, and visually it was already an icon in people’s minds. So, it would be easily recognized, even without the explicit name of the brand — which was essential in order to comply with the Clean City Act, which restricts advertisement in public places. The flight course and video can be seen on Google. Cameras on the balloon and two helicopters recorded the movement of cars, people passing by, buildings, etc. It had been eight years since a balloon had flown over São Paulo, due to the problem of air traffic. This called even more attention to the action, granting it three minutes of prime time Sunday television, on Globo TV’s Fantastico. Check out a quick making of in YouTube.
Comments and full article »
February 25th, 2008
At BOLA Socioligy Design, we’re planning to publish a printed magazine every half year. The first issue which will uncover the street-basket culture in Brazil. The Street-basket culture is a interesting cultural manifestation started in North American suburbs among black youngsters. In the beginning it was as a kind of resistance and exaltation of their black inheritance. In Brazil, where Streetball is closely related to the Hip Hop movement, the search for the African background restores, in many ways, the self confidence in young suburban kids. It gives them a social role in which they feel integrated to a much broader community. Trying to understand such culture is a way to investigate how the black culture, which is so important to the Brazilian formation, manifests itself and interacts with other social manifestations in the country. Working with an anthologist, a journalist, a photographer and a graphic designer, the first issue will be out Q1 2008.
Comments and full article »
September 10th, 2007
BOLA Design are working for Unilever to launch a new product in India. Photographer Jacob Langvad photographed the pictures of Ana Letícia Frediani from Ford Models Brazil. Helder and Lincoln from BOLA just got back from the presentation for Unilever in London with big smiles on their faces. More pictures after the jump.
Comments and full article »