Sound good? Read on.

You’ll be working alongside a team of 2 Motion Graphics Designers, 5 Filmmakers, 2 Editors, 1 Web Developer, 1 Illustrator and two Directors to deliver ground-breaking work that has a positive impact on the world. You will work on a broad range of projects – independently or with other members of the team – for well-known brands, both in the corporate and charity space.

We like to take care of our staff as much as possible so alongside a great working environment, taking part in weekly bake-off competitions and a furiously competitive table football league, you will receive the following benefits:

• Private healthcare
• Bonus scheme
• Training and development
• Incremental holidays (including a day off on your Birthday!)
• Organic beers and cider on a Friday afternoon

The Nice Requirements

• A black-belt in using the Adobe Suite, particularly After Effects, Illustrator and Photoshop
• An incredible eye for design, colour and composition
• Awesome skills in designing / illustrating assets from scratch
• A passion for environmental, social & ethical issues
• A friendly demeanor, a good team player and a positive attitude
• A love for sustainable, organic and fairtrade tea

The Serious Requirements

• 1 year of professional industry experience (freelance or in-house)
• Ability to juggle effectively. In other words, you must be able to manage multiple projects/tasks of varying complexities, meet deadlines and deliver under pressure
• You need to be a well-organised, hard-working, conscientious individual who loves being part of a team and is constantly seeking new ways to brings stories to life through design and motion.

It would be rather nice if you had…

• Experience in communicating environmental or social issues through motion graphics
• C4D or other 3D software experience
• Character design skills

What do you think? Sound like your bag? Well don’t be shy, just send your CV, a covering letter, your salary expectations and links to your showreel / portfolio and a joke to brighten up our day to: jobs@niceandserious.com

Notes about this application

• Salary will be dependent on experience and table football skills
• Seeing is believing so applications that don’t include examples of work won’t be considered
• You must be able to work in London
• Ideally, we’d like to kick things off as soon as possible
• We normally receive hundreds of applications for these types of roles and as a small team, we unfortunately don’t have the capacity to respond to every single person so we’ll only be able to get back to successful applicants

The post We’re Hiring! Junior Motion Graphics Designer with a Consience appeared first on Nice and Serious.

Sound good? Read on.

You’ll be working alongside a team of 3 Motion Graphics Designers, 5 Filmmakers, 2 Editors, 1 Web Developer and two Directors to deliver ground-breaking work that has a positive impact on the world. You will work on a broad range of projects – independently or with other members of the team – for well-known brands, both in the corporate and charity space.

We like to take care of our staff as much as possible so alongside a great working environment, taking part in weekly bake-off competitions and a furiously competitive table football league, you will receive the following benefits:

• Private healthcare
• Bonus scheme
• Training and development
• Incremental holidays (including a day off on your Birthday!)
• Organic beers and cider on a Friday afternoon

The Nice Requirements

• A black-belt in using the Adobe Suite, particularly Illustrator and Photoshop
• An incredible eye for design, colour and layout
• Awesome skills in designing / illustrating assets from scratch
• Ability to draw and illustrate characters, facial expressions and all
• Highly proficient at sketching and visually expressing ideas and concepts, quickly and clearly, both by hand and on a computer
• A passion for environmental, social & ethical issues
• A friendly demeanor, a good team player and a positive attitude
• A love for sustainable, organic and fairtrade tea

The Serious Requirements

• 1 year of professional industry experience (freelance or in-house)
• Ability to juggle effectively. In other words, you must be able to manage multiple projects/tasks of varying complexities, meet deadlines and deliver under pressure
• You need to be a well-organised, hard-working, conscientious individual who loves being part of a team and is constantly seeking new ways to brings stories to life through design and illustration.

It would be rather nice if you had…

• A degree in Graphic Design, Illustration or other related field
• Experience in communicating environmental or social issues through design and illustration
• Proficient with Adobe InDesign and Fireworks
• Experience designing infographics, storyboards, style-frames and/or assets for animation and motion graphics
• Working knowledge of HTML, CSS and Javascript
• Knowledge of printing and finishing methods
• Experience using After Effects
• Skills in photo retouching

What do you think? Sound like your bag? Well don’t be shy, just send your CV, a covering letter, your salary expectations and links to your showreel / portfolio and a joke to brighten up our day to: jobs@niceandserious.com

Notes about this application

• Salary will be dependent on experience and table football skills
• Seeing is believing so applications that don’t include examples of work won’t be considered
• You must be able to work in London
• Ideally, we’d like to kick things off as soon as possible
• We normally receive hundreds of applications for these types of roles and as a small team, we unfortunately don’t have the capacity to respond to every single person so we’ll only be able to get back to successful applicants

The post We’re Hiring! Graphic Designer / Illustrator With A Conscience appeared first on Nice and Serious.

A New Campaign Strategy

Coincidently, it’s not only the BBC that wants to promote the majesty of Africa. Oxfam, one of the biggest aid charities in the world, is also jumping on the bandwagon. In their new campaign, Food for All, they are trying to change people’s perceptions of third world, in particular Africa. They say they want to “make Africa famous for it’s epic landscapes, not hunger” and really promote the positive aspects of the continent rather than the negative. Personally, I’m not sure about this tactic. I certainly agree that doom and gloom is the not the answer anymore, but surely imagery of gorgeous landscapes is a bit distracting from the problems the third world faces? I much prefer the tactic used in their end of 2012 video…inspirational stuff!

Africa 2013?

So what does 2013 hold for Africa? Well 2013 has been dubbed the Year of Water Cooperation by the UN, which is pretty convenient for Africa because it’s a continent where both water availability and sanitation are big concerns. In 2012 we travelled to Kenya to make a short documentary for WWF about sustainable development in Lake Naivasha, where the focus is on cooperation between small scale farmers and big business to make sure clean water is available for everyone. It was encouraging to see that after years of drought, things are really starting to improve.

And it looks as though we’ll be returning to the great continent in a few months time to make a film about sustainable fishing, something which is vital where people rely so heavily upon fish as a source of protein. Stay tuned for this film later in 2013!

The post A different view of Africa appeared first on Nice and Serious.

We would like to fill this role e as soon as possible (December / January) so if you think you fit the bill, please send your CV and examples of work to: jobs@niceandserious.com

Over to you!

The post A Job With A Conscience – Motion Graphics Designer appeared first on Nice and Serious.

Food Waste Crisis Infographic
To try and communicate an important aspect in sustainability, Leanpath has produced a fantastic example of an infographic. It provides not only the facts and figures of food waste, it also suggests some solutions, something which a lot of infographics fail to do. And after reading through Leanpath’s infographic, you can see that the food waste issue is one of the most critical problems we face as a global society.

The Issue of Food Waste
The problems are  associated with food waste cannot be ignored. Along with the infographic, Leanpath mentions:

“Food waste is a huge problem of breathtaking scope: nearly 40% of the food produced in the US is wasted. This waste has significant financial and environmental impacts. Financially, food costs are on the rise—up 50% since the 1970s—so the food that’s being thrown out has a big price tag. Environmentally, food waste is filling up landfills at a staggering rate, producing 135 million tons of greenhouse gases every year and using up natural resources.”

The Result
Infographics and visualising sustainability in general is important if we are to get our sustainability messages out there. This infographic by Leanpath does a great job in communicating the issues and solutions of wasting food, however it’s success now lies in getting the message out there. If we are to see behaviour change on scale where it can make a difference, communication needs to be happening with both large and influential audiences. The mass public needs to hear the message, but so does industry and government, and then, by all working in conjunction, may we start to see a movement towards a world without waste.

The post Leanpath Food Waste Infographic appeared first on Nice and Serious.

Bum fluff aside, we’re hoping to raise as much as money as possible for an amazing cause so if you’d like to help out, please visit the Nice and Serious Movember team page. You can also give us a like on the good old Facey-B while you’re at it as this will certainly help promote our mission. On another note, we’ll  be setting up a survey soon to find out from good folk such as you, dear reader, which of the Nice and Serious Mo’ Brothers have what it takes to grow, craft and style the most epic moustache by the end of the month. So, stay tuned and please spread the Movember love!

The post Nice and Serious Takes On Movember appeared first on Nice and Serious.

“My hands are too clammy to use my smartphone”

“1 pillow is too low, but 2 pillows is too high.”

“A commercial about starving children came on during dinner and I had to get chicken grease on my remote.”

“I left my iPhone at home, so now I have to check my work emails using a computer at my desk like I’m from the 90s.”

Amusing huh? To be honest, I can’t quite decide whether most people are posting them in jest or in all seriousness, but I choose to laugh at their melodrama nonetheless. Thankfully some clever person thought these remedial complaints could form the basis for a cracking charity campaign film, and right they were! Entitled First World Problems Anthem, the charity Water is Life launched a thought provoking video in which people living in third-world conditions in Haiti read out some of the so-called “problems” of those living in the first world. The difference in perspective this film portrays, i.e. first world vs. third world, is incredibly humbling. One of my favourites is when a shy young lad, who looks like he doesn’t even know what pickles are, says:

“I hate it when I tell them no pickles, and they still give me pickles”

Why is it such a good charity campaign film?

It’s a great example of a charity campaign film because the concept is simple, gets the point across quickly and concisely, and urges you to find out more. The video has already had over 1.7 million hits on Youtube (yes, it an officially be called a “viral”) and been heralded as one of the best ads of the year. It’s backed up by a great ask from Water is Life where a donation of $10 will buy a special filtration straw which makes previously unsafe water safe for drinking. Rather than simply asking for unspecific donations, by giving a tangible object a set price, it makes donating more appealing for the average person.

Overall this is one of the best combinations of film and charity campaigning I’ve seen this year and even if everyone who watches doesn’t donate to the charity, I sincerely hope it makes them look at life’s little problems with a slightly wider perspective.

The post A Matter of Perspective – Charity Campaign Film appeared first on Nice and Serious.

What’s the Visualising Sustainability blog going to look like?

The visualising sustainability blog will still look very similar to our current blog, but the content will become more focused. We’ll provide advice, reviews and insight into anything that revolves around visualising sustainability. From dissecting the latest sizzling viral video from the Rainforest Alliance; to giving best practice advice on how to visualise and communicate marine issues; to showcasing an awesome sustainability website or even reviewing the latest sustainability documentary – we’ll bring the best stuff to your screen.

Why is visualising sustainability important?

Most people agree on two things: one, that our society needs to become more sustainable, and; two, that people aren’t going to become more sustainable unless it’s either aspirational or essential to do so. Now let’s hope that an ‘essential’ motivation – a global catastrophe of some description – doesn’t ever materialise. So, we find ourselves in a position of needing to associate sustainability with an aspirational goal, we must ‘sell the sizzle’ as sustainability communications experts Futerra will tell you. Now, people will only aspire to sustainability if they can see or imagine what it would look like – enter the age old idiom: seeing is believing. So we think it’s important that we recognise and share excellent examples of where sustainability issues have been visualised with creative flair, insight and intelligence.

Are we just going to be promoting Nice & Serious films, animations & websites?

The visualising sustainability blog isn’t just going to be about showcasing the latest Nice and Serious ethical productions, animations, designs or websites. OK, we may occasionally share the odd piece of work that we’re partially proud of – like the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan animations or the WWF Sustainable Solutions For Africa films, for example – but this blog is going to be more about drawing on what the best that creative communications experts from around the world are able produce, and if that occasionally includes a Nice and Serious film, animation or website then so be it!

So, welcome to our visualising sustainability blog!

Please don’t forget to share any examples that you’ve stumbled across – we would love to see them. Contact us here.

The post Visualising Sustainability – It’s What We’re Good At appeared first on Nice and Serious.

The post Bang! One More IVCA Clarion Award To Our Name! appeared first on Nice and Serious.

Targeting armchair activists.

The protagonist in the film is an everyday guy. He has a normal job, a regular life and occasionally dabbles in something a little bit different (yoga in this instance). Like most of us, he’s aware of environmental problems like the destruction of the rainforest and feels impassioned to act. And, like most of us, he occasionally flirts with the idea of doing something crazy; like heading off to the Amazon to immerse himself in tribal culture before launching a campaign against the loggers. Of course, like most of us, this never materialises; we remain seated in our desk and settle for a rebellious desktop background picture instead. This film makes a mockery of deep greens and instead opens its arms to the masses; those with an ethical conscience but without the get-up-and-go to campaign for change. Choosing Rainforest Alliance certified products is therefore positioned as the default choice for the everyday person with a conscience; you or I.

Genuinely funny

Viral videos usually fall into five categories; shocking, cute, cool, weird and – in this instance – funny. It’s hugely refreshing to see a viral ad funded by a corporate organisation that’s actually funny. There are swathes of corporate organisations that hunger for ‘viral’ but aren’t willing to put their neck on the line when it comes to signing off an unusual concept with a controversial script. The Rainforest Alliance took that risk and it’s paid off.

Covert communications

The story focuses on the journey of the protagonist, yet the subtext is all about rainforest destruction. The result is that you willfully get carried along by the wit and humour of the script, without feeling like rainforest facts are being forced down your throat. Normally the apocalyptic nature of the message would make viewers switch off, however, as it’s weaved into a humorous narrative the message has a far greater impact.

No messing around

What’s more, this clearly isn’t a budget production. The short film is tightly scripted, nicely shot, well acted: an all round great production. With 35,000 hours of video content being uploaded to YouTube every minute, good production values are paramount and the Rainforest Alliance didn’t mess around; bringing in the likes of director Max Joseph and producer Aaron Weber.

Clear call to action: Follow the Frog

It may sound obvious, but if a campaign video doesn’t have a clear call to action then it won’t create behaviour change. Follow the Frog is a clear and simple call to action; when you’re out shopping buy items with the Rainforest Alliance logo if you feel strongly about environmental, social and economic sustainability.

Campaign integration

The Follow the Frog video doesn’t just sit alone on YouTube. The video is backed up by a well integrated website enabling viewers to search and find local stores that retail Rainforest Alliance certified products.

For me, the Follow the Frog video sets a benchmark for humourous sustainability communications. But let’s face it, not every brand and campaign are about to be so daring with their sustainability communications strategy, nonetheless I believe many of the principles outlined above would still hold strong across any visual communications project.

The post Why everyone should Follow the Frog appeared first on Nice and Serious.