I’m sure all of you have been drooling over this for weeks already. If you haven’t seen it—shame on you!—It’s quite possibly the best ad of 2006 (in this designer’s never-truly-humble opinion.) And it’s inflamed a gnawing insecurity of mine. Aside from the fact that all exceptional work leaves me one part inspired, one part debased, and one part crazed with jealousy, really amazing concepts coupled with flawless executions (like this one) also leave me at a sort of loss for words—an uncomfortable position for the incorrigible elocutionist.
I can gawk at it. I can dream up ways to imitate it. I can pick apart the details of color, type and layout. But it seems no matter how I try, I can’t pin down why it’s so amazing. Same thing happens when I try to deconstruct the theory of relativity or describe Ravel’s Bolero. There’s something about genius that remains perpetually out of my intellectual grasp. Perhaps that’s what makes it genius…
