This made me laugh. From The Independent’s Dave Brown.

Although, if Gordon Brown is toast, David Cameron is crackers.

(Maybe that makes Nick Clegg marmalade?)

International readers: If you don’t know what this is all about, it’s now known as ‘Bigotgate’

The shortlisted entries for the Metro Wrap design competition have been put up on the D&AD blog.

The brief was to take over the front outside and inside cover of commuter paper Metro for one day in April to give Londoners an inspiring and motivational message to start their day. It’s a great that the space usually reserved for desperately flogging a new mobile phone or deodorant is given over to something needlessly creative for a change.

The entry above which I really liked is by Clare McKenzie/Clare Theophane, Miranda Bolter, Freya Defoe & Steve Hickory of The Partners and requires readers of the paper to fill in their own news and doodle their own cartoons. Lovely.

I’m afraid most of the rest of the entries were a bit disappointing, many opting to print a rhetorical visual pun on the front cover instead of actually getting to grips with the brief itself and thinking about how to communicate with Londoners, let alone what to say to them. One of The Partners’ other entries (they dubiously have 5 out of 10 shortlisted) is a newspaper printed like an umbrella, to hold over your head in case it’s raining that April morning. Yawn.

One entry has the paper covered in knitting. Presumably because the designer, erm, likes knitting. Each to their own.

Another entrant has printed transport upholstery patterns on the cover, which I heartily approve of, but I’m not sure how thinking my false teeth have fallen out, or that I’ve dropped a quid is going to set me up motivationally for the day ahead. If you were stupid or partially sighted enough to fall for it, it seems to me that it would just make you anxious.

Anyway, all of this is most likely sour grapes, because you see, despite my previous emotionally scarring experience of a Metro design competition, I entered this one too and my entry didn’t make the grade. I’ll dig it out and share it with you once I find my false teeth. Now where did I put them…?

I have an alibi, you can’t prove anything.

Guardian readers like their April Fools typographically flavoured! Apparently the paper ran this little picture as part of an article on the 1st April 1977. They put together a seven page special report on the fictional semi-colon shaped island republic of ‘San Serriffe’ including all sorts of seemingly plausible information about its economy, geography and population.

Quite how the names of the two islands (Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse) and the capital city (Bodoni) didn’t arouse suspicion is beyond me, but apparently there were many letters written in and requests for more information. There were even sponsored ads by companies in on the joke. They sold ‘I’ve been to San Serriffe’ bumper stickers and 12,000 San Serriffe t-shirts. My favourite spot on the map? ‘Gill Sands’ of course…

Read all about it and appreciate the ludicrous detail here along with other interesting hoaxes. Happy April 1st everyone, stay alert…

Found over at 30gms

OK, so I’ve posted about The Decapitator before, so apologies for mentioning it again. I just HAD to post this video of his latest stunt, David Beckham beheaded live on camera.

Genius.

OK, so after spending a few days wondering what Metro had made of my design for their new masthead, I noticed they’ve picked their winners.

Sigh…