Branding & Identity
Oat Creative
Oat Creative are a design studio that I came across while searching for branding. They consistently deliver strong branding and identity for various different companies, mainly bars and restaurants. I particularly was drawn to the branding for a Boston based Restaurant called 'Saloon'. It's interesting how the use of stock and items placed with the design can build up the brand and identity of a business and really make it what it is. The addition of the round glasses, cigar, matches and wooden clipboard suggests a real element of class and sophistication when placed with the design. The logo fits well with the theme and the use of simple type and layout to form the classy looking menu's really work at setting the scene and making the whole brand come to life. Below are some images of various other branding and identity work by the same company, Oat Creative.
Hobo & Sailor
Hobo & Sailor are a brand that I became familiar with last year through seeing their work across a few blogs and design sites. I really like the whole idea behind their brand. They are primarily a street-wear company but go about branding their products a little bit different than the standard. Like the work for the Saloon Bar above, they use objects to help promote and brand the products, making the identity feel like much more of a lifestyle than something you just buy to wear. The cub scout approach with the pine cones, wood and penknife really relates to the target audience and this in my opinion, is what makes the brand so popular and saleable. The typeface used in the logo is contemporary and also is balanced well with the illustrations used. The print used in this brand works really well with the textured stocks created a natural backdrop which fits with the theme. The print onto the fabric bag/sack also works really well for similar reasons.
Higher
Higher is a branding and design agency with main office based in Slovakia, and several more offices across Europe. They work with much more corporate branding and this shows with the quality of the brands. I particularly loved the branding work they did for company Renhand. Renhand is Moscow engineering group. The main activity is providing services in the field of engineering systems of residental and industrial facilities. The corporate branding is seamless, sleek and professional. I really like the simpleness of the coloured logo, bringing an element of colour into the brand without overcrowding it. The subtle alteration of the Typeface really works with the logo and relates back to the business ethos and strategies. As for the printed materials, The logo transfers well when use with the black typeface on a white backdrop. As Renhand is a corporate business. Their logo would need to stand out when printed and placed in different areas. the brand transfers well on letterheads and business cards as well as clothing products which is important.
Five Thousand Fingers
Martin Stousland
AKU
Ebaq
Ebaq is a design agency based in Poland who are behind the branding for basketball website 'Probasket'. I really like how the design transfers from web to print based items seamlessly to help the brand become more identifiable and work in all formats. The simple colour scheme of orange and black along with the well thought out and well crafted logo works really well.
Clothing Brands
I found some items of my own clothing to look further in branding primarily. Fred Perry is an iconic brand that is recognisable simply from the laurel wreath logo. The brand is defined by this and the logo it is something that takes the price of a regular £10 polo shirt up to £60. I looked at the placement of the logo on labels, the right hand breast of most garments and right up to the little segments like the zip on a jacket and the inside washing instruction labels.
I then looked at a more independent brand within 'Who?'. This is a brand that is still fairly highly priced at around £30 a t-shirt but it is much more small scale than the big brands, originating in Leeds and selling in small boutiques across the UK. Again, they use the logo made up of custom type on most of their labels inside and outside of the garments to make their brand recognisable. I thought that the 'Not Made In China' was a really clever and nice touch to make you feel that you are helping a local business out inside of buying into the corporate industries.
Finally, I looked at Wrangler. I had a vintage Wrangler denim jacket and this made me realise how the brand has not really changed over the years. The logo is iconic, which is the type made from a rope. and this is shown throughout the garments. On labels inside and outside of the jacket as well as engraved into the buttons.
Packaging & Promotion
Inbal Lapidot
Recent Israeli graphic design graduate Lapidot created packaging for a fictional salad dressing called 'TUNK'. She says, "While planning the branding, my target audience were people who know what good taste is all about. I tried to to compare the dipping of that juice to a Polish family tradition that keeps on going from one generation to another. I wanted to convey tradition and values yet also keep the brand highly sophisticated and modern. I decided to use black and white, deep gray and magenta photos of European ladies. Accompanying the final product were posters, a matching napkin and tableware." I particularly like the bright pink of the liquid that is picked up in the colour scheme of the packaging as well as the use of historic imagery which you wouldn't normally expect to see on such a product.
Martyna Wedzika
An interest packaging concept from Polish designer Wedzika. Her idea was to package a finest range of round vegetables in cardboard tubes to contain freshness and stop them from getting beaten. Really nice idea which shows the colour co-ordinated vegetables to work in a packaging set. As for the design, it's not my favourite piece, but top marks for creativeness and originality on this one.
Stranger Creative
www.behance.net/strangerandstranger
Stranger creative are a New York based design agency that focus mainly on design for packaging. I was blown away the first time I saw the Stranger & Stranger Spirit Bottle packaging and it's not surprising why when you see the craft and design that has gone into it. Here is how they explain their christmas project..."Every year we create a limited edition product to mark Christmas and celebrate success with the people who support usto make it happen. After last year’s Absinthe, we went a bit ‘moonshine’ butmore 'snake oil' and lo-fi (we think). Enormous fun was had writing all the adsfor the bag as well as about 500 words on the bottle alone. Our favorites are'for reliable fire lighting and sterilising of wounds'."I particularly like the idea of screen-printing over the vintage style advertisements and wrapping he bottle in the paper and the box just adds a sense of sophistication and luxury to the packaging.
Studio Cuculic
www.studio-cuculic.hr
Studio Cuculic is a studio for graphic design and visual communications. They are mostly involved in the projects for commercial market (visual identities, packaging, advertising). What caught my eye was the Collection of labels created for Blackbird Winery. The main character is a blackbird, stealing the letters from the wine names. The type has been foiled onto each bottle label again adding the element of touch to the visual experience as well as making the wine appear more sophisticated, expensive and luxurious. And RoandCoridials.
Personal Vinyls
I had a look at a couple of interesting vinyls that was in my collection. I'm very into music packaging anyway and have luckily had the chance to design a CD cover for a band called Arkham Karvers, who are signed to Tiny Teeth Records and also a vinyl packaging for Brazillian band CSS as part of Talenthouse's Secret 7".
The first one I looked at was WU LYF's LP, LYF. This uses a really nice embossed and foiling technique on the front to help make the branding of the band stand out and give the vinyl a much more luxurious feel.
I also looked at Caribou's LP, Odessa and this also uses an interesting print technique of spot varnishing on the front cover. You can't really tell from the images I took but the patterns on the inside have been spot varnished over with patterns in the opposite direction giving the packaging a really nice finish and something that feels good to hold and touch as well as the crazy designs of the packaging.
I had a look at a couple of interesting vinyls that was in my collection. I'm very into music packaging anyway and have luckily had the chance to design a CD cover for a band called Arkham Karvers, who are signed to Tiny Teeth Records and also a vinyl packaging for Brazillian band CSS as part of Talenthouse's Secret 7".
The first one I looked at was WU LYF's LP, LYF. This uses a really nice embossed and foiling technique on the front to help make the branding of the band stand out and give the vinyl a much more luxurious feel.
I also looked at Caribou's LP, Odessa and this also uses an interesting print technique of spot varnishing on the front cover. You can't really tell from the images I took but the patterns on the inside have been spot varnished over with patterns in the opposite direction giving the packaging a really nice finish and something that feels good to hold and touch as well as the crazy designs of the packaging.
Publishing & Editorial
Recent Graduate Student Designer based in Copenhagen Denmark created 'Geiger Magazine' as part of his degree show. Really well thought out and put together piece of editorial design. I like the way he introduces experimental styles over a very structured, simple grid format. This is something that works really well. Placement and connection between type and image also work really well in this publication.
Barcelona based design studio 'Folsh' specialise in editorial work. I came across this really nice booklet for 'I Saloni Worldwide Moscow'. I'm not sure what the purpose of the booklet is but i really like the simple layout and especially the front cover. The cover is split diagonally with one side representing old and one new, hence the serif and sans-serif typefaces. The old side is also represented by using gold foiling on black where are the more contemporary half uses silver foiling on a red backdrop. This really works well as a final product and makes the book look interesting and certainly something that I would want to pick up.
TGIF
Design agency TGIF have created the Amnesty International Hong Kong Annual Report 2010 into a file folder. Different cases and activities were grouped and sent to the donators. Not only showing reports in this folder, also giving out the message about protect human righwant to pick up. I like the consistent theme running through the full publication. The yellow, black and white are really strong colours and work well to promote such a passionate cause. The photographic imagery also works well throughout the publication with the boxes of text dropped on top of this. Finally, the thing that I am impressed with the most is the format. I like the fact that it comes in an infopack with different sized inserts, posters and pages making it realistically look like a report for all the right reasons.
One of my favourite design agencys at the moment, Two Times Elliot is the boss of contemporary publications. They have a massive portfolio and never fails to impress. I particularly like the way they uses risograph printers and different formats such as newsprint. They also uses really nice experimental layouts and a mix of bold typography with grid like image placement.
I appreciate this publication put together by Russian designer Khmelevsky. He uses a variety of different print processes as well as stocks and materials and even experiments with teh binding of the book to make this interesting publication which demonstrates really what you can do with a bit of imagination and different stocks and techniques.
Shopping hour is one of my favourite magazine that comes out quarterly. It is pretty cheap to buy but has one of the nicest contemporary layouts I have seen printed. It's also got a unique binding down the middle which is pressed and stitched. The layout is consistent throughout but doesn't get repetitive or boring due to different colour schemes and background textures used throughout to give it a really nice feel.
Personal Collection of Various Newspapers
I have collected various different newspapers over the last few years and have a constantly growing library. My favourite has got to be the Vedette Gazette. This is a newspaper brought out by beer-makers vedette and is printed in a risograph style, using experimental layouts and the colour palette of red and green. I also collect music and fashion newspapers The Stool Pigeon, Loud & Quiet and Crack Magazine which all use quite experimental and contemporary layouts which work well at such a large scale.
Personal Collection of Various Magazines
Some of my favourite free magazines that I have picked up over the years include 'Vibrations' which is a Leeds based music magazine designed by previous LCA graduates Catalogue, who specialise in screen print, branding and risograph style publications. Another magazine that had a really nice layout was The PlayStation Access Magazine. This uses bold colours with bold typography and images on a large scale, with info-graphics chucked in to create a very contemporary and fun-looking final publication. I am also a fan of editorial work for fashion. I have collected the pigeons and peacocks fashion based magazine which uses really simple layouts with important placement of photography with small text for use of captions. Also the Bench Self-Made lookbook which I picked up this week uses a similar layout. Focussing on the fashion based images and giving a really simple but proffesional looking publication.
Information & Way-finding
Alex Peemoeller
www.axelpeemoeller.com
This innovative signage was created by Axel Peemoeller for the Eureka Tower Carpark in Melbourne, Australia. The letters are distorted but can be read perfectly when read at the right position. The work won several international design awards. I particularly like the innovativeness of this work and how something like this, thinking outside the box can really work for the right cause, in this case, making it clear where to go on the car park. The signs are also beautiful pieces of artwork in their own right.
Cartlidge Levene
cartlidgelevene.co.uk
Cartlidge Levene is a London based design studio acclaimed for its intelligent, creative and beautifully crafted design. Founded in 1987, their portfolio spans over twenty years and includes award-winning work for a wide range of clients such as the Barbican Centre, Guardian News and Media, Selfridges & Co, Tate Modern and the Victoria & Albert Museum.Wayfinding and signage is an important area of expertise for their studio. They have created successful wayfinding schemes for major museums, galleries, schools and sporting arenas and have worked with some of the world’s leading architects to achieve integrated solutions.
GF Smith
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