May’s highlights included Two Times Elliott’s brand identity for fashion label Wadha, Blok’s work for The Playlist Company, and Paul Belford’s brand identity and web concept for Designers’ Friend. However, there were five projects that stood out, and have made it into BP&O’s Best Of Series.

This feature brings together some of the most unexpected and unusual projects published on the site each month for another opportunity to be seen and shared. These typically balance a strong communicative concept with a compelling aesthetic that appropriately plays with a mix of material colour, texture and image, form, type, layout and print finish.

Solrug by Bielke & Yang, Norway

Solrug is a high-quality, ready-cut, Finnish sourdough rye bread created for the Norwegian market by Magnus Högnäs, a Finnish expat living in Norway, and in response to the county’s poor wholemeal choice. The bread is dense with a strong flavour, low in sugar and salt but high in fibre and protein, and produced by Finnish bakery Leipomo Rosten Oy using only natural ingredients. Solrug’s packaging, designed by Oslo based graphic design studio Bielke & Yang, draws on and plays up to the bread and brand’s Finnish origins, through a bright panel of Finnish stereotypes, drawn by Finnish illustrator Rami Niemi.

See more of this project here

Biggans Böcklingpastej by Bedow, Sweden

Böcklingpastej is a smoked herring fish paste from Biggans, a small family owned company creating products for the Swedish market since 1952. The company recently worked with Stockholm-based graphic design studio Bedow, who had previously helped them with the packaging for their range of sauces, to develop product packaging and POS for Böcklingpastej. This replaces a heavily branded logo-centric design with one of a more distinctive and crafted character.

See more of this project here

Prism by Matchstic, United States

Prism is a new thermally fused laminate brand from Arauco—a global manufacturer of sustainable wood products—created to appeal to the art and design market currently dominated by well-known brands. Arauco worked with American graphic design studio Matchstic to develop a brand identity for Prism that would communicate the value of a product often perceived as low-value within a market that often favours reclaimed woods and other solid materials.

See more of this project here

Frameline by Mucho, United States

Frameline is a San Francisco-based nonprofit arts organisation and LGBT film festival that intends to change the world through the power of gay cinema, and to connect filmmakers with audiences locally and internationally. Graphic design studio Mucho worked with Frameline on its brand identity and campaign for its 40th LGBT film festival, delivering a system based around a framing device, a bright and diverse colour palette and contemporary sans-serif typography. This links membership cards, stationery and business cards, as well as campaign material such as invitations and posters.

Read more of this article here

Otium by Sagmeister & Walsh, United States

Otium is a contemporary restaurant developed by American chef and restaurateur Timothy Hollingsworth. It is located in downtown LA and has a menu of rustic dishes made from sustainable ingredients grown on its mezzanine level and cooked over a wood fire. The restaurant features an open kitchen that merges indoor and outdoor spaces, created with the communal areas of its neighbours, The Broad Museum of Contemporary Art and Grand Avenue, in mind. This is also expressed in the name, rooted in Latin, which describes a place of leisurely social activity, and throughout its brand identity, which intended to bring the outdoors in. This is achieved using a mix of materials across packaging, menus, stationery and business cards, subtly expressed by a simple logo, and more explicitly as a large and detailed mural, all created by New York based graphic design studio Sagmeister & Walsh.

Read more of this article here