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The Best of BP&O — February 2017

Opinion by Richard Baird Posted 1 March 2017

The Best of BP&O — February 2017

February’s highlights included Collin’s packaging for Modern by Dwell Magazine, DIA’s work for digital retouching company Bespoke, and Anagrama’s brand identity for Swiss specialities market Helvetimart. 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 unusual / thoughtful / distinctive projects published on BP&O each month for another opportunity to be seen and shared. These typically balance a strong concept with a compelling aesthetic and clear communicative intention that appropriately plays with form, colour, type and layout, as well as material, texture, image and print finish.

Brand identity and brochure by Richards Partners for Auckland residential development Fabric of Onehunga

Fabric of Onehunga by Richards Partners, New Zealand

Fabric is a residential property development project and new pocket neighbourhood within the area of Onehunga, one of Auckland’s oldest suburbs and a brownfield site of warehouses with a light industrial heritage. Developers Lamont and Co., alongside Colliers International, commissioned graphic design studio Richards Partners to create a brand identity for the development that would link brochures, specifications pack, website and a variety of print communications for the showroom.

Richards Partners’ concept reflects the architecture and surrounding context of Fabric, which takes its name from the historical use of the site as a clothing factory, through logotype connected by the thread-like qualities of hyphens, built up into a custom display typeface, and the material quality of uncoated dyed papers, fabric cover and blind deboss.

See more of this project here

Brand identity and book designed by Helsinki-based Werklig for EMMA exhibition series In Search Of The Present

In Search Of The Present at EMMA by Werklig, Finland

In Search Of The Present is a new series of exhibitions on a 3–4 year cycle held at Helsinki’s Espoo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA). These intend to tackle many of the existential questions that we face in an ever changing world. The first exhibition, inspired by Olavi Paavolainen’s essay collection from 1929, took place between October ’16 – January ’17 and was a study in the representations and expressions of human identity in the digitalized world.

Drawing on the themes of change and the passage of time, Finnish graphic design studio Werklig developed a brand identity connected by a sense of movement, implied in the cropping of text across posters, books, and supergraphics, physically in the motion of outdoor campaign posters, and digitally in the scrolling of social media content.

See more of this project here

Programme and brand identity system by New York based Mother Design for the AIGA Design Conference

AIGA Design Conference by Mother Design, United States

The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional design organisation with a membership that covers all forms of visual communication, from graphic design, typography and interaction to branding, animation and environmental design. As well as supporting a community of over 25,000 nationwide members, advancing design as a professional craft, strategic advantage and vital cultural force, AIGA organises two biannual events; the AIGA Design Conference and GAIN: AIGA Design and Business Conference, which are held alternating years.

In 2016, the AIGA Design Conference became an annual event. This marked, after 100 years as standard-bearer for professional ethics and practices, a moment of transition, and the implementation of a new vision; to become a hub for “broader creative constituencies”.

Taking inspiration from the evolving nature of organisation and the unexpected ways that a diversity of people and ideas come together in one place, New York-based graphic design studio Mother Design created a visual identity of unusual forms, juxtaposition and sense of change for the AIGA Design Conference. This was implemented throughout the Las Vegas conference which took place between 17 – 19 October 2016.

See more of this project here

Brand identity, brochure and bookmark for Galerija Kranjčar by Bunch, Croatia

Galerija Kranjčar by Bunch, Croatia

Galerija Kranjčar is an art gallery, located at the heart of Zagreb, opened in 2006 to showcase the work of Croatian contemporary artists and function as hub for a variety of cultural activities. The gallery is a long and unique space, one that balances the modern and historic. This can be seen in the meeting of smooth white walls, concrete floor and pillars alongside exposed room-length solid wood beams. Legacy, space and a diversity of artwork is reflected within the gallery’s brand identity, developed by Bunch, in the choice of type, which links stationery, business cards, print communication, brochures and soon to launch website, and in the use of colour, paper choice and print finish.

See more of this project here

Logo, branding and print by Oslo-based studio Bielke & Yang for contemporary crafts and design exhibition Norwegian Structure

Norwegian Structure by Bielke & Yang, Norway

Structure is an exhibition of Norwegian contemporary crafts and design that began its European journey at Milan Design Week in April 2017 and is currently being held at Norwegische Botschaft in Berlin until April 2017. The exhibition features the work of 26 designers and studios, and covers a variety of products and prototypes; from furniture to lighting, to ceramics, textiles and home accessories. Structure intends to bring to the light the designer and manufacturing partnerships, and the intersection of craft and design, artistry and innovation that characterises the Norwegian creative scene. This intersection is expressed by the exhibition’s brand identity, created by Oslo-based graphic design studio Bielke & Yang, through type and typesetting, illustrative texture and art direction, proportionality, layering and materiality.

See more of this project here