How to make a data business approachable yet hold gravitas? Can it be engaging yet authoritative, sage yet cool? These are the implicit tensions NY-based Gretel has grappled with in its branding of Mode, a data intelligence and technology business seeking to widen its appeal. Gretel has established a brand identity which is triumphant and clean. It balances the contradictions that so...
Train related rebrands are often some of the most divisive when it comes to the design community Twittering classes. That’s perhaps unsurprising when you consider the ubiquity of Standards Manual books on design studio coffee tables – and the fact that they’re among the rare graphics projects that get broadsheet attention (for better or worse, as the swathes of National...
2022 was, let’s say, an interesting year for Forskningsrådet (The Norwegian Research Council). The public institution, which provides public funding for research and innovation across a wide range of fields, usually operates without controversy or intense public scrutiny. This changed in September 2021 when Norway held its national elections and got itself a change of government. And along with that,...
Straight up, I’ll admit that I struggle to resist a condensed sans typeface set in uppercase. I’ll also confess that I’ve spent the last hour (no lie), trying to identify this one… Helvetica? Hell no. Railroad Gothic? The wrong track. Söhne? Sö not. Must be Knockout? Another blow. For Druk’s sake is it Druk? Well, whatever it is, it’s neatly...
Property development continues to boom in London. It’s difficult to see how any of this is really benefitting those most in need, or whether housing is even being designed to be resided in at this point, acting as a ‘store of value’ for those much wealthier individuals. Recently developed areas appear like ghost towns at night. Having just moved, and...
I’m going to break with a decade of convention and jump right in. I love this. I was sold as soon as I saw the logo, it’s in the BP&O Gallery. It’s rare you see this kind of logo today. It’s mostly, and understandably, logotypes that prevail today. Those that are striped down to function well on multiple devices. Blanding?...
The skateboarding learning curve is really defined by the individual. There are lessons (passed down or shared online), but much of it is practice (and patience). Further, and perhaps more importantly, skateboarding is expressive, it’s fused with personal style. Timeless tricks are given an individual twist that keep it evolving and competitive. Iconic skateboarding brands have grown out of the...
After seeing Collins’ work for the San Francisco Symphony – a pioneering typographic and digital experiment with Swiss foundry Dinamo – I thought it would be some time before I’d be surprised by another visual identity in the music space. Sure, there’s an abundance of styles and artists to be inspired by within an art that has evolved in tandem...
After the scientific successes of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (and its blessed failure to create any world-destroying black holes), the research organisation has an even greater need for speed. The team of scientists over in Geneva has been illuminating the nature of our universe since 2009: accelerating and smashing particles together, then snatching glimpses of their tiny collisions. Their appetite...
Formed in 1911, while San Francisco was rapidly rebuilding after the devastating earthquake of 1906, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) has been serving audiences in the Bay Area and beyond for 111 years. In 2018, Esa-Pekka Salonen – a Finnish conductor and composer – was announced as the incoming musical director, with his tenure to start during the fall season...
The Art Gallery of New South Wales, founded in 1872 as the New South Wales Academy of Art, suffered from a fragmented brand architecture. Addressing this through a rationalised and simplified system, and reinforcing the master brand across all Gallery collateral became a central part of developing of a new brand identity which would support a repositioning strategy that moved...
With manufacturing and sales teams throughout Australia, UK and the USA, Autex has grown to become the market leader in interior acoustic products in New Zealand, and the go to choice for leading architects aspiring to reduce the amount of atmospheric noise within cutting-edge residential and commercial spaces. Their products are innovative, produced in a variety of forms and colours,...