March’s highlights included Bedow’s print work for UNICEF, Base’s packaging for Graanmarkt 13 and Studio fnt’s graphic identity for Daechung Park. There were, however, five projects that stood out and have made it into BP&O’s Best Of Series. These typically balance a strong singular concept or an appropriate confluence of ideas with a compelling visual character and clear communicative intention that appropriately plays with form, colour, type and layout, as well as material, texture, image and print finish.

BP&O, in this end of month review, tries to recognise both the smart use of small budgets—those that channel spending into the most appropriate assets—and those projects with a broad and holistic quality, establishing a continuity (conceptual and/or visual) across multiple touch points.

Throughout the month BP&O also continued to expand on its collections series as another way to jump through to older posts on the site. New additions to this were Dyed Papers & Boards, Framing and From Norway.

Boundless Theatre by Spy

Boundless Theatre, led by Artistic Director Rob Drummer, is a UK based theatrical group that creates plays for 15 to 25 year olds, “as well as curious others”, that respond to a diverse global culture and empowers young people to collaborate and find their voice. In the spirit of the name, Boundless Theatre tours both nationally and internationally.

With the intention of increasing the profile of the theatre, developing the audience within their core demographic, and engaging with guardians, teachers and donors, Boundless Theatre worked with design studio Spy to develop a new graphic identity. This links a variety of printed materials. These included posters, programmes, business cards and box tape, and extend to digital experiences for mobile and desktop.

See more of this project here

Center for the Study of Political Graphics by Blok

The Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG) explores the enduring power and immediacy of the political poster in the fight against inequality, their capacity to acknowledge and bring to light the injustices and atrocities of the world, and through their archival, keep alive the stories, voices and controversies that they have come to represent.

CSPG worked with Canadian studio Blok to develop a graphic identity that would honour the role the centre serves as a chronicler and catalyst, reflect its position as a participant in the fight for human rights, leave space to frame and connect the graphic and bring to light the diversity of their political poster archive.

See more of this project here

Piccolo by Here Design

Piccolo is an Italian seed brand with a particular favour for those that are ideal for urban growers, people with small balcony gardens or working with limited space. It is a brand with character, with product naming that includes Slim Jim Aubergine and Spacemaster Cucumber expressing the space-smart dwarf varieties of the range.

Piccolo worked with UK-based studio Here Design to develop a new graphic identity that would establish a distinct and cohesive visual language across their packaging. With a miniature storybook-like quality and an illustrative approach that plays with both the bold and the granular, these tell the story of Piccolo, bring to light the rewarding experience of growing, and intend to engage with the many urban gardeners of the world. Also check out Here Design’s work for Riso D’uomo, also published in March.

See more of this project here

London Fashion Week by Pentagram

Twice a year the British Fashion Council exhibits the very best in British fashion to national and international audiences. It does this through three events, each held at Store Studios on the Strand. London Fashion Week (LFW) and London Fashion Week Men’s (LFWM) offer the industry a look at upcoming womenswear and menswear collections, while London Fashion Week Festival (LFWF) provides the general public with a unique shopping experience.

The London-based studio of Pentagram, led by partners Jody Hudson-Powell and Luke Powell, created the graphic identities for all three events. While each is distinct in its content and audience, they are linked by the concept of ‘discovery’, and the intention of bringing to light and juxtaposing emerging new talent and London Fashion Week’s enduring legacy. This is expressed by the intersection of lettering and type. Each event is founded on this interaction, yet has its own unique character which then forms a continuity across their own print and digital communications, from posters and brochures to motion graphics and supergraphics.

See more of this project here

Fluvia by Folch

Fluvia is a range of adaptable lighting solutions from LED Simon that intends to offer a creative freedom in commercial and private lighting projects. Design, rather than an absolute utility, is an essential and unifying quality of the range with products developed to be attractive and convenient, easy to use and deploy within a space, and broken down and recycled.

To cast aside its corporate image and convey a sense of contemporary elegance, Fluvia worked with Spanish graphic design studio Folch to develop a richer and more distinct graphic identity. This repositioned the brand’s communications away from technical details and superfluous elements to focus on product, to develop an identity for each, drawing out their distinctive character and core functionality.

This was done through three key components; new product photography, individual product brochures with a strong graphic and material quality, and the creation of a central online hub that will connect a series of satellite sites dedicated to each product and provide quick access to a granular level of insight for those that need it.

See more of this project here