Even the most fleeting scan through &Walsh’s portfolio makes it wholly unsurprising how Jessica Walsh’s semi-eponymous studio has achieved such a brilliant reputation. While Walsh herself has garnered countless design press column inches – as partner at Sagmeister & Walsh; one half of the 40 Days of Dating project; a creative conference regular; and an advocate for women in design...
Like many a geriatric millennial, a lot of my childhood was joyfully spent in front of the telly absorbing cultural pillars like Zig and Zag, Stoppit and Tidyup, and, of course, Wales’ finest export after Charlotte Church, Fireman Sam. Alongside the titular Sam, the show starred icons including ‘Naughty’ Norman Price (fun fact – my dad once mended the boiler...
Founded by Robert Ventura and Sophie Foreman, Ventura Foreman is a design and manufacturing studio based in Woolwich, south London, which specialises in quality workwear pieces for clients like Paul Smith, Matches, and much-hyped North London ‘liberal metropolitan elite’ take on the greasy spoon, Norman’s Cafe. Having been around for a while without a ‘brand’, there came a point in...
It’s all well and good for a design agency to make some wild, boundary-pushing, all-singing all-dancing work for things like Gen Z healthcare products; or ‘top shelf’ spirits; or craft beer. But most client projects aren’t going to be the sort of thing that merits bright orange and typography that dances around the boundaries of legibility. And arguably, it’s those...
Wholesome is a new breed of supermarket that doesn’t fill a gap in a market so much as it positions itself at a nexus of multiple intersecting demands. The pursuit of ethical grocery and household shopping has, for decades, been both deeply commendable and exasperatingly time-consuming, expensive and convoluted. One supermarket will stock Fairtrade products but have a scant gluten-free...
Where have all the simple playful ideas gone? You know the ones, a bit of wit, spun into a multitude of playful expressions across a number of different touch-points? Design craft has gotten so good over the last few years, but I miss the smile-in-the-mind stuff. Paul Belford’s New Chapter, Seachange’s Think Packaging and Mucho’s Art Walk. They’re not strategic...
International creative studio network Base Design is behind the branding for Divine Farmer, a California-based wellness company with an identity centred on New Age-style iconography and a heavy reliance on storytelling. Divine Farmer was founded by Polina Bowler, an acupuncturist and herbalist and owner of LA-based holistic wellness centre East Meets West who came up with the idea for the...
Leapling Films is a Manchester-based independent production company founded by ‘leap year baby Chris Lane’. For those that don’t know, this included myself until an hour ago, the word ‘Leapling’ is used to describe somebody who was born on the 29th February. Chris is a member of The Production Guild. His work has been seen by millions of people worldwide, and his credits as...
The Hyundai is a well-known, well-thought-of and well-established South Korean department store that this year will celebrate its 44th anniversary. To coincide with this, The Hyundai launched a new brand identity system developed by Seoul graphic design company Studio fnt. This builds on the logotype and colour palette created by New York’s Base Design earlier in 2015, and introduces a Korean logotype, patterns,...
Buchbinderei Burkhardt, now shortened to Bubu, is a family-owned binding specialist established in 1941. It is now run by third-generation family members and has locations in the Swiss cities of Zürich and Mönchaltorf. Bubu provides consultancy and prototyping services, curates an extensive binding library of over 2000 books, and offers a wide variety of soft and hardcover binding techniques. These include the familiar and utilitarian...
Pengelly Design is a British furniture and product design studio, founded by Simon Pengelly in 1993, that embraces a material and process led approach to problem-solving, and an aesthetic that has a lightness, simplicity and timelessness. Since its foundation, the studio has gone on to secure and complete a variety of national and international furniture, transport and product design projects in collaboration...
Merchants of Beverage is an online service that aims to make buying and gifting luxury items easy. Products include wines, spirits and Champagne’s, as well as hand-blown crystal stemware and professional barware. Each item has been handpicked and curated by a team of experts and sourced from a variety of international artisans. The service’s new brand identity, which included monogram, logotype,...