Nicollet by Pentagram, United States
Posted: February 6, 2018 Filed under: Fonts in Use, Graphic Design Reviews, Logo Reviews | Tags: American Design, Brand Identity, Brand Identity Reviews, Branding, Branding & Packaging of 2018, Branding Agency, Branding Blog, Branding Reviews, Colour in Use: White, Colour in Use: Yellow, Design Blog, Design News, Design Opinion, Design Reviews, Designed by Pentagram, Graphic Design, Graphic Design Blog, Logo Design & Branding Blog, Logo Design Inspiration, Logo Design Resource, Logo Designs, Logo Opinion, Logos, New Logo, Paula Scher, Place Branding, Sans-serif Typography, Sign Design, The Best Graphic Design Work of 2018, The Best Logo Designs of 2018, The Very Best Brand Identities of 2018, Typography, Women of Design Comments Off on Nicollet by Pentagram, United StatesOpinion by Richard Baird
Nicollet Avenue runs between Loring Park and the Mississippi River and is described as the “Main Street” of downtown Minneapolis. It is a cultural and commercial centre, shopping and dining district, and home to flagship stores, major corporations, public transport hubs and landmarks. Nicollet Avenue also includes the Nicollet Mall, the first transit mall in the US, originally opened across eight blocks in 1967 and now covering twelve.
Following a major renovation to make the avenue more pedestrian friendly, and to coincide with its reopening and 50th anniversary, Pentagram’s Paula Scher and team developed a new graphic identity for Nicollet. This included a comprehensive system of signage, way-finding and environmental graphics which intend to capture the spirit of the street and its place within the city through typographic form, iconography, shape and colour.
Tangent GC Hand Cream by Carl Nas Associates, UK
Posted: January 19, 2018 Filed under: Fitness, Health and Beauty, Graphic Design Reviews, Packaging Reviews | Tags: Best Packaging Designs, Brand Identity Reviews, Branding & Packaging of 2018, Branding Blog, Branding Reviews, Colour in Use: White, Cosmetic Packaging, Creative Packaging, Design For Print, Design Opinion, Design Reviews, Designed in Stockholm, Fonts in Use: Akkurat, From Europe, From Scandinavia, From the United Kingdom, Graphic Design, Graphic Design Blog, Logo Design & Branding Blog, Logotypes, Minimal Design, Minimal Logos, Minimal Package Design, Organic Packaging, Packaging Company, Packaging Design, Packaging Design Blog, Packaging Design Resource, Packaging News, Sans-serif Logotypes, Sans-serif Typography, Skincare, The Best Graphic Design Work of 2018, The Very Best of 2018, The Very Best Packaging of 2018, Type Foundry: Lineto, Typography, Uncoated Papers & Cards Comments Off on Tangent GC Hand Cream by Carl Nas Associates, UKOpinion by Richard Baird
Tangent GC began as a Scandinavian organic garment and shoe care company developing products that intended to ensure longevity, and entered the organic skincare market in 2016. The company’s graphic identity, a simple typographical expression, designed by Essen International, delivered a sense of informational immediacy through the absence of superfluous stylistic detail and colour, yet divide content and drew out a distinction in the arrangement, orientation and typesetting of Akkurat Mono.
As Tangent GC ventured into the organic personal skincare market they worked with London based Carl Nas Associates to build out the visual language laid down by Essen International. This new phase saw the studio pair a similar approach to skincare packaging with a launch campaign of dynamic image (stills and animation) for the soap range which made a connection to the brand’s beginnings, visualising fragrance as swirling fabric.
For Tangent GC’s latest product, a perfumed organic hand cream, Carl Nas Associates begin to introduce new form and material language through an exposed aluminium tube, and continue to play with contrast, creating a launch campaign that features warm and detailed illustration by celebrated airbrush artist Syd Brak, the man behind some of the 80’s best-loved Athena posters.
Superkül by Blok, Canada
Posted: January 26, 2017 Filed under: Architecture and The Built Environment, Fonts in Use, Graphic Design Reviews, Logo Reviews, Material & Print Specs | Tags: Architecture Logos, Brand Identity, Brand Identity Reviews, Branding, Branding & Packaging of 2017, Branding Blog, Branding Reviews, Business Card Design, Canadian Design, Colour in Use: White, Design For Print, Design News, Design Opinion, Design Reviews, Designed by Blok, Fonts in Use: Brown, Fonts in Use: Circular, From Toronto, Graphic Design, Graphic Design Blog, Graphic Identity Shortlist 2017, Logo Design & Branding Blog, Logo Design Inspiration, Logo Design Resource, Logo Designs, Logo Opinion, Logotypes, Minimal Design, Minimal Logos, Minimalist Brand Identities, Modernist Brand Identities, Sans-serif Typography, Stationery Design, The Best New Logo Designs of 2017, The Very Best Brand Identities of 2017, The Very Best of 2017, Type Foundry: Lineto, Typography, Uncoated Papers & Cards, Wordmark Design Comments Off on Superkül by Blok, CanadaOpinion by Richard Baird.
Superkül is an Canadian architectural firm with a portfolio that is described as having an understated boldness, subtlety and spacial richness, and a process that intends to find the essence of each project and remain true to this throughout design and development. Superkül has won many awards and is considered one of Canada’s most progressive architecture firms.
To celebrate their first ten years Superkül worked with Toronto-based graphic design studio Blok on a book that would both serve as a collection of work but also as a reflection of the firm’s unique philosophy and design approach. This was an exercise in discovery and a clarity of positioning which was then expressed materially through subtle paper transitions, finishes and printing techniques. This can be seen here.
Blok follows this up with the launch of Superkül’s new brand identity next week. Where book, in its comprehensive yet singular form could be seen as the strategic component of branding, one that clarified approach and direction, visual identity is the distillation and expression of this across of variety of new assets. These included wordmark, business cards, notebooks, packaging, stationery and website.
