The concepts of ‘money transfer’ and ‘community’ don’t immediately seem to go hand in hand: the former feels cold, slightly dry, potentially confusing and rather literally transactional; the latter is all cuddly and feelings and people-y. But uniting these two seemingly disparate worlds is exactly what DesignStudio did recently in its rebranding of Sendwave, a digital platform offering money transfers...
As well as being a coastal city in south west Italy (formed in 1923 by none other than Benito Mussolini), Imperia is a pasta machine company that was formed from a ‘little artisan workshop’ in 1932. Imperia soon began to distribute pasta machines around the world; mainly catering to the US’ large Italian community. From its plant in Sant’Ambrogio, Turin,...
We’ve covered no shortage of work by Pentagram in the past, most recently Cohere but spanning projects for London Fashion Week, NYC Parks, National History Museum and more. This is the first time, however, that we’ve looked at a project by new-ish New York office partner Andrea Trabucco-Campos and his team – and it’s safe to say, we’re impressed. Graphic...
Branding a film production company is a delicate business. On the one hand, you need branding that can match and even enhance the quality of the films being produced, but on the other, you need something that doesn’t distract from the work or compete with it. Film is an intrinsically creative visual medium, and building a framework to support it...
There have been some brilliant logo designs inspired by the very buildings they represent. The Centre Pompidou, for instance, bears a powerfully stark logo that’s been largely unchanged since it was first created in the 1970s: six black stripes crossed by two zigzags representing the site’s ‘caterpillar’ escalator, one of the most famous parts of Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers’...
Not a new project, but one certainly worth revisiting; this work for whisky brand The Gospel scooped a fair few awards back in 2020, and it’s not hard to see why. The design agency behind everything from strategy and naming to brand story, creative direction, packaging design, and more is DDMMYY, based in Auckland, New Zealand. The team was initially...
The ‘shoppy shop’ trend shows no sign of abating. For those not in the know, the term – popularised by New York Magazine’s Grub Street – indicates those small-to-medium businesses selling upmarket ‘provisions’ (charcuterie, legumes, sauces, tinned goods) with a veneer of heritage, authenticity, and (seemingly) innovative ingredients, as if they were the modern ‘general stores’ of olden days. On...
There’s always something intriguing about niche, singular companies, stores and brands. When I was growing up, I distinctly remember a shop that sold only various things made out of wicker, for instance. It both intrigued and baffled me then, before I understood the concept of a ‘front’, a la (or so rumour has it) the numerous shops that once lined...
In recent years we’ve seen some radical shifts to the ever-booming pet care sector. That’s thanks in no small part to the Covid 19 lockdowns that saw many of us seeking solace and company in domestic animals, taking advantage of the WFH policies that, once upon a time, felt endless and unwavering. Another catalyst, perhaps, is that in an increasingly...
Barnardo’s is the UK’s largest children’s charity, and it undoubtedly does much good in the world. However, its history up to this point is also littered with uncomfortable controversies. Certainly, the most outlandish transgressions are concentrated in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Founder Thomas John Barnardo was taken to court 88 times for kidnapping children (or ‘philanthropic abductions’, as old...
Now that the likes of ed-tech (education technology) and fin-tech (financial technology) have become a natural part of everyday parlance, it was surely only a matter of time before prop-tech (property technology) entered the equation, too. Proptech largely refers to platforms and services that use tech to help people buy, sell, research, market, and manage a property – ranging from...
While we speak the same language, the cultural differences between us here in the UK and our pals in the US can feel vast. There’s pavement vs sidewalk, fringe vs bangs, ‘flavour’ vs ‘flavor’. There’s also biscuit and cookie – though where we draw the line between the two is another debate for another time. And seemingly at the forefront...