Marshmallow by Ragged Edge
A marshmallow is sweet, soft, pliable. Yet they are also resilient and surprisingly strong – who among us hasn’t enjoyed watching them perform surprisingly well under a hydraulic press compared to substances that much more obviously scream ‘structural integrity’? Perhaps this soft-yet-strong dynamic is why the name works for an insurance company. Or perhaps, more simply, the name works because...
Frydate by Skinn
Beyond its eye-wateringly strong beers, decadent chocolates, and waffles; Belgium is famous for serving up one beloved belt-buster that’s easy to eat, and deceptively hard to get right: chips. A new Belgian homemade burger and snacks offer, Frydate, positions itself far beyond a humble chippie and into the realm of ‘Belgian frymanship’-led ‘friterie concept’. To help it achieve its ‘insatiable...
smlXL by DIA
As the adage goes, ‘Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; teach him to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime’. With this vivid paradigm of self-sufficiency in mind, we can esteem the advent of creative coding in branding, allowing design agencies to hand brands over to clients as generative tools capable of generating limitless...
Monkey Baa Theatre Co. by Universal Favourite
Theatre is an artform that relies not only on its visual and verbal performance elements, but the text from which all the rest of the more showy aspects are born. An obvious point, but one that often makes me wonder: why do so many theatre companies have such terrible names? Maybe it’s a sort of in-joke, maybe I’m just missing...
Partech by Koto
Certain sectors lend themselves beautifully to innovative, eye-catching design – things like craft beer, perhaps; or beauty; or small-run editorial publications. Investment firms aren’t traditionally among those sectors that engender more outre, bold design work. And that’s partly the reason that this work for Partech, a global tech investment firm headquartered in Paris, stands out. Created by brand and digital...
Wisl by andstudio
Shaking off a hangover on a crisp Sunday morning kick-about with the boys; dunking a perfect basket on a court raked with the long shadows of a high-summer sunset; obliterating Janet from HR in a ‘friendly’ after-work squash game/grudge-match. These vignettes, I am assured by those who participate in such wholesome activities, capture both the hazy idyll and everyday reality...
Departed Spirits by Marx Design
Maybe it’s been ‘silly season’ summer; maybe there’s a lack of risk-taking/imagination/budget; maybe I’m just jaded, but it’s felt as though recent months haven’t exactly seen a wealth of particularly exciting branding and packaging projects. That’s not to say there hasn’t been a steady stream of good work, but I’ve personally not felt hugely ‘wowed’: there’s been work that’s strong,...
Entrée by Saint Urbain
More than three years since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, we’re in a strange situation when it comes to all the things that flourished due to lockdown – grocery delivery services like Getir, et al; streaming services that poured literally billions into what once seemed like a never-ending gold-rush of content-consumption; flashy home-centric lifestyle brands like Peloton. Indeed, the...
Loot by Seachange
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...
Natural History Museum by Pentagram & Nomad
If you grew up in the UK, the Natural History Museum is likely synonymous with two things: the massive blue whale suspended from the ceiling, or the equally large diplodocus skeleton. For many British kids, the museum is a childhood staple – either from school trips, or days out with parents who, rather savvily, combine a widespread fascination among youngsters...
Florentia Village by DNCO
On first hearing, ‘Florentia Village’ is a ridiculous name for a warehouse complex in South Tottenham, as if Hyacinth Bouquet had somehow risen from the grave and gained a seat on the borough council in order to render floridly Italianate a grimy chunk of East London. However, the name does in fact arise from an organic nomenclatural etymology: indicating ‘flourishing’ or...
Fergus by Principal Studio
Organic food brands often land in the same visual territory as many vegan and eco-conscious counterparts – but when did the pursuit of consumer trust become so entwined with muted colour palettes, illustrated veg and rustic textures? There’s nothing inherently problematic with this combination of design elements, yet it has become a tired and overused formula for brands operating in...