Most people agree that demarcations like ‘millennial’, ‘Gen Z’ and ‘Gen X’ are redundant – little more than age brackets created for the convenience of marketing teams which have become shorthand for a series of traits we’re expected to believe somehow define an entire generation. It’s curious, then, that for every diatribe against such groupings there’s at least ten more...
SPIN Studio continues its working relationship with the Design Museum (after branding its Waste Age exhibition in 2021 and Wim Crouwel’s first UK retrospective in 2011) by putting its inimitable spin (this won’t happen again, I promise) on Future Observatory, the museum’s ‘national research programme for the green transition’. Perhaps more so than any other studio working today, SPIN has...
It’s always satisfying to see smart, bold new identity designs for a household name brand, often by one of the big name studios: things like the still-hyped 2021 JKR Burger King rebrand; Collins’ Girl Scouts revamp in 2022; Springetts’ fresh look for Ryvita that same year, which makes the much-maligned crispbread seem a lot more palatable. And while such projects...
For a type-nerd (hello!) there are few things more seductive than a beautiful, beguiling letterform. But what makes such shapes even more siren-like is when they leap off the page and come to life, not just in motion, digitally; but in a physical environment. The branding for new private members club Curve Club, then, certainly ticks a lot of boxes...
Cling-wrap, cling-film, stretch-wrap, Saran-wrap or food-wrap. Wherever you’re from and whatever you may call the ubiquitous, sticky, transparent stuff, it’s been keeping food fresh since 1949, when the first branded form of cling-wrap made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) appeared on the market. Once held up as a mould-thwarting modern marvel, the material is now widely derided as an environmental menace....
From Wes Anderson to ‘accepting the job’ and distinctly dystopian new romantic relationship models; in recent years, it’s felt like you can’t move for chat about AI – its weirdest uses, its hilarious shortcomings, and a hell of a lot of scare-mongering about it stealing our jobs. The platform that’s dominated much of the conversation is ChatGPT, an AI chatbot...
In recent years, employers have been rushing to offer an increasingly elaborate range of workplace perks, from the WeWork style beer on tap approach to sleep pods (begging the question, if you have to sleep at work, is this really a perk at all?) to Ben & Jerry’s rather busman’s holiday-ish promise that employees can take home three pints of...
Ostro isn’t the easiest of companies to make sense of. Billed as a ‘life science software company’, it straddles a number of different services that are both consumer and clinician-facing. In simple terms, though, it looks to help consumers and healthcare providers alike to navigate the complex, labyrinthine ins and outs of the complex US healthcare system; using software to...
Much like identity work for art galleries and publishing houses, master brand design for theatre is often neutral, leaving plenty of space for a programme of diverse productions and eclectic marketing images to ‘take the stage’. When everything is in constant flux, there are typically some constants: a straightforward, recognisable wordmark, a distinctive typographic personality, and a consistently tight grid...
There’s a lot to be said for the Instagram-worthiness of, say, a faux-futuristic beauty brand identity that’s all gloopy, metallic, kinetic typography, ‘terminal green’, and unabashedly Gen Z-baiting ‘y2k’ art direction. It’s easy to assume that projects that allow designers the creative freedom for unabashed experimentation – playing fast and loose with legibility and lofty conceptual thinking – are the...
If you’ve heard of Scott’s Cheap Flights, it’s more than likely through word of mouth – it’s the sort of thing shared by a helpful colleague or cousin when you discuss trying to make holiday plans, much like the sage advice to use a private browser when looking at flight prices. And from these fairly humble beginnings, the service –...
Anyone over about 25 would likely feel that of all people, big-time YouTubers aren’t exactly in need of a coffee fix: high-octane, breathless excitement and endless, pause free chitchat don’t exactly scream ‘3pm slump’. However, Irish YouTuber Seán McLoughlin, aka Jacksepticeye – who boasts more than 52 million social media followers, and nearly 16 billion views on YouTube alone –...