The skateboarding learning curve is really defined by the individual. There are lessons (passed down or shared online), but much of it is practice (and patience). Further, and perhaps more importantly, skateboarding is expressive, it’s fused with personal style. Timeless tricks are given an individual twist that keep it evolving and competitive. Iconic skateboarding brands have grown out of the...
Craft beer has become a hugely competitive market to enter. It seems a rather obvious thing to write, but it’s quite something to have been part of the generation that saw its rise. It’s also provided a lot of great imagery for design blogs, and moved freely between both brand building and just plain visual delight. To see large fridges within...
After seeing Collins’ work for the San Francisco Symphony – a pioneering typographic and digital experiment with Swiss foundry Dinamo – I thought it would be some time before I’d be surprised by another visual identity in the music space. Sure, there’s an abundance of styles and artists to be inspired by within an art that has evolved in tandem...
After the scientific successes of CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (and its blessed failure to create any world-destroying black holes), the research organisation has an even greater need for speed. The team of scientists over in Geneva has been illuminating the nature of our universe since 2009: accelerating and smashing particles together, then snatching glimpses of their tiny collisions. Their appetite...
Big C Charters is a premier charter service located in the San Francisco Bay Area, offering hands-on fishing trips and excursions. The company gets its name from Christian Cavanaugh, captain, founder and former professional basketball player. With a growing fanbase and fleet, Mucho was commissioned to create a new logo, colour palette and custom typeface for the brand, as well...
Formed in 1911, while San Francisco was rapidly rebuilding after the devastating earthquake of 1906, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) has been serving audiences in the Bay Area and beyond for 111 years. In 2018, Esa-Pekka Salonen – a Finnish conductor and composer – was announced as the incoming musical director, with his tenure to start during the fall season...
From à la mode Lick paint to gramable Aokka coffee, everything comes in a tin these days. The rise of metal packaging solutions in food and beverages, healthcare, household and consumer is expected to accelerate by 3.1% year-on-year from 2021 to 2030, driven by the demand for sustainable alternatives to plastic and lightweight substitutes for glass. Aesthetically speaking, the tin...
Panettone has origins as far back as ancient Rome, but its connection to Christmas was first established in the eighteenth century. This sweet bread – originally from Milan – has earned its place across the globe as a staple of the festive season. However, earlier this summer, Barcelona-based twins Chiara and Francesca Pavolucci opened a bakery to bring panettone to...
Few products have successfully integrated ethical, sustainable and environmental concerns with a product than coffee. It’s hard to imagine a time when the conditions of cultivation (both human and environmental) were not equal to flavour and – if we’re getting technical – whether the roast is blended or single origin. With its smaller volumes, the speciality coffee market has challenged...
Agricultural practices are constantly changing to provide greater crop yields. In an effort to achieve this goal, modern farming has created a host of ecological side effects. Most notably, overconsumption of water and a reliance on chemical fertilisers, GMOs and pesticides. Plenty is an indoor vertical farm providing green produce to the masses through sustainable practices, using less space and...
New products, new markets and new consumer groups generate new aesthetics – or, at least, you would hope so. Too often, style migrates from one category to another, or the identity of a sub-culture (visually speaking), is exploited in a commercial context. This is where ‘authenticity’ emerges, to support genuine origin credentials, or to mask the appropriation with narrative context....
Skin is the human body’s largest organ while skincare is the fastest growing segment of the beauty industry. Yet with all their promises of ‘dewy’, ‘glowing’ and ‘blemish free’, most products on the market, are focused on the face. Direct-to-consumer business Soft Services creates skincare products for specific body skin problems, such as acne, ingrown hairs, stretch marks and fungal...