Lookbooks by Studio Lowrie
Posted: Filed under: Logo Reviews, Publishing | Tags: Bookmark Design, Bookshop, Brand Identity Reviews, Branding Blog, Branding Reviews, British Design, Design Blog, Design For Print, Design Opinion, Design Reviews, From the United Kingdom, Graphic Design, Graphic Design Blog, Logo Design & Branding Blog, Logos, Minimal Design, Minimal Logos, Minimalist Brand Identities, Sans-serif Typography, Smile In The Mind, The Best Logo Designs of 2019 Comments Off on Lookbooks by Studio LowrieOpinion by Richard Baird
Lookbooks is an online bookstore that specialises in fun and quirky publications of the past. Recent acquisitions include Old Bohemian and Moravian Jewish Cemeteries by Petr Ehl, Arno Parik & Jiri Fiedler, 1991 and 101 Cake Design by Mary Ford, 1987. There is a cultural value to many of these, reflecting a time and particular niche interest, and how these niche interests were shared pre-internet. The bookstore’s brand identity, however, clearly positions this as a cheerful tongue-in-cheek activity with a cheerful lightness of tone in the logo, which doubles down on the double O pairings within the name to create expressionful graphic gestures. But, it is the bookmarks that really stand out. I simple little die-cut trick, in conjunction with book pages, gives a nose to the eyes. A smart idea by London-based Studio Lowrie.
Åhléns by Happy FB
Posted: Filed under: Logo Reviews, Retail | Tags: Art Direction, Bag Design, Brand Identity, Brand Identity Reviews, Branding, Branding Blog, Branding Reviews, Design Blog, Design For Print, Design News, Design Opinion, Design Reviews, From Scandinavia, Graphic Design, Graphic Design Blog, Logo Design & Branding Blog, Logo Design Inspiration, Logo Design Resource, Logo Designs, Logo Opinion, Logotypes, Retail Logos, Still Life in Brand Identity Design, Swedish, Swedish Design, The Best Brand Identities of 2019, The Best Logo Designs of 2019, The Very Best of 2019, Typography, Wordmark Design Comments Off on Åhléns by Happy FBOpinion by Richard Baird
Åhléns began in 1899 as a small mail-order business. Aside from it being one of the oldest it has also grown to become one of the largest retail chains in Sweden. By carefully collating a variety of items across brands and price categories, the retailer maintains its relevance today, understanding and responding to the many ways in which its customers have changed over its long history. Happy FB, the Scandinavian design studio behind Åhléns new visual identity, puts it simply “to Åhléns’ urbane and socially conscious patrons, shopping and sustainability are not contradictions. Inspiration and trends do not equate to use and discard. Premium can be inexpensive and cheap doesn’t necessarily mean a drop in quality”. The retailer’s new visual identity expresses this by taking the well-established Åhléns wordmark and single red and builds this out into a range of changing graphic expressions, imbuing a variety of touchpoints, material and digital, with more character whilst retaining a recognisable immediacy through simplicity.
The Architect’s Bookshop by Garbett
Posted: Filed under: Architecture and The Built Environment, Education, Fonts in Use, Publishing | Tags: Architecture Logos, Bookmark Design, Bookshop, Brand Identity, Brand Identity Reviews, Branding, Branding Agency, Branding Blog, Branding News, Branding Reviews, Design For Print, Design News, Design Opinion, Design Reviews, Designed by Garbett, Designed in Sydney, Form Language, From Australia, Graphic Design, Graphic Design Blog, Logo Design & Branding Blog, Logotypes, Material Thinking, Minimal Design, Minimal Logos, Minimalist Brand Identities, Smile In The Mind, The Best Brand Identities of 2019, The Best Business Cards of 2019, The Best Logo Designs of 2019, The Very Best Brand Identities of 2019, The Very Best of 2019, Uncoated Papers & Cards, Visual Identity Design Blog Comments Off on The Architect’s Bookshop by GarbettOpinion by Richard Baird
The Architect’s Bookshop is a new design-focused retailer, located in Sydney’s Surrey Hills, devoted to the books of architecture and interior design, landscaping and urban development. The space was conceptualised as being more than a bookshop but a place to take time out to browse, a chance to engage with the material and form of the books, and as a place for those interested in all things related to the built environment to meet and engage in informal conversation and design discourse.
Australian design studio Garbett worked with The Architect’s Bookshop to develop a visual identity that would capture the spirit of the space, the positioning ‘a place for architecture lovers’ and comfortable with and distinct from a material and graphic sophistication of architectural publishing, channelling the universal, enduring and immediate form language associated with architectural structure and book reading. This project covered, alongside logotype, tote bag, bookmark/business card, bookstands, signage, price stickers, gift cards and art direction.
