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...
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...
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 –...
While cannabis products still make up a sector overmuch in its infancy, it’s one that’s already birthed its fair share of design cliches – from Camden Market-leaning leaf designs to ‘millennial pink’ trendiness to branding that owes way too much to adjacent sectors, like D2C beauty products or ultra-minimal pharmaceuticals. This recent work from Robot Food, however, manages to demonstrate...
The economics of regional farming, in the face of global market forces, continues to be unfavourable to local producers; narrowing margins and pushing some out of business. Alongside this, unfair and self-defeating politics continue to chip away at a basic message; locally grown food is a good, not just in a regional economic sense, but in terms of the health...
Olssøn Barbieri certainly seems to be on form this year: we recently reviewed the Oslo-based multi-disciplinary design studio’s work for Stereoscope coffee, and now, we’re delving into its smart designs for Chelan Beauty. Marrying clarity, functionality and a decent smattering of the unexpected, the surprises land early with this one: Chelan Beauty isn’t actually a ‘beauty brand’ – as in...
Oslo-based multi-disciplinary design studio Olssøn Barbieri has created the brand identity for Los Angeles-based speciality coffee roastery Stereoscope, working across its packaging design and printed materials with a typography-led approach that celebrates tactility. According to Olssøn Barbieri, Stereoscope is underpinned by a philosophy that sees coffee as a living organism rather than a commodity, and which takes its responsibility to...
Every year an impressive 40,000 humpback whales travel along the Sydney coastline. This annual migration pattern is one of the many awe-inspiring natural spectacles that make the city so unique. It is fitting then, that the New Sydney Waterfront Company chose to revitalise Sydney’s Western Harbour Precinct with an installation of thirty whale tail sculptures, telling thirty individual stories, or...