BP&O Voices
Rich Baird on Design History:
Bata by Design Research Unit, 1969
The story of Design Research Unit’s 1969 logo for Czechoslovakian shoe manufacture and retailer Bata....
Wholesome by Universal Favourite
Wholesome is a new breed of supermarket that doesn’t fill a gap in a market so much as it positions itself at a nexus of multiple intersecting demands. The pursuit of ethical grocery and household shopping has, for decades, been both deeply commendable and exasperatingly time-consuming, expensive and convoluted. One supermarket will stock Fairtrade products but have a scant gluten-free...
Expensify by The Collected Works
According to The Collected Works, one of the main reasons its recent client Expensify was looking to rebrand was to remedy a perceived mismatch between the ‘wacky’ vibe of the brand’s marketing and ads (namely its 2019 Superbowl commercial), and its core visual identity. Which begs the question – how far does a brand identity itself have to mimic or...
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Beatport by Kurppa Hosk, 2021
Beatport’s prior logo, an abstract pair of headphones used from the company’s founding in 2004, is labelled by Wikipedia as “not meeting the threshold of originality needed for copyright protection”. Ouch. To be fair, this is down to it “consisting of only of simple geometric shapes”. Surly that’s the point? Anyway, this is resolved by Kurppa Hosk with a new...
Recchiuti by Manual
Recchiuti Confections is a San Francisco-based gourmet chocolatier that creates chocolates with unique flavour combinations. Using traditional European techniques, with locally sourced ingredients from Northern Californian farms and markets, Recchiuti’s chocolates have earned a loyal customer base and several accolades. After 25 years in business, Recchiuti sought the expertise of Manual – a local design studio – for a brand...
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Western Union by Love St. and Co., 2023
Western Union has felt like a high street mainstay. It’s black and yellow signage is easy to recollect, its logo, however, not so much. An uncomfortable overlapping of an ‘W’ and ‘U’ offered little cognitive prompts to latch on. There was clearly an opportunity to, at the very least, generate something with a modicum of creativity. The new monogram is...
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Pursuit by Gander, 2023
‘What success really looks like’ is a great set up for Pursuit, a social enterprise that delivers transformation through training to wherever it’s needed most. A looping arrow designed by Gander captures the never-straightforward route to success (however you choose to define it). That this then forms a ‘P’ is a lovely synergy of idea and type. It’s dynamic and...
Erbert by AUGE
Few countries on Earth take their food as seriously as Italy. It’s not difficult to justify the enormous pride Italians take in their spectacular culinary heritage, with their cuisine considered the ‘most exported’ on the planet. But while the wider world is undeniably in thrall, Italians’ patriotic palettes create and necessitate a notoriously conservative domestic cooking culture. Italian ingredients, recipes...
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Clarysse by Skinn, 2023
A page straight out of Franco Grignani’s notebook, and in the spirit of the Woolmark logo, Skinn craft a looping ‘C’ symbol that flows like the luxury fabrics Clarysse make. It’s spatial, makes good use of positive and negative space to deliver a sense of thread in a graphic way. Sure, the flavour of the Italian master continues to inspire,...
Casa Malka by Nihilo
Branding agency Nihilo is more adept than most at shattering stereotypes – both in the work they make, and in terms of who the agency is, and what it’s all about. Founded by designer Emunah Winer and writer Margaret Kerr-Jarrett in Israel in 2021 and now based in Columbus, Ohio, the agency takes its name from the Latin term ‘creatio...
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Deezer by Koto, 2023
The first Deezer logo was uninspired. Fine when it launched, but alongside the highly polished Spotify rebrand launched in 2015 it looked cheap. Tech-saasy Koto have dived in and done a lovely job presenting Deezer as competition worth considering. Where the music you love comes alive is a simple idea, and wonderfully realised in symbolic form as a waveform heart....
Phil’s Finest by Gander
It’s a moot point now that the last few years have seen an explosion in all things vegan and ‘plant-based’ (a term arguably used lightly, when you consider the ingredients in many no-meat, no-dairy, no-animal product alternatives). There’s vegan cheese that actually tastes nice, there’s mushroom and hemp ‘magic mince’, even vegan tuna. I’m writing this while eating a vegan...