When São Paulo-based studio Polar was tasked with rebranding one of Brazil’s most important cultural institutions – the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo Symphony Orchestra), better known as OSESP – its solution was an identity system that doesn’t just depict classical music but actively embody it. OSESP’s previous identity had served it well, with its 2003-2007...
If a brand that fuses memes, hot takes, occultism, and coffee is going to succeed anywhere, it’s probably in east London. Dark Arts Coffee started out in 2014 in a Homerton railway arch, and managed to corner that distinct subgenre of goth/metal/biker-ish aesthetics which opts for craft ale over snakebite; Hackney over Camden; self-care over self-destruction. Where the old guard,...
Founded by Dominika Leveau and Chim Sonne-Schmidt in 2021, textile brand Tameko feels thoroughly ‘Scandi’ in aesthetics and ethos – it’s all clean lines, a singularly restrained stance on beauty. It’s form following function. Tameko embodies that very contemporary take on the luxury sensibility that never shouts about its status. It doesn’t need to: luxe quietly but confidently oozes from...
What does ‘healthcare’ look like today, especially when we’re increasingly talking about preventative treatment? For Parsley Health and GlycanAge, which promote functional medicine, it’s serene – all blush pink, forest green and rounded corners; for Modern Age, which focuses on longevity, it’s more clinical, with high-resolution botanical imagery and classical icons; Ezra, which offers full-body MRIs as cancer prevention, goes...
Hanbury is an American architecture firm, founded in 1979 and based in Virginia. According to international agency Base Design, which recently delivered a rebrand for the practice, the last decade has witnessed a ‘transformative’ period of growth and diversification with the team increasing from 40 to 160 individuals, and expanding from one to eight office spaces. For Hanbury, which started...
Few things have a design legacy quite like the Olympics: it’s hard to think of another event or organisation that has both a history spanning more than 120 years (the first modern Olympics’ was in 1896), and a distinct graphic identity each time it takes place. Since every Games has its own unique ‘emblem’ logomark device, the events become sort...
There’s no denying the proliferation of all things that the more curmudgeonly crowds might deem ‘woowoo’ over recent years. Crystals, gong baths, singing bowls, silent retreats, tarot et al were once firmly languishing on the fringes of society, and are now de rigeur among the Stoke Newington set and TikTok classes alike. This rise in self-help-led esotericism has run concurrently...
With trend-forecasting agency WGSN identifying ‘multi-species homes’ as one of the ‘top trends of 2024’, the global market for pet products is project to hit £28.75 billion by 2025 – and this excludes the food category. Even furniture design is increasingly influenced by the penchants of our four-legged friends. Catering to this pet-first design movement, Liberty London, Prada, Louis Vuitton...
In recent years, we’ve seen artisanal ice cream brands make an obvious departure from the maximalist, saccharine branding that their mainstream counterparts are so known for. In particular, the typeface-heavy, superimposed ice cream tubs of US-based brands have become a benchmark for exactly the kind of branding that more gourmet confectioners are keen to avoid. While Ben & Jerry’s iconic...
As well as being a coastal city in south west Italy (formed in 1923 by none other than Benito Mussolini), Imperia is a pasta machine company that was formed from a ‘little artisan workshop’ in 1932. Imperia soon began to distribute pasta machines around the world; mainly catering to the US’ large Italian community. From its plant in Sant’Ambrogio, Turin,...
We’ve covered no shortage of work by Pentagram in the past, most recently Cohere but spanning projects for London Fashion Week, NYC Parks, National History Museum and more. This is the first time, however, that we’ve looked at a project by new-ish New York office partner Andrea Trabucco-Campos and his team – and it’s safe to say, we’re impressed. Graphic...
Branding a film production company is a delicate business. On the one hand, you need branding that can match and even enhance the quality of the films being produced, but on the other, you need something that doesn’t distract from the work or compete with it. Film is an intrinsically creative visual medium, and building a framework to support it...