Estepona is a Spanish resort town on the Costa del Sol. It surveys the azure waves of the Mediterranean from the apex of a bight that traces a gentle South-Westerly arc from Marbella to Gibraltar. Strewn as it is on this notoriously idyllic coastline, Estepona largely conforms to the stereotypically cheerful charm of the Spanish resort town, pandering to the...
Youth hostels aren’t exactly associated with luxury – nor great branding. For the most part, they’re deemed the cheap and cheerful option; a trip where home comforts are sacrificed for socially minded living, affordability, and a more adventurous sensibility than the average Travelodge. They’re the sorts of places where creaky bunk beds, shower queues, pillows so thin they’re barely more...
It’s always satisfying to see smart, bold new identity designs for a household name brand, often by one of the big name studios: things like the still-hyped 2021 JKR Burger King rebrand; Collins’ Girl Scouts revamp in 2022; Springetts’ fresh look for Ryvita that same year, which makes the much-maligned crispbread seem a lot more palatable. And while such projects...
Last month @designershumour shared a meme titled, ‘When I ask my client to send their logo in vector format’. The god-tier client supplies logo.ai, from which point there’s a sliding scale of disgust and incredulity from logo.psd to logo.jpg and logo.doc. The punchline is logo.xls. The joke resonated, attracting over 30k knowing likes (or eyerolls). At one point or another,...
Pizza making is a lot like brand identity design. It has many potential configurations: it can be generic or wildly individual, but fundamentally, it’s systematic, a framework of organised elements. It is a base that holds a variety of communicative assets and techniques (the toppings, if you will). Appeal is determined by how well this is orchestrated, and how well...
Shy Bird is a all-day café, rotisserie and bar in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its core mission is to elevate chicken, and the experience of eating chicken into the realms of the exceptional through gastronomic know-how, a beautiful interior and a visual identity designed by American studio Perky Bros. Drawing their inspiration from the red junglefowl, the “original chicken” and descendant of the domestic chicken, and...
In the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Greenpoint sits Vessel Floats, a new flotation and deprivation therapy spa that draws on the continuing interest in concepts such as mindful living and wellness. Through considered interior design and visual identity, the latter developed by New York-based studio Order, Vessel Floats intends to further develop and bring to modernity an experience that has been around...
Ascari is an Italian restaurant which two locations, one on Queens Street East and another newly opened establishment on King St West. Toronto, Canada. It is named after the proprietor’s hero, Formula 1 legend, Alberto Ascari, (who was also known for his love of food). To reflect both the passion for good simple food and racing, design studio Blok developed an identity that brings together...
Old Elephant House is a new brasserie and courtyard bar in the former elephant enclosure at Auckland Zoo. It offers an à la carte menu and set three-course meals made up of light and elegant dishes. It is a building that is distinct in its proportions and location, with tall doors and windows from which to hear the distant calling siamang...
New Zealand based Studio South worked with Lithuanian illustrator Egle Zvirblyte to build a graphic identity up of colourful characters for Mark Wallbank and Che Barrington’s new Thai canteen Gogo Daddy which is located in Ponsonby Central, Auckland. GoGo Daddy’s menu is inspired by Mark and Che’s extensive travels, and is a take on the rustic Thai street food they experienced throughout Thailand;...
Daechung Park / 대충유원지 is a cafe located in the South Korean capital of Seoul. It features a distinctive interior of wood and stepped brick walls developed by FHHH Friends, furniture and objects by studio COM and a graphic identity designed Studio fnt. Graphic identity is expressed through menus, coasters, packaging and framed calligraphic posters, but also through small details within the interior...
Spanjorskan is a Spanish restaurant located at Nybrogatan 42, Stockholm. It features a distinctive interior of warm and traditional detailing, a mix of wood, tiling and comfortable upholstery, and modern elements of exposed utilities, solid blocks of colour and feature lighting. Spanjorskan also has a distinctive menu with a sense of the theatrical and celebratory to it in colour, presentation and serving,...