PAC NYC by Porto Rocha
There have been some brilliant logo designs inspired by the very buildings they represent. The Centre Pompidou, for instance, bears a powerfully stark logo that’s been largely unchanged since it was first created in the 1970s: six black stripes crossed by two zigzags representing the site’s ‘caterpillar’ escalator, one of the most famous parts of Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers’...
Bimmi by Bedow
When it comes to pre-packaged, semi-liquid meals and snacks, it’s easy to cite the infamous examples that are now stand-ins for whole demographics – I’m talking about SlimFast, the epitome of 90s diet culture; biohacker fuel Soylent; and, more recently, the US-based celeb-backed Daily Harvest, which made headlines due to product recall over food poisoning incidents. But there’s perhaps no...
RSPCA by JKR
It’s often the launch of major charity rebrands that puts the gulf between how the design world views something, and how the rest of the world might, into sharp relief. Countless headlines abound bemoaning the £££millions ‘spent on a new logo’, as if that’s just about all there is to it, and now the children/animals/elderly etc will directly suffer as...
The Gospel by DDMMYY
Not a new project, but one certainly worth revisiting; this work for whisky brand The Gospel scooped a fair few awards back in 2020, and it’s not hard to see why. The design agency behind everything from strategy and naming to brand story, creative direction, packaging design, and more is DDMMYY, based in Auckland, New Zealand. The team was initially...
Brooklyn Org by Mother and Mother Design
Mother New York and Mother Design have overseen the rebirth of Brooklyn Community Foundation as the commandingly named Brooklyn Org. The sea change arose from a desire to distance the organisation from ‘notions of traditional philanthropy, seen largely today as elitist, dysfunctional, and detached’. If that sounds like a solution to a problem that shouldn’t exist (who hates charities?) then...
Kikin by Koto
When you think about the world of financial investments, an image of woven Scouts’ patches isn’t typically the first thing that springs to mind. Other contemporary brands (like Monzo, Chip, and Plum) aim for visual simplicity over complex personality development or extended world-building. But while a rugged outdoor theme might feel incongruous in the fin-tech space, Koto has skilfully capitalised...
Toundra by LG2
There’s always something intriguing about niche, singular companies, stores and brands. When I was growing up, I distinctly remember a shop that sold only various things made out of wicker, for instance. It both intrigued and baffled me then, before I understood the concept of a ‘front’, a la (or so rumour has it) the numerous shops that once lined...
Pamipe by Omni Design
In recent years we’ve seen some radical shifts to the ever-booming pet care sector. That’s thanks in no small part to the Covid 19 lockdowns that saw many of us seeking solace and company in domestic animals, taking advantage of the WFH policies that, once upon a time, felt endless and unwavering. Another catalyst, perhaps, is that in an increasingly...
Barnardo’s by The Clearing
Barnardo’s is the UK’s largest children’s charity, and it undoubtedly does much good in the world. However, its history up to this point is also littered with uncomfortable controversies. Certainly, the most outlandish transgressions are concentrated in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Founder Thomas John Barnardo was taken to court 88 times for kidnapping children (or ‘philanthropic abductions’, as old...
Qasa by Bold
Now that the likes of ed-tech (education technology) and fin-tech (financial technology) have become a natural part of everyday parlance, it was surely only a matter of time before prop-tech (property technology) entered the equation, too. Proptech largely refers to platforms and services that use tech to help people buy, sell, research, market, and manage a property – ranging from...
Crumbl by Turner Duckworth
While we speak the same language, the cultural differences between us here in the UK and our pals in the US can feel vast. There’s pavement vs sidewalk, fringe vs bangs, ‘flavour’ vs ‘flavor’. There’s also biscuit and cookie – though where we draw the line between the two is another debate for another time. And seemingly at the forefront...
Moksi by FCKLCK Studio
Dutch studio FCKLCK’s all-caps, blood-red website is full of declarations of belligerent provocations such as ‘OUR FAVOURITE CLIENTS ARE THE ONES WHO HAVE EVEN BIGGER BALLS THAN WE DO’. Talk of ‘CUTTING THROUGH THE BULLSHIT’ is accompanied by a mouseover gif of a defecating bovine. The name is of course an expletive repudiation of serendipity (who needs luck when you’ve...