This week, Martin Maher talks F.H.K. Henrion (1914-1990) – a true giant of British graphic design. During a long and eventful career Henrion was not only president of the most prestigious of design organisations (AGI), he also designed some of the most powerful social posters of World War II as well as single-handedly pioneering the concept of corporate identity programs. With accolades like these, as well as many more, one would think Henrion would be […]
Continuing our mini-series of design heroes, former Creative Director of The Brand Union and founder of Perth & Singapore-based studio Zebra, Martin Maher talks to us about the legendary Michael Wolff… Most designers have heard of the company Wolff Olins. Ok so that’s obvious statement of the year out of the way. We know them from their innovative and intelligent identity systems, even non-designers would acknowledge the controversy surrounding their identity for the Olympic Games. […]
Design heroes, we all have them. Designers from the past or present that we become a little bit obsessed with. In a good way. It’s a bit like a favourite band we try and collect every piece of their work, we hunt down out of print copies of their monographs, buy posters of their work, bookmark every site that mentions them. There are plenty of books out there that feature the more well known designers, […]
Following on from our chat with Creative Partner of The Allotment, Michael Smith, we’re thrilled to profile Martin Maher, the co-founder and Creative Director of Zebra, a brand communications agency with offices in Singapore and Perth, Australia. Martin studied design at Salisbury College of Art before moving to London where he worked at several agencies in the capital before making the move to Asia in 2000. He was Creative Director at The Brand Union in Singapore where […]
There are few agencies whose work we admire more than that of The Allotment, so when Creative Partner Michael Smith agreed to speak with us we were naturally thrilled, and immensely keen to hear what he had to say… Born in south Wales, Mike kick started his career with a student award from the International Society of Typographic Designers before heading to London. A career which to date has spanned over fifteen years and glittered […]
#AntiSpec is a campaign launched earlier this summer that seeks to out those who put out calls for free logos. They had a high profile casualty in the maiden campaign when Aol owned Huffington Post sought to ‘invite’ submissions for a new divisional identity “in exchange for exposure”. Hmm. We wholeheartedly support the Antispec cause, but this led us ponder a wider picture, namely to pitch or not to pitch… In times of economic downturn […]
It’s an age old adage that when a small agency hires new staff, it isn’t simply talent and portfolios that are being gauged during the recruitment process. It’s critical that the personality is one that slots in comfortably with the existing blend of characters in the studio. This is only exagerated when looking to hire a young designer or graduate as they will invariably need the most guidance and the most time dedicated to them […]
Wedding season is upon is and I don’t know about you but I my shelf is full of various invitations for friends’ and family members’ big days. This got me thinking; aside from a symbol of upcoming nuptuals, a wedding invitation is a branding exercise of sorts for the happy couple. So much time is spent carefully selecting the wedding stationery and it’s such a great and unique way to stamp your personality on a […]