Designers Journal | A chronicle of jottings, doodles & boutique design treats

BCN:MCR

07/02/2013

by DJ

Events

BCN:MCR premieres at 2022NQ on Thursday 21 February 2013 and is presented by Manchester-based designer, Dave Sedgwick. The exhibition unites, for the first time, five of the most innovative and cutting-edge, Barcelona based design agencies of the moment; Hey, Lamosca, Lo Siento, Mayúscula and Mucho; and will provide a rare opportunity for designers, creatives and culture enthusiasts everywhere, to experience the work of award-winning, pioneering and original design from Barcelona.

Sedgwick’s passion for design and Spanish culture, led him to Barcelona, where he was inspired by the originality of the creative design scene and its diversity. Plus, he saw many parallels between Manchester and Barcelona, which provided the catalyst for ‘BCN:MCR’;

“It was an idea I had wanted to pursue for a while and having visited Barcelona on several occasions before; I have always been really inspired by the design scene and the work of these five very different agencies in particular, whom I really admire. Both Barcelona and Manchester are cosmopolitan, European cities with a creative and flourishing design community and a distinctive identity. So, I thought it would be a great idea to bring Barcelona to Manchester so to speak!

It’s also perfectly placed at 2022NQ, who have supported the design and arts community since it opened last year. This is a unique opportunity for designers in Manchester and the general public to see five of the best agencies from Barcelona all under one roof”, Dave Sedgwick, Designer & Curator, ‘BCN:MCR’.

In addition to the works which will be on display at 2022NQ, each agency has also been issued with their own individual letter of the exhibition title, ‘BCN:MCR’, and will submit their own unique, creative response to this. Sedgwick will be completing the 6th letter with his own contribution and the finished collaboration will culminate in an exclusive piece of design, that is a reflexive element of the exhibition and a unique reminder of the relationship between the two cities. This will be on display at the newly opened TAKK coffee shop, 6 Tariff Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester.

An exclusive talk will also be held at 2022NQ on Friday 22nd February featuring Borja Martinez, of Lo Siento and Pablo Juncadella, of Mucho, Rocio Martinavarro from Mayúscula and Veronica Fuerta from Hey. They will each be providing an insight into their way of working and the graphic design scene in Barcelona, plus there will be an opportunity for a Q & A session.

Tw. @bcnmcr | www.bcnmcr.co.uk

Mayuscula

La Mosca

Hey Studio

Mucho

Lo Siento

Dave Sedgwick

Curious {Auckland}

07/02/2013

by LWC

Awesome agencies

It seems Auckland is the place to be for tasty design these days, adding to our recent post on the lovely Hardhat we now have packaging specialists Curious to introduce to you. With a generous handful of international packaging awards under their belts, these guys know their stuff. Recent lovelies include a big old shake up of New Zealand favourite Phoenix Drinks. With the name now well and truly etched in Kiwis’ brains (once you’ve tried the apple and guava juice you never go back!).

I also happen to know the lovely people at Curious Towers themselves in a big kiwi house with a sunshine filled deck perfect for Friday beers — just the inspiration needed to get those creative juices flowing if you ask me. Take a wander into their world here.

Tw: @curiousdesignNZ / www.curious.co.nz

Handsome Spiel

05/02/2013

by DJ

News

New work from Liverpool’s Well Made Studio, feast your eyes on Spiel Magazine; a quarterly, independent football magazine. SPIEL is about football, football and fashion, football and music, football and art. Sometimes SPIEL is about football as art but always it is always about offering a cultural perspective of the game.

Originally launched 18 months ago and with a print run of over 5,000 distributed in London and the north of England, SPIEL has built a loyal following of soccer fans. Intelligent articles on race and politics sit comfortably alongside player profiles and fashion spreads that wouldn’t get you decked on the terraces. But it’s not only the clever casuals who have been enticed by SPIEL; oh no, print fans have been seduced by it’s bold, graphic identity and tasty hand drawn illustrative stylings.

Quietly launching late last year, the new website has already built an impressive audience of fans looking for an enhanced read. “It was really important to have SPIEL’s online presence an extension of print. We looked to adapt things sympathetically; to maintain the identity but with the different needs of a website in mind.” says Matt from Well Made. “It is a website for readers. We’re not trying to hide a grid, its based around building blocks informed by planning and usable information architecture. The key idea throughout was just about making sure we were presenting the content online as well as it is in print”.

With print layout and identity established by Well Made, SPIEL doesn’t drop into the ‘normal’ football aesthetic and the new website is certainly an extension of that ideal. Great project from start to finish. Read more here, follow here & here.

YCN ~ Cooler Shaker

04/02/2013

by DJ

News

Emerging creatives around the world are invited to share the best of their work as part of a brand new professional award programme from YCN, launched in international partnership with Soho House.
Since 2001 YCN has been operating an international award programme for creative students. YCN is now seeking to elevate and recognise outstanding talent rising up within the industry.

Open to creative professionals to have graduated within the last 8 years, the new YCN Professional Awards invite the submission of a portfolio showing four projects into categories for Design & Communication, Illustration and Animation. Portfolios must include client work, and postgraduate students are also welcome to enter.The deadline for doing so is March 28th 2013.

All portfolios will be considered by a fine international jury; the 80 strong multi-disciplinary group combines established and newer names including Creative Review editor Patrick Burgoyne, Sagmeister & Walsh’s Jessica Walsh and Blink founder James Studholme.

London and New York’s Soho House will play host to the jury days followed by launch events for a new YCN Annual – the hard-backed publication will this year be Art Directed by Matt Willey, showcasing all winners alongside other notable submissions and be distributed across the creative industries. Winners will also be showcased at the YCN website and then invited to speak at industry facing events and screenings at Soho House venues internationally.

“We believe that well organised award programmes have a valuable role to play in sharing brilliant new creative work and publicly recognising those behind it”, comments YCN Founder Nick Defty. “We have set out to design something far-reaching and accessible that will give recognition to some of the most exciting talent coming through. A partnership with Soho House will enable us to further celebrate this talent in beautiful spaces around the world”.

This year’s Call for Entries campaign, and a glittering interactive physical award, have been designed in collaboration with New York based typographer Craig Ward. Combining striking type with imagery of the award itself the campaign invites creatives around the world to ‘Shake it Up’… “I photographed a tonne of falling glitter which is rather difficult to focus on!”, tells Craig. ”I built the type out from there. The most important thing I wanted to capture was the energy and excitement of rising up as a creative”.

The Awards cost just £40 to enter and all those who do will become Super Members of YCN with colourful benefits for a year. “We want to make sure that everyone that enters gets great value from doing so” says Nick.

Entries are invited online by March 28th 2013. Full details can be found at ycn.org/awards.
Tw. @thisisycn

SHAKE IT UP from YCN on Vimeo.

Zebra romance the stone

04/02/2013

by DJ

News

More handsome new work from Perth’s Zebra ~ this time much more clinical and understated than the last treat we featured (Moodmakr) ~ Gem Bar is a contemporary, boutique bar in Singapore that needed a refresh of their visual identity to reflect a recent renovation. The new interior design theme had an industrial, warehouse feel to it and the graphic elements took cues from there.

Zebra developed the logo as well as the associated branded items, including exterior signage as well as the bar’s stationery, menus, drinks coasters and staff uniforms.

Zebra Creative Director Martin Maher explained; “We wanted to keep the look very simple and sharp, using clean lines throughout. The logo references the precise gem-like qualities of the name. The sharp angles work well when juxtaposed against the raw concrete, steel, wood and brick textures of the bar.”

Tw. @madebyzebra

Hardhat {Auckland/London}

28/01/2013

by DJ

Awesome agencies

Founded back in 2000, Hardhat Design is NZ and Brit design couple Nik + Jen who run an absolute nugget of a studio and service clients from bases in both London and Auckland. Their work has included brand/identity development, illustration, web & e-commerce development, and design for packaging, print, publication & web.

Meeting in London in the late 90’s, and after several years each at various design and advertising agencies working on jobs for large corporate brands, they decided to go it alone & set up their own design studio, focussing on the more creative brands with whom they were more aligned.

In 2008, starting to feel a little burnt out from London, they decided to take a ‘sabbatical’ in NZ – which actually ended up as a 4 year move, the creation of Hardhat in Auckland, and the growth of a lovely roster of NZ-based clients.

Nik + Jen now split their time between their London & Auckland studios, working with clients from both countries as well as one or two from far-flung places such as Paris, New York, Accra (Ghana) & Dubai.

Some lovely work, great websites and innovative branding projects, give a nod to Hardhat…

Tw. @hardhat

Zebra in the mood

23/01/2013

by DJ

News

Terrifically charming and vibrant new work by Perth studio Zebra ~ Moodmakr app, the brainchild of Arcade who are a Singapore-based creative agency.

Arcade are known for creating intellectual properties and ideas and turning them into commercial ventures. Zebra have worked alongside Arcade on many projects over the past few years and with Moodmakr they were asked to bring one such idea to life. Moodmakr is an app that aims to satisfy the mood of a consumer with an instant, hyper-relevant offer.

The project background started with the idea of how a consumer feels. Mood or state-of-mind is one of the driving forces of consumer behaviour and marketers have traditionally used research to gauge this, taking weeks, months or even years to respond with new offerings. Then came the social media phenomenon with it’s explosion of self-expression. How consumers feel has never been so visible, honest and immediate. In return people now expect instant gratification. Arcade believe that the next evolution in the relationship with consumers is to give them what they want the very instant they feel it. Hence the idea for the Moodmakr app. The Facebook page describes it as “the perfect mood companion. No matter your mood or your place, we’ve got a deal to put a smile on your face”.

With this in mind Zebra designed the overall look and feel for the brand. They also came up with the idea of Moodmakr being a character with it’s own personality. In theory there could be an endless amount of character icons as there are so many different human moods and feelings. Zebra started with the more obvious feelings such as ‘feelin’ happy’, ‘feelin’ sad’ etc and developed each icon’s attributes to reflect these moods.

“We’ve helped give Moodmakr a personality of it’s own” says Zebra co-founder Martin Maher, “…one that changes and morphs depending on the mood or state-of-mind of the consumer. The brand language also needed to reflect this so a specific ‘tone of voice’ was developed to reflect the friendly, fun nature of the brand”.

Get the app today here, check out more of Zebra’s trinkets here.

Milk {Auckland}

22/01/2013

by LWC

Awesome agencies

Milk have been buzzing away under the surface for years however recent projects for the likes of 1Above and Health Basics have firmly cemented their position on the Auckland packaging design circuit.

Wander through most airports now and you will see a 1Above above stand. The drink brand is a world first, aiming to help you fly and travel better. Milk worked across all facets of the launch including naming.

With this little beauty under their belt they then turned their attentions to the bathrooms of New Zealand with an innovative rebrand for Health Basics. With removable labels, beautifully simple pack structure and a nifty take on the old soap on a robe, the structural design really brings this brand to life. Add to this Milk’s interesting steer on the New Zealand origins positioning and you have a product that is ready and waiting to leap off the shelves.

Milk don’t just do packaging design though. Check out a few recent projects here and browse their others on their site.