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

Heroes – George Lois

02/09/2012

by DJ

Heroes

Maybe it’s because I’ve just returned from judging at an Advertising Awards or because I’ve just finished reading his brilliant book ‘Damn Good Advice’ but George Lois really is a bit of a legend, writes Martin Maher. Whilst not strictly just a designer (although he started out as one and he designed plenty of logos) George Lois could be seen as one of the most prolific and creative advertising communicators of the last half century, which basically means of all time. To be named by many as ‘the father of Art Direction’ seems pretty spot on to me. His Esquire covers alone put him in the big league but add to these over fifty years of tremendously clever, witty, even groundbreaking creative problem solving and you start to sum up one of the best creative minds of our time. It’s even been said that some of Don Draper’s storylines have been inspired by the real-life exploits of Lois during the 1950’s.

Lois was born in New York City on June 26, 1931, the son of Greek immigrants. He attended the High School of Music and Art and received a basketball scholarship to Syracuse University. He instead chose to study at Pratt Institute. Lois attended only one year at Pratt then left to work for Reba Sochis until he was drafted by the Army six months later to fight in the Korean War.

When he returned from the war Lois went to work for the advertising department of CBS where he worked on various print and media projects. Then in 1959 he was hired by the ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach. I’d love to write a separate feature on Bill Bernbach but that really would be stepping a bit too far into the world of advertising. After one year there Lois was headhunted by Fred Papert and Julian Koenig to form Papert Koenig Lois in 1960. PKL as it was known was also the first ad agency to go public. In 1967 he left to form Lois Holland Callaway. His last ad agency, Lois/USA, which created well known campaigns for clients such as Minolta, The Four Seasons and Tourneau closed it’s doors in 1999.

Lois developed what he named ‘The Big Idea’. He summed this up with the following: “solving a specific communications problem with an audacious blend of words and images that catch people’s eyes, penetrate their minds, warm their hearts, and cause them to act”. Some of his more well known work includes the following; concept and design work for the ‘New York’ magazine for the New York Herald Tribune, the “I Want My MTV” campaign, the concept behind VH1, naming Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine frozen food line and marketing ideas for Jiffy Lube stations. He created the initial ad campaign to help build awareness of fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger. Other clients he has worked with include: Xerox, Volkswagen, USA Today, Nickelodeon, ESPN and four U.S. Senators.

Lois has written many books on creative problem solving and the advertising world in general. He is also the only person to be inducted into all of the following: The Art Directors Hall of Fame, The American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame, The One Club Creative Hall of Fame, The American Institute of Graphic Arts and The Society of Publication Designers . Lois, as well as other notable ad men of his generation are the subject of the movie ‘Art & Copy‘.

Lois is almost as well known for his advice and quotes than he is for his creative output. His latest book ‘Damn Good Advice‘ is exactly what is says it is on the cover; lot’s of damn, good advice. One quite topical piece of advice that stood out for me is number 104. “Learn to write one singular, coherent, informative, insightful, spectacular sentence to replace your illiterate, off-the-cuff twittering!” which is followed quickly by “Or better yet, stop tweeting your life away and do something productive: Learn to draw!” And on that note I will stop writing this and start sharpening my pencil.

Passport {Leeds}

27/08/2012

by DJ

Awesome agencies

New kids on the block and fresh out of uni, leaping feet first into the murky world of self employment, meet Leeds’ Passport, set up by pair Jonathan Finch and Rosalind Stoughton. New to the game, but definitely ones to look out for, the Passport studio primarily focus on design for print, brand, creative direction, identity, editorial, publication and promotion.

They say; “We really believe that design is in the detail and so we love quality crafting and sharp execution across print based resolutions. As the name Passport suggests, travel is a large source of inspiration for us. Where you are born, where you grow up, where you study, where you work, where you visit – it all affects everything from choice of colour to application of type – and we like that.”

Ones to watch, check them out…

Tw. @_passport / Be. passport-db

Trial and Error {Melbourne}

23/08/2012

by LWC

Awesome agencies / LWC

Going the extra mile is a philosophy we should all aspire to, unfortunately that conflicting notion of there not being enough hours in the day sometimes gets in the way acting as a convenient excuse. Trial and Error appear to have found their way through this maze of contradictions. Not only are they designers but they are also keen observers and documenters, good but not good enough, add to that mix the odd workshops here and there and you have the complete package. Great to see a studio turning their hand to a couple of new and interesting uses of our skills.

The Allotment – care, devotion and The Donkey Sanctuary

22/08/2012

by DJ

News

The guys at The Allotment have treated us to a second helping of work in a matter of weeks, this time hitting the spot with a lovely and inventive rebrand for UK-based international Charity The Donkey Sanctuary.

The project began nearly 12 months ago and has culminated in a new identity and proposition based on the Charity’s core purpose, which is: ‘Care and devotion’ to mules and donkeys worldwide. The Charity touches more than 400,000 working mules and donkeys in 28 countries every year. It also has a number of sanctuaries and foster partners in the UK and Europe, which provide care and a haven from neglect and cruelty for over 5,000 donkeys. The most famous of these is based in Sidmouth, Devon, and attracts nearly 250,000 visitors per year.

Paul Middlebrook, Managing Director of The Allotment, explains the background and challenges of the project. He said: “Within the charity sector, naturally there is some cynicism around the value contribution that brand agencies can make in terms of helping a charity achieve more. There’s a fear that change will be associated with unnecessary costs, which may in turn alienate a passionate and loyal donor base. These fears mean that any proposed changes need careful consideration and close collaboration with all stakeholders; from volunteers through to donors and employees. The Donkey Sanctuary was no exception to this. However, extensive research around the chosen brand identity versus the existing identity showed an overwhelming support for change. Stakeholders understood that the current identity no longer effectively, expressed the personality and mission of the Charity. It also lacked an emotional appeal to the younger donor segments, which are critical to the long-term sustainability of the brand.”

Creative Partner at The Allotment James Backhurst, provides some insight into the thinking behind the brand; “Because The Donkey Sanctuary is an international charity we wanted to reflect the palpable ‘care and devotion’ of its supporters in a way that would be instantly understood regardless of language. The re-drawn identity, produced by Chris Mitchell of Epicons, has allowed the Charity to create a strong and emotionally-connected brand”. James, continued: “The new identity and proposition is a tremendous foundation for future growth. The brand will be bought to life over the coming months through carefully targeted donor campaigns and through improved communication on-site at the various sanctuaries.”

Follow The Allotment on Twitter.

Heroes – Sara De Bondt

19/08/2012

by DJ

Heroes

Following our previous Heroes feature on Henrik Kubel, this week we’re showcasing another young designer with a similar love of original, contemporary typographic-based design; Belgian graphic designer, publisher, conference organiser and teacher Sara De Bondt. I have to admit I only actually discovered Sara’s work last year and was playing catch-up for a while. Since then though I’ve become a big fan of her approach and the colourful, direct style of her work, writes Martin Maher.

Sara De Bondt was born in Leuven in Belgium. Her interest in visual culture began at a young age. Her parents dragged Sara along to see things of a cultural nature on family holidays and this sparked her interest in visual culture and also in making things. She spent time on her own in her treehouse making brooches from enamelled cookies or marzipan. She enjoyed making things for people and her parents encouraged this. When Sara left school her art-loving father wanted her to become a lawyer, like himself, as he felt it was a more financially viable career choice. Sara however, wasn’t keen.

After visiting a fine art open day at Sint-Lukas art college in Brussels she met a designer who taught there, the father of a girl she had studied theatre with. He told Sara he didn’t think graphic design would suit her as she was too shy but she liked what she saw and decided to go for it. She did well at Sint-Lukas and scored high marks during her first three years. During her fourth year she went to Spain on an exchange programme and started to reevaluate what she had been taught. She realised her course had left out several important elements of design, including typography. Meanwhile she had also done some internships, one at the Brussels studio of the revered Total Design. But there wasn’t much work for her to do and she ended up making coffee and re-arranging bookshelves.

Her experiences in Spain though gave her the confidence to take a major step. She did her dissertation about the social responsibility of graphic design and was heavily influenced by Jan van Toorn’s book ‘Design Beyond Design‘. She became interested in the Jan van Eyck Academie (where Van Toorn had been the director) and what was happening there. She decided to go to Maastricht in Holland to study at Jan van Eyck and to learn more about typography as well as the theoretical aspects of graphic design. She studied under some excellent teachers including Karel Martens, Irma Boom, Rick Poynor, Michael Rock, and Armand Mevis. She found the whole experience challenging but also life-changing.

After finishing her two years at Jan van Eyck Academie Sara was introduced to Daniel Eatock. She went to work with Daniel at Foundation 33 in London. It was an inspiring time for her and she worked on big projects for Channel 4 as well as pitches for Piaggio and the company’s own promotional book. She also learnt how to make presentations and how to present ideas rather than finished results.

Sara De Bondt studio was set up in London in 2003. Here Sara works on many varied projects that include identities, books, magazines, websites and exhibitions. She works with two assistant designers as well as an intern. Her clients include Phaidon Press, The British Council, V&A, MIT Press, Camden Arts Centre and Black Dog Publishing. Sara’s biggest project to date has been the identity for the Wiels Center for Contemporary Art in Brussels. Wiels is based in a venue that was once a 1930’s brewery. The name was taken from the beer (called Wiel’s) which was once brewed on the premises. The logotype contains an ‘E’ with an extra bar in it which comes directly from the building’s original Art Deco exterior.

In addition to the studio’s paying projects Sara also gives workshops and teaches. She has given workshops and talks at Beckmans college Stockholm, Ecole des Beaux Arts Lyon, Ecole de Recherche Graphique Brussels, deSingel Antwerp, Jan van Eyck Akademie Maastricht and Laus Symposium Barcelona. She also teaches at The Royal College of Art and co-curated the ‘The Form of the Book’ conference at St Bride Library in January 2009. In 2008 she founded ‘Occasional Papers‘ with Antony Hudek. Occasional Papers is a non-profit publisher of books devoted to the history of architecture, art, design, film and literature.

Sara’s original approach to her work and the thinking behind it is what makes it stand out. The use of colour and particularly gradients as well as patterns and of course her inventive use of typography gives the work a unique and always interesting feel. Her work often has a stripped-back look and tends to use bold type and colour in place of complex imagery or any other visual clutter. Sara has already started to make her mark on the British and European design scenes and given that she is still young it’s safe to say we can expect to see a lot more of her impressive work in the future.

www.saradebondt.com

The Allotment at Home

16/08/2012

by DJ

News

The Allotment have unveiled a new brand for diverse UK home insurance business HomeProtect. The genesis of the concept was born out of initial workshops where the notion of ‘variety’ came to the forefront – acknowledging that in order for the business to grow within a saturated, visually flavourless and highly competitive world of insurance comparison sites, the business needed to stand out and position itself as inclusive providers – regardless of personal circumstance. This was a key differentiator and one that would help them move a step closer towards challenger brand status.

I think we all know, the insurance marketplace is a particularly noisy sector and by definition an extremely tricky place to be heard, more so with the banks and supermarkets now muscling in on the action. Importantly too, more or less every colour has been affiliated with more established operators through masses of exposure (think yellow/Aviva, red/DirectLine, blue/Confused etc).

Says The Allotment, “We decided it was appropriate for HomeProtect to have a more flexible system where any amount of colour can be framed by the black graphic shapes of the square wordmark.”

Multiple versions of the patterned logotype were produced to amplify the sense of variety and highlight the diversity of customers and their individual, often ‘non-standard’ circumstances.

“Following on from the workshops, we developed the external manifestation of the ‘variety’ theme into the line ‘Be as different as you like, we’ll treat you the same’. We then created a striking and flexible identity system where the logotype and the graphic language change to further enhance the notion of ‘variety’. The logotype developed where the word ‘Home’ becomes a symbol which literally protects a series of internal pattern designs inspired by people’s homes. The Home Protect brand doesn’t own one or even two colours as with many other insurance companies but embraces a spectrum of colours. To compliment the bold visual language, we created a tone of voice with a very ‘can-do’ attitude.”

It’s without a doubt an interesting, striking and somewhat radical look and feel, the application looks great. However it’s probably it’s memorability and distinct boldness in a play-it-safe sector where it strikes the most chords. Lovely stuff.

The Allotment are on Twitter @allotmentbrand

Hammersmith in vogue, SomeOne style

14/08/2012

by DJ

News

SomeOne have been at it again – another glorious piece of destination branding – hot on the heels of giving Victoria the once over. Introducing, the SomeOne ensemble’s take on 10 Hammersmith Grove, a spanking new state-of-the-art building in the eponymous district, boasting a wondrous assemblage of impressive features; rooftop gardens to roaring open fire in the reception and public realm areas. Tasty.

Quick bit of background; Hammersmith is within easy reach of Heathrow / the West End, highly sought after and mixed with a sprinkling of blue chip co’s of the ilk of CocaCola et al. 10HG heralds the first of two top-notch developments offering 275k sq ft of space, delivering a none-too-shabby 109k+ sq ft of modern, high quality offices coupled with two restaurant units and significant new public realm.

Says SomeOne founder Simon Manchipp; “Attention to detail lies at the heart of our brand work and the design of the building to create a working environment that works for its occupiers: generous public realm; three roof terraces; an open fire; a cohesive visual BrandWorld connecting a bright and breezy new office environment.”

The brochure, created by Shaun Turnbull at SomeOne, features a scanimation cover where the number 10 not only animates, but cycles through a spectrum of colours as the brochure is removed from a clear plastic sleeve. But the fulcrum of the graphic language is a distinct and bespoke headline typeface — designed by SomeOne designer Karl Randall — which mirrors the lines found in the building’s exterior. A theme which is extended through a series of patterned applications that will be echoed throughout the building itself.

It’s more lovely stuff, as we’ve come to expect, from the SomeOne studio. Give ’em a wink and a wave on Twitter @SomeOnes_Tweet