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

Base {Various locations}

09/11/2011

by DJ

With offices in Barcelona, Madrid, Santiago, Brussels and New York, Base are hardly the smallest operation we’ve featured, but their work is so eclectic, interesting and often surprising that we couldn’t not feature them.

Base’s past and present clients include Adidas, BeTV, Bozar/The Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels, Camper, La Casa Encendida, Chanel, the European Socialist Party, Gagosian Gallery, The Grand Palais, Gwangju Biennale, Kiki de Montparnasse, Kipling, Loewe, The Miami Art Museum, Milk Studios, Missing Children Europe, Mobistar, La Monnaie/The National Opéra of Belgium, The Museum of Modern Art, Pantone, Puma, Reina Sofia, L’Oréal, Phaidon Publishing, Revlon Professional, Kanye West, Women’secret, and Yves-Saint Laurent Beauté.

The expanse of work on their site is impressive and awesome in the extreme. Clear your schedule however, you’ll get lost in it’s depth, bredth and the acclaimed quality. The selection below barely scratches at the glorious surface.

Fb. basedesignfb and check out their blog.

Any Cerdà from BaseMOTION on Vimeo.

Because Studio {Preston}

08/11/2011

by DJ

Outstanding individuals

Of the reams of work and urls we search through to present only the very best work on Designers Journal, one studio in particular stands amongst crowd as being a front runner as our favourite. Now don’t get me wrong, we’ve got many favourites – from Anagrama to Andy Robert Davies – but none whose work makes us smile quite to the same degree as Because Studio.

They work predominantly with clients from the creative industries and the not-for-profit organisations and produce enourmously accomplished work with a sunny disposition that’s throughly enjoyable and full of craft. Highlights throughout their portfolio include beautiful identies and some truly stunning stationery.

Additionally to all that, regular viewers of the Journal may remember our post about the 50/50 project, well, Because are part behind this, having worked on the branding and illustration.

Tw. @becausestudio

Dana Tanamachi {Brooklyn}

07/11/2011

by DJ

Illustrators

I think you might just enjoy this one. Texas-born Brooklyn-adopted Dana Tanamachi is a hugely talented typographer. But more than that, she has etched a remarkable name for herself producing work of sheer beauty and originality in chalk, working for clients as West Elm, Rugby Ralph Lauren, Google, The Ace Hotel, Adidas, EveryDay with Rachael Ray, Harper Collins UK, and Garden & Gun Magazine.

Originally moving from The Lone Star State to make her name in the Big Apple as a Broadway show poster designer, the demand to commission her chalk lettering skills has allowed the recently named Art Director’s Young Gun 2011 to do it fulltime. Not keen to stop there however, Tanamachi has translated her stylings back to her roots of packaging design, collaborating with Brandever to pick up Double Gold for Individual Label Design at the San Francisco International Wine Competition. Not too shabby!

Check out her blog for updates and her Vimeo channel for more superb time-lapse videos.

Tw. @dana_tanamachi

Nagging Doubt “The Pull” from Dana Tanamachi on Vimeo.

Jonny Wan {Manchester}

04/11/2011

by DJ

Illustrators

Love the illustrative stylings of Manchester’s Jonny Wan. Pleasingly symetrical and constructed of many interesting little shapes and forms that in turn have their own internal converations. His work has a 21st Century tribal feel to it. There’s loads on more his website if you have a moment.

Wan is represented internationally by AgencyRush.

Tw. @jonny_wan

Berger & Föhr {Boulder, Co}

03/11/2011

by DJ

Awesome agencies

Boulder, Colorado. Home of two man design practice Berger & Föhr. By their own libretto; “Berger & Föhr practice cohesive visual communication characterised by modernism, minimalism, objectivity and the desire to create lasting, sustainable work.” Nicely crafted manefesto for sure.

Their work is clinical, über stylish and, considered down to the last detail. For me, something about it feels more European in finish than we’re used to seeing from our American counterparts. Regardless, I’m a huge fan of their work, being a type & identity kinda fella there’s plenty of tasty fodder here to engorge on.

Tw. @bergerfohr

Ken Taylor {Melbourne}

02/11/2011

by DJ

Illustrators

Melbourne based Illustrator & Designer Ken Taylor made his name for his striking rock posters. Artwork Ken has produced include works for Crowded House, Queens of the Stone Age, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Kings of Leon, Bob Dylan & The Rolling Stones.

He picked up the Desktop Create Award for Best Illustration in both ’07 & ’09 and was a guest speaker at the 2009 AGIDEAS design conference and the 2011 Semi-Permanent Creative Conference in both Melbourne and Perth.

Ken Taylor

Identify… Chermayeff and Geismar

01/11/2011

by DJ

Bookshelf

NBC, Chase Bank, Mobil Oil, PBS, Rockefeller Centre, MoMA, Time Warner Cable, Xerox, Amani Exchange, PanAm, Nat Geographic, HarperCollins. Chermayeff & Geismar’s work has touched the lives of millions around the world, both timeless and iconic and “sets the standard for what a successful trademark is”.

Opening up their studio for the first time in over fifty years, Identify: Basic Principles of Identity Design in the Iconic Trademarks of Chermayeff & Geismar celebrates the broad work of designers Tom Geismar (read a great interview with him here) and Ivan Chermayeff (interview), and partner Sagi Haviv. The 253 page book reveals the creative process that lead to the firm’s iconic visual identities, from the oldest (Chase Bank and Mobil Oil in the 1960s) to the more recent (Armani Exchange and the Library of Congress in the 2000s).

“The team demonstrates how their approach to design has remained unaltered by cultural and technological change and is in fact more successful than ever in today’s online and digital applications, due to the powerful simplicity that is the hallmark of the firm’s work.”

Identify showcases a fine selection of C&G’s trademarks giving wonderful back-stories and telling accounts of how they came to be including anecdotal tales of the people, the clients and pitches and the stories of how they came to be, such as how the NBC peacock logo wasn’t actually adopted for a full six years after inception.

“…we [also] discovered that the N in Barneys, the middle letter, aligned vertically with the Y in New York. This came as a surprise to us, but it seemed like destiny once we noticed it. The hidden alignment was instrumental in the selling of the idea to Barney Pressman’s son, Fred.”

It is an unprecented insider’s peek into a legendary branding and graphic design firm unveiling the thinking and the process behind identity design that works.

Buy it.

Ragged Edge {London}

01/11/2011

by DJ

Awesome agencies

Picture the scene; it’s a cold, grey October evening, outside drizzle pattering down on the single glazed windows, the wind rattling them in their meagre frames. You’ve just eat a little too much pasta and feeling tubby, your girlfriend has just left the flat for a week of night shifts thus leaving you alone, cold and helpless, faced with fending for yourself for the forthcoming few nights. (Ok so I’m feeling disproportionately sorrowful for myself, it’ll pass). Alas, however, there it ends for our dashing young hero as by chance and as fate would have it he should stumble upon the impressive and handsome portfolio belonging to London town’s own Ragged Edge. His night was thus rendered sunshine filled.

I particularly not only fell in love with the subtlety within their array of identity work, not least the wit in the London Kitchen solution, but their consistently thorough execution of the branding and joined up thinking through all media. Their identities sharp, their execution cutting. RE’s work for The Mountain Company, Grey Goose, Wine Reserve and Tribe deserve mentions as other notable highlights for me in their role call of visual honours. Harp on no more I shall… time on their site is time well filled, I’d draw you to their wonderful online and digital work too.

Tw. @Ragged_Edge