Thompson Brand Partners

Has Neville Brody lost it?

Not on this evidence.

This was one of the rejected designs for the front cover of the next edition of Wallpaper. The published cover was slightly less controversial than this one.

Magazines have to work their socks off at the moment to stay alive and I think graphic design at its purest and most controversial can deliver attitude and shelf presence.

Thanks to the consistently excellent  Creative Review blog for this.

Southbank Centre

We've just received the first printed piece for Southbank Centre. 

As part of our ongoing brand development work with them we've designed a new monthly publication that contains every single event that takes place at the world famous arts venue in London. Believe me, there's a lot of arts going on there.

It's a lovely piece of print - the paper is fabulous (smells amazing) and the way the ink sits on the surface is just beautiful. 

Tactical pleasure aside, it's a perfectly pitched piece of marketing that's bang on brand. It's what we do.

The Dana Centre

If ever you're in the vicinity of South Kensington in London, try and pop into to the cafe at the Dana Centre.

It's part of the Science Museum, it has a programme of avant garde scientific events that push the boundaries (or at least that's what it looks like to me). We have some clients based in the there so, it's a good place to chill pre meeting with good food and free wifi.

The cafe is famous amongst design types as its USP is the 'all over typographic application' approach to interior decoration, Cool type and interesting words combine to create an exciting and stimulating space where creative types tap furiously into macbooks and drink gallons of lattes. It's where it's at, I can tell you.

Of all the words I saw, the one that was hidden by the salt and pepper cellars is my favourite. See below.

And before you ask, the club sandwich was excellent, if a little large, and the glass of wine a complete treat and very welcome.

Grafik

Our very own Josh had a great think piece published in the latest edition of Grafik (probably the coolest graphic design magazine on the planet). 

It's a regular feature where designers write about logo forms and Josh didn't take the easy route as you see below. It's a great piece, do let us know what you think.

Also - it's two for one this month in Grafik, with a feature on an old project called Towerscan, snap below too...

Italia’90 – World Cup Mascot – Ciao

Joshua Ted Millar

When thinking about iconic design from the 1990’s the only icons that may spring to some minds are Captain Planet and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. On the other hand some may think of desconstructivist typography and David Carson in particular and his widely imitated aesthetic that defined the so-called "grunge" era. Others may think of when Photoshop version one was released, and physicist Tim Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web. It was also a time when we lost one of the greats, Paul Rand, a master craftsman in the world of logoforms.

In the early 90’s as a child of about ten years I remember when I first realised that a logo was also a part of some sort of bigger picture and wasn’t just a lone symbol or icon, it was part of what I now know as an identity system. Therefore the first thing that I think of when the 90’s are mentioned is Ciao, the mascot for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. 

By no means am I saying it’s the best logo of the 90’s or my favourite, because it isn’t, it’s an inherently bad piece of design. But this stick figure with a football head and an Italian tricolor body is so much more than that. This is the symbol that reminds us of a love for an unknown Cameroon national team, Paul Gasgoine crying, The Three Tenors performing Nessum Dorma and reminds me of when I fell in love with something visual that would ultimately shape my future.

I wonder what the conversations were like between the great designers of that time when their world was infiltrated with Ciao on their television screens, magazine covers, coke bottles… I imagine they laughed and starred at each other with a look saying, “that’s awful, I would’ve loved to have been able to have a go at that”. It’s quite possibly that exact reaction that some of the creative teams and visually savvy generation of the British public had when they first saw the logo for London 2012.

Dare I say that I do actually quite like the 2012 logo, but I also had that same reaction when I first saw it. I first saw it horrifically produced on the front page of The Metro and I was speechless. Then a few months later I received my new bankcard from Lloyds TSB and saw the 2012 logo on the top corner of the card produced in two colours, I loved it. I felt proud to be British and most importantly I was excited about the games coming. Is the logo growing on us as a nation, I think so. I also challenge any critics to search and look at the proposed logos for the 2016 games by Prague, Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago and choose any of those logos over our 2012 mark. Who would rather have a waving hand to “welcome foreigners to the city”, or an olive branch with five leaves to “symbolize the five continents and to create a symbolic map of the sports world”, or any other over rationalised identities.

We’ve become very quick to judge things that really deserve to be given our attention for longer and a chance to impress. When was the last time you really stopped and looked at a piece of design or listened to an album the whole way through and then listened to it again?

In summary my main thought is that generations will worship icons for what they stand for, regardless of how they look, but the most iconic ones will only help themselves be remembered. I know the 2012 logo will never be forgotten in graphic design history and I expect the children of this Olympic generation will use the logo as I used Ciao, as a symbol, icon, mark and logo of all the great moments they witnessed at this fantastic event and I’m excited to see how the 2012 brand is rolled out over the next three years. 

Foiled again

We're definitely don't believe in unnecessary print finishes where they aren't bringing anything to final printed piece. And no, a foil block absolutely does not constitute an idea in our book.

But when there's so very little on a piece of print, it's the details that really count and lift it above the ordinary.

We've just taken delivery of some rather beautifully simple folders for Dartington that are all about poise and elegance. The folder contains a range of printed literature featuring the hotel and conference facilities of the beautiful Dartington Hall in deepest Devon. 

The place has this strange effect on everyone that visits and the messaging on the folder hints at the 'Dartington Effect'. It's definitely a place to reflect and get your thoughts in order. Have a look here

Print still smells good

With all this talk about the unstoppable march of the digital age and all things digital shinily catching the eye of clients and consumers alike, it's always good to be reminded how powerful something printed can be.

Here's a small but perfectly formed printed piece we've just produced for our client Standards Board for England. It's just printed four colour process on an inexpensive uncoated stock and it smell fantastic. It's one of the first things I do when I get my hands on a piece of print - smell it. Now for years, I thought I was completely bonkers and then gradually over the years I've met more people who share the same olfactory pleasure as me. 

One can become a connoisseur of these things and the smallest alteration to the detail of the print specification produces a plethora of different sniff experiences -  foil blocking, screen print, gloss UV, coated, uncoated, lamination, varnishes - they all bring something to the table.

Next time you pick up a piece of print, smell it and you'll discover what I'm talking about.

Life is hard graft

Now I don't think there's anyone out there who would disagree with the statement above (other than some millionaire playboy sitting on his yacht in the South of France surrounded by a bevy of beauties. But even he will, at some point, have seen the virtue of the statement).

However. There aren't many companies that take the Northern aesthetic of hard graft and turn it into a brand asset. Hard Graft are the coolest designers of fine handmade leather and felt bags, cases and laptop sleeves on the planet who seem to get it all right. Have a butchers here.

I signed up for something or other with them recently on the promise of something small but lovely and got this delightful package in the mail. Attention to detail was, as usual, exquisite and the whole thing very covetable.

Lepidoptery

As most if you will know, Lepidoptery is the study and observation of Butterflies.

A few of us became temporary lepidoptorans during the recent branding project of the UK wide recruitment group IHR due to the imagery we used as part of their brand language.

We settled on butterflies as a rather obvious (but often overlooked in this context) metaphor for the effect they have on the careers and lives of the people they work with and it turned into a rather beautiful and very differentiated brand identity that we recently launched.

The butterflies themselves were particularly difficult to source and most of them were imported (not alive of course) and they now adorn the reception walls of the new offices of The IHR Group in Leeds. The photography was by Lee Funnel

The stationery arrived yesterday and very cool it looks too. Here's a non designer snap to be going on with. We'll be taking some cool shots as we quite fancy entering it into some awards.

Standards

There's a lot of people bemoaning either the lack of standards or that standards are slipping these days.

Not Standards Board for England. Oh no. They are big on Standards (as you'd expect).

They are the strategic regulator for all of the elected local authority officials across the country and here's a sneak peek of their annual assembly design materials that are literally hot off the press.

There's more to follow, but for now...

Red

The new case study wallets arrived today in time for Sam to take them off on his new business adventures.

Each lovely red vinyl wallet contains ten of our nicest brand stories to help give future clients a taster of what it could be like if we get free rein on their brand.

Gary from Packaging Formats sorted them out for us at short notice - cheers Gary - and they look great and feel really, really nice.