The year I discovered Sagmeister

May 31, 2011 • 9:39 pm 1

JAQK by Hatch – 2

GrainEdit interview with Hatch founders (check –1) for full links and context.
Selected words from the interview. Selected images from GrainEdit + Graphic Exchange.

“What sort of reference material did you dig up for JAQK ?
Where to start! We have been combing antique stores, finding some incredible vintage gaming ephemera, including hand-painted 17th Century playing cards, old dice games, books on gambling, domino sets, and other incredible treasures. They provide great inspiration and will make nice displays at the JAQK winery someday!

We purchased every book on card collecting, which became inspiration for Soldiers of Fortune. We researched antique derringer decoration, which inspired the Pearl Handle label. The “Her Majesty” queen is our own, but inspired of course, from countless decks of cards we looked at for reference, etc.

We finally landed on the collection of 8 that you see here based on making sure we cover a broad range of style – from more fun, graphic directions like 22 Black and Her Majesty to the more serious labels like Soldiers of Fortune and Black Clover. We also tried to cover different kinds of “play,” – whether craps, poker, cards, luck, etc. so that as we grow, we’re set up to grow in many different directions.

Filed under: Design, Graphic, Packaging, branding, design, Hatch, packaging, print, research process

May 31, 2011 • 8:40 pm 0

JAQK by Hatch – 1

Two reasons to love Hatch are: the quality of work (stunning) and their really exciting + ‘distinctive’ business model. Saw this work for JAQK on Graphic Exchange an age ago but today there is an update and some links to interviews with Hatch founders Joel Templin + Katie Jain with Iso50 + GrainEdit.

Hatch hail from San Francisco (founded 2007) – (selected) words from an interview with Iso50 back in 2009. Images featured on Iso50 + Graphic Exchange.

“Our original intention, the philosophy of the design firm, was to do this 80/20 split; where 80% of our time is focused on client work, building brands for other people — which we’ve always done and always will do — but then use 20% of the time to give our design team creative freedom to explore ideas for new products that we can hatch on our own. Take all of our creative exploration and put it into a product that we release once a year. Here we are, two an a half years later and JAQK is just growing, which is great, but it will be our only hatchling for a while.”

Their process:
“Internally we meet with the client and develop a creative brief together. We always have that creative brief, either they supply it with their marketing dept, we collaborate on it, or we interview them and we make it. It’s a document that states all the goals for the project and puts everything on paper. It takes the subjectivity out of the design, gets everyone on the same page.

From there we pull reference material. We used to collect old things, old books, scan stuff in, photocopy stuff etc. We used to spend hours at the photocopier. Now, with the web and everything else, everyone has folders full of stuff, so we start there. People pull reference material based on the internal creative brief and where we think it’s going to go. Everyone gets the opportunity to talk about why they pulled what they did, and then collectively we try and figure out ways to put it in silos — like all this stuff feels like an avenue we could go, this type, this color, here’s a illustrative thing we could do etc. Within those, there are still a gazillion things you could design, but at least it’s a little more focused. Then they go to town and start designing and we’ll do the same thing; everything gets pinned up and we talk about it, edit it.”

Online interviews: Part 1 + Part 2

Filed under: Design, Graphic, Illustration, Packaging, branding, design, Hatch, philosophy, print, process

April 12, 2011 • 8:22 pm 0

This Crooked Way by The International Office

New Zealand’s moody, antipodean atmosphere evoked by clothing through monochromatic colour palettes and textural layering captured through beautiful photography from Meighan and David. Photography: Meighan Ellis & David James. Typefaces: Franklin Gothic, Brunel. Stock: 150gsm Photo-grade.

Seen via 1983
Designed by The International Office – not 100% sure of where they are based but I think this work looks awesome. Words + pics from The International Office.

Filed under: Design, Graphic, Photography, branding, design, photography, poster, print, The International Office, This Crooked Way

March 23, 2011 • 10:43 pm 0

Pino – lifestyle store

“Pino is a market place for unique, functional and innovative design objects. The idea for the concept camefrom the name of the shop, Pino, which means a ‘pile’ or ‘stack’ in Finnish.That is taken visually into the new logo and the design of the shop fixtures.The interior concept with a subtle colour palette works as a background for thefresh, colourful identity and products.”

Words and images via Behance here.
Designed by Bond Creative Agency who hail from Helsinki.

(Photo credit Paavo Lehtonen)

Filed under: Design, Graphic, Interior, Bond Creative Agency, branding, design, identity, interior, Pino

March 20, 2011 • 10:08 pm 0

Truth Branding by Socio

Branding lexicon in the next para – something I absolutely hate – but maybe this is the best way to communicate this stuff???

“Truth is a strategic insight consultancy offering global marketing solutions. They approached Socio to evolve their current branding and to create a fresh and coherent visual template for the brand. The identity needed to offer much more to accurately portray the dynamism and ground breaking approach of the company. The starting challenge was to use the existing logo and company colours but develop all other brand elements. The result was a new cohesive brand direction that was rolled out across internal and external marketing communications, acting as a visual voice for company. Clear guidelines were designed and printed to act as a staff handbook aiding a smooth transition to the new branding, including colour breakdowns, associated fonts as well as photographic style and illustration.”

Words and images taken from here (Behance).
Agency site Socio here.

Filed under: Design, Graphic, branding, design, Socio, Truth

March 20, 2011 • 9:57 pm 0

Matjaz Cuk visual identity

Love the simplicity and thought behind this.

“A small design studio needs many different office materials for its communication. In order to cut down on costs, resources and waste, I had to rethink the design of stationery. Plans of 9 different items are printed on one sheet of paperboard using only two printing inks. A paper with excellent environmental credentials from Gmund has been used.

The required item can be cut out on demand. From one sheet of paper you can get:
– two small folders
– one large folder
– 7 CD packages, 5 medium sized cards and one bookmark
– two small notebook covers and 6 small cards
– two large notebook covers

Variable information such as my logo and address are printed on removable stickers. Printing waste is therefore minimal as materials can be used in various ways, reused and recycled at the end of their lifecycle.”

Matjaz Cuk Visual Identity – words and images taken from here.

Seen via Behance twitter feed.

Filed under: Design, Graphic, Printing techniques, branding, design, identity, matjaz cuk, print

March 20, 2011 • 7:25 pm 0

Ministry of Stories – We Made This

Fantastic story behind the fantastic project behind the fantastic concept.

“The Ministry of Stories was founded by Nick Hornby and co-directors Lucy Macnab and Ben Payne. Hidden away at the back of The Monster Shop (where else would you expect it?), the Ministry of Stories provides a free space for fresh writing by young people. Here in Hoxton we provide workshops and one-to-one mentoring. The services are provided by volunteers: local writers, artists and teachers, all giving their time and talent for free.

The MoS is inspired by young people, and aims to inspire them to transform their lives through writing. We work closely with schools, supporting the work of teachers, but our great benefit is that we provide one-to-one mentoring for young people to enjoy imaginative stories, improve language skills, increase abilities in communication, add to social and educational confidence.”

(above words taken from) Ministry of Stories site.
Designed by We Made This (with more pics and explanation) here.

First seen via Graphic Exchange (although not there anymore) + What Makes Us

Filed under: Design, Graphic, Packaging, branding, design, identity, ministry of stories, typography, We Made This

March 15, 2011 • 9:37 pm 0

Eight Hour Day + Studio on Fire

Two of my favourite studios coming together here.
Designed by EHD and printed by SOF – Words EHD.

“We created this identity with the understanding that we would be traveling for a year…Instead of a standard letterhead, we opted for a postcard and notecard. We felt this was more mobile and highlighted the idea that we were on the road. We also use a stamp to pinpoint our location on a map on the mailing label…Our new blog was a large part of this trip…we wanted to have something to give people we met along the way, or those people or places we wanted to feature that wasn’t as stuffy as a business card. Our solution was the blog pog – a bit quirkier leave behind that let people know we were going to blog about them (EHD Likes You) or simply directed people to the blog to find out more (EHD Was Here).”

Eight Hour Day + Studio on Fire both awesome + both in Minneapolis…!

Filed under: Design, Graphic, Printing techniques, branding, design, eight hour day, identity, print, studio on fire

March 1, 2011 • 8:29 pm 0

The Lollipop Shoppe – Hamish Makgill

I like the idea of an “identity that didn’t have to only exist in two dimensions” –

“The Lollipop Shoppe is a modern furniture and accessories retailer… We created a bespoke stencil typeface (part inspired by the 20th century modular stencils created by Josef Albers and Le Corbusier, but with a contemporary elegance). This allows the identity to be physical – it can be cut, it can be built, it can be stamped.”

Words and link Branding Served found via the Behance twitter feed

Filed under: Design, Graphic, branding, Hamish Makgill, identity, Lollipop Shoppe, typography

January 3, 2011 • 11:03 pm 0