SomeOne has created a suitably aquatic-based identity system for the National Maritime Museum group in Greenwich, London
The new identity, the launch of which coincides with the opening of a new wing at the National Maritime Museum encompasses not just the Museum itself but also the Royal Observatory, Peter Harrison’s Planetarium and The Queen’s House.
The central element of the system is a 3D splash of CGI-generated water that is employed in different colours according to the venue. Its shape suggests perhaps a crown (in a nod to Greenwich’s royal connections, we presume).
This sits alongside restrained and elegant wordmarks set in Farnham (a typeface designed by Christian Schwartz which has previously been mainly used in magazines, including CR).
The splash device is then employed on signage
website (designed by BVA, designers of CR’s own site)
and advertising
while merchandise and other collateral take cropped versions
It’s another of SomeOne’s ‘brand world’ approaches – flexible, but based around a single visual motif. Compared to the Eurostar work, this one feels better resolved and classic enough to work with the venues’ architecture and historical significance.
The Maritime museum is also about to unveil High Arctic an amazing-looking interactive installation by United Visual Artists which launches its new Sammy Ofer Wing and which we will post about tomorrow once we have visited it.
Postscript: Regular readers will remember that as part of our series of graduate show round-ups we posted Norwich student Jamin Galea‘s own proposal for an identity system for the Museum. (UPDATE: Galea, as he says in the comments below, is currently interning at SomeOne).
So, cheeky question but which do readers prefer?
Credits: SomeOne – strategy, naming, branding and advertising United Visual Artists – exhibition design Clear – signage and wayfinding Real Studios – gallery design Plant – digital signage BVA – digital and website
Related Content
We posted about SomeOne’s Eurostar identity system here A system for PR agency Resonate here And Olympic pictograms here
CR in Print
Thanks for reading the CR Blog but, if you’re not also getting the printed magazine, we think you are missing out. This month’s bumper July issue contains 60 pages of great images in our Illustration Annual plus features on Chris Milk, Friends With You and the Coca-Cola archive.
If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine and get Monograph.
We’re just finishing off our August issue here at CR and couldn’t help noticing that, in two of our major features, lunchtime arrangements are cited as a key factor in maintaining the right kind of studio or agency culture. So what do you do for the mid-day meal?
Our August issue (out July 19) includes a lengthy profile piece on illustrator Marion Deuchars. In the piece, Deuchars talks about the importance of maintaining a place in a busy studio rather than working as a “lonely artists in a garret”. In particular, she cites the importance of lunchtime: “The thing that’s crucial in our studio,” she says, “is that we have a big communal table and we all eat lunch there, we don’t eat at our desks. I think it’s something that a lot of people are giving up in favour of munching a sandwich alone but there is a lot of cross-fertilisation that takes place…” The inference being that it is at lunchtime that all this cross-fertilisation, as well as stimulating discussion, comes about.
Lunch time at the Total Design offices, as featured in Unit’s new book on the seminal Dutch design firm. Note all the milk bottles: the last time we saw that many pintas being drunk was after a 1970s FA Cup final
Then, later on in the issue, we have an extract from Unit‘s new book on Dutch studio Total Design in which Ben Bos talks about the culture of the place, some of which they adapted from that of UK studio Fletcher/Forbes/Gill, the precursor to Pentagram. “Another practice copied from Fletcher/Forbes/Gill was taking lunch together every day,” he says. “This was the moment when the management team mingled with all the staff without formality.”
Pentagram preserves this tradition to this day. In advertising too, some agencies place great importance on the communal repast – staff at Mother, for example, are encouraged to sit at long tables together just inside the agency’s main entrance (shown above).
The feeling seems to be that having lunch together is vital in maintaining cohesion and an internal culture. That it saves time on formal meetings. That it helps new staff to integrate. And that it’s so much nicer than everyone munching a take-away sandwich at their desk.
So where do you stand on all this? Big family lunch or sandwich of solitude?
CR in Print
Thanks for reading the CR Blog but, if you’re not also getting the printed magazine, we think you are missing out. This month’s bumper July issue contains 60 pages of great images in our Illustration Annual plus features on Chris Milk, Friends With You and the Coca-Cola archive.
If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine and get Monograph.
The portfolio of Boston’s Alphabet Arm Design is full of great retro logos, harkening back to the days of sophisticated typefaces, but also designs with a street art flair.
New Designers, much like D&AD New Blood is quite a slog. The Business Design Centre where it is running until July 9 in Islington is vast. There’s a lot of ground to cover and there’s a lot to see. All the Visual Communication stuff was upstairs, allowing the main floor of the building to host the bulk of the product design exhibits where motorbikes, wooden speakers, sleek futuristic concept cars and at least one robotic drawing device vied for visitors attention.
Up the stairs I trotted to find the vis comms stuff. I looked around all of the stands before doing a second round photographing stuff and picking up business cards. I’d say graphic design-wise, Nottingham Trent University came out as the strongest overall, with Falmouth’s illustration course boasting much new talent. There was of course many other nuggets of joy to be found (including the collage work of Dawn Gardner of Havering College’s graphic design course, above and below). Without further ado, here are my picks of the show…
Above and below: more work by Havering’s Dawn Gardner. See more of her work at dawngardnerdesign.com
I also really liked the experimental typefaces created for Sidonie Bajic’s Pangram posters which I found in Northbrook College Sussex’s display area.
Sidonie can be contacted on sidonie.bajic@gmail.com
From Falmouth, a number of illustrators’ work appealed, first up is Charlotte Trounce. I liked her book jacket designs such as this (above) for The Secret Garden and her entry for an AOI / London Transport Museum competition:
Euan Cook’s work (also from Falmouth) was strong although rather disappointingly his website at euancook.com isn’t working properly. Love the opening page though, even though it doesn’t go beyond this:
Above: Falmouth’s Holly Blackman‘s poster promoting Eastbourne. Her website is very nicely done too (homepage below). Fellow graduates, take note!
This poster by Meryn Cobbin (of Falmouth) also appealed:
As did Kate Scott‘s embroidered illustration of everyone’s favourite red condiment:
Another illustrator from Falmouth’s bumper crop of talent, Scott’s hand-drawn illustration has a charming touch of the Quentin Blake about it. Check out her work at katescottillustration.com
Eliza picked out some work by Nottingham Trent graduates in her New Blood post earlier in the week, but there was more great graphic work investigate. I particularly liked Sophie Garwell’s branding solution for an independent shop called Time & Time Again which sells recycled art, design objects and furniture. Old and new letter Ts were used and also screenprinted onto old book covers to create instore displays and old playing cards were printed with the shop’s details.
Above: Vicki Mansley‘s drawing of various dwellings was one of the stars of Glyndwr University’s illustration group.
And last, but not least, Laura Weeks’ Urban Bandit illustration (above) and 3D resin figures (complete with packaging) were my favourite works in the Plymouth College of Art’s area. See more of Weeks’ work at laurajayneweeks.blogspot.com
It’s a huge show, there’s an enormous amount to see and, of course, it goes without saying that this selection is only a tiny fraction of what’s worth checking out at this year’s New Designers . As well as the visual communication stuff, there’s spatial design, product design, and furniture. The show runs until July 9 at the Business Design Centre in Islington. Full details can be found at newdesigners.com
CR in Print
Thanks for reading the CR Blog but, if you’re not also getting the printed magazine, we think you are missing out. This month’s bumper July issue contains 60 pages of great images in our Illustration Annual plus features on Chris Milk, Friends With You and the Coca-Cola archive.
If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine and get Monograph.
Brusselssprout is a digital publication that “aims to become an open, independent and alternative platform offering content related to the artistic and cultural world.” They hope to champion underrepresented or otherwise noncommercial projects, exploring the new media landscape as a frontier for curatorial possibilities. Ignacio Gomez of the Brusselssprout editorial team was kind enough to share the history and future of their publication.
Core77: First off, what is Brusselssprout and how did it get started?
Ignacio Gomez: Initially developed in 2004 as a personal project by David Payton and myself, [Brusselssprout] re-launched in 2010 in its current format with the addition of Blanca Lopez, Mikko & Sasha Rosti, Hinrik Laxness, Cesar Bustos and Jordi Punzo. The magazine was founded as a mechanism to react to the perplexity of the situation of contemporary artistic production. The sense of post-2001 dislocation and bewilderment increased after the 2008 financial crisis. Does anyone really understand anything about the artistic production that is taking place today?
Just like the movement that encourages the self-generation of food in the city or self-sufficient systems of resource production, Brusselssprout is an initiative that involves cultural and artistic self-production to fills gaps (personal or collective) in whichever contemporary scene it latches onto, without any hesitance or complexes. This makes it a luxury for those of us who do it, as we aren’t in any hurry, don’t have an audience, we don’t have a budget, we have no agenda or road map, no contacts, no sponsors and no need to explain everything we do…
I always look forward to visiting the London College of Communication’s BA (Hons) Graphic and Media Design degree show, and this year didn’t disappoint. Here’s a selection of the projects that most caught my eye…
The course at LCC is divided into different pathways, covering everything from illustration to typography, interaction design to advertising. Shown above, and below, is a project by Hannah Blackmore, a graduate from the Interaction & Moving Image strand, which looks at what remains of the once thriving shops in Ramsgate, Kent.
Blackmore has put together a book of the vacant shop photographs. “These photographs are portraits of nothingness, like time capsules, where everything around them is changing, representing how they are not letting go,” she says.
Also on the Interaction & Moving Image pathway is Kirsty Tizzard, who has created a series called Condensed Books, a set of transparent objects the size of real books (Tolstoy’s War And Peace above) with the text from the first and last pages laser cut onto the sides.
Karl Askill, a graduate from the Typo/Graphics strand, has created The Holy Book of Ikea, a publication in the form of the Bible that lists all of the furniture brand’s products.
Max Batten and Ben Shaffery are graduates from the Design for Advertising pathway at LCC. Shown above are their posters and packaging designs for Montgomery’s ‘manly’ yoghurt, and a film explaining their response to a YCN student brief to make M&S’s Plan A initiative more relevant to its customers.
Paul Crump, from the Illustration strand, displays a series of packaging designs for Ted Baker, and number of screenprints on aluminium, inspired by “looking into how WW2 military nose art on aircraft adopted a personality”.
Thomas Hayman, also from Illustration, had a number of interesting pieces of work on display, including a lovely set of posters and packaging design for a Kraftwerk boxset.
Vanessa Yeo is a graduate from the Interaction & Moving Image course. On display at the degree show is her FacebookLIVE project, which she describes as a “hybrid of online and offline human interaction”. It is explained in the film above. I also liked her Random Act of Kindness film on her site (above, top), which reacts to our occasionally obsessional relationship with the bathroom scale.
More impressive work from Interaction & Moving Image is on show, in particular Kirsty Greig‘s Twitter Clock, shown above top, which downloads the most popular words in Tweets and conversations on Twitter in an ever-updating stream. Every minute the current most Tweeted word appears large on the display. Greig is also showing the installation Haptic, explained in the film above. Haptic consists of a number of hanging poles that emit light and sounds when touched.
Christian Granados Jaimez, from the Typo/Graphics pathway, is displaying a 3D modular typeface based on six interlocking geometric shapes.
Also from Typo/Graphics is Dani Snow, who is displaying a project (shown above top) inspired by the film The Breakfast Club and 80s design styling. Shown above too is a film by Snow that juxtaposes analogue and digital flower arranging.
From the Information Design pathway I liked Amy Lewis‘ response to a brief to design a set of Deutsche Mark banknotes (is LCC anticipating the fall of the Euro in Germany with this project, perhaps?).
Katie Smyth is displaying this poster series based on the foibles of sitcom characters as part of the Typo/Graphics show at LCC.
Olly Gibbs from the Illustration pathway is displaying a highly detailed circular illustration. The full work and a detail is shown above, alongside a film documenting Gibbs developing the piece.
To finish this round-up, here’s a series of bony illustrations by Rich Sheehan, also a graduate from the Illustration strand.
The LCC degree show will remain on show until Friday, and is certainly worth visiting to see the work in the flesh. To view more of the graduate projects online, go to lccgmd2011.com, and typois.co.uk.
CR in Print
Thanks for reading the CR Blog but, if you’re not also getting the printed magazine, we think you are missing out. This month’s bumper July issue contains 60 pages of great images in our Illustration Annual plus features on Chris Milk, Friends With You and the Coca-Cola archive.
If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine and get Monograph.
Designer Howard Wakefield was commissioned to create a cover for Clash magazine that celebrated 30 years of New Order. The above graphic is his response. But how did Wakefield come up with this grid of coloured squares, and what do they represent? Read on to find out…
“When I think about imagery and New Order, I instantly think of all the sleeves,” says Wakefield of his approach to the commission, “but rather than showing a montage of them, which have been much seen, admired and recognised, I wondered how recognisable are they?” I was curious to find out,” he continues, “if I reduced them in some way, could they still be recognisable? I tried blurring and distorting them, but they rapidly became something else, however by simplifying them to their basic colour elements, they appeared to remain true to their iconic designs.”
“I found I could reduce them a great deal – to just nine simple squares – and ironically this reducing reminded me of today’s requirement to design a sleeve that can work as a tiny ‘thumbnail’ to be used on iTunes rather than the expanse we once enjoyed with a 12 inch record sleeve.”
And here’s how the cover will look when the issue comes out on Thursday this week:
Thanks for reading the CR Blog but, if you’re not also getting the printed magazine, we think you are missing out. This month’s bumper July issue contains 60 pages of great images in our Illustration Annual plus features on Chris Milk, Friends With You and the Coca-Cola archive.
If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine and get Monograph.
Design studio Playarea has designed footwear brand Pointer‘s new kaleidoscopic Autumn/Winter 2011 campaign featuring photography by John Ross…
“”The campaign was conceived with a view to creating abstract images from leg shapes, discarding the upper body to focus more attention on the footwear,” explains Playarea’s Mat Fowler. “John Ross photographed the legs, creating bold graphic shapes that were then cut and reflected on ech other.”
“The images then underwent various cosmetic ‘operations’, using crude photoshop post production techniques (ie. guasian blurs, eraser tools etc) to scuff and breathe life into them,” continues Fowler. “The artwork was then placed and designed into a 330 x 235mm printed book, the post-op images contrasted by a clinical white background.”
Thanks for reading the CR Blog but, if you’re not also getting the printed magazine, we think you are missing out. This month’s bumper July issue contains 60 pages of great images in our Illustration Annual plus features on Chris Milk, Friends With You and the Coca-Cola archive.
If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine and get Monograph.
Does the world really need a new cook book? Probably not. However, smoothie brand innocent‘s new recipe book, entitled Hungry? (published by 4th Estate, £20) really is rather good. Warning: this post may make you hungry!
The book is aimed at families with small children and, as well as over 100 recipes for straight forward dishes – some healthy and some indulgent treats – it is choc-full of helpful info like how to test for a good or bad egg, and an easy to read chart of what food is seasonal when. And there’s plenty of fun stuff for kids to enjoy, such as the particularly excellent tips for how to make your popcorn last through an entire DVD. Also of note is the photography by Clare Shilland and the on-brand witty captions and copy in general – a trait which is one of innocent’s strongest brand assets. Here a selection of spreads:
Couldn’t resist a close up of this page. It’s a picture of a burger but the caption references a Gavin. How do the guys at innocent know I’m all about the burgers?
Unsurprisingly there’s a whole section devoted to fruit – and there’s also a dedicated drinks section too, which includes a patented “wee-ometer” – a graphic guide to help you work out whether or not you’re drinking enough water by checking the colour of your wee:
Yet another nice touch – a pocket on the inside back cover, perfect for… well, you can read it for yourself.
We also very much like the 10 Commandments of Washing Up tea towel that came with the book (above).
Thanks for reading the CR Blog but, if you’re not also getting the printed magazine, we think you are missing out. This month’s bumper July issue contains 60 pages of great images in our Illustration Annual plus features on Chris Milk, Friends With You and the Coca-Cola archive.
If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine and get Monograph.
CR paid a visit to this year’s D&AD New Blood show this weekend, and browsed through stands from universities all over the country. As always, the quality of work on show was high. Here’s our pick of the projects that stood out most for us.
Before we get stuck into the work, a quick note on the projects chosen: one of the difficulties of the D&AD New Blood show (and in fact any student show adopting the exhibition stand approach) is that the illustration and graphic design work stands out over the rest, purely because this kind of work is displayed best in this manner. In the booklet accompanying the show, D&AD President Sanky says that they’d concentrated more on digital skills this year, though this did not necessarily come through when walking around the show. Similarly, the advertising work that stood out most was print and poster. So this post will be dominated by these kinds of work. We are very keen at CR to see more digital and film projects, however, particularly as we are on the hunt for the best new talents for our graduate special issue which is coming up next month. Therefore, if you feel your brilliant work has been overlooked, please don’t hesitate to send it to us, either in the comments box below or via email.
Now to the work. First up is some illustration (shown above and top) by Josh Neal, a graduate from the University of Plymouth. More of Neal’s work can be seen at josh-neal.com.
Also from the University of Plymouth is Nic Farrell (nicfarrell.com), who picked up this year’s inaugural D&AD New Blood award for best copy for her illustration, shown above.
Nottingham Trent University graduate Dave Raxworthy (daverax.co.uk) created this rather lovely branding, promo and packaging design for The Hub, a bike rescue centre and shop based in York.
Ian Upcott, also from Nottingham Trent, created this dog biscuit poster as part of a series of images on a pet shop theme. Upcott’s website is at ianupcott.com.
Also from Nottingham Trent is Lucinda Ireland (lucindaireland.co.uk), who caught our eye with her ‘Girls Like Type Too’ project. Indeed they do, Lucinda, indeed they do.
Finally from Nottingham Trent is Kenson Lai, whose reference to CR attracted our intention, despite it being part of a series lambasting graphic design clichés. More by Lai is here.
Rich Williams (rw-design.co.uk) from Arts University College at Bournemouth puts an optical illusion to clever effect in this poster for drugs helpline Talk To Frank.
Some striking illustration and packaging design now, from Charles van der Essen (charles.vanderessen.com), a graduate from Bath Spa University.
Lu Sisi (ftjelly.com), a graduate from the Glasgow School of Art, created this charming stop-motion animated film in celebration of the analogue camera, which features a soundtrack made entirely from camera noises.
Also from Glasgow School of Art is Dean Pauley (deanpauley.co.uk) who has drawn on our digital times to create this immaculate hand-made book. Despite its old-fashioned look, the leather-bound book contains the text from over 3,000 spam emails.
Over at the Edinburgh College of Art stand was this rather nice 3D lettering display by Jack Statham (jackstatham.co.uk).
Callin Mackintosh (callinmackintosh.com) used a 3D cutting effect to bring his Geometric Experience series of posters to life on the Duncan of Jordanstone stand.
Also from Duncan of Jordanstone was Kris Wilson’s set of brightly coloured posters and button pin badges. More at kristofferwilson.co.uk.
Nick Smart (nicholassmart.co.uk), a graduate from Middlesex University, created this set of record sleeves.
We missed Jake Townsend off our post devoted to work from the University of Lincoln, but it stood out at D&AD New Blood. More by Townsend is at thisisjaketownsend.com.
On the University of the West of England stand, Jay Wright’s illustration work stood out. More at jaywrightillustration.com.
And on their graphics stand was Joshua James Saunders’ project on family run firms in Bristol. More at joshuajamessaunders.tumblr.com.
Ivan Bellew, a graduate from Sussex Coast College Hastings, combines celebrity heads with “the animal that most suits their mannerisms/frame and character” in this series of illustrations. More are online at ivanbellew.carbonmade.com.
Also from Sussex Coast College Hastings was work by Laura Burton, including an example from her “Tesco no value scarf range”. More at lauraburton.co.uk.
A number of graduates on the Kingston University stands caught our attention, including Andy Shrubsole (andyshrubsole.com) & Scott Taylor’s (scottnoahtaylor.com) ad campaign for Umbro…
… and James Huse’s photographs of an exploding balloon filled with water. More at jameshuse.co.uk.
On Kingston’s illustration stand was work by Patricia Voskova (patriciavoskova.com)…
…and Tom Clohosy Cole, who presented the observations of a fictional travelling insurance salesman. More is online at tomclohosycole.co.uk.
We’ve covered a lot of work from Loughborough University already on the blog, but missed this project by Alice Schofield (aliceschofield.co.uk) and Hannah Dossary (hannahdossary.com), which was a sweet visual map of the process by which they created the Loughborough Uni student catalogue this year.
We also liked this project by Ben Marsh, whose digital project with Joseph Harrison-Dunn was featured on the Loughborough post on CR. Here he presents The Scouse Font, which attempts to capture the Scouse accent in a typeface. More on Marsh at ilikedoodles.com.
CR’s Mark previously did a post on Samuel Hawkins work (here), but we thought we’d highlight that he’s also just graduated from the University of Westminster. Hawkins’ website is samuelhawkins.co.uk.
Finally, at the risk of ending on a bum note (boom boom), we present the work of creative team Mike & Ben, who have graduated from the University of Gloucestershire. The simplicity of their ad for hair-removal product Veet stood out on their uni’s stand. More of Mike & Ben’s work can be viewed online at cargocollective.com/mikeandben.
The D&AD New Blood exhibition has been on show at the Truman Brewery in London all weekend, and remains up until 6pm tonight. More info is at dandad.org/talent/new-blood.
CR in Print
Thanks for reading the CR Blog but, if you’re not also getting the printed magazine, we think you are missing out. This month’s bumper July issue contains 60 pages of great images in our Illustration Annual plus features on Chris Milk, Friends With You and the Coca-Cola archive.
If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine and get Monograph.
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