Hasta La Ideas

Hat-Trick Design has unveiled a series of large scale illuminated letters on a hoarding site in London’s Victoria. Each letter evokes a story particular to the area…

“We decided to design a typeface of illuminated letters, with each letter telling a different story for passers by to discover,” says Hat-Trick’s Tim Donaldson of the project for Land Securities.

“For example ‘B’ for Busby bearskin hats, ‘P’ for Pelicans – informed by the famous story of a pelican eating a pigeon whole in St James’ Park (illustrated by Becky Sutherland) – and ‘W’ for Westminster, etc. We then used the typeface to spell out words and sentences so it could be read from further back.

“We wanted to end up with a visually rich and eclectic set of letters to sum up the area,” he continues, “the mix of past, present and future, heritage (royalty, architecture, famous residents), culture, art, green space, wildlife and so on. The style of each individual letter was inspired by the particular story it was telling. We decided the execution could be photographic, illustrative or graphic, depending on what best communicated it, and in a visually engaging way. Each letter became a project in itself.”

To avoid repeating letters the typeface also includes alternative variations. A couple of letters were also based on, or redrawn from found letters, such as a found gothic style ‘W’ for Westminster. The use of purple and silver refers to Land Securities’ colour palette.

Some more examples of the thinking behind the letter choices: the ‘D’ for deckchairs in St James’ Park was informed by the stripes on the fabric; the ‘F’ for the local farmer’s market (famous for it’s fish) uses a ‘fishy’ F combined with a close-up of scales texture; the ‘O’ refers to the Olympics as Victoria will be hosting the beach volleyball events.

Here are a few of the individual letters, plus a complete set of 26 characters.

For their first book, Visual Editions tackled one of literature’s most ambitious novels: Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. It’s also one that, fittingly, is ripe for a visual reimagining…

“At our last count, there have been more than 120 different editions of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. If we’re counting right, ours is the 123rd,” say Visual Editions.

“Of the many editions, our contemporary favourites – after this one – are American artist John Baldessari’s 1988 edition (which came out in a severe 400 copy edition) and Martin Rowson’s 1997 illustrated version [a new edition of which was published earlier this year by Self Made Hero]. We also like British film-maker Michael Winterbottom’s irreverent 2005 film all about Shandy’s unfilmableness: A Cock and Bull Story.

“The visual elements in this edition highlight and exaggerate what Laurence Sterne intended when he first wrote Shandy,” they explain. “We like to think that the designers at A Practice for Everyday Life (APFEL) put Laurence Sterne’s jacket on and went for a little walk with it.”

The new edition of Tristram Shandy also boasts an introduction by Will Self. More information on the book is on a special VE microsite here, and to buy a copy right this minute, go here.

Visual Editions are also set to release Jonathan Safran Foer’s Tree of Codes, a die-cut reinterpretation of the text of Bruno Schulz’s book, The Street of Crocodiles, later this year.

VE will be profiled in the December issue of CR.

British Rail Corporate Identity Manual, c. 1965. All images by John Maltby, courtesy Scott Brownrigg (unless otherwise stated)

The Design Research Unit created some of the UK’s most iconic pieces of graphic design, from London’s street signs to the British Rail logo. A UK touring show, which has started at London’s Cubitt Gallery, celebrates four decades of the group’s work.

The DRU was founded in 1943 by poet and art critic Herbert Read, advertising entrepreneur Marcus Brumwell, and designers Misha Black and Milner Gray. From the outset the group intended to consolidate design’s position in the world, expressing a desire to bring “artists and designers into productive relation with scientists and technologists”. The group were also highly unusual in the range of disciplines that their work spanned: they were the first practice to combine expertise in architecture, graphic design and industrial design.

DRU’s London street sign design in situ, with the BR logo featured in advertising on the bus behind

The show at Cubitt begins by giving an insight into the working life of the designers before the group was born. Various objects relating to the Bassett-Gray Group of Artists and Writers (1921-35), where Black and Gray first worked together, are displayed, including documents relating to the annual Bibbing Ceremony dinners, where new members were initiated into the group, as well as the ceremonial ‘bibbing cup’. There is also a charming advertisement created for the Industrial Design Partnership on display, which states simply ‘We believe that there is no better way of selling your goods than that we design them’ and is undersigned by six designers, including Black and Gray.

Packaging and stationary for Ilford Ltd, c. 1946

Fascinating documents from the formation of the Design Research Unit are then shown, which outline the group’s aims. These emphasise the desire to provide a functional design service to society. The first aim is “to provide a practical design service for industry”, while the next is “to collect and correlate information about industrial design from all sources, in this way acting as a clearing-house for manufacturers who need advice on such matters”. Other aims include encouraging designers to experiment with new materials, and to create a school of design that is “contemporary in spirit and progressive in outlook”.

Misha Black’s suggestion for the 1951 Festival of Britain

The exhibition reveals how the DRU put these ideals for post-war design progression into practice, and includes Black’s ambitious proposal from 1946 for the 1951 Festival of Britain, which included ‘helicopter rides’ and a ‘controlled parachute’ to bring people down to earth. In 1947, Black was appointed as Coordinating Architect for the upstream section of the Festival, and while some of his more outlandish suggestions remained on paper, he was responsible for the architecture and design of the Regatta Restaurant and the decoration of the Bailey Bridge. Associates from the group also produced ten thematic displays for The Dome of Discovery, designed by Ralph Tubbs. Other projects by Black from later years are also on display, including examples of his work as a consultant to London Transport from 1963-75 (which included co-ordinating all aspects of the design for the Victoria Line’s opening in 1969), and architectural designs for the Charles Clore Pavilion for Mammals at London Zoo.

Corporate identity programme for Watney Mann Ltd, Cock & Lion, London, W1, 1961

Much of the rest of the exhibition is given over to the DRU’s branding and graphic design work, led by Milner Gray, which is a delight to see. Included is the scheme for British Rail (from 1955-66), which encompassed all aspects of the network’s operation, from station signage to company uniforms, as well as the iconic British Rail two-arrow symbol (the DRU also recommended a name change to the company at this time, from ‘British Railways’).

The DRU’s identity design for Ilford photographic company is on display, as well as the group’s work for Watneys brewery. A complex identity was created for the beer brand, with five different examples of lettering and decoration to be used, depending on the architectural style of each public house. Photographs of various pubs are shown in the exhibition, as well as Watneys labels, cans and beermats.

Watneys public house interior

The show finishes with work from the 1970s, including a selection of corporate identity manuals, and early designs from an architect who would later become an individual star in the industry: Richard Rogers. An associate (alongside his then wife Su) at RDU, he was commissioned to design the architecture and furnishings for the rooftop extension at the DRU offices on Aybrook Street in 1972.

Gray’s identity designs for Watneys, photograph: Council of Industrial Design

Despite its modest size, this exhibition is a thoughtful and thorough introduction to the Design Research Unit’s work, revealing the huge impact that the group had on the look of post-war Britain, as well as the far-reaching influence its ideas had on the creative industry, which included the merging of creative disciplines and the development of uniform corporate identities for brands. The exhibition will be at the Cubitt Gallery in London until October 23, before visiting Norwich, Bournville, St Ives, Liverpool and Nottingham over the next several months (details of the tour can be found on the Cubitt site, here). A book of the work, with design from A Practice For Everyday Life, will be published by Koenig Books later this year.

Tom Hingston Studio was recently commissioned to create a more vibrant version of the traditional Woolmark and also design a logo for a new campaign to promote wool, which launched this week at several events in London designed to focus passers by attention on wool – such as this flock of yellow sheep spotted outside Selfridges…

Anyone who’s owned a nice wool sweater will recognise the Woolmark (shown above with other logos in the Woolmark family). It provides consumers with an assurance of quality, in much the same way that the Soil Association’s seal of approval gives shoppers a visual thumbs-up to bone fide, approved organic produce.

The Campaign for Wool is a new initiative by Woolmark that aims to increase consumer demand for wool and wool products which has, we’re told, been declining in recent years. “The whole thing is about the promotion of wool as a sustainable, viable fibre,” explains Tom Hingston about the project. “And it’s not just aimed at fashion, it’s about interiors, product design, built environment. Wool impacts all of those things as a fibre, as a material.”

Hingston’s studio, in collaboration with creative consultancy Keep, has created a new colourful version of the Woolmark (above), specifically for use in communication relating to the campaign. “The original Woolmark was designed in the 60s,” says Hingston. “But there’s a perception that it is tied to an older era – you’d only ever see it in black and white. It’s such a beautiful and iconic mark and we’ve grown up with it, so we looked at expressing it in different ways. Woolmark wanted us to infuse the original with a new vibrancy – which is why we introduced colour, layering and transparency.”

As well as creating the colourful redrawn Woolmark logo for use in the campaign, Tom Hingston Studio, again in collaboration with Keep, also created a logo for the campaign, featuring an illustrated sheep drawn in a calligraphic swashy style:

The campaign kicked off this week with in a series of events. Besides Selfridges’ yellow sheep, yet more sheep were in town this week. On Savile Row, no less…

Yes, that’s right, London’s Savile Row, famous for it’s bespoke tailoring, was closed to normal traffic for the day on Monday in order for the street to host Savile Row Field Day. To mark the occasion of the launch of the Campaign for Wool at the event, a flock of Exmoor Horn sheep were allowed to graze on specially laid turf along the road. Farmer Harry Parker (owner of the Exmoor Horn sheep – he’s the chap in the flat cap in the picture above) is, appropriately, dressed in a bespoke suit made of West of England tweed cloth which combines the wool of British Exmoor Horns (like his own) with merino wool to create super nice tweed.

Find out more about the Campaign for Wool at campaignforwool.org

Naresh Ramchandani becomes the first advertising and communications partner in Pentagram’s 38-year history…

In a move that looks set to further extend the multi-disciplinary nature of the London office, Ramchandani’s appointment comes soon after Eddie Opara’s to the New York studio. Where Opara brings a knowledge of digital and interactive work, Ramchandani will be able to apply his experience as a writer and creative director who has worked both in print and moving image to the London office.

“Pentagram has always kept moving and I think this is very much a way of extending graphic design outwards,” says Ramchandani of his new role. “They’ve always tried to configure projects that come from within their craft skills but are measured against what clients need. They increasingly need graphic design to live and breathe through other outputs – to offer relevance – but from the basis of good craft.”

Ramchandani started out as a copywriter at HHCL in 1990 and won industry recognition with only his second TV spot, the Israelites commercial for Maxell, which won a Grand Prix at Cannes. He then went on to work for Chiat/Day, which later became St Luke’s, where he created the Chuck Out Your Chintz campaign for IKEA. A co-founder of Karmarama in 2000, he also worked on the Van Den Puup “elite designer” character for the furniture brand and helped create the now infamous anti-war poster, Make Tea Not War.

“What I like about Pentagram is when they do communications work, it’s done with the sense of putting something good in the world,” he says. “It’s not just something for the client, or a self-serving graphic identity, because communications can’t just serve the business – the work must be of value or of interest out there in the world. The projects I get to work on could be beautiful, thought-provoking, funny, but they’ll chime with how the partners do things.”

So what does Ramchandani hope to bring to the studio? “They like the fact that I can do things that aren’t in their core skills set, but that I still value craft and how things sound, all the details,” he says. “I can write and use language, which is often the kind of communication that reaches out to people, rather that having them go to it. I can make things move, as I’ve had years of working with directors and animators, using audio-visual language that can take graphic design from pure identity and into communication.”

Ramchandani will also continue his work with Green Thing, the non-profit public service he co-founded in 2007, which has helped nearly 6 million people to embrace a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle.