Design Week

When it comes to sustainability, you might expect the next big packaging design breakthrough to come via a very innovative, rarely-before-seen material. But at drinks giant Diageo, they have high hopes for something much more familiar – paper. Working with PA Consulting and Swedish company PulPac, they have trialled 90% paper bottles for Johnnie Walker and Bailey's. By embracing a "progress over perfection" mindset, they are now back in the lab working on the next versions of high-end paper packaging. “We’re never going to be out of glass,” Michelle Atkinson says. “But I’m looking at this in a very transformational way. And I think that’s the role of breakthrough innovation – how can we do things in a truly transformational way? Read more: https://lnkd.in/epymCJu4 #packagingdesign #luxurydesign #sustainability

Since 2004, ustwo has been one of the UK's most innovative digital design studios. But as well as the quality of its work, the company has pushed boundaries about what a values-led business looks like. As it celebrates its 20th birthday, we sat down with founders Mills and John Sinclair, and CEO Nicki Sprinz, to talk culture, growth, and why they became employee-owned. "We don’t want to go down that Accenture/WPP route. We want to stay true to our values. Mills and I want to talk about this to our grandkids in 50 years’ time, and I still want ustwo to to be there," Sinclair explains. Read more: https://lnkd.in/etKYRYDJ #digitaldesign #leadership #values

Bring on the Boston Banshees! MATTA has created six team identities for the US’ first professional women’s rugby league. Women’s Elite Rugby (WER) launches in March. Its president, former rugby player Jessica Hammond-Graf, Ed.D. wants it to “transform the US’ semi-professional league into one that can compete on the world stage.” As well as drawing inspiration from the teams’ home cities, MATTA got input from local players and fans. The crests intend to position the teams as high-energy, risk-taking and intense, full of inspiring, fearless athletes and fierce action. “Women’s rugby in the US is a combat sport, and positions itself as ‘aggressively inclusive’ so we had to find an edge to each of them,” MATTA's Flo Williams says. Read more: https://lnkd.in/erWJm8rv

From radical design pioneer to an OBE, Neville Brody OBE RDI's career has been a wild ride. Here are three great quotes from Clare Dowdy's interview with him: “As the internet has become ubiquitous, students can teach themselves the skills. Knowledge can be better sourced by students than by lecturers. But they can’t teach themselves what to do with those skills." "These days most clients want platforms, not a one-off item. How do we embed personality and voice into the platform? What’s their strategy for content? It’s about the delivery system." "I’d love to get a bus to a client, rather than a plane. It’s not about diminishing our international work, but working with local clients might open up different ways of working creatively." Read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/eXJnMJtQ

Dear designers... here's what copywriters want (need?) you to know. We spoke with Mike Reed, Nick Carson, Emma Cocker and Louie Zeegen about how to unlock the best possible writer-designer dynamic. They talk about what makes a great brief, when writers should be brought onto a project, and why you should never rejig words without asking. As Mike Reed explains, "Imagine you design something for me, and when you ask if it was all OK, I say, ‘Yes, I just changed the font and rejigged the lay-out a bit'." Read the piece here: https://lnkd.in/eRfTqiDc

TEMPLO has created a fun and colourful new identity for paper company GF Smith. Designer Pali Palavathanan told us the challenge was, "to bring GF Smith’s heart and soul up to the surface." The new look is designed to engage a younger client base and stand out in a category which tends to be quite heritage focused, and serious. “We need to engage with the next generation, to get them to actively choose paper, and then to choose our paper, and explain to them why it’s worth paying for a premium product,” GF Smith's Benjamin Watkinson says. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eqRg-JqE #branding #brandidentity

Milton Glaser first sketched his famous I ♥ NY logo on a torn envelope in the back of a taxi. That sketch has just gone on show at The Museum of Modern Art, as part of an exhibition that shows how design can be "an agent of change." It's striking that while some of the pieces are very conceptual, many others – Post-it notes, M&Ms, Spanx – are everyday items, where design's biggest impact is felt. “Every object has a story,” curator Paola Antonelli says. “Some objects, moreover, make history – or change it. Design can help us steer the course in positive directions by making us aware of, and helping us correct, negative behaviours. "It can also invent novel behaviours that embody new goals, sustainability and justice among them.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/en5Shf3V Captions: Milton Glaser. I ♥ NY concept sketch. 1976. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. © 2024 NYS Dept. of Economic Development Apple, Inc., Steve Jobs, Jerry Manock. Macintosh 128K Home Computer. 1983. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Apple, Inc. Tim Ferguson Sauder, Brian Glenney, Sara Hendren. Accessible Icon. 2009-2011. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Ed Hawkins. Warming Stripes 1850-2023. 2018-ongoing. © Ed Hawkins Christien Meindertsma. Flax Chair. 2015. Photo: Mathijs Labadie

25 years ago, Somerset House was used as government offices – its famous courtyard was a car park for civil servants. Now it's one of London's creative hubs, and to mark its 25th birthday, North has created a "confident" new visual identity. “Our 25th birthday is an opportunity to re-communicate our values, purpose, and mission, and we thought it was important to have a visual identity that better represents who we are and what we do,” says Ebony Rhiney-James, Somerset House’s director of marketing and communications. The new look features a visual language that is redacted with squares inspired by the courtyard. “It’s the first thing that impacts you, and it’s the lasting memory when you leave. It was important for us to explore this graphically and conceptually," says North's Jeremy Coysten. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gYHpZ-gq #brandidentity #logodesign

Wieden+Kennedy London has a new logo which is actually nine new logos and one of them is a cake. (What a sentence to be able to write). Working with NOT Wieden + Kennedy, the agency commissioned nine eclectic creatives to re-imagine the W+K London logo, and contributors ranged from design legend Alan Kitching to a barber, a tattoo artist and a jeweller. “Often logos are led by aesthetic preferences or trends, but I love how not all of these logos will be to everyone’s tastes. That variety and visual conflict intentionally reflect the beautiful, amorphous mess that is London’s aesthetic," says design director Alex Thursby-Pelham. Find out more: https://lnkd.in/giR9W-q8

Is design still serious about diversity? As big companies like Meta ditch their DEI commitments, a culture shift seems to be underway. How well is design doing on diversity? Not great, according to Where are the Black Designers? As co-founder Mitzi Okou puts it, "It’s complacency that perpetuates this. People have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. And I think that no-one is comfortable with being uncomfortable.” Also featuring insights from Roshannah Bagley, Nat Maher, Jaheed Hussain and Anika Ramani. Read the full piece here: https://lnkd.in/eymVpVAe