Design Week

On the first day of pre-orders, Mahindra Group sold 30,000 of its new EVs – worth nearly $1 billion. it was a proud moment for London-based brand and activation agency Dusted, which has been working on the brand and visual identity since 2022. We went deep with Dusted's David Wall and Paul Marten to discuss the design work, the pressures of live events, and why their Indian clients often pushed them to go further with their ideas. "There were all these positive negotiations to find the right balance for the right audience,” Marten says. “There were things that we thought were too much, but they were pushing us to be more dramatic, more rich, more playful.” Read about this one billion dollar brand: https://lnkd.in/eFzNgWzz

Channel 5 has rebranded as 5 to encourage viewers to “reappraise” its programmes. Its in-house team worked with Pablo London on its redesigned streaming platform, comms and visual identity, although the logo remains the same. “This is very much about an evolution rather than a complete reinvention,” Laura Pye, who led the project, told us. “We’ve got a huge, loyal audience that is really important to us, and we did not want to alienate them. But we also know there are huge audiences out there that don’t consider us at the moment in their platform mix.” Read our full interview here: https://lnkd.in/e2Jfjbaa

“‘That was a great panel session,’ said no conference attendee ever.” So said Mark Ritson, who thinks events should do away with panels altogether. Rob Alderson thinks they still have a place, but there are some flaws in the format which make them really hard to pull off well. "The things that engage us, keep our attention, and stick with us after they’ve finished, have a narrative arc. We end up somewhere different from where we started," he writes. "But I think it’s incredibly hard to create that sense of narrative arc in a panel discussion." Read his thoughts here – https://lnkd.in/eggGytPY – and we'd love to hear what you think. Should design events ditch panel discussions? Do they need a rethink?

Malcolm Garrett is perhaps best known for his design work for Buzzcocks. But for five years he designed all the record covers for Duran Duran, becoming a close creative collaborator. Ahead of an exhibition of his Duran Duran work at SEA, Garrett spoke with Clare Dowdy about instinct, imagery and why he himself never went full New Romantic. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/evRfXFJs #graphicdesign #recorddesign

A lovely Friday watch – Studio Something have made a film to mark ten years of Kinglsey, David Shrigley's enjoyably mad mascot for Partick Thistle Football Club. "Mascots are rich in history, often coming with origin stories, friends and even their own worlds – all of which are great for storytelling and creating a human connection," FutureBrand's Stephen McGilvray told us recently. And this film does a brilliant job capturing that richness. Watch it here: https://lnkd.in/emHJDvzD

This weekend, the Six Nations comes to an end. Both nerves and excitement are high, as three teams – France, England and Ireland – could realistically be crowned champions. If things play out in an incredible way, you can add Scotland to that list. But the run-up to this year’s championship was overshadowed by the reaction to a new visual identity unveiled in December. Great to speak with Michael Ritson, the Six Nations' creative lead, about experiencing that reaction, his pride in how the identity has performed, and why the four-way final day drama means more work for his team. Read the full interview: https://lnkd.in/e_K864ia

Now that's a public toilet! Hugh Broughton Architects is redesigning eight public loos across London's West End, in a bid to re-create some of the Victorian era's civic pride. And each site will have a specially created artwork by Jake Lambert. For the first site on Victoria Embankment, he drew on the nearby sphinx statues, and also referenced the London Underground and Victoria Embankment Gardens. Read more: https://lnkd.in/ektSDR5a Westminster City Council Contemporary Art Society

What worries many designers about AI is a simple question – can it do my job better than me? This was put to the test in Build Wars, a 45-minute challenge pitting a designer against a non-designer using AI in a bid to build the best landing page. Dan Mall says it showed him how AI will reshape our industry – and he thinks designers should be optimistic. “Design is deciding,” he writes. “The best designers are the best deciders. “That’s the paradox that makes design so challenging for even the most experienced designers. What makes a design great is when we apply our judgment, picking a few choice candidates from thousands of typefaces and millions of colours.” And the article ends on an optimistic note, that the future of AI and design will be shoulder-to-shoulder, rather than head-to-head. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eNnPZb5Y #designthinking #ai

What worries many designers about AI is a simple question – can it do my job better than me? This was put to the test in Build Wars, a 45-minute challenge pitting a designer against a non-designer using AI in a bid to build the best landing page. Dan Mall says it showed him how AI will reshape our industry – and he thinks designers should be optimistic. “Design is deciding,” he writes. “The best designers are the best deciders. “That’s the paradox that makes design so challenging for even the most experienced designers. What makes a design great is when we apply our judgment, picking a few choice candidates from thousands of typefaces and millions of colours.” And the article ends on an optimistic note, that the future of AI and design will be shoulder-to-shoulder, rather than head-to-head. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eNnPZb5Y #designthinking #ai

In 1986, James Sommerville OBE got a £2,000 grant from the Prince's Trust which allowed him to set up ATTIK. Nearly 40 years later, he led the team which created the new identity for The King's Trust, now renamed after Charles' elevation to the throne. Sommerville, who is based in the US, put together a team of creatives in the UK, US and Europe with different specialisms – a calligrapher, sign-writer, icon designer, system thinker, and wayfinding graphic designer. And he called in a favour from Margaret Calvert to tweak her Rail Alphabet typeface for the wordmark. “I realise that I was once that young person at the centre being helped by others. If this new identity can help shine a light on the importance of support and empowerment, then I feel I’ve fulfilled something deeply meaningful,” Somerville says. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eTei7bMc