Design Week

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

Building on yesterday's post inspired by Alex Murrell's The Age of Average piece from a couple of year's ago, I connected a few more dots in this month's Design Week column. #ai #average

Parkinson's UK has a bold new identity, designed by Red Stone. With a new logo and a bespoke typeface – the marvellously named Parkinsans – the charity wants to drive awareness of the fastest growing neurological condition in the world. The charity follows other non-profits, like Scope and Trussell who have unveiled new brands recently, designed by Dragon Rouge and OPX Studio respectively. Although UK charity giving is up in terms of money, the percentage of Brits who regularly give to charity has fallen sharply since 2014. Against this backdrop, major charities need to work harder to stand out and attract supporters. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ePHrsTyy

Something to cheer up a grey Monday morning. Restaurant operator The Fulham Shore – which owns Franco Manca and The Real Greek among others – has launched a new pizza outlet that borrows from 1970s and 1980s Italy. Super Club Roma, designed by 3Stories, is packed with retro visual references to Italian art, sport and design. The design firm's MD, Ben Webb explains, “People don’t have as much to spend, and when they do go out, they want to experience something unique. At Super Club Roma, you step into this world and forget what’s going on outside.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/eh7gPb4p

A new karting league promising to revolutionise motorsport has launched in the UK, with a striking 90s inspired brand by Amsterdam Berlin. The F.A.T. Karting League is the brainchild of Formula One engineer Rob Smedley and Ferdi Porsche, a creative director and scion of the famous car family. By levelling the playing field, and encouraging far more people to try their hand at competitive racing, F.A.T wants to create a more diverse and inclusive competition that ultimately changes the sport itself, by bringing in participants from a much wider talent pool. Amsterdam Berlin’s Moritz Grub said the challenge was to create a brand that “stands for the values” of the diverse community the new league wants to engage. Read more: https://lnkd.in/epV5dk6e