Bradley Rogerson is a multi-disciplinary Designer and Art Director with over 7 years of varied design industry experience. He created an identity, primary and secondary packaging for Saxton Cider that mixes clean and minimal typography with 18th century botanical fruit illustrations to communicate a hand-crafted sensibility while evoking an earlier time where the settlers of Nelson, New Zealand, started Saxton Fields (an orchard in which Saxton Cider takes its name). The result is a very elegant and sophisticated looking packaging solution that expresses a genuine sense of detail and loving care.

See more of his work on his site.

The font used in the logotype is Brandon Grotesque Bold.

Anthony Neil Dart is a Designer based in South Africa. His work brings together his interests of graphic design, motion design, direction, animation, typography, illustration and photography. Find out more about Anthony Neil Darts  work here or purchase prints from http://www.artflakes.com/en/shop/and.

After we posted our articles on ‘Common theme in chick flick film poster design’ and ‘Common theme in horror poster design’ we’ve been keeping our eyes open for further themes. The split face theme was one that presented itself fairly quickly, usually depicting either two sides of one person/personality or two opposing characters. As always we’re keen to add more to the gallery, so if you have any in mind feel free to drop us a note.

ITV

Channel 4

Film 4

Sky News

Fontsmith was started in the late nineties by Jason Smith and has since grown to become one of the countries leading type design studios. Nowhere is this success more noticeable than on UK television, with the studio’s faces being used on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Film 4, E4, More 4 Sky News and Sky1. There is a line on their site which resonates with us, “Whatever your message, how you say it is as important as what you say”. In other words, your company’s typeface will set a tone in as strong a manner as your copywriting.

Find out more here.

According to Portfolio.com, females make up a surprising 25% of the global beer market. They’re also the reason cans are sold in 6 packs rather than 8s and are  largely credited for the success of light beers. Despite this information, the vast majority of beer brands tend to market their products to men. Whilst there has been some attempt to launch feminine variants, they’ve tended to lean into the pink and flowery, patronising trap.

As one might expect coming from one of the world’s most gender-equal, Carlsberg have taken an alternative route with their first ever global variant launch, Copenhagen. The light, 4.5% lager is, instead, presented in beautifully minimal, androgynous packaging, designed by the team over at e-types. The simple, typographic route was a aimed towards creating gender-free product targeted towards the design aware, style conscious market.

Jeanette Elgaard Carlsson, the International Innovation Director at Carlsberg, commented that the company sees that ”there are a number of consumers, especially women, who are very aware of design when they choose beverage products. There may be situations where they are standing in a bar and want their drinks to match their style. In this case, they may well reject a beer if the design does not appeal to them,” Furthermore “The consumer surveys that we have conducted in Denmark show that 98% of the target group finds Copenhagen exciting.”

Despite some blogs questioning whether those that enjoy beer will fall for the marketing schtick that surrounds Copenhagen, the launch marks an interesting development in the marketing of beer. The inclusion of women into a brand’s target market automatically expands their potential audience to 125%.

Update: For the interest of the type geeks out there the label is largely set in Playtype’s ‘The Wave’ typeface.

I’ve been thinking about Hollister’s in-store experience for a while now. By traditional measures like product clarity, in-store navigation and consumer journey the store falls down at almost every touchpoint. It is, however, a huge success seeing rapid US growth and impressive European expansion since its millennial inception. I’m interested in how a shop with an in-store experience so off kilter can do so well and whether the traditional measure apply to it.

The in-store experience

Let’s kick things off with a summary of the Hollister store experience. From the outside the store is heavily themed, looking more residential than commercial. It opts for tall, narrow, shuttered windows rather than larger glazed shop windows, hiding the contents of the shop from passing footfall. The entrance has a porch-like opening with a pitched, tiled roof and veranda-like fencing with the store’s signage hidden away, positioned at a small size on the foundation blocks of the porch.

Upon entry, Hollister clad, youthful, healthy assistants greet you into the dimly lit, perfume scented store. There’s little to no order to the layout with men’s and female’s clothing often being intertwined. The lighting makes the garments true colours hard to determine and once you’ve found something you like you’ll find American sizing conventions. Dotted around the store are large plants, leather wingbacks and the odd sofa making navigating the store even more difficult. Although this may sound like a chaotic shopping environment, everything from the music volume to the assistants looks are strictly controlled.

Why does it work?

The company sells itself as a Southern California Surf Leisure brand, despite being dreamt up by Michael Jeffries over 2000 miles away in Ohio. This kind of sums up the brand. It’s a surf/leisure brand for people who don’t surf. A clothing label for city kids that aspire to the Southern Californian life style. To me the whole in-store experience panders to this aspirational aspect, transporting consumers from the dreariness of inner city shopping malls to somewhere else entirely.

This idea is backed up by their description (available on their site), “Inspired by the sun-drenched spirit of California, and the surf and soul of the Pacific Ocean, Hollister is a laid-back, aspirational lifestyle destination”. The fact that they describe themselves as a destination rather than a shop or store is telling. They want consumers to believe that it’s not a shop because it doesn’t have a big sign out front, because there isn’t big glass windows with mannequins in, because it dark and perfumed inside. Instead its a destination that encourages you to engage emotionally with the lifestyle that they’re representing. A lifestyle that its target market aspire towards. Once they’ve achieved that, sales will inevitably follow.

Amy Rodchester is a young graphic designer and illustrator based in Leeds, in the north of England. She enjoys pushing the boundaries with her work and likes to challenge both her typographic and illustrative skills, especially in 3D forms. Photography is a big part of her creative thinking in terms of capturing moments and experiences that inspire her.

Newcastle Festival of Dance

Amy was set the brief to create a set of posters to promote Newcastle Festival of Dance as a festival for everyone. The design of the posters visualise any pair of feet in any pair of shoes being able to dance and aims to encourage people to step out of their comfort zone and try something new. She arranged and shot all of the photo shoots herself, before composing the results onto three dimensional columns, aiming to engage and intrigue viewers. Each poster targets a different generation, inspiring children to dance, encouraging youths to be creative, motivating adults to continue exercise and reminding the elderly of their time in the old dance halls.

See more of Amy’s work on her site or view her CV.

Critics argue that a logo should be a fixed asset, consistently communicating the brand and its personality across all channels to a defined target audience. They advance that any variable will dilute the effectiveness of the logo to represent a brand and be recognised universally.

Proponents counter that our media landscape has changed considerably in the last decade. We are all more connected and our networks are more diverse. The channels through which we are exposed to, and interact with, companies and brands is now far more open and thus flexible branding is more suitable than ever to the modern consumer.

Case study 1 – City of Melbourne

The City of Melbourne asked Landor to develop a cohesive brand strategy and new identity system. The challenge was to reflect City of Melbourne’s cool sophistication on the world stage, capture the passion of its people, and provide the city with a unified, flexible, and future-focused image. The new identity needed to overcome political complexities, improve the cost-effectiveness of managing the brand, and unite the disparate range of entities currently in use.

At the heart of the new design, the bold “M” presents a full expression of the identity system – immediately recognisable and as multifaceted as the city itself: creative, cultural, sustainable. A celebration of diversity and personal interpretation that is both future-proof and iconic.

For me, the City of Melbourne container brand is an effective solution to the brief. Its flexibility allows it to continually represent the city’s cultural richness across many varied departments. The logos content fill is governed by a strict, geometric grid and vibrant colour palette which help bind the logo variations together creating a strong and recognisable brand.

Case study 2 – Sky

Sky’s alternative approach, developed by venturethree, sets the default logo in a transparent glassy material. The logo is then overlaid onto high quality imagery taken from the broadcaster’s extensive programming catalogue. The logo is beautifully executed with shadows, highlights, warping and reflections. In this case the ability of the logo to incorporate much loved imagery causes the consumer to inextricably link the two. Sky is good programming and good programming is Sky. Sky literally becomes the glass through which good TV and film is watched. The logos size, position and material remain consistent and thus strong, even if its colours do not.

Case study 3 – London Olympics

There is sound rationale behind the use of container branding for the Olympic games; a multi-cultural, international event covering over 400 events and sponsored and supported by multiple organisations. The logo can be filled with event imagery, team or sponsor colours or masterbrand patterns. I do feel however that there could have been stricter guidelines to the fill of the logo. The different variations have become a little disjointed with out core creative idea linking them all together.

Conclusion

To conclude, I think that container branding shouldn’t be written off as a fad. However, although some brands have been executing the technique perfectly over the past decade (Sky), many brands that have jumped on the bandwagon have not done quite such a good job. For me there are three golden rules to stick to when creating a container brand. (1) The logo must work when filled with a flat colour as well as complex imagery/patterns. (2) Strict guidelines must be put in place to govern the imagery used to fill the logo. In the case of the City of Melbourne these guidelines defined a geometric aesthetic where as Sky dictated the use of high quality, engaging program imagery. (3) Perhaps the most obvious, there must be good reasoning behind the use of the technique.

The United Kingdom’s central government is comprised of 24 ministerial departments, 26 non-ministerial departments and around 800 executive agencies. Over time, with governmental shuffles and re-structuring, departments are created, merged, renamed and retired at an alarming rate. At present the majority of the departments hold a unique brand that needs to be developed and maintained like any other private company’s brand. Furthermore those effected by structural or procedural change will require rebranding and repositioning. With over 1,000 departments that can rack up quite a bill!

The Dutch Solution

A few years back, faced with a similar problem, the Dutch government commissioned Studio Dumbar to work on a single, unified brand identity to work across all of its 200 departments. It has since been reported that an initial €18m implementation investment garnered an annual saving of €5m. The new brand also makes it easier for the Dutch inhabitants to recognise and hopefully appreciate the government’s broad spectrum of work and influence.

The German Solution

The German’s of course are ahead of the game on this one, with the government holding a design competition in 1996. The winning pair were Jürgen Huber and Lisa Eidt who won an internship at MetaDesign and worked alongside the agency to finalise the design, before its official launch in June 1999.

The proposal

Now, I’m not suggesting that all of the UK’s governmental subsidiaries should be held under one umbrella brand. This is especially apparent in the public facing departments. I believe for example that the National Health Service (NHS) requires an entirely different identity to that of, say, the armed forces. However I do strongly believe that the amount of governmental identities that are currently employed can be streamlined.

Route 1

The natural starting point from a design perspective would be the royal coat of arms used on the HM Government logo. Variants of the crest are scattered throughout the various other departmental logos. I would recommend retaining Gill Sans Light for the ‘HM Government’ subhead to aid transition and recall whilst employing a more ownable, less ubiquitous face for the department name.  A suitable alternative to the coat could be the portcullis depicted on the parliamentary logo. At present, the crest does not work well at small sizes so I would create a simplified version for use below a set size.

Route 2

A more major, and simpler to manage brand could isolate the crown iconography used at the head of the royal coat of arms. This time set in a suitable prestigious colour with a touch more personality that route 1, the icon is simple, recogniseable and scalable across all departments.

Route 3

A simple resetting of the crown, reversed out within a seal-like holding devices allows the icon to remain impactful even when separated from its related typography.

Over the past few years we’ve seen a slew of limited edition variant/packages from the Jack Daniel’s Sour Mash Tenesse Whiskey distillery. Interestingly, when Jack Daniel’s are aiming for a more premium product they tend to dial down the overt branding whilst utilising subtle brand queues such as  the squar bottle and the cut glass rose detailing around the neck. Look forward to see more in 2012.