Guardian 200 Years

In 2021, the Guardian turned 200, and the newspaper wanted to celebrate the milestone with existing readers whilst gaining new subscribers. Instead of celebrating past achievements, the Guardian chose to focus on what comes next.

The campaign uses very clever copywriting and juxtaposition of billboards — Obviously a copy led direction for a newspaper but definitely not obvious copy. Fantastic work by Oliver Agency who have structured themselves to exclusively design, build and run bespoke in-house agencies and marketing systems for brands. This must be a real challenge as a model but they are proving that it works by producing great work like this.

Brewster Murray

Frost* Collective

Rob Duncan:

They never fail to find the gift at Frost* Collective. Couldn’t be simpler, an elegant strong ‘B’/’M’ and feeling architectural with several levels at the same time. Smart by design indeed!

M11

Rob Duncan:

A lovely little identity for M11 studio. A nice gift to find. Beautifully crafted and lends itself to a unique pattern too.

Nudista

Erretres

Rob Duncan:

Spanish agency Erretres has created a cheeky new brand for a Madrid tapas Bar. The bar seeks to position canned food products as healthy and simple. The only ingredients necessary are the finest products on the face of this earth, the maximum respect for how they are prepared and the minimum interference possible by man in their presentation. Hence they came up with the name Nudista (Nude) and created the brand around the idea “The best product does not need clothes”.

Random Acts for Channel4

Bold & Bold with 4 Creative

Jamie Ellul:

Bold & Bold have created a lovely glitchy identity for Channel 4’s short form film series Random Acts in collaboration with 4 Creative. In particular it’s a really clever use of the new Channel 4 brand typeface Horseferry – flipping between the various cuts of the type to create a random glitchy feel to all text. Also the RA condensed monogram for social media is such a simple reduction.

Agatha Christie stamps

Studio Sutherl& Neil Webb

Paul Felton:

Royal Mail have released a set of six commemorative stamps to mark the centenary of Agatha Christie writing her first detective story. The stamps, designed by Studio Sutherl& and illustrated by Neil Webb, depict a complex plot in one single frame, together with hidden clues only revealed with UV light, heat, in negative space or by using a magnifying glass.

Elder brook

&Smith

Rob Duncan:

A refreshing approach to a new brand and range of drinks from David Folkman and Craig Jones (Ex Innocent Drinks). &Smith’s identity showcases the work of young YCN illustrators Enrica Casentini, Ana Jaks and Quentin Mongue. Clever copy by ‘We all need words’ describes the ‘better-for-you-cordial’, Elderbrook doesn’t pretend to be full of your five-a-day, turn you into a yogi in one sip, or give you Popeye’s muscles. But it does taste good!

IV Centenary of the death of Cervantes

Mucho

Rob Duncan:

I don’t usually upload our own work, but the great thing about being a partner at Mucho is constantly being impressed and envious of work that gets produced by other partners and offices. This identity in particular by Marc Catala hits the nail on the head. An identity to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of the death of Cervantes. What else could it have been? And getting those curves/ruffles just right isn’t as easy as it looks!

Killing/Hunting

Mads Jakob Poulsen

Luke Robertson:

An illustrated response by Mads Jakob Poulsen to the gun control debate in the United States. He accompanies it with a well articulated article.

Also see some related reading on how sensible gun control laws introduced in Australia worked.