Like many designers, I strive for clarity, strength and simplicity in the work of our studio. I sometimes achieve it, sometimes not. For inspiration, I often turn to the undisputed Crown Prince of clarity, the Grand Poobah of simplicity: Saul Steinberg. The ideas he communicated for the New Yorker with the slightest flick of the pencil are startling: witty, profound, surprising, fun. He described himself as “a writer who draws”. I call myself a designer who draws. But not as well as Saul.
A simple twist creates a memorable identity by We Are Tom for Chef’s Hat in Melbourne. A shop specialising in gear for chefs.
Brilliant identity for the Swiss Architecture Museum by Claudia Basel. I particularly like how the exhibition posters allow for an individual typographic treatment based on the architectural image while still working consistently as a identity. Plus, many of these posters are available for purchase on the SAM website. I may pick up a few!
The Barnes Foundation contains one of the most significant holdings of Matisse in the world. This definitive three-volume catalogue of the artist at the museum is an utterly wonderful piece of editorial design by Abbott Miller & Kim Walker at Pentagram. It is bold and surprising and yet pitch-perfect. It’s one of the most beautiful – and most considered – book projects I’ve seen in recent years.
Dn&Co have designed a poster titled ‘Lungs of London’. The poster depicts the city’s green spaces screen-printed in fluorescent ink and the Thames picked out in varnish. First attributed to William Pitt the Elder, the phrase is often used to defend these life-giving parks and squares against the pressures of urban development. A simple, beautifully crafted green statement. Thanks to Astrid Stavro for the tip.
Here’s a little taste of Copenhagen based design practice Studio Claus Due. The Hesselholdt & Mejlvang project is a wonderful display of minimal conceptual driven work combined with very refined typographic skill. I highly recommend digging through more of their projects. A lot of fantastic work.
Fuel For Fans was launched in 2016 as the official e-commerce store for all major teams in Formula 1. GBH were tasked with giving it an iconic, credible logo, worthy of that status. After all F1 fans are a discerning bunch, with design right at the centre of the sport. The solution is deceivingly simple. Once GBH saw the potential for a chequered flag within the three F’s of the name, they spent weeks crafting it. The result is one of those lovely logos that appears effortless.
Malika Favre is a French artist based in London. Her bold, graphic illustration style cleverly uses positive and negative space as well as light to create depth and intrigue. Her Sports series is now available for purchase at her online store.
A collaborative solution for a collaborative problem. Design Bridge asked The Counter Press to work with them on a book for staff, Me/We explains what they stand for from both agency and individual point of view: read from one end gives the ‘Me’ story, while flipping the book over and reading from the other side gives the ‘We’ story.