Table of contents for December 2019 in Computer Arts

The wonderful FranklinTill never disappoint with its colour trend reports, and this year’s (on page 42) is the studio’s most spectacular ever, addressing the power and significance of colour on a truly global level, and – excitingly for the art department – delivering a stunning selection of examples to illustrate it. A brief, impassioned experiment in protest-themed covers binned (but not forgotten), we proceeded to implement a tried and tested collage format that best expressed the rich diversity of assets available. This cover was always going to be an emotional experience as we (spoiler alert if you’ve not read the editor’s letter) haul the Computer Arts ship ashore to apply a lick of paint for next issue’s design refresh, and as we send this cover to press, our brand spanking…

BEREN NEALE EDITOR Issue 299 – the issue that was nearly 300 – has plenty of amazing content to offer, but Beren can’t stop thinking about, and working on, its momentous sibling, which will boast a whole new look. It’s on sale 6 December! MARK WYNNE ART EDITOR As well as crunch-reading a small library of branding in design books for sister-site CreativeBloq, Mark put aside time to pore over Unit Editions’ stunning TDR book (see page 10). Exhaustive, beautiful and unmissable. CLIFF HOPE OPERATIONS EDITOR Now that the weather’s getting colder, Cliff’s looking forward to wearing woolly layers and a heavy duffle coat to the office, before shedding them ASAP to avoid being overcome by the building’s overzealous central heating.…

Creative director, Gretel gretelny.com I am time travelling to a New York six years past. I didn’t intend to slip seamlessly from 2019 to 2013 – it was a catalyst that triggered it, sending me back to the summer of that earlier year. Everyone is enjoying the toasty weather (the effects of climate change aren’t apparent to the general public yet), the sound of Get Lucky by Pharrell and Daft Punk is blasting out of yellow cabs (not Ubers), and every girl in the city is surrounded with a cloud of Chloé perfume (myself included). Back in the present day, at the time of writing, it’s October in the same city. Autumn – or Fall, as they call it here – isn’t in full swing (because, as we’re now all…

Now more than ever, designers recognise the importance of turning their hand to become a real force for good. Put into practice, it can enrich your agency and the work you do. A real emotional investment is often at the core – working with charities can be fulfilling and rewarding in ways that commercial work simply isn’t. Creative studios of all sizes can make an effort to include charity work in their remit, and those that do it well are quite vocal about it. Commercial agencies will always have one eye on the bottom line, and it can be difficult to identify which charities or social causes are a good fit for your team. Yet the knowledge that you’re making a real difference can be the catalyst for producing your…

1 Understanding what the needs are and what your motivation is to get involved is critical to having a solid approach, says Justin Ahrens. “From there sit down with any organisations and listen to what their needs are and share where you think you can most help,” he explains. 2 “We are a service business – we need to serve them, not the other way around,” says Ahrens. “It can get forgotten in social/non-profit work because people will often cut their costs or simply want something great in their portfolio or to talk about. That’s not a good reason to do it.” 3 Emerging designers should “always be curious”, which loosely means to continue asking a lot of questions, says Gage Mitchell. “If you’re the type of person who’s curious…

1. BE PREPARED TO WORK One of the most challenging aspects of founding a design partnership is workload, and that’s simply something you must prepare for, says Stefanie Weigler. “In a small partnership you might end up working much harder than if you are employed somewhere. You have to embrace this.” 2. FIND SOMEONE YOU TRUST “Finding a business partner you can trust is key,” says Weigler. “I think we avoided potential pitfalls since we happened to be married, and share similar goals and sensibilities.” But whatever your personal relationship, a design partnership is still much very like a marriage. “You have your ups and downs,” she explains, “but you’re committed to each other.” 3. YOU CAN DO IT ALL Two people might not sound like enough to create top-class…

AUDIENCE IS KEY Think about who the potential guest is going to be. Why are they visiting a particular establishment – is it business or pleasure? What do they want from their stay? How much have they paid? All of these things are the key to getting the tone and messaging just right so you engage. DO YOUR RESEARCH Get to know the hotel group. Visit other hotels if they have them and, most importantly, spend time at the hotel that you’re rebranding. And try to get a meeting with their interior architects early on so everyone is on the same page. It’ll end in a holistic look and feel that goes deeper than the identity. INVEST IN THE WORDS In a hospitality setting your audience has time to relax…

Remember that time, long ago, when most people weren’t that bothered about politics? As we go to press with this issue, things couldn’t be more different, with Brexit once more on a knife-edge, Trump’s impeachment gathering steam, and protesters from Hong Kong to London bringing normal city life to a dramatic, juddering halt. Today, it seems everything is being influenced and shaped by broader global events, and that includes design and illustration. So it’s not surprising to see futures research agency FranklinTill reporting on page 42 that the latest colour trends in design are being heavily influenced by the work of global protest movements, from climate change to feminism and beyond. Of course, engaging socially and politically isn’t just about protest; it’s also about coming together to provide positive and…

www.seachange.studio Our selection of the hottest new design, illustration and motion work from the global design scene Auckland-based compostable waste collection service We Compost turned to Seachange to help it come up with a brand strategy that speaks to an audience beyond the eco-warriors, and better reflects the work it’s doing. “Our strategy was to do something fresh for the sector; modern, fun and accessible to everyone,” says Seachange creative director Tim Donaldson. “It needed to go against the grain of the visual world of composting which is saturated with leaf logos, recycling symbols and overly worthy messages.” Seachange came up with a visual identity centred on a green colour palette and a graphical representation of worms, rolling this out across the website, printed material, bin bags and other merchandise.…

Responding to a need for a more inclusive and democratic political and environmental conversation, the rise of creative workshop culture has led to community-driven activism that amplifies the voices of all. The aesthetic of the DIY Activist is makeshift: whether hand-assemblage or digital collage, the process is wholly ad hoc. The visual language has evolved from design collectives such as Protest Press and Collage Club, which are bringing hacktivism to the fore by embracing an imperfect aesthetic in open-to-all cut-and-paste workshops. Using the poster as a vehicle for bold messaging, slogans are expressive, savvy and shorthand in style. Scissored lettering suggests uncompromised intention and the anonymity of a collective voice. The material-led palettes are defined by salvaged and appropriated matter in industrial pastels and dulled synthetic brights of reclaimed papers…

The New Eco Warrior is all about paring back and slowing down, in a backlash against gluttonous excess. The less-is-more aesthetic sees traditional hand-tooling and natural treatments as a step toward a more considered future. Designers are embracing imperfect aesthetics that are aged or dirtied, scratched or darned. Far from makeshift, this is a luxe design direction that honours the time-old traditions of craft. The New Eco aesthetic is a quiet act of protest, driving a desire for the well-loved, the treasured one-offs. Tie-dye and block printing are of a language that’s imperfect by nature. The muddied pastels of Story MFG’s collection stain cottons and linens, creating cross-directional prints in a patchwork effect. The airy cloths are contrasted with heavy cotton twills that, when dyed, create a crumpled aesthetic in…

1 “Make it easy for supporters to appropriate it, fundraise with it, put it into their social channels, paint it on their faces and feel connected to it,” advises Jonathan Hubbard. “Any charity brand should be clear about the problem it’s trying to solve for people and should be able to explain how it helps in a simple, direct sentence.” 2 “Always try and start with the positive impact and change an organisation is creating through its work, even in some of the toughest situations. There’s a difference between taking a subject seriously and being serious.” 3 “Charity brands should acknowledge the gravity of an issue, but understand that if you want to encourage people to participate in making change happen, you need to show them the benefit of that…

ISSUE 298 STUDIOS ▪ Revealed: the UK’s top 30 design studios ▪ How to design for the food and drink sector ▪ We talk to New York artist Erik Jones about his mixed media work ISSUE 297 AWARDS Discover what projects made the grade in our annual Brand Impact Awards, creatives reveal how to use photos in your branding, and Zach Lieberman talks motion graphics. ISSUE 296 IDEAS D&AD Festival speakers explore how to find and sell strong ideas. Elsewhere, we cover designing for luxury brands, and talk to legendary creative Paul Sahre. ISSUE 295 NEW TALENT We reveal the young designers and illustrators who made an impression at this year’s UK graduate show. Plus: how to get more from your collaborations. ISSUE 294 GRAD UATES Junior and senior creatives…

IAN ANDERSON The Designers Republic™ has published its first retrospective, and it’s a beauty. On page 10, founder Ian Anderson gives us the lowdown on how it was made. www.thedesignersrepublic.com MICHAEL JOHNSON Social enterprise Teach First! has a new identity, thanks to Johnson Banks. On page 26, studio head Michael Johnson talks us through the concept behind it. www.johnsonbanks.co.uk JONATHAN CASTRO Pore over the colourful work of this creative, who originally hails from Peru but is now based in The Netherlands. Our interview starts on page 54. www.jonathancastro.pe LISA HASSELL On page 64, Lisa Hassell meets the designers behind some noteworthy charity projects of recent years, and shares the secrets of their success. www.inkygoodness.com JAMIE ELLUL Supple Studio fused British traditional and Scandi modern styles in its branding for the…

RALPH BURKHARDT MANAGING PARTNER, BURKHARDTHAUKE www.burkhardthauke.de When we talk of the creative process, we think of a free and unlimited environment. We imagine creatives as rebels who only achieve meaningful creation when all borders have gone. We think that total freedom is the only way to produce breakthrough innovations and that any restriction will inhibit our true creative nature. Forget about that way of thinking: the truth is that the total opposite is right. There is no need to be ‘free’, no natural tendency to ‘think outside the box’. In fact, creatives need a box to know the boundaries they can push against. The box serves as a starting point, enabling us to see what we have to work with and how our ideas can grow from there. So, embrace…

https://studio.build Studio.Build has teamed up with craft beer producers North Brewing Co to launch the latter’s newest beer, Ute. The name comes from the Norwegian “Utepils”, which means to enjoy a beer outdoors, and the brewers wanted the branding to reflect something of the Yorkshire location where the beer is produced. To this end, Studio.Build created can designs that took a cue from the forests of West Yorkshire: the graphics are based on sunlight filtering through the leaves of the forest canopy. The studio also designed a series of promotional posters using photographs taken by local photographer Joanne Crawford. Another dimension was added to the project by Yorkshire-based Refold Design Agency, which worked on a seven-inch vinyl record to accompany the launch. “We all worked closely together to create a…

Pantone’s Vibrant Rebellion describes the activist generation as rising up and reclaiming ownership of their future. Colour is explosive, chaotic and this design direction is a call to action, provocative and unapologetic. It represents a manifesto for urgent measures, an uncompromising and tribal approach to protecting the planet. The hyper-tactile narrative sees a frenzy of pigment, pattern and texture overloading billboards and storefronts, catwalks and editorial in a very public campaign of anger and vibrant optimism. Today’s youth are angry: they want their hopes and dreams back. As explored in Viewpoint Colour Rise Up, make-up artist Phoebe Walters’ Peace Paint features smudged, smeared and sprayed pigments, thickly layered in unrefined textures as the skin becomes a canvas for expression. An update on the concept of war paint, the haphazard and confident…

JONATHANCASTRO is a graphic designer and musician from Lima, Peru, who’s based in Amsterdam. He graduated from Toulouse Lautrec Institute in Lima. Using graphic design as a colourful depiction of living spirit, his projects always move in search of possible futures under the concept of “design fiction”. www.jonathancastro.pe When we met Jonathan Castro at this year’s Us By Night design festival, the creative was taking a residency at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, The Netherlands. He’s also been researching ancient cultures and shamanism in the digital age, proposing the idea of visual and sound experiences as cosmic rituals. Here, he speaks about his fascination with ancient knowledge and Peruvian traditions, his passion for underground music, and how this, along with his own heritage, crystallises his unique graphic design…

Launched on President’s Day, AIGA‘s Get Out the Vote campaign wielded the power of design to motivate the American public to encourage participation in the critical 2016 elections, as well as local elections to come. It was a key element of AIGA’s ongoing Design for Democracy initiative, and graphic designers and illustrators across the US were invited to design inclusive posters. In 2016 in partnership with the League of Women Voters, AIGA’s civic engagement initiative worked to Get Out the Vote by presenting an online gallery of original, non-partisan posters for printing and public distribution. “Design for Democracy is based on the premise that good design makes your choices clear. What we design can change an election, or move people to support a cause, or to better understand some social…

Based in Brooklyn, New York, Triboro is the design partnership of David Heasty, originally from Texas, and Stefanie Weigler, who hails from Germany. They also happen to be married to each other. Creating design solutions for clients across publishing, art, fashion, music, lifestyle, as well as for cultural institutions, the duo rarely collaborate with others or use freelancers. Instead, 99 per cent of their work is done in-house, from developing strategies to final execution, including the crafting of custom typefaces. We chatted to them to learn the secrets of their success, what most inspires them, their latest projects, and more. How did you guys meet? David Heasty: We met in 2004 through our mutual mentor, designer Alexander Gelman, while working at his studio. We started dating right away, and were…