Innehållsförteckning för January 2017 från Computer Arts

A rtist Anna Valdez’s studio is located in a large historic building in Oakland, California. Built in 1901, the space was originally used for manufacturing speciality automotive parts, licence plates and steel containers, but it has now been revamped to provide studio space for 25 artists. Valdez has been based in the building for the past three years. It’s the perfect place to be creative, with plenty of light, tall ceilings and communal areas. The majority of her neighbours are also painters, with a diverse range of different focuses. “I consider myself fortunate to have found a studio in this community of artists,” she comments. Influenced by her studies in anthropology and video, Valdez views artists as “cultural producers”. She is currently putting together a visual autobiography that explores her…

A s the year comes to an end, we thought it would be great to look backwards, before we go forward into 2017. This year has been awesome for us. It’s seen our global creative network go from strength to strength. We’re now flexing our muscles in over 20 cities across the world, including London, New York, Amsterdam, Berlin, Stockholm, Dubai, Sydney, LA and Taipei – and we’re on a mission to cover even more in the new year. Our global expansion is part of our mission to ‘celebrate creativity’ in all corners of the world, and we’re very pleased to be expanding so quickly because it enables us to get to know more and more of you – the Gluggers; the creatives. Throughout the year and across our chapters,…

London’s Camden Market has long been celebrated for its anarchic spirit and commitment to creativity, and this was the message that specialist branding studio Ragged Edge worked to capture when it was tasked with putting together a new identity. “Instead of a corporate brand system, we set out to create a toolkit for self-expression; a kind of ‘unbrand’,” smiles the studio’s co-founder Max Ottignon. The solution the team came up with was a flexible set of tools, comprising two custom fonts, a brand frame, a geometric pattern based on the negative spaces within the typeface, and a black and white colour palette. It was presented to the Camden Market team with strict instructions: “If you’re not experimenting with our brand, pushing its boundaries, you’re not doing it right.” “We wanted…

Created for Showcase ITCH, an annual festival that brings together local and international artists, Optimystic is a new installation by illustration duo Craig & Karl in Guatemala City that provides a modern take on the centuries-old custom of sawdust carpets. These are traditionally created on city streets as a pathway for ceremonial processions, and represent an important ritual. “Locally, the sawdust carpets are expressions of faith and community created in a celebratory atmosphere,” explains Craig Redman. “In creating one, our aim was to adopt and extend these basic precepts, introducing our viewpoint and taking it somewhere new that felt relevant to our lives, without wholly severing a connection to their traditional role within Guatemalan culture.” “Our creative act is inherently one of optimism,” adds Karl Maier. “It imagines a better,…

Herwig Scherabon was working on a book about gentrification in various US and UK cities, expressed through data-vis and maps. He found the topic fascinating, and decided to spin it off into a separate project – two giant 150x75cm prints, which won Student Gold at the Information Is Beautiful Awards in November. Scherabon depicted LA and Chicago as a high-resolution matrix of blocks, the height of which correspond to the average income of that area. “I want to trigger thoughts about what the reasons behind inequality might be,” Scherabon explains. Working in what he calls a “dark and moody aesthetic”, he spent a lot of time optimising everything for print, choosing a matte Somerset Velvet paper mounted on wooden boards.…

Pink was rebranded in 2016. No longer the reserve of the soft and the meek, the world became awash with pink tint as designers and brands indulged in shades ranging from rose to fuchsia. In last year’s forecast (issue 248) we predicted that industrial pastels would be big, and that pink would become the new neutral, shaking off its feminine connotations to represent gender neutrality and equality. At the end of 2015 Pantone announced a shade of soft pink, Rose Quartz, as one of its joint colours of the year, and the pastel soon popped up on everything from catwalks to convertibles. It’s perhaps no coincidence that 2016 also became the year of neutrality. Ideas of gender norms dissolved, and identity became self-defined rather than something you’re born into. Product,…

We wanted to create an alphabet to accompany the other illustrations. Led by design director Richard Holt, we started investigating two routes. One was a more straightforward 3D typeface and the other was more Escher-esque, inspired by the optical illusion you get with the logo’s cubes. We decided the latter was more playful and unique – a key driver for the project was developing an ownable visual language that was instantly recognisable as NatWest. The starting point was NatWest’s house typeface, which we used to map out the width, x-height and bulk of the letters in Illustrator. We expanded on it of course, but if you put them side by side you can see similarities between the letterforms. The terminals feature the cubes, and we added depth to each letter…

H ere at FranklinTill, rather than perpetuate micro fads and fashions, we like to look at the bigger picture and what this means for design across the lifestyle industries. We research and uncover some of the future thinking by speaking to visionary designers working with innovative tech, materials and processes. For the last year, we have been curating the trends section of Computer Arts – identifying emerging, still fresh and mainstream movements for further exploration. Over the next few pages, we’ll give a recap of the most exciting emerging areas – as exemplified by key projects – and draw together some conclusions to help you with the next year’s worth of creative briefs. In general, we’ve noticed that materiality is more important than ever, and not just in the real…

F ounded in 2013 in Barcelona by Astrid Stavro and Pablo Martín, Atlas is the most awarded design consultancy in Spain. Now based in Palma de Mallorca, and recently joined by an associate, Rafa Roses, Atlas is currently in the process of opening a new studio in New York. Stavro tells us how it’s all going... Why are you expanding to New York? The company’s name, Atlas, reflects our studio culture and global approach to work. We work for clients all over the world, and the designers who work with us come from different cities, countries and continents. I studied graphic design in London and have lived in several other European cities, as well as Boston, New York and San Francisco. Pablo worked with Massimo Vignelli in New York at…

KEIRA ALEXANDRA Creative partner, Work-Order www.work-order.co “Kodak’s universal brand appeal can’t be underestimated – and the Kodak logo of the late 20th Century is one of the most widely recognised symbols in the world. We wanted to signal two things with the new (old) logo: First, a reinvestment in the brand heritage by bringing back the Kodak K, and secondly, a reawakening of the brand with the reconfiguration of the Kodak name inside. The change is intentionally subtle, to the point that it may feel as though this logo has always been with us: stable, clean and pure.” MATTHEW COBRIN Visual designer www.initial-creative.com “The vertical lettering Work-Order applied to the ‘K-fish’ feels more snug than the original by Peter Oestreich in 1971, and Joe Selame’s modification in 1987. I do…

The newly named U Sports is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. In October it launched a new identity designed by design firm Hulse & Durrell, who also worked on the naming in collaboration with Ariane Perreault of bleublancrouge. “The brief was to reimagine university sports in Canada,” explains partner Greg Durrell. “We shortened ‘University’ to ‘U’ and combined it with the word ‘sports’ (which is the same in both French and English) for a bilingual solution. The logo drew its inspiration from the big bold and angular letterforms found on the chests of varsity jackets.” The studio used Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere and InDesign to create the new brand, which they describe as “youthful and vibrant with a little bit of swagger”.…

Jack Renwick was tasked with creating a name, visual identity and marketing communications for a canalside residential development in Fish Island in Hackney Wick, east London. “We knew there would be a lot of negative feelings about the development,” says Renwick, “so we wanted to produce something that was not only architecturally in-keeping with the surroundings, but also had some authentic Fish Island character.” The stacked typographic approach uses woodblock prints to suggest the pallets of timber found in the workshops and timber yards that once populated the area. “The overall aesthetic is strong, bold and industrial, with a nod to craftsmanship,” he adds. “The black and white palette ensured a contemporary, premium feel.”…

Confectionary maker Cloetta wanted to make its new colourless liquorice allsorts stand out from the competition. Two years previously, Bond had given the sweet treats a mini facelift – this time, the creative agency was asked to design a new, black-and-white version to highlight their new recipe. “The concept follows our original Allsorts design language,” says Bond creative Marko Salonen. “It showcases the content with simplified and bold graphic elements and colours, using two different varnishes for finishing. The most challenging part of the project was to get the packaging unit price as low as possible for the mass market.”…

G iven that it’s arguably the most famous design agency in the world, Pentagram needs little introduction. Ever since the five founding partners Alan Fletcher, Theo Crosby, Colin Forbes, Kenneth Grange and Mervyn Kurlansky set up shop in north London in 1972, its uniquely compelling structure – equal partners, sharing wealth, wisdom and workspace – has never been successfully replicated. While there are now four times as many partners – spread across studios in London, New York, San Francisco, Austin and Berlin – that ethos has remained constant, with each partner heading a small, self-contained team. Globally, this means there are 21 small studios, under the umbrella of one 170-strong agency. For many years, Paula Scher flew the flag as Pentagram’s only female partner – this number has also quadrupled.…

NEXT MONTH CHARACTER DESIGN We kick off a new workshop series with Pictoplasma GETTING PLAYFUL Miss Led Digital working frees you to make as many mistakes as you like, in a workspace where the element of risk is taken away. These expressions (or ‘mistakes’) can be the best way of discovering new ways of communicating ideas. As well as working as a commissioned illustrator, I create paintings and large-scale works which I exhibit globally, working in acrylics, inks and watercolour. I try to bring as much of this traditionally executed expression into my illustration work as possible, to give an organic finish to my artwork. I love placing fresh textures and shapes randomly on top of my drawing work. Adding these elements without concern for scale issues, positioning, size or…

KEY INFO: Location The Crucible, Sheffield www.iloveoffset.com/offset-sheffield When 21–22 October 2016 Key speakers Ben Bos, Moving Brands, Steve Simpson, Pentagram, Droga5, Ian Anderson, MPC, Graphic Thought Facility D esign is often not a clean, cut-and-dried process. True creativity emerges from conflict, experimentation and, crucially, making mistakes. Three speakers in particular explored the topic from different angles during the two-day OFFSET conference in Sheffield, and we caught up with them afterwards to explore their thoughts further. “Making a mess is essential,” insists Moving Brands creative director Darren Bowles. “If we try and modularise and package creativity, it will be lesser for it. “As much as I love a Vitrafurnished, colour-coded library environment, I want a messy space at its heart,” he adds. “Creativity is a messy process with a beautiful result. And if we…

Branding in the coffee industry is awash with hessian textures and steam illustrations, but in its identity for Sydney-based roastery Deluca Coffee, Christopher Doyle & Co. took a different appoach. The logomark around which the branding scheme hangs is clean and distinctive, but also contains some hidden references. “The idea was to create a logomark based around the ‘D’ and ‘L’ letterforms within Deluca, and also reference silhouettes found in cafes: a coffee cup on a machine tray and the barista’s tools,” says creative director Christopher Doyle.…

Everyday life is full of disappointments, from your purchase getting stuck in the vending machine to your spoon falling into your soup. Motion design experts Parallel have directed an animated compilation of all these moments as a studio project, and it’s strangely mesmerising (watch it at https://vimeo.com/189919038). “We wanted people to think, ‘Oh, I am not alone, me too, I did that,’ explains art director and co-founder Thibault de Fournas. “The aesthetic is kind of retro even if it wasn’t our initial intention. We aimed for a peaceful and warm environment for each scene, which contrasted with the frustrating endings.” Parallel created the animation in Illustrator, After Effects and Cinema 4D. “The challenge was to find 15 ideas that would work without any human involvement on screen,” de Fournas adds.…

Eeormoo? is a letterpress printed children’s book by London-based designer Jim Sutherland, about animals who dream of being other animals. “The project started when I did a poster symposium at Norwich University of the Arts called ‘cowbird’, about the relationship between print and digital work,” he explains. “It was a Twitter bird saying ‘moo’ and a cow saying ’tweet'. I started putting together animals with the wrong noises. It was something that appealed to my childlike sense of humour.” The animal illustrations, by Rebecca Sutherland, were laser-cut as woodblocks, so they could be printed along with the words. Sutherland also worked with letterpress typographer and designer Kelvyn Laurence Smith on the project.…

PROJECT FACTFILE BRIEF: NatWest initially challenged FutureBrand to develop a new visual identity and brand guidelines that would set it apart from other banks, but without touching its logo, typeface or colour palette. CLIENT: NatWest, www.natwest.com CREATIVE: FutureBrand, www.futurebrand.com PROJECT DURATION: 10 months LIVE DATE: October 2016 THE DESIGN BRIEF Freddie Baveystock and Dan Witchell We won the project following a creative pitch in November 2015. The client brief made it clear NatWest was ready to do something new. Looking back, it was perhaps the UK bank that responded best to the financial crisis; recognising the scale of the trust problem that banks had, and the immediate need to speak to customers in plain, meaningful language. The brand attribution score on its 2010 Helpful Banking campaign was really high, but…

S omeone who wears an extremely colourful shirt might be said to be ‘peacocking’, basically dressing to gain attention by standing out in a crowd. But you can choose to stand out by having a different style or simply walking or talking in a special way... but let’s not drift off topic, we’re talking about colours here. Being told you have a colourful personality is something most people crave. So why not also strive to be colourful in your work? One way is to think of colours as a great complement to form and typography. Say you go for a very minimalistic design – why not maximise the colours, and choose an incredibly bold palette? In the early days of Snask, that was our design direction. Being minimalistic in form…