Innehållsförteckning för April 2017 från Computer Arts

NICK CARSON EDITOR Nick’s wedding plans are progressing, with deposits paid to photographer, caterer and evening venue. He’s also been buried in stacks of magazines and random stuff with a big office refurb approaching. JO GULLIVER ART EDITOR Jo is moving to a senior role on T3 magazine this month and is mostly sad to be leaving CA . She also saw Black Peaks, who were amazing until the singer came into the crowd and stood on her friend’s foot! ROSIE HILDER OPERATIONS EDITOR Rosie jammed a month’s worth of socialising into a weekend in Manchester, when she caught up with old friends at a hen do, got out of the Escape Rooms (one minute to spare!) and danced to disco tunes.…

Victoria Dove started Little Gnashers while on maternity leave with her first child. Unable to sit still, she started making teething jewellery for her friends with children, and the business grew from there. Dove’s products are available in endless colour combinations, and she uses the theme Inspiration Is Everywhere for shots of colourful objects with four beads next to them, showing how these colours would look as a teething necklace. “I started this theme to show people that the world is full of beautiful colour if you just stop for one minute and take a look,” she says. Citing Instagram as her favourite social media platform, Dove says: “Photography is by far the quickest and most effective way to get my branding and messaging across.” Most of her product sales…

WILSON REYES Designer, Blue Moon Promotional www.wilsondraws.com “The key is finding the buzz wherever you are. Every city has its own unique vibe and part of living is finding new places to grow and thrive. Why be a tiny part of a massive community, when you can be a major part of a smaller circle? There are great opportunities to make a buzz right in your own backyard.” PHILIPPA TAMSIN Freelance graphic designer and illustrator phillipatamsin.com “I think I would have to say no. I find there is more excitement in the potential of an area, somewhere that has yet to grow and develop, and that has not been saturated with the same kinds of people and businesses. The rise of technology and creation of shared working spaces allow us…

Recently named one of the 50 most beautiful cities in the world by Condé Nast Traveler, Mexico City will become the sixth World Design Capital in 2018. The title recognises Mexico City’s commitment to using design as an effective tool for economic, social and cultural development – making it an inspirational model for other global cities, and an attractive destination for creatives. Home to branches of world-class design studios like Anagrama – which has more Facebook followers than Sagmeister & Walsh – the city isn’t short on design talent or work opportunities. Nearly every major American corporation has a presence in the oldest capital in the Americas, from Apple and Amazon to Procter & Gamble, and in 2014, the creative sector accounted for seven per cent of the GDP. “There’s…

A fast-paced metropolis with a vibrant pop culture, ancient historical sites, exciting nightlife, an innovative arts scene and one of the world’s fastest digital infrastructure systems, Seoul has transformed into a prosperous, global cultural capital in a remarkably short amount of time. Since the 1990s, the South Korean government has targeted the creative industries to drive growth – and with approximately 73 per cent of Korean designers concentrated in Seoul, the city sits firmly at the heart of the national design scene. Cost of living is only 2.5 per cent lower than in London, but low crime rates, high quality of life and a thriving design scene make it an attractive destination for creatives. “Lots of things happen here – projects, festivals and exhibitions,” confirms Jin Kang, a member of…

01 VACATION WITH AN ARTIST Want to learn a new skill while on holiday? Check out the new venture from R/GA New York creative director Geetika Agrawal, Vacation With An Artist (VAWAA), which allows holiday-makers to spend a few days in the studios of talented artists around the world while they learn a new and specific creative skill from a master of that art. Studio sessions can vary from 10 hours to 100, and are open to a maximum of three guests. From stencil art in Argentina to Japanese calligraphy in Kyoto, workshops are geared up to ensure you return home feeling inspired. More info: www.vawaa.com 02 ATTEND A CONFERENCE The global design calendar is packed with incredible events all year round. Whether you’re after a heavyweight experience such as OFFF Barcelona…

AMSTERDAM Dutch design is justly famous. Spoilt for culture, Amsterdam’s museums and architecture are world-class, while an abundance of global brands provide work and creative opportunities. “Amsterdam is the perfect size for a great and varied creative network,” says Glug Amsterdam host Dickon Langdon. “It’s very easy to find great people to collaborate with.” He continues: “Wages are competitive with London and the cost of living is cheaper. There are also tax advantages in place for highly skilled migrants, such as people in the creative industries. Also, Amsterdam is very clean and safe.” TAIPEI One of Glug’s newest chapters is based in Taipei, and judging from the vibe we get from host Oliver Chang and his team, Taiwan’s capital city offers an updated and eclectic creative landscape. Thanks to a…

1 Spend time with the brief “Dissect it. Possibly rewrite it,” is Amie Herriott’s advice for dealing with a brief. She recommends starting with a blank sheet of paper, and although thorough research is essential, she adds that the best ideas can come when you give your subconscious time to digest your thoughts: “Often I’ll be cycling home from work, or on the tube.” 2 Work from a core thought “We tend to work from a mission statement at the start, which is purely words, and then build around it,” reveals Greg Deacon. “It’s a bit of a shortcut in that aspect.” 3 Stick work on the wall “There’s no point having a small idea sat in a corner of a journal,” insists Deacon. “Everything here goes up on the…

Logos have long been the bread and butter of graphic design. As branding becomes increasingly dynamic and experiential, the logo’s role at the centre of a scheme may have lessened; but to cut through and stay afloat amongst a sea of multi-channel communications, a memorable badge of honour is still crucial for any brand. Our lead feature is penned by BP&O’s Richard Baird, whose ongoing research project LogoArchive explores the craft and form of great logos, presented in stark black and white for ease of comparison. There’s some great advice in his piece, including 11 ways to improve your logo craft. As you can see from the previous page, our very own Jo Gulliver crafted the eye-catching cover to communicate this topic. This is also Jo’s final issue of CA,…

TRENDS PEOPLE EVENTS INSPIRATION Each month, our Trends section is curated by experienced creative consultancy FranklinTill www.franklintill.com TRENDS SEDIMENT Designers pay homage to geology in the creation of granulated and textured patterns for ceramics, packaging and furniture. Both man-made and organic patterns directly reference organic processes, including salt staining, marbling and corroded surfaces. These textures are applied to a variety of materials to create sedimented surfaces. MIRROR OBJECTS 3 BY PETTERSEN & HEIN Pigment-dyed cement creates the illusion of layered sedimentary rock in these pieces by Copenhagen-based design duo Pettersen & Hein. NIM TABLE BY PINCH The hand-finished, manmade Jesmonite table mimics the colouring and texture of natural stone. MURMUR PACKAGING DESIGN BY FIELD Latvian design agency Field has used naturally formed surfaces as the inspiration for its packaging and…

GBH LONDON CREATIVE AGENCY www.gbh.london Jason Gregory, Mark Bonner and Peter Hale are the co-founders of design studio GBH. Their new book, Charm, Belligerence & Perversity, showcases the work and opinions of the award-winning agency. STEVE PRICE CREATIVE DIRECTOR PLAN-B STUDIO www.plan-bstudio.com Steve Price strives to provide design, insight and ideas, and avoid jargon and acronyms. On page 26, he argues that students’ creative freedom shouldn’t be mistaken for something else. DESIGN MATTERS: Is being part of a buzzing design scene worth the associated higher cost of living? Page 23 PLUS: Three perspectives on Rightmove’s recent rebrand – page 24 Illustrations: Louise Pomeroy www.louisezpomeroy.com…

rightmove find your happy DAN DUFOUR Brand strategy director, The Team www.theteam.co.uk “We wanted to enhance the emotive human quality of the brand. Inspired by the sentiment of home is where the heart is, we realised the new logo could tell the story of helping people find their happy with a simple rotation. Whilst the identity has to work in 2D in its simplest form, that doesn’t mean it can’t also come to life through animation.” BOB YOUNG Co-founder, Alphabetical www.alphabetical studio.com “A brand refresh for a company such as Rightmove will always be contentious. It’s admirable that The Team developed a solution that tries to build upon the brand’s core proposition. I can see the logic in one device that connects home, direction and happy, but justifying this beyond the…

The logo-centricity of the mid-century has given way to brand experiences that, on the most sophisticated and immersive levels, encompass all of our senses and provide people with rich, multifaceted and memorable interactions. For smaller businesses, logos often represent an affordable, if limited, entry point into the world of branding. Although the priority and prominence of logos within modern communication hierarchies may have diminished, they remain useful singular images that can encapsulate a person’s experiences with a brand, trigger feelings and memories, and help foster a connection, which can then be leveraged. Public fascination with logos is growing. Mass market publications and major news organisations now regularly pick up rebrands, implying an increasing interest in the discipline. This also suggests an awareness of, or at least an instinct for, form…

01 USE PHOTOSHOP TO PROTOTYPE “I start by thinking about what I want to convey in an image, and list things that represent the concept,” explains Jessica Walsh. “I make Photoshop mock-ups of the elements I want in the end piece, play around with sizes until the composition is balanced, then recreate the mock-ups with real objects and photograph them.” 02 THINK IN THREE DIMENSIONS “Many illustrators think very one-dimensionally about the medium of illustration,” believes Casper Franken at Shotopop. “Explore techniques and effects digitally, or through a more traditional medium that’s imported and manipulated. You never know what you might discover.” 03 DON’T FAKE THE HANDMADE LOOK “I always get frustrated if handmade illustration has been faked in some way, or if the piece has been manipulated on a computer…

Having long been a hotspot for the trendy start-up scene, Germany’s culturally diverse, tolerant and cosmopolitan capital remains a thriving mecca for talented creative minds from all around the world. In fact, according to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network Monitoring Report 2008-2016, creativity is Berlin’s key distinguishing feature today. More than 195,000 people are currently working in the creative industries – that’s 10 percent of all employees in Berlin. The city’s 30,000 companies in the sector generate a yearly turnover of more than €18 billion, adds the report, which shows that a dense landscape of design companies, service providers, showrooms, fairs and sales platforms has emerged in the last decade. So why is Berlin so attractive to designers? With consistently high scores in international rankings for quality of life, affordable…

When the New York Times declared London the design capital of the world in September 2012, there were 1.7 million jobs in the creative industries across the UK. By 2015, this figure had risen to 1.9 million, with a huge 40 per cent of those based in the capital. One thing is clear: despite the growth of creative clusters like Bristol, Manchester and Edinburgh, London remains the epicentre of the UK’s booming creative industries. Steeped in history, London is a magnetic, multicultural metropolis that attracts business, tourism and talent. A world-class education system ensures a culturally diverse incubation of design talent, while a wealth of highprofile international design firms promise jobs, competition and opportunity. “London has top-class music, art, fashion, sport, tech, film and design – the list doesn’t really…

There’s more to Barcelona than the Sagrada Família, Antoni Gaudí and the Picasso Museum. Design is everywhere: bold logos and vibrant identities cover the buses, beach and boulevards, while a rich concentration of progressive studios and freelancers – including the likes of Mucho, Hey, Toormix and Folch – continue to raise the stakes in exciting, forward-thinking design. Barcelona is undoubtedly an attractive proposition for creatives. But despite its cultural diversity and ideal climate, the city dropped to 39 in Mercer’s 2016 Quality of Living Survey after the recession, which hit the city hard. “‘Rent’ has become the world’s most hated word here,” says Nathalie Koutia, communications director of OFFF Barcelona. She adds that creatives in Barcelona are more likely to be working for companies abroad than on local projects. Hey…

Montreal isn’t called a ‘city of designers’ for nothing. Data obtained by UNESCO shows that in 2015, over 25,000 designers worked in the city, with the field responsible for 34 per cent of the overall economic impact of the cultural sector. With a thriving arts and music scene, Montreal is young, multicultural and boasts some of the most exciting names in the industry – including studio Vallée Duhamel. “Montreal is big enough to have all the good parts of a city; nice museums, great restaurants and a very good music scene, but at the same time it’s small enough that you can connect with a lot of different people and grow a network that’s really interesting professionally,” says Julien Vallée, cofounder of Vallée Duhamel. He highlights Mile End – an…

For all the books on design and creativity, there’s no substitute for having a stream of mentors in your life. I learned this lesson while studying at School of Communication Arts – an advertising school housed in a church in Brixton, South London. Despite being called a school, it doesn’t have any teachers. Instead, it has a network of over 1,000 mentors, who all donate a couple of days a year to share their knowledge with the students. I spoke to the school’s dean, Marc Lewis, about what you should look for in a mentor, and how you can best build a powerful working relationship. 1. BE THERE IN PERSON When I wanted to meet my current boss, Andy Sandoz, I called the office where he worked, saying that it…

Executive creative director of The Partners, Greg Quinton, reveals how a little book on bird puns has inspired him for 25 years. House hunting is never easy. Preinternet it was a slow, physical and deeply tedious experience. You’d have to travel to an area you were interested in, buy all the local papers and scour the property section to find estate agents in the area, sign up with them, blah, blah. Anyway. This dull bit of context is purely to explain how I happened to be in an unfamiliar newsagents outside of London when I discovered a little book I’ve treasured for 25 years. Sitting on the counter, next to the till and the discounted Kit Kats was a pile of little books. With its pale blue cover, black print,…

STEVE PRICE As creative director at Plan-B Studio, Steve strives to provide a mix of design, insight and ideas. On page 26, he argues that students’ creative freedom shouldn’t be mistaken for something else. www.plan-bstudio.com RICHARD BAIRD Visual identity designer Richard is also founder of BP &O, and runs the resource LogoArchive. On page 44, he shares what the project has taught him about the key elements of great logo design. www.richardbaird.co.uk KELLI ANDERSON Kelli is an artist, designer and tinkerer who is always experimenting with new means of making images and experiences. We find out more about her ingenious designs on page 50. www.kellianderson.com AMIE HERRIOTT Amie joined Purpose as an intern six years ago, and rose through the ranks to become a senior designer. In our latest video…

Thread Bristol, UK 2 March www.threadevents.com Papercraft legend Hattie Newman and cult Spanish studio Hey visit Bristol in March for the latest edition of Thread, an evening series of creative meetups curated by local studio Fiasco Design. Expect inspiration, discussion and collaboration opportunities in abundance. OFFF 2017 Barcelona, Spain 6–8 April www.offf.barcelona Heavyweight designer Lance Wyman headlines this year’s excellent OFFF Barcelona festival, which is once again boasting an inspiring lineup of speakers: Vaughan Oliver, Build’s Michael C Place, Annie Atkins, Buck, Anthony Burrill, Toormix and GMUNK to name just a few, and with Vallée Duhamel in charge of the main titles, it promises to be an inspiring few days. D&AD Festival 2017 London, UK 25–27 April www.dandad.org D&AD Festival is back for a second year in April, bringing with…

1 COMBINE IDEAS When working two ideas together, look for commonalities of form. Although the awkward and the ugly do have their place in logo design, correlation, rather than dissonance, often delivers a more universally satisfactory outcome. 2 MAKE STATIC FORMS DYNAMIC Use direction, pattern and repetition to give static forms a sense of motion and visual interest. This could be in the use of diagonal cuts or arrows, in the radial arrangement of objects, in the changing weight of lines, an increase in size, or a transition from one form to another. 3 ADD LAYERS Use line weight and negative space or the density of local objects to reveal secondary images. You can use this to build layers within a logo to create a visual hierarchy. This element of…

A raft of research puts New York City as the world’s leading creative hub. According to EY’s Global Talent in Global Cities 2015 study, New York takes the top spot for “creative class attraction”. Its unique cultural scene is, it says: “…embedded in a cosmopolitan and forwardthinking urban environment, generally considered beneficial to creative activities.” Certainly much work is available: NYC is America’s capital of finance and law, and with big business comes big design opportunities – as the city’s dense network of studios and agencies attests. According to AIGA, in 2014, NYC had 52 per cent more graphic design jobs than the next mostconcentrated US city it studied (Los Angeles). But competition between design shops is high. “New York attracts super bright people, all aiming for the same prize:…

A visit to Cape Town soon shows why designers are drawn to the city. The 2014 World Design Capital is home to a number of flagship global industry events, including the annual Design Indaba conference and festival, as well as a high number of design-led organisations, events, networks and publications. Inspiration is everywhere. Influenced by Zulu, Xhosa and other African tribes – as well as Dutch, British, German, French and Indonesian settlers – distinct neighbourhoods with diverse histories and architecture offer cultural stimulation, while breathtaking landscapes, an agreeable climate and a relatively low cost of living add to the appeal. Statistics from Numbeo.com show that the cost of living in Cape Town is 55.45 per cent lower than in New York and 46.38 per cent lower than London. Wages are…

Dubbed the ‘Paris of the Southern Hemisphere’, Buenos Aires is a seductive city of contrasts and contradictions. Skyscrapers sit alongside shanty towns; global trends are interpreted with the city’s effervescent Latin lifeblood. “It’s magical and crude at the same time,” says Mariano Sigal, founder of multidisciplinary design studio Cinco. “An air of freedom and non-prejudice transits its streets, and this is translated into the design scene: simple, neutral lines coexist with pop colours; French curves are mixed with rational and modernist terminations. There is an orderly disorder that’s very difficult to describe.” Between 2004 and 2012, the creative sector grew by 89.1 per cent in real terms, according to UNESCO’s 2016 Buenos Aires City of Design report. Today it represents up to 8.6 per cent of the city’s GDP and…

In Melbourne, food and drink are taken as seriously as design. Peer into any of the city’s gritty alleyways and you’ll be rewarded with cool cafes, trendy bars and boutique galleries, while a thriving design culture ensures creativity around every corner. “You can’t walk far without seeing a really well-crafted piece of graphic communication, cool sign or cafe identity,” says Pete Johnson, founder of design studio Can I Play. “There are world-class graphic, fashion and furniture designers along with some of the best architects on the planet. Inspiration is only a block or two away.” Average pay sits around AU$50,190 per year, says PayScale, but while cost of living is cheaper than Sydney, Melbourne isn’t cheap. “Housing prices are though the roof,” says Johnson, adding that design is a popular…

There’s much to gain from having a mentor, but there’s just as much to gain from being one. Mentors at School of Communication Arts complete a survey which asks what they got out of their time at the school. Here’s what they said: “It makes me excited about the industry.” “I loved being energised by a group of excited, enthusiastic young creatives.” “Helping people; feeling that their work will be a little better for my input.” “The energy and enthusiasm is infectious.” “It was so inspiring!” Mentoring others can energise your own creative practice. It’s also an opportunity for self-reflection. For many of us, our work is so full on that we rarely ask the deeper questions about our industry that are often put to you when mentoring. From mentoring…

1 Step back, look around and ahead Stage one – ‘See’ – is about understanding the client, involving everything from weekly surgeries in a brand’s infancy to quarterly tactical and annual strategic reviews. “‘See’ is about emotion,” explains Stuart Youngs. “What are this organisation’s ambitions; what does the marketplace look like; what are the internal and external perceptions?” 2 Write the strategy In stage two – ‘Think’ – Purpose develops that insight into a narrative that informs the brand strategy. “‘Think’ is how you take all that understanding and articulate it into something that becomes a brief for everybody internally,” says Youngs. “It becomes a strategy for that organisation, and then you can start to build a plan.” 3 Turn the talk into the walk “With ‘Think’, you have your…

How Typotheque honed the Zilla typeface Once the ‘moz://a’ approach had been approved, johnson banks got the Dutch foundry Typotheque on board to craft the word mark and a typeface. “We wanted to create lettering that reacts to the slashes,” says Peter Bil’ak, Typotheque’s founder. “We tried to have the lowercase ‘a’ respond to the angle of the slashes, and finally found a way. The dynamic angle of the top serif of the ‘a’ was translated to other letters, ‘z’ in the wordmark, and later also ‘c’, ‘f’, ‘r’, ‘s’, caps and the numerals. Over 500 glyphs were modified in the Zilla slab serif typeface, which is being published opensource,” he explains.…

1. Get the brand in early Signposting content is essential. Use a logo opener or icon to catch the attention of people scrolling through their social feed. This is brand recognition at its most immediate. 2. Always use capt ions, titles and subt itles Work out your system for subtitling. Invariably the sound will be off or people will be listening to music. They need to know what they’re watching. 3. MAKE a flexible system Clients always want to do their own thing, so create something that lets that happen. With BBC Three, it was about having a cutand- paste vibe, with textures, frames and different type sizes.…