Archives for category: Heritage

A trip to Google… and the war on thinking

January 29, 2015 //
0

G_Google_illustration

The London specific January-Grey Pantone looks even deeper through the windows of Google’s Technicolor offices. Not only did we have a fascinating meeting but we were given The Tour. Their office is spectacular in many ways. Not just the incredible views of London but the myriad facilities. On the face of it it is not unlike the Wieden + Kennedy scene in Portlandia where a new advertising employee is – hopelessly – trying to get to their meeting past a host of creative endeavours and holistic activities.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags , ,
Categories Google, Heritage

User and publisher focused worksheets for content brands

May 30, 2014 //
0

worksheets -ideasformsfunctions.com

 

I have been developing a short worksheet over the passed year or so for certain jobs. Its purpose is to collate the different influential factors on a rebranding or redesign of content brands – in this instance one thats sits on multiple platforms. It I have been using it in lieu of user research but I think it would sit well with it or before it on many of my more recent jobs. The most recent time I used it I felt I didn’t have a strong enough starting point before I undertook the trust part of the work. We shred the document between the key figures of the job and I quickly got back this great picture of where we needed to go.

 

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags , , , , ,
Categories Branding, Case studies, Digital Magazines, Heritage, Typography, UX

“Without a manual you will end up speaking a dialect. A good manual allows you to speak a language” Massimo Vignelli

May 30, 2014 //
0

Manuals-1_Unit_ideas-forms-functions-blog_1

Unit Editions, design book publishers, hosted a talk to celebrate the success of their amazing book Manuals 1: Design & Identity Guidelines. The panel consists of Sean Perkins (North), John Lloyd (Ex-Lloyd Northover) and Tony Brook (Spin/Unit). The discussion was hosted by Adrian Shaughnessy.

It opened a tribute to Massimo Vignelli who passed away earlier in the week. In the winter he had written the forward for the book and provided much encouragement and excitement about the project. Some of his quotes set the tone for the evening including:

“Anyone who says that a manual is a creative straight jacket is a moron. Without a manual you will end up speaking a dialect. A good manual allows you to speak a language” Massimo Vignelli

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags , , , , ,
Categories Books, Branding, Heritage, Logos, Talks, Typography, UI, UX

Henrion was hip… before we were

January 18, 2014 //
0

henrion_

Every now and then you get given a picture of a great leap of progress; there was a time before say, Picasso or hot metal, and then there is everything that came after it. Listening to Adrian Shaughnessy’s talk on FHK Henrion (St Bride Printing Library, 15 January) he pitches him as a pioneer of many things but I was particularly drawn to him leading the way in system based design. I was trying to imagine “the time before” but in this instance I couldn’t. I am not sure we can call it design if it is not system based.

Read the rest of this entry »

Categories Heritage, Structure, Talks, UX

Modern type, Monotype and heritage

December 4, 2013 //
0

monotype

Had the great pleasure of visiting Monotype’s Clerkenwell office last week. We met with Than Hoang, Thomas Elliot and the type designer Toshi Omagari. We discussed numerous subjects including Etext fonts, kerning pairs, and their very clever Typecast system.

Read the rest of this entry »

Categories Digital Magazines, Heritage, Typography

… the uncommon beauty of common things…

November 25, 2013 //
0

eames-montage

Last time I was in L.A. and had some time off I went to some fantastic shows that were part of the Pacific Standard Time season. My favourite was Eames Design: The Guest-Host Relationship. The quote pictured was on the outside of the A+D Museum on Wilshire Boulevard.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags
Categories Architecture, Heritage

Telling stories

September 24, 2013 //
0

marshall-mcluhan-the-guttenberg-galaxy

No matter how new the medium we still tell stories using familiar principles, components & references: iOS7 is set in Helvetica Neu designed in 1983, the hierarchy of The Guardian app echoes that of the print, Instagram evokes a passed most of its users didn’t experience, a photo always has a crop and a colour, Responsive design uses movable type – you can’t get more heritage than Gutenberg. More on this at a later date.

Categories Heritage, Responsive design, Stories, Typography, Uncategorized

The crop

September 24, 2013 //
0

cropAmazing illustration this week about the importance of the crop. The crop has seen a lot of changes over the past decade. The demands of working on multiple platforms and copy rich print pages has created a new kind of kind of frame that is often infinitely extendable. It’s a world away from Harold Evans “Pictures on a Page”. The subtleties are pretty much gone as we fit densely packed copy in and around the image that – generally – will not have been given much thought. On shoots I pretty much have explain that the crop is dead again and again.

Read the rest of this entry »

Categories Heritage, Photography, Uncategorized