Freelance Brand and Creative Strategist / Strategic Planner and Fractional Strategy Director
I stood in the ironmongers (yes, they still exist) alongside my Dad the other week and he announced that they must have run out of his preferred brand of floor polish, Klear. In fact, it was there on the shelf, but in the space of twelve months they'd gone from this: to this to this And since … Continue reading when a re-brand just isn’t Klear
My new passport arrived the other day. The cover hasn't changed much since the last one, but inside it’s gorgeous. image from the Home Office's new UK passport design set on flickr, CC applies I hadn’t realised just how comprehensively the design had been changed two years ago and I spent ages oohing and ahhing … Continue reading a passport that’s also a branding tool
Take a look at these handcreams (collected from around my house). Which is the odd one out? It’s the Dove, front right. Because it’s not actually a handcream. I’ve been using it for the last couple of nights and had gone from thinking that it was a funny consistency, to thinking it didn’t smell like … Continue reading perhaps someone needs a hand with their packaging design?
Dear Q Magazine, if you’re going to photoshop out Jessie J’s back fat for your cover shot, remember to make sure that you use the photoshoped version when you repeat it in the feature: (thanks to Liz for pointing this out and lending me her mag)
While I was on a Road Trip last week, for long and complicated reasons I popped into an independent mens and ladieswear retailer in the Yorkshire Dales (which shall remain nameless because I think the owner is a friend of a friend of a friend...). I understand that the business changed hands relatively recently and … Continue reading are design tram-smashes in fashion?
I stayed at an amazing hotel last week – in Morecambe. The two concepts don’t sit terribly well together, unless you’ve already heard of what developers Urban Splash did to the Midland Hotel to bring it back to its former Art Deco glory and how it sits at the heart of the regeneration plans for … Continue reading design fans should check out the Midland Hotel
I was at spectating at Bramham Horse Trials last weekend and in the official programme I found a classic example of what happens when designers and printers don’t talk to each other. This is the map of the cross country course: No less than eight of the jump locations were hidden in the binding. I’d … Continue reading what happens when designers and printers don’t talk to each other
Since I’m slightly obsessed with Creative Spaces, I’m all for Italian furniture maker Tecno’s new Beta range of office furniture. Its a ‘workplace system’ designed for creative offices that has not only been designed to easily evolve over time but also seems to allow everyone their own little bit of personal space – something sadly lacking … Continue reading the kind of Beta I wouldn’t mind working in
Around this time last year I posted some examples of packaging that had (and in some cases hadn’t) stood the test of time. Today I found another contender for the title of design so retro it looks fresh in the back of a cupboard: It reminded me that sometimes less is more.
So the London 2012 Olympic mascots were unveiled yesterday to, it has to be said, a less than entirely enthusiastic worldwide reception. My personal issue is that (at least in their current form) Wenlock and Mandeville feel very generic, like they could be representing any one of the recent Beijing, Athens, Sydney or Atlanta Olympics. … Continue reading London 2012 Olympic mascots