Case studies

Meditation on typography

Joyce Shi’s project ‘Type Something For Me’ is the culmination of her exploration of typography, pushing the boundaries of design and perception through three distinct perspectives – type as an enigma, type as a way of seeing, and type as reflection. Here, the NYC-based designer and art director offers a thought-provoking meditation on the power of typography, inviting readers to reconsider the role of design in shaping our understanding of language and culture. Shi’s meticulous process seamlessly blends research, writing and design, creating a multi-faceted publication that invites readers to engage with typography in innovative ways.

A bouquet of glimmering 3D flowers

With a reputation for producing some of the most exciting creative talents in the world, University of the Arts London (UAL) is known as one of the UK’s leading art and design institutions. Every year, cohorts of students disperse and make their mark in the creative world, with the occasion celebrated at their graduation ceremony. For a collective of students so profoundly distinct, how do you piece together an identity that expresses the spirit and creativity of over 7000 graduates, across a multitude of fields and specialisms?

Kind Studio, a London-based branding and visual communication practice, stepped up to the task, producing a visual theme for 2024 that adds new meaning to the joyous occasion and moment of celebration for the graduates and their friends and family.

Trait wants to put the fun back in running

Trait wants you to think differently about running. The running-focused training app insists that running shouldn’t be all about crushing the goals and getting the ks in. Perhaps, the way to approach running – especially for people looking to build a consistent habit – is to focus on the joy of movement and the rhythm of going for a run every day, and then soaking in that euphoric high.

This very emotional side of running is what Trait is now all about; the app used to be known as Twaiv, which offered guidance on marathon and half-marathon training. With a change in its point of view, it also needed a new name and identity. Munich-based brand designer and strategist Yannick zur Strassen – founder of Studio zur Strassen – was involved with Trait quite early on, as was a whole troop of independent designers, including Mark O’Neill, Stephen McLaughlin, Marta Azaña and James Richardson. The team sculpted the whole process, from arriving at the new name, defining the strategy, developing the pre-seed investment deck – which led to Trait securing over one million Euros in the first funding round – and then building the new product and brand from the ground up.

Shaping spaces

When Tony Osborn, founder of Tony Osborn Architecture + Design (TOAD), an architecture firm based in Vancouver, British Columbia, sought a brand refresh, he turned to the expertise of Canadian agency Otherwise. Tasked with capturing TOAD’s ethos of pushing creative boundaries, they responded with a comprehensive rebrand, featuring a new logo system, brand illustrations, collateral, and revamped colour palette and typography. Additionally, they refreshed TOAD’s verbal identity with a new tagline and rally cry, culminating in a redesigned website that encapsulates the brand’s innovative spirit.

Home is where the heart is

For Blackjack Brew Co, home is everything. The 12-year-old brewery that was “proudly started and housed in a historical but forgotten part of Manchester, Angel Meadow, has something that most other breweries of 12 years don’t have – a heritage story, not of our beer, but our neighbourhood,” says Blackjack Brew Co’s Co-owner Rich Fowell. The company also sits in a unique spot within the brewery landscape – it’s proud of its traditional ales that speak of history, but it also embraces the progressive world of craft beer. It needed an identity that would capture its considered balance of heritage and modernity, and would also help it shrug off its association with casinos and gambling, while placing the focus squarely on its home ground, Angel Meadow.

They needed a partner who understood not just this intention, but also the place, and so its team called on their Manchester neighbour Ensemble.

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Interviews

a.Foundry

For Andreas Rasmussen, it all started with his deep, enduring interest in Scandinavian type design history, having grown up in an area with a smattering of road signs and logos left by Danish architects and designers. Known for its simplicity, functionality and a quiet balance of geometric precision and humanism, the type seen through Scandinavian design culture left an imprint on Rasmussen’s creative journey and eventually led him to start his independent type studio, a.Foundry, whose typefaces are underpinned by that very interest that got him sketching letters in the first place. With a.Foundry, Rasmussen wanted to carve out a space to explore his take on type “at my own pace while also contributing to the broader design community,” he tells us. Here, the Copenhagen-based designer throws open the proverbial door to his studio. We step in to explore the typefaces Rasmussen has designed so far, and learn how his first attempt at drawing letters was sparked by an interest to create his son’s very own typeface.

Mockups

“You can’t ask people to be creative, collaborative and simply happy in an uninspiring space.”

Arthur Foliard, Koto
29th August 2024

Books

The Process Five

The Process Five is an exclusive showcase of unused and unseen branding work from ten world-leading graphic design studios, highlighting the ideas, concepts, mockups and sketches that led to their final outcomes.

Coming in at 344 pages, it is the chunkiest and most comprehensive book in the series yet with 571 process works included. It features never seen before insights and inspiration from projects by Pentagram, Play, Hugmun, Carla Palette, Resn, Studio Blackburn, Rabbithole, TRiC, Justified Studio and U.I.WD. for clients like OpenAI, Channel 4 and Getty.

Each project is accompanied by an in-depth interview delving into key details such as the timeline, team and challenges, as well as their candid thoughts on the end result.

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