Case studies

A dualistic identity system

The tie-break set of a grand slam final, the nail-biting final laps of a championship-deciding grand prix, a race against the clock to the goal line – these are the incredible moments that make watching sport an all-encompassing experience. We witness instances of superhuman endurance alongside euphoric highs and crushing lows. But, swept up in the narrative, it’s easy for us to forget the human beneath the carbon fibre, kit, and muscle. Netflix, in its collection, Netflix Sports, has gathered stories that remind us that an athlete is more than their last win or loss. 

In designing the identity for the collection, California-based design studio Study Hall, returning to collaborate with the streamer, focuses on this innately human element, delivering a gritty, dynamic, and bold look to convey the raw emotion and intensity of the stories.

A brand for the future

Urgent times demand urgent action. In the face of the climate emergency, The Earthshot Prize is a rallying cry for global action. Founded by Prince William in 2020, the global environmental award – rewarded to five winners each year – invites innovators to repair the planet by tackling one of five Earthshots – Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World, and Fix Our Climate. If achieved by 2030, these simple yet ambitious goals will repair the planet before the damage is irreversible.

A need for speed

Stocktwits, the birthplace of the ‘$cashtag’ and a hub for market ideas, strategies, and discourse, has become a beacon for over 10 million users. It is the largest social platform for investors and traders, witnessing the dramatic evolution of the financial landscape, where markets are faster and more accessible than ever, and a chronically online new generation of investors is emerging. Stocktwits has evolved to align with what its CEO Howard Lindzon calls ‘The Degenerate Economy’ – a space where finance, speculation, and entertainment intersect. This evolution, as ONBOX’s Principal Adam Hartley notes, has made investing more inclusive, meme-driven, community-led, and faster than ever.

Stocktwits partnered with brand and design studio ONBOX to create a new image that aligns with the “Degenerate Economy” and beyond, harnessing a visual language that complements their bold and unrestricted approach to finance.

A canvas primed to grow

When Studio Gruhl was invited to design the identity for the young female-led techno label Spellbound, they realised they had a lot of room to play. As Creative Director Malte Gruhl puts it, younger brands are always fun to work with; there are fewer corporate hoops to jump through and there’s also an appetite for bending the traditional rules of branding, allowing designers to crack something truly unique and fresh. And that’s exactly how things turned out for Studio Gruhl and Spellbound – the final identity is chockablock with character; it asks for your attention and stamps its presence.

Bellamie deserves a place on your bar

Marking the moment day meets evening, l’apéro is the perfect pause to slow down, spend time with friends and family, and enjoy a l’apéritif – a light beverage served to stimulate the appetite. In the case of Bellamie, a revival of the nearly forgotten French ‘Guignolet’ liqueur with a decadent cherry flavour, Founder Marie Voirin tells us she wanted the brand, label, and bottle design to be a celebration of life and French heritage. Working with global brand studio Glasfurd & Walker, the resulting look does just that, drawing heavily from the Art Nouveau movement. This style is closely associated with the Belle Époque, which, as Vorin explains, was a culturally and artistically flourishing – and very French – period during which life was celebrated. “So this artistic movement during the era of hope, prosperity and beauty seemed the most fitting,” she says, describing the point of inspiration.

Typefaces

TT Ramillas 2.000

A candle, a soda, a hand cream – TT Ramillas pairs well with the things that make life slightly more luxurious. A stylish transitional serif, it was initially conceived as an experiment by international type design studio TypeType “to craft a modern serif with precisely balanced details by rethinking traditional forms and meticulously designing each glyph” as well as a need for a high-quality serif typeface for design tasks. “We wanted to create a font that was not only beautiful but also easy to use, with well-thought-out proportions, harmonious contrasts, and a universal structure,” explains Marina Khodak, TypeType’s Design Lead and the author of TT Ramillas version 1.000. “This typeface was meant to be a working tool for designers, typographers, and publishers, combining the aesthetics of classic serifs with modern technical requirements.”

Icona

When designing Icona, Suitcase Type Foundry assigned themselves the challenge of creating a typeface “with as neutral a character as possible,” a change of pace from their previous releases, such as the bold title typeface Atyp and the complex needs of Crabath, specifically created for book typesetting. “Creating a new typeface, which most users perceive unapologetically as any standard, notorious system font, can seem foolish and a waste of time,” says Founder Tomáš Brousil. “Yet a well-crafted neutral font has values not found in fonts that try to draw attention to every single glyph.” As the saying goes, the best design is invisible.

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