30.10.13

Cabin Fever: Storm Cottage

Fearon Hay Architects have designed the Storm Cottage located on Great Barrier Island, New Zealand. Found on The Contemporist. Beautiful architecture is a popular subject, enjoyed through television programmes such as Grand Designs and George Clarks amazing spaces. More people are enjoying interior and exterior design for their own homes, creating more rustic and modest living spaces, and paying attention to the quality and texture of materials used. This could be a potential subject for the magazine.




Cabin Fever: $500 Glass House

I found an interesting article about a young creative couple who have quit both their jobs and built this beautiful and rustic retreat. This story and been so popular on various blogs, and has even influenced Urban Outfitters window display. Nothing is more romantic than a young couple building their own cabin from reclaimed material it would seem. The trend for going to back to rustic and basic living has been diffused from stories such as this, and exploring why this is would be interesting. It takes an insight into the culture of today's twenty and early thirty somethings, and how rustic and simple living is so attractive.

A house is not a home, it's one's own story.




22.10.13

Great British Biscuits: Definitions

Biscuit
noun
British a small baked unleavened cake, typically crisp, flat, and sweet:
a chocolate biscuit

Coat of arms
noun
the distinctive heraldic bearings or shield of a person, family, corporation, or country.

British
adjective
1relating to Great Britain or the United Kingdom, or to its people or language.
2of the British Commonwealth or (formerly) the British Empire.
noun
(as plural noun the British)
the British people.

Custard cream
noun
British
a biscuit with a vanilla-flavoured cream filling.

Bourbon biscuit
noun
1British a chocolate-flavoured biscuit with a chocolate-cream filling.
2 (also digestive biscuit) British a round semi-sweet biscuit made of wholemeal flour.

Digestive biscuit
2 (also digestive biscuit) British a round semi-sweet biscuit made of wholemeal flour.

Heraldic
adjective
relating to heraldry:
heraldic devices

Traditional
adjective
existing in or as part of a tradition; long-established:
the traditional festivities of the Church year
produced, done, or used in accordance with tradition:
a traditional fish soup
habitually done, used, or found:
the traditional drinks in the clubhouse

Packaging
noun
[mass noun]
materials used to wrap or protect goods:
all the ingredients and packaging are biodegradable
the business or process of packing goods:
they specialized in food packaging
the presentation of a person or thing in an advantageous way:
diplomatic packaging of the key provisions will make a confrontation unlikely

Display
verb
[with object]
put (something) in a prominent place in order that it may readily be seen:
the palace used to display a series of tapestries
a notice was displayed in the booking office
show (data or an image) on a computer, television, or other screen:
pressing the F1 key will display a help screen
give a clear demonstration of (a quality, emotion, or skill):
both players displayed a great deal of spirit
[no object] (of a male bird, reptile, or fish) engage in a specialized pattern of behaviour that is intended to attract a mate:
she photographed the peacock, which chose that moment to display

Heritage
noun
[in singular]
1property that is or may be inherited; an inheritance:
they had stolen his grandfather’s heritage
valued objects and qualities such as historic buildings and cultural traditions that have been passed down from previous generations:
Europe’s varied cultural heritage

Great British Biscuits: Recent Article

Both Hannah and I found a topical article that could give our project a good context to work from. It states that traditional British biscuits are losing popularity in favour of American cookies. Oh no! We have to do something about this.

Mail Online article:

'Crumbs! The Bourbon may be 100 years old - but traditional biscuits sales are crumbling in favour of American-style cookies
By CHRIS BEANLAND and TAMARA ABRAHAM
UPDATED: 11:20, 13 August 2010

Crumbling sales: Demand for American-style cookies has caused sales of traditional British biscuits to fall by 4.5 per cent over the past 12 months
Industry experts have blamed the recession for the downturn, but over the same period, sales of 'gourmet' biscuits, such as Italian biscotti, Viennese Whirls and cookies had increased by 20 per cent.


M&S biscuit buyer, Jenny Rea, told The Telegraph: 'During these tougher times people are working harder than ever before so it seems they feel they deserve a better biscuit and only the best will do.'
Waitrose sales seem to echo this, naming Italian biscotti as its most popular biscuit. The word 'biscuit' is derived from the Latin for twice-cooked in reference to the original baking technique. The British have a proud history of the snack, which was originally invented as a food for soldiers on campaign thanks to the fact that they keep for a long time. Custard Creams, Jaffa Cakes, Garibaldis and Digestives are deeply ingrained in the British consciousness, and many people are even judged by their choice of biscuit. Who could forget the furore when Gordon Brown declined to name his favourite biscuit in a webchat with Mumsnet.com. He later tweeted that he liked 'anything with a bit of chocolate.'
More decisive in his tea-dunking tastes is Terry Wogan, who called the Rich Tea 'lord of all biscuits'.
And Garibaldis are the favorite tea biscuit of DCI Gene Hunt in the BBC show Life on Mars.
Stuart Payne, founder of biscuit review website nicecupofteaandasitdown.com calls McVitie's milk chocolate digestives as 'a figurehead for the entire chocolate biscuit world'. He has less praise for Tunnock’s marshmallow teacakes, which he describes as having a consistency of 'somewhere between shaving foam and bath sealant'. Sarah Heynen, from McVitie's says: 'It is clear that everyone has their own quirky habits when it comes to biscuits.  'Biscuits fill many roles from giving you a mid-afternoon boost to sharing with a friend over a nice cuppa. 'How we choose to enjoy our favourite varies vastly from area to area and between the different ages and sexes, but one thing is sure, people are not about to get tired of biscuits anytime soon.' The Bourbon was first baked in Bermondsey, South London, by the confectionery company Peek Frean in 1910 and was initially called the Creola, until it was decided it would be more appealing if the name was changed to that of France's royal family. And that's not the Bourbon's only regal connection - Peek Frean baked the Queen and Prince Philip's wedding cake in 1947, a 6ft, six-tier affair, with a metal knight riding a horse on top. The firm, which also gave the world the Garibaldi in 1861, is now owned by U.S. food giant Kraft. But we still enjoy Bourbons with a good old British cuppa. 


TAKING THE BISCUIT: BRITISH FAVOURITES

JAMMIE DODGERS
Made from shortbread and plum jam. In the recent Doctor Who episode Victory of the Daleks, the Doctor tricks the Daleks into believing a Jammie Dodger is a Tardis self-destruct button. 

RICH TEA
First created in Yorkshire in 1627, the Rich Tea was designed as a light snack for the upper-classes. Comedian Peter Kay called them 'one-dips' because the thin biscuit crumbles easily when dunked in tea.

CUSTARD CREAMS
A biscuit sandwich with a vanilla-flavoured fondant filling. In a poll of 7,000 people, nine out of ten voted the Custard Cream their favourite biscuit.

JAFFA CAKES
Introduced to the UK in 1927, manufacturer McVities ended up in court in 1991 as VAT is usually charged on chocolate-covered biscuits, but not plain biscuits or cakes. The company successfully defended its classification of Jaffa Cakes as cakes by producing a 12-inch version of the product to demonstrate that they were miniature cakes.

DIGESTIVES
The Digestive is so-called due to the belief that they had antacid properties because they contain sodium bicarbonate. The packets now bear a disclaimer to the contrary. 71m packets were sold in the UK last year and every second, 52 digestive biscuits are consumed.

GARIBALDI
Better known as 'squashed fly' biscuits thanks to the currants within, it was introduced to the UK 150 years ago and was named after Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi. First manufactured by Peek Freans, who also invented the Bourbon.

NICE
First manufactured by Huntley & Palmers in 1904, there is some confusion over how the coconut-flavoured Nice biscuit should be pronounced. Australian biscuit maker Arnott's claims the biscuit is named after the French city.'

Great British Biscuits: Format And Logo Research

Artboards displaying format and logo research.




Currently trending colours.


19.10.13

Sherlock At The Castle: Ullens Center For Contemporary Art

Bruce Mau Design.

Ullens Center for Contemporary Art branding, identity and promotional collateral.

This selection of branding material from Bruce Mau Design works across a variety of scales, and formats. The logo has been used across the entire range, and the subtlty of it works well to not draw any attention away from work. The glyphs that make up the anacronym for the centre are used across the range. The images are inserted in between the logo to bring unity to the range of products.

















The block colour juxtaposed with the photography incorporates the colour of the logo. It has been kept simplistic, with enough branding to make the design memorable.



Sherlock At The Castle: British National Ballet Campaign

The Beautiful Meme.

The Beautiful Meme specialise in copywriting for advertising campaigns.

The printed material in this campaign for the English National Ballet makes a statement, and the photographs along with the provocative copy make for quite a unique branding strategy. The elements that are focused on here are the photography and the copywriting, and they make for an interesting piece of work. The quotation marks act as symbol working across the range. This is overall a successful project, however I would say that the slogans do not all work together, as they all have different connotations, although they do attract attention. This is an example where photography and typography work together, but don't take anything away from eachother either.


















Copywriting is one of The Beautiful Meme's strong assets, and it does attract attention as the example here shows, however I am not sure where this copy is placed in the design, and it would make sense that it would be shown as a piece of deign working within the products.

There will be a unison between copy and design in the Sherlock at the Castle brief. It will be imperative to connect the copy with the visual aspects in the work.

































Sherlock At The Castle: BNP Paribas Annual Event Invitations

Ascend.

BNP Paribas annual event invitations by Ascend studio.

I feel that this is the most creative example of invitation design I have seen. The quality of the stock and the foil finish for the type, gives them luxury. There was a bigger picture within this project, and all of the invitations eventually make up a thankyou message from BNP Paribas, which gives the project a sense of fun and interaction. The classic paintings and the typography make the designs feel mature. They have used high quality stock, and a sense of luxury is added in the foil finishes.


















The invitations are a mixture of individuality and large scale corporate identity. They feel appropriate for the event and the company they have designed for, but have an all important point of difference to other invitation designs.

















The invitations come boxed, which must have added even more cost on top of the stock and finishes for the invitations, and so the project must have had a high budget.

















Sherlock At The Castle: Bureau Collective

Bureau Collective.

Promotional work for the Theater St Gallen.

For promoting this event, similarly to other projects I have found for promotion for events, they have incorported photography with type to create something feel mature and intellectual. The black and white photography of the actors has been brought to life with the colourful overprint of type and layout design. As they state below they have created a 'spacial' effect by incorporating the type into the image itself. The diagonal lines give baselines for the text to sit on, giving the work a structure.












Great British Biscuits: Primary Research

Harvey Nichols primary research trip.













Great British Biscuits: Body Copy

For the brief that Hannah and I are working on, we want some strong body copy to go onto the packaging to give an impact, and to also give the product itself a unique selling point.

I found some projects with strong concepts, married with good copy work on Lovely Package blog.



















Hot Dang.
























Tickety Brew.



















Whittard of Chelsea.

Fall In Love With Laos: Discover America

Discover America.

Creative Roots article.

'According to Brand USA, “The  logo was designed to capture the American spirit and create a fresh new brand identity that welcomes the world to come experience the boundless possibilities in America. It is not about patriotism, flag waving or chest beating. It is meant to be welcoming, unexpected and inclusive. It celebrates the idea that no one thing defines the USA – but that each visitor interaction and each experience helps create the distinctly dynamic fabric of the American experience.'