Good luck Larissa

MA graduate and Tunnocks tea cake lover, Larissa is leaving to start a full time job next week. Thanks for all your help over the last month Larissa and good luck in your new job. You and your teacakes will be greatly missed.

Triodos photo competition

This shot I took while in India with Frank Water has been chosen as a finalist for the Triodos Social Vision photo competition. The 6 year old girl in the picture is the primary carer for her 8 year old disabled brother who was suffering from the terrible effects of fluoride contaminated water. Frank are currently building a clean water facility which will provide safe drinking water that's been filtered six times, helping to eliminate future risk of fluorosis in the village.

Accidental flag, London Bridge

Body art

Willi Dorner's 'Bodies in Urban Spaces' went past the studio in Bermondsey Street on Friday - some more pics here.

An American self portrait

Artist Chris Jordan has turned mind bending statistics of American consumer culture into some stunning photographic images in his Running the Numbers series. The Seurat copy above is made up of 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds. Detail below.

Pop(up) art

A bunch of local creative types reclaimed the disused Apollo video store in Herne Hill last month to put on a free festival of arts and entertainment. Live at the Apollo transformed the empty unit into a venue for a month of diverse events by local people - from instore crazy golf to an acoustic set from Turin Brakes. Better than an empty shop. That's not meant to be a review. They were very good actually.

Block Party

Inspired by the Eden Project's Big Lunch, our street has been busy organising a street party for the 19th July. The response has been really positive so far and it's been a great way to meet the neighbours. I designed some flyers to keep people informed and this poster has gone up in lots of windows to help raise awareness. Check the Big Lunch website to see if there's a street party near you, or better still organise your own...

Crumblies' corner

Spotted this tin in my mother-in-law's sewing basket. She thinks it was her grandmother's which dates it to about 1920. After a bit of a rummage on t'internet, I found that Pontefract Cakes are still manufactured today. After a series of mergers and aquisitions, Wilkinson's of Pontefract are now owned by Tangerine - guardians of many classic British sweet brands (like Mojo's, Chocolate Eclairs, Sharp's Toffee) but also responsible for the questionable repackaging of the Sherbert Fountain...

Milky milky

Arla have recently launched these rebranded packs that I designed for Lactofree at Path last year. I reworked the identity and packs to extend Lactofree from a single milk product into a range of yoghurts and cheeses. The product is real milk with the lactose removed (rather than a milk alternative) and the identity, packaging and back of pack information were all designed to reinforce this.

Tilt shift animation

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

The minaturising effect produced by 'tilt shift' lenses is strangely beautiful but Keith Loutit's time lapsed tilt shift animations take it to a new level. Via Mike Reed

Beer

Great flickr set of old US beer cans here.

Flour power

This made me smile as I was firing up the bread maker last night - new identity and packaging (by jkr) that captures the heritage and character of Hovis while still feeling fresh and fun.

Gone are the generic sheaves of wheat, the tired looking logotype and the lumpish product shot, replaced instead by a striking loaf-shaped brand icon and thoughtfully considered typography and colour. Illustrations of the baker's boy (evocative of those cheesy but memorable Ridley Scott directed TV ads) and bread with the Hovis loaf tin mark, help evoke the warmth and authenticity of a brand with a rich visual history.

But the nicest touch is the thought given to the back of pack information, the design of which is often an afterthought at best. This is a great example of good design and copywriting reinforcing the personality of a brand long after it's helped shift the product from the shelf.

Anyone Can Swiss?

Is Helvetica an unimaginative design cop-out or a timeless classic? Either way, if you've ten minutes to kill, have a play with this fun automatic Helvetica poster generator from Anyone Can Swiss. 'This project suggests that perhaps Helvetica posters are so extremely formulaic that even a monkey (or a computer) could do it'. Probably, but computer generated letter-spacing sucks. Here's a couple of efforts by a Gibbon.

Happy New Year from Margate

Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy

We recently made a return visit to the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam, a creatively designed hotel and 'Cultural Embassy' that also showcases contemporary art and cultural projects. A surreal combination of art school and boutique hotel, it's full of surprises. I loved the hand painted signage and wayfinding graphics (by Victor P. Wiertz) and the hidden tea cupboards in the corridors (more pics here). A great place to stay for an interesting break in Amsterdam - there's a pretty accurate review here.

Open wide...

Market day

I bobbed into Roast this morning for the launch of this 68 page book that I've designed for Borough Market. The content includes the fascinating history of London's oldest food market, interviews with traders and retailers and a look at what the future holds for Borough. The lovely landscape illustration of the market by Karen Neale, great portrait photography by Dominik Gigler and the reassuring print expertise of Tom at Square all helped make for a very happy client.

FRANK experience

I recently returned from an inspiring two week trip to India with charity and pro bono client FRANK Water Projects. We visited some of the sustainable clean water facilities that FRANK have helped install with the Indian NGO Naandi and also saw two villages in need of clean drinking water that have been earmarked for FRANK funded facilities. FRANK began as a social enterprise donating all profits from the sale of FRANK Water (their ethical brand of bottled spring water) to help build sustainable clean water facilities around the world. They have since set up a charity to maximise their donations and now also raise funds by selling water coolers and tap filtering systems, sponsoring marathons and organising their own 'Thirsty Expeditions'. Lots of pictures from the trip here.

Signs of depression #2

Suit yourself.

Seesaw jaw-jaw

I love this idea by Swedish designer Martin Nicolausson. A seesaw bench to encourage interaction and conversation in public spaces.

Via It's Nice That

You beauty...

Since moving studios last year I've been cycling past this great mosaic on my way to work each day. I'd assumed it was part of the old public baths building that it adorns but after a bit of a rummage on t'internet I discovered that it has a much more interesting history...

The Camberwell Beauty butterfly once thrived in the area and was first caught in the UK on Coldharbour Lane in 1748. (Haven't seen many down there recently. Seen a few Camberwell carrots though...)

This mosaic Camberwell Beauty is a version of the logo adopted by Samuel Jones and Co a Victorian gummed paper manufacturer based in Peckham. It was apparently chosen to demonstrate the range of colours that their 'Butterfly Brand' papers could achieve. Samuel Jones and Co made the gum for British postage stamps in the 1920s and in the 60's, produced the first self-adhesive labels in the UK.

This mosaic was originally on the front of their factory in Peckham and was moved to its current location when the factory was demolished in 1982.

Theft - the highest form of flattery

The posters I designed to promote Borough Market's forthcoming Apple Day are proving popular. I received this great email from Borough Market yesterday:

"The praise keeps pouring in for the Apple Day flier and poster - this morning in the school playground several parents told me how much they liked the poster and how they had seriously considered swiping one from the Market. Canon Andrew, Sub-Dean at the Cathedral, was positively frothing with praise for it on Sunday and the Dean also telephoned me to say how much he approved of both poster and flyer.  So this is just to say thank you very much indeed for creating such an effective piece of typography, and also to tell you what a pleasure it is to work with someone who's so appreciative of all those good old design values, whilst being flexible and fast."

Small but effective

This press ad for FRANK Water that I put together recently has more than paid for itself. Originally placed in the South West edition of the Big Issue it was seen by the London office who offered to run it for nothing. The New Statesmen liked it and called FRANK offering to run it nationally, which led to two major enquiries and has resulted in a deal to supply the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition restaurant...

Wrington Greens, an organic market garden in Somerset briefed me a while back to create the identity and packaging for their new 'Wrington Press' hand pressed drinks range. I've just received these test prints in time for the launch this weekend at Bristol Organic Festival.

The aim was to express their handcrafted, traditional approach by screen printing a two-colour design onto kraft paper. Printing opaque inks onto kraft labels proved tricky but in the end Anglia Labels solved it using their digital(!) Indigo press and achieved a great result.

Hooray, it's conker season.

I love conkers, fresh from their spiky cases with that lovely mahogany sheen and contoured grain. Unfortunately they contain poisonous saponins which cause vomiting and paralysis. Put down that conker baguette.

Just received these discs and sleeves that I designed for Borough Market a few months back. Inspired by the flexo printed boxes knocking around at the end of market day, the branded sleeve is printed single colour onto unsealed board with six different disc designs to help hint at the variety of produce on offer at Borough Market. I originally winced when asked to add a white-out block to the discs to allow for the contents to be written, but thankfully managed to turn it into a positive addition...

The sound of colour

I've just discovered Ken Nordine's amazing album, 'Colors'. A trippy collection of 'Word Jazz' poems about 34 different colours, spoken over groovy sixties jazz. Originally released in 1967 and still fresh, quirky and entertaining, it sounds like the bastard child of Tom Waits and Cookie Monster jamming with Polar Bear. Fantastic. Reissued in 1996 and now available on iTunes. Tracklisting: Olive, Lavender, Burgundy, Yellow, Green, Beige, Maroon, Ecru, Chartreuse, Turquoise, White, Flesh, Azure, Puce, Magenta, Orange, Purple, Muddy, Russet, Amber, Blue, Black, Gold, Crimson, Brown, Rosey, Hazel, Mauve, Fuschia, Sepia, Nutria, Cerise, Grey, Coral. Listen to Yellow, White and Lavender here.

grOOvy

Pure Groove have launched their excellent new site and online shop, designed by Bounce. Really effective interactive home page that displays the 'Pure Groove 100' best releases and allows you to read a review and listen to each one before you buy...nice.

Lost in translation

Just got back from a relaxing break in Salamanca, a beautiful historic city in Castilla y León, Spain. Plenty of great food and drink. More pics here.

Anarchy, Regents Park