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.

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.

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.