The company recently reached another important milestone by expanding its mental health services. Ginger, a licensed medical provider group with a nationwide network of psychiatrists, therapists, and behavioral health coaches, has rebranded to Headspace Care and will operate under the brand umbrella.

With broader offerings beyond meditation and breathing exercises, Headspace has also initiated a brand refresh. The rebranding effort was a collaboration between in-house teams and Italic Studio, with Colophon Foundry creating a new custom typeface called a “Headspace-ified version” of their Aperçu typeface. This font was chosen for its ability to transition from a playful to a clinical voice, aligning with Headspace’s expansion into diverse health markets.

The new typeface reflects the brand’s ethos, balancing playfulness with functionality and incorporating curves reminiscent of the Headspace smile. The brand’s illustrative and animated identity remains prominent, now featuring a more comprehensive range of facial expressions to convey various emotions.

The updated color palette retains the signature orange while introducing complementary colors to represent a range of human emotions. The design team addressed accessibility considerations to ensure optimal contrast and color combinations. These vibrant colors contrast with the conventional blues and greys in the mental healthcare space, making Headspace visually distinctive and uplifting.

In mental healthcare, strong brand engagement is the first step to generating better outcomes and reducing costs. Expanding the Headspace brand across our full portfolio of content, programs, and services is a powerful catalyst to reduce stigma and guide our members towards a lifelong journey of better mental health.

Christine Evans, president of Headspace

Headspace’s ongoing evolution and expansion aims to meet the escalating demand for mental health support. Among the notable brand enhancements are:

Streamlined Care Experience: Ginger app users can seamlessly transition to the Headspace Care app, offering a reimagined platform for coaching, therapy, and psychiatry support.

New Therapeutic Content: Headspace will introduce guided programs focusing on sleep improvement and stress management, grounded in evidence-based practices such as cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness. These programs join the existing library of mindfulness and meditation content.

Unified App Experience: As of January 2024, Headspace offers corporate clients and members access to a comprehensive suite of mental health resources within a single app. This integrated approach encompasses mindfulness resources, coaching, therapy, psychiatry, and work-life services, ensuring holistic support tailored to individual needs.

Leslie Witt, Headspace’s Chief Product and Design Officer, underscores the company’s commitment to simplifying access to mental healthcare. By providing continuity and personalization of care, Headspace aims to alleviate the burden often associated with navigating the fragmented mental health landscape.

“So much of our mental healthcare system is siloed and episodic, leaving those seeking help with the added challenge of figuring out the type of care they need, what providers are available, let alone where they can turn for everyday support,” said Witt. “Our goal is to alleviate that burden by creating a seamless, highly personalized spectrum of care – with care concierge services available 24/7 – so people can access in-the-moment mental health care that’s tailored to them no matter where they are on their journey, or how acute their needs.”

The changes are presented visually in a way that stays true to the brand’s identity — an excellent example of how personal services can become more professional while remaining true to their essence. The idea that a brand can make solving real problems feel comfortable and approachable shines through; Headspace hopes this approach “can help destigmatise seeking care by making talking about mental health feel approachable and normalised.” As Headspace reimagines mental healthcare, the expanded offerings and a refreshed brand signal a new era of accessibility and empowerment in the quest for lifelong mental well-being.

Imagery courtesy of Headspace: Headspace rebrand, design support by Italic Studio, custom typeface by Colophon Type Foundry, brand guidelines by Order developed on Standards (Copyright © Headspace, 2024)

With a body of work throughout the 1990s that enthusiastically and provocatively amalgamated dualities—word/image, real/virtual, hand/machine, past/future—American graphic, type, and multimedia designer P. Scott Makela established his reputation as a creator of postmodern visual languages outside normative graphic design. While designers of different generations, mindsets, and training disagreed acutely (and sometimes quite nastily) about what graphic design was and what, how, and to whom it should communicate, Makela was his own kind of designer. An enduring inspiration was weighty, machined stuff—the primordial analog output of industrial production, which he frequently rebuilt into dimensional letterforms, married to meaning, and presented in a succinct, unambiguous single punch. “Actually,” Makela said, “I find 2D type a backward transformation from 3D, a 2D way of describing 3D events.” Revisiting his work and philosophy is an opportunity to appreciate his prowess in reconstituting meaning and breathing life into language. I interviewed Makela in the spring of 1997 as part of my MFA Thesis at Cranbrook Academy of Art. Our exchange, below, is lightly edited and condensed. 

I think of 3D type as your signature style. 

Well, I think that it has been for the last three or four years. I’ve really never gotten tired of the mass it creates and the ability to create [the appearance of metal] alloys. I’ve always been interested in this idea of alloys. It wasn’t specifically “Oh, I want to look at 3D type because it was on a Metallica or heavy metal cover.” It really was more because of growing up in a household with manufacturing and aluminum extrusions. 

So it was about material?

Yeah. It was about material and the way it was formed and the way it was extruded out of machining tools. I grew up in a household where all these pieces were around, and I grew up with these pieces and these forms. By the other token, 3D type has become such a popular mode of trying to get people’s attention, even more so recently, that actually I’m struggling with trying another strategy because it has begun to lose meaning. Like Dead History loses meaning after it’s out.

What was the first piece you did using 3D typography?

The first piece I did officially, a printed piece using 3D typography, was the Mohawk piece, Rethinking Design, and it was the “Do Nothing” article I did with Tucker Viemeister. Before 3D programs were available, I started to use a program called Pixar RenderMan[1987], which was the old animation special effects engine for creating shapes. I tried to form typefaces using that. 

Mohawk Paper Mills promotion “Re-thinking Design,” copyright 1992, pages 14-23, Tucker Viemeister and P. Scott Makela’s collaboration “On Doing Nothing.” Scans of the original, courtesy the author.

So you and the software grew up together? 

Yeah, and then when certain fonts were available, I’d import them into that environment and create new possibilities. That was the advent of what was called Pixar Typestry[1990]. The software became a real basis for the way I would do things. Most of the stuff I’d do would actually be by default; when you moved the object, it became a cheap effect. I became interested in looking at things head-on. That style became a boilerplate.

While cruising around the grocery store, I noticed three genres of 3D type on products. It’s interesting; each medium has a different way of using it, connoting different things. 3D type is used on junk food for kids, household chemicals, and dog food. On television, I noticed that it’s used in sports, news, and toy commercials and often to imply technology, speed, or power. I found it cheesy. What’s your definition of cheesy when It comes to 3D type?

I think cheesy is newscasts. I’m so enamored of this thing, floating, hanging …

It’s slightly menacing, which I like.

I look at Stanley Kubrick films and realize what I really like about his direct use of models, like in 2001, was feeling that weight and that gravity. I’m interested in that gravity.

When you’re using 3D type, what do you feel it means?

When I think of how I use 3D type and how I used these floating planetoids, I think of them as giving me the opportunity to have XYZ coordinates. Instead of an implied depth of field, having the object appear as a real 3D object with some of the shadows it throws on the surfaces allows for a natural photographic depth. At the same time, it has the effect of being very modern. I like it when it’s not clear whether it’s a 3D rendering on the computer or a photograph. Some other designers have worked with a pixelated quality. I’m interested in how it feels when it’s burnished, really brushed and direct. It’s about implying depth. I’m interested in small, massive chunks. I don’t have a lot of language in my work. [I have] A simple language. I find it interesting to create dynamics within that equation.

So you think of type as having a back, a top, and sides?

Yeah. Absolutely. And what’s behind, because there’s a thickness and depth to the actual object, at least to me. I see it through my eyes, and that’s a problem.

Why?

I see language in the way that I’d like to read it, and it’s about reducing. When I was a student here years ago[1989-1991], Michael Hall, the head of Sculpture, had a really big effect on me during my reviews. He talked about reducing and isolating the work. I still had a lot of extraneous asteroids floating around, which didn’t solidify the message. So, for me, it became about (attaining) focus and isolation.

How influenced were you by Pop Art?

One of the biggest influences in my becoming a graphic designer was the work of Ed Ruscha. He was one of the California Pop artists, but he went beyond that because he wasn’t borrowing from commercial culture as much as from pedestrian strip mall culture—almost a lack of style. Ruscha brought language to life with his thick, floaty words. He and John Baldassari had the biggest impression on me. In the last five years, I’d say Lawrence Weiner. 

The Minneapolis College of Art and Design 1993-1995 catalog, designed by P. Scott Makela;
Courtesy the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Is there a message in the work?

The overall message in all my work is simply levitating directness in front of you. The language in the work is formed by the message or problem I’m solving at that time, but its delivery vehicle is about putting the message in front of someone and letting It levitate with a certain degree of weight. That’s the formal message. That’s the formal container.

Is the type hollow or solid?

I’d like to think the type is solid (laughter). It’s definitely die-cast solid without a hollow core. And remember, alloys contain mixtures of metals.

To me, [even] if it casts a shadow, it’s not necessarily 3D. It has to have substance as an object, and your work and Glaser’s stuff are there, even though they’re hand-rendered and funky. 

Peter Max, as well. 

And Ji Byol Lee in New York, whose stuff is done in Adobe Dimension. He rotated Univers. It has a top and a bottom and a front and a back. I look at the range of stuff, and they’re all different vernaculars. You said something about moving away from it or redeveloping it.

Here’s the thing. The way 3D type was used, was part of the 70s vernacular. The airbrushed type that was always the standard art house solution had a masculine quality. Now, with post-rave culture, 3D type has become everyday and accessible, just like how Photoshop has become, so it has become a convention now, a new vernacular. Part of my struggle now is to keep defining my work. First, when we’re designers, we can make our work about constantly jumping ahead as if that’s the only impetus for making it. You’re trying continually to refine something. That’s why it’s still interesting to me to go into those three-dimensional (programs) and try to create hybrids, which are a kind of shaving-off of skin. There are so many people doing the 3D type thing right out of the box with Pixar that I can’t help but feel that my own work is reduced if I don’t move onto a new plane of seeing how I can add more weight, more mass, even if it’s implied or more psychological rather than becoming structural or formal. 

I know people have talked about looking at the interior of typography, and I haven’t seen that exploration done successfully. It’s like the first time you saw a ceiling in a film was in Citizen Kane. So this is the thing to explore. Legibility on the outside of the word isn’t even an issue. I think it’s [3D type] supremely legible, but to go to the inside of the word, legibility is not going to be the same thing.

Yeah. We’re going to [learn to] recognize new shapes.

All you can do is look at the inversion, the concave part of a letter. If you look at the upper inside corner of the slab [serif] on an “I” it will look like the inside of a metal bird box or like you’re stuck inside a heating vent. So it’s really difficult formally to move forward. It’s why I’m now trying to concentrate on a psychological mass of something that’s implied. And that might be about a mysterious billowing like Freddy Krueger with the stretching face emerging from behind a very black surface. There are ways to interpret inflation. It’s interesting that you mention it because I’m not as interested in super-chiseled letters that feel like you’re not sure if they’re filled with liquid or if they’re solid. Pneumatics. Air. Fluid. Hydraulics. 

I was talking to Ji about this because when I look at his forms, I’m not sure what they’re made of. Plastic? Metal? They could be ceramic; it’s twirled around in that way. He said they can be made out of anything – even chocolate; he doesn’t care, it’s fine with him.

Let me say this: I think it’s a downer to be labeled as the 3D-type guy. When we went to London and visited Vaughan Oliver, he said, ooh, the 3D guy, 3D, 3D. It’s funny, but my work has never been about fine details; it’s been about the macro chunks. And that mechanism, up to now, has been successful for me. This is a strong communication of this idea; it is a strong way to present this text. But now, I feel that I’m at a crossroads in moving forward because I’d like to leave everything behind—but it’s easier said than done. I still find myself trying to refine some of those things that I barely started to scratch the surface of. And unfortunately, or fortunately, people are researching the same areas. Maybe that’s the reason to go on even stronger and continue to refine it. I don’t know.

On one hand, everybody makes work that really characterizes and showcases their interests and affinities. And to say, “I have to make a change,” if there’s still appeal, I’d say go with your interests. Because everyone’s identifiable. Vaughan’s work is identifiable, too.

But also, it [an investigation] takes 10-15-20 years, like with a painter. But as time becomes more modern and people move to the next. Do the enema paint on the wall … make little plastic dolls with penis noses … so, it’s also about the shock of the new, being able to relate to what the new is. When Ruscha’s work came out, peo­ple couldn’t figure out if it was commercial signage or an actual painting. The question is: is it a painting?

The other thing about making “new” is about making “uncomfortable.” Have you done things with this style of type that have made you uncomfortable? Have there been shocks?

The biggest shock is when something is incredibly ugly because, to get to something beautiful to my inner eye, I usually have to go through some ugly things—like I showed you some of the Sweater things. There’s a fine line between what I might do and what a 13-year-old might do in his bedroom or what Mondo 2000 looks like. It’s wanting to slum a little bit. So there’s definitely a wanting to enjoy part of that slumming. I don’t know if that’s a good answer.

What was that Pixar-generated form that was gray and dimensional?

That was Summer’s (Summer Powell, Cranbrook 1997) font pumped into 3D. It became this floating monolith that made me think of those young ravers looking up at this floating thing in front of the speakers. We talked about it. It reminded me of 70s Led Zeppelin covers when they had these monoliths, and we all sat around the table looking at these things. So that was our idea. A new god. A floating, again, a levitation. Whenever something’s floating above you, you’d better take notice. To bring 3D type to life, that industrial quality is attention­-getting because it sticks out into the atmosphere from the surface. And that’s another thing, formally, that I can’t resist.

A Walker Art Center Fall promotion circa 1992 -1996. Scans of the original, courtesy the author

For more, listen to Debbie Millman’s 2020 interview with Laurie Haycock Makela on Design Matters Live; they discuss her revolutionary typography days at Cranbrook with Scott Makela, surviving two brain hemorrhages, and arriving at “the project of a lifetime.”

Collaborating closely with the creative minds at Mrs&Mr La Colombe’s new visual identity pays tribute to the coffee roaster’s rich graphic tradition while infusing it with a contemporary twist. Highlights of the redesign include a revamped wordmark, meticulously hand-drawn to evoke a vintage charm and a renewed sense of pride and authenticity. The iconic dove emblem, symbolic of La Colombe’s pioneering spirit, has been reinvented to exude uplift and forward momentum, reflecting the brand’s commitment to innovation. Accentuating La Colombe’s core values, this rebrand resonates throughout every aspect of its identity – from the logo and packaging to the café ambiance and retail presence.

“We created a refreshed brand look to honor La Colombe’s powerful heritage and simplicity, seamlessly tying together the brand experience in products and cafes,” said Chobani Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Hamdi Ulukaya. “The result is a beautiful reflection of our premium offering, thanks to our deep, creative collaboration with Kate and Daniel of Mrs&Mr over many months to get it just right.”

To complement the brand’s evolution, Mrs&Mr introduced a bespoke typeface. Inspired by industrial fonts, Draft Latte Sans is infused with a human touch, mirroring the artisanal craftsmanship that defines La Colombe’s products. The refreshed color palette, featuring warm tones and creamy hues, invites consumers to indulge in a sensory experience.

The refreshed identity comes together in the Draft Latte packaging, where every detail conveys a sense of authenticity and quality. The can’s base color, now a luscious cream tone, echoes the freshness of farm-fresh milk, while the enlarged logo and subtle drop shadow ensure maximum shelf presence. The curvature of the Draft Latte logo mimics an overflow of froth, while the addition of ‘ESTD 1994’ proudly showcases La Colombe’s 30-year legacy in the coffee industry.

“All of this culminates in a design system that reflects the heritage, craft, and quality that La Colombe puts into every aspect of their coffee experience,” said Kate Wadia, Founder and Creative Director of Mrs&Mr.

The collaboration between the Mrs&Mr team, Chobani’s leadership, and La Colombe’s CMO, Kathryn O’Connor, has created a visual identity that honors the brand’s legacy and paves the way for a new era of coffee experiences.

As people interact with La Colombe, they can expect flavors and experiences crafted with passion and dedication. With the launch of the Draft Latte line and the unveiling of its refreshed look, La Colombe invites coffee enthusiasts to savor every sip and embrace the artistry behind each can.

The Color and Shape of Trust

Kahneman’s distinction between System 1 (fast, instinctual, and emotional) and System 2 (slower, more deliberative, and logical) thinking processes offers a valuable lens through which to view the impact of design choices, specifically typography, color and shape in branding. Typography can elicit feelings of modernity or tradition and with color theory taps directly into System 1, eliciting immediate, visceral responses that can align with a brand’s identity and values before the consumer fully articulates why they feel a certain way. This immediate reaction to these elements can set the foundation for numerous emotions, such as trust or innovation, attributes that are crucial for long-term brand loyalty and valuation.

Similarly, the psychology of shapes can appeal to instinctual preferences, with certain forms evoking safety, stability, or dynamism, engaging consumers on an intuitive level. Kahneman’s insights into the cognitive biases that shape our perceptions underscore the strategic use of shapes in branding, guiding the emotional and psychological responses that contribute to a brand’s identity.

Narrative Storytelling and Behavioral Economics

Kahneman’s work on the narrative fallacy—the tendency to create a story post-hoc so that events make sense—highlights the power of narrative storytelling in branding. Brands that tell compelling stories do not just market a product; they engage consumers in a narrative that feels inevitable and true. This storytelling aligns with Kahneman’s observations on how humans are driven by coherence in the stories they tell themselves, making the narrative a potent tool for brands aiming to secure a place in the consumer’s worldview. Moreover, a strong, coherent brand story can enhance the perceived potential of a company, influencing not just consumer behavior but also shaping investor expectations about future growth and success.

The Behavioral Science of Brand Valuation

Kahneman’s work in behavioral psychology offers invaluable perspectives on brand valuation, particularly through the lens of prospect theory. This theory, a cornerstone of Kahneman’s research, provides a framework for understanding decision-making under uncertainty, illuminating the cognitive biases that influence both consumer and investor behaviors.

Prospect theory posits that people value gains and losses differently, placing more emotional weight on potential losses than on equivalent gains. This asymmetry can have profound implications for how brands are perceived and valued. For example, a brand that successfully mitigates perceived risks through consistent performance and clear, trustworthy communication can appeal to the aversion to loss that Kahneman describes. By emphasizing the stability and reliability of their offerings, brands can position themselves as ‘safer’ investments or purchases, potentially enhancing their appeal to conservative consumers and investors sensitive to loss’s psychological pain.

Moreover, Kahneman’s identification of the ‘endowment effect’—where individuals ascribe more value to things merely because they own them—offers another layer of insight into brand valuation. Brands that can foster a sense of ownership and personal connection with their consumers may benefit from this bias, as the perceived value of the brand increases simply because consumers feel a personal stake in its story and success.

Additionally, Kahneman’s exploration of ‘anchoring’—the tendency for people to rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered when making decisions—highlights the importance of first impressions in branding. A brand that effectively communicates its value proposition from the outset can set a positive ‘anchor’ in the minds of potential consumers and investors, influencing all subsequent perceptions and decisions related to the brand. This initial communication doesn’t just inform; it shapes the perceived value and risk associated with the brand, thereby affecting its overall valuation.

Kahneman’s work also sheds light on the ‘halo effect,’ where the perception of one positive attribute (e.g., high-quality products) leads to biased assumptions about other aspects of the brand (e.g., ethical business practices). Brands that excel in one area can leverage this bias to enhance their overall valuation, as consumers and investors extrapolate from known strengths to form a holistic, albeit biased, view of the brand’s value.

By integrating these biases and heuristics identified by Kahneman into their strategies, brands can more effectively communicate their value proposition, aligning with psychological patterns in decision-making that influence both consumer choice and investor judgment. This strategic alignment not only elevates the brand in the marketplace but also enhances its valuation, as investors perceive the brand as better positioned to navigate risks and capitalize on opportunities, thanks to its deep understanding of the psychological underpinnings of consumer and investor behavior.

This post was originally published on Lynda’s LinkedIn newsletter, Marketing without Jargon. Lynda leads a team at Decker Design that focuses on helping law firms build differentiated brands.

Header photo licensed through Unsplash+ in collaboration with Katelyn Perry.

Founded in 1881 and revered as one of the world’s preeminent orchestras, the BSO has long graced the stages of Symphony Hall and Tanglewood, captivating audiences with masterful compositions by legendary conductors. The Boston Pops has become synonymous with musical excellence, with an illustrious history boasting luminaries like Arthur Fiedler and John Williams, enchanting listeners with iconic performances and annual spectacles. Tanglewood has long been hallowed ground for music aficionados, hosting an array of celebrated artists against an idyllic backdrop in Lenox, Massachusetts.

However, as the BSO sought to bridge the gap between its storied past and a vibrant future, it recognized the need for a contemporary reimagining of its brand identity. Colossus rose to the occasion, infusing the institution’s legacy with modernity while preserving its rich heritage.

The new brand, characterized by warmth and approachability, departs from previous iterations, unifying the BSO’s diverse offerings under a cohesive visual identity. The brand features a color-coded system and two complementary typefaces, blending old-world sophistication with contemporary flair. This rebrand is significant because it focuses on fostering broader audience engagement and accessibility, reflecting the BSO’s commitment to innovation while preserving its legacy and ensuring that classical music remains accessible to all.

Eager to learn more about the strategy and process behind this colossal undertaking, Travis Robertson, Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director of Colossus, and Jesse Needleman, Vice President, Marketing, Sales, & Communications of BSO, happily obliged with an exclusive.

(Conversation edited for length and clarity).

Given the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s history and cultural significance, what were the key challenges and considerations in modernizing its brand identity?

Travis Robertson: This project was equal parts exhilarating and terrifying. Walking in the shadows of giants, our team felt a tremendous sense of pride and the weight of responsibility to get it right. For an institution so steeped in tradition and heritage, changing the course required tremendous strategic alignment, research, and due diligence. We involved key stakeholders, customers, and musicians before putting pen to paper. We ensured that the classical purists and institutional guardians felt heard and represented while also moving forward with something that resonated with the next generation.

We kept harkening back to a quote from Henry Lee Higginson, the American businessman and Civil War veteran who founded the BSO in 1881. He wrote that the institution aimed “to make fair prices for the tickets and then open wide the doors.” With that in mind, we did our best to create an inviting, unpretentious brand identity that also underscored the magnitude and credibility of the music.

On the use of architectural elements as design influences for the new brand identity: Could you elaborate on the significance of this approach and how it reflects the essence of the Boston Symphony Orchestra?

Travis Robertson:

Four disparate pieces of the puzzle had to be solved and, ultimately, unified through the development of the new identity system. Tanglewood: an outdoor music venue nestled in the hills of The Berkshires. Symphony Hall: the iconic building known as an acoustic jewel and home to the BSO. The Boston Pops: the celebratory, popular expression of the symphony known as “America’s Orchestra.” And, of course, the flagship Boston Symphony Orchestra. While musicians come and go, the stage itself has served as the bedrock of consistency throughout the history of the BSO.  You can feel it in the walls of Symphony Hall and the grass of Tanglewood’s infamous Music Shed.

To define the look and feel of the new brand identity, we looked to architecture and the unique sense of space created by each setting to help guide us. After touring each structure, we gravitated toward certain characteristics, shapes, and geometric patterns. We further solidified this idea after viewing the original Symphony Hall blueprints from the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White (1900). We saw that the windows, soffits, and side entry were all built in the same arch shape. We assigned this shape to the BSO and then worked to uncover further geometric signifiers for Pops, Tanglewood, and Symphony Hall. In the end, we arrived at a consistent system rooted in a place of history and authenticity.

To broaden the appeal of classical music to a younger and more diverse audience, how did Colossus approach the task of making the orchestra’s brand more accessible while still maintaining its sense of sophistication and tradition?

Travis Robertson: Great question. Our design team on this project was both young and diverse, ensuring that we weren’t telegraphing uninformed perspectives or misrepresenting things. We also took the time to speak with each audience segmentation- from Classical Purists to Experiential Engagers to Mainstreamers- making sure our approach resonated along the way.

Ultimately, it won’t be the color palette, clever iconography, or playful shape choices that make the orchestra more accessible. We can only pique the interest and pave the path for new audiences. Our work is the outward signal of this institutional evolution. However, the BSO’s programming, innovations, collaborations, and meaningful community partnerships will create a truly impactful and well-rounded step forward. And they’ve made some incredible strides to do just that. It’s been heartening to see the next chapter of this storied institution begin to take shape.

Could you delve deeper into how the selection of specific colors for each sub-brand reflects the unique identity and essence of the disparate entities?

We derived the color palette from the historical lineage of the brand, alongside modern influences and the need to differentiate the four factions of the BSO. Blue for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a foundational colorway for decades. Red for the Boston Pops, with nods to Americana and holiday festivities. Green for Tanglewood is an homage to the lush foliage and natural setting in Lenox, MA. And gold for Symphony Hall, based on the iconic building’s gilded brass and brick textures.

Given the aim of making classical music more approachable and inclusive through the new brand identity, what specific strategies or initiatives does the Boston Symphony Orchestra plan to implement to ensure that this message resonates with diverse audiences? How do you envision these efforts contributing to breaking down barriers and expanding the orchestra’s reach?

Jesse Needleman: What’s critical in getting the brand identity to resonate is backing it up with programming that resonates, too; the product we offer and its packaging absolutely need to match.

We always look at our programming through a lens of engagement. So to that end, we’ve been working hard to bring exciting young talent to our stages (like South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim, who studies at NEC, won the Van Cliburn piano competition, and recently sold out four concerts at Symphony Hall), to commission and premiere new works (from the likes of Tania Leon and our newly announced Composer Chair Carlos Simon), to offer more culturally relevant programming (like a Pride Night concert featuring Thorgy Thor, and Dia de Muertos concerts, both with the Boston Pops), and to bring added context to the music we perform by including companion humanities programming in thematic festivals that anchor our seasons (like “Shostakovich Decoded” and “Beethoven & Romanticism” that will be part of the recently announced 2024-2025 BSO season).

The brand identities signal that it’s a new day at the BSO, both in the sense that we are continuing our deep and rich history of innovation in orchestral music and that we are taking a hard look at how we want to innovate the future so that we can contribute as much as we can to the amazing communities that we are part of in Boston and in the Berkshires; we are excited there will be much more to come on exactly what that means.

With the evolving landscape of music consumption and entertainment preferences, how does the BSO envision itself in the digital realm, and how will the new brand identity support its efforts to connect with audiences through online channels and multimedia experiences?

Jesse Needleman: The pandemic taught us a lot about creating digital experiences (particularly concerts via streaming video) and led us to approach this project with a strong “digital first” mentality. While interest in streaming concerts has waned since the public began returning to concert halls for in-person performances, we also know that we live in an increasingly digital world, and media that were once thought of as “traditional” (like outdoor) are themselves becoming digital, and require a different approach to brand identity. So, as part of developing the new identities, we not only created static versions of our logos but also developed animated versions, and we are also developing an audio component for them. Sight, sound, and motion are critical to capturing attention in the digital world that we live in, and so our brand identities need to take advantage of that.

In a world where cultural institutions must evolve to meet the demands of a rapidly changing landscape, the Boston Symphony Orchestra is a shining example of tradition reimagined. With its bold new identity, the BSO will captivate hearts and minds for generations to come, inviting audiences to experience the transformative power of music in all its splendor.

In my last post, I talked about typography as poetry, describing my brief exposure to commercial art through my neighbor. At the time, I mentioned my interest to some of my older friends. They discouraged me from pursuing commercial art because “it was a male-dominated field.” Today, like other professions, graphic design—formerly known as commercial art—is mainly composed of women. Data USA shows that 53.7% of American graphic designers are women.

On that note, I am sharing a small selection of the female designers I have admired. When I started in design, I did not know much. Thus, I studied others’ graphic design work and sometimes other design areas like architecture.

One of the first female designers who caught my attention was Rosemarie Tissi. I specifically remember her work for „Offset“ for the printing company A. Schöb, in 1982 (back of a folder—second image down).

I looked at the typography of this image for hours. I was fascinated with how Tissi used these big, chunky letters to create the offset printer and her use of color and negative space. In a word, I was mesmerized by how the O captures the eye and moves it from the F to the E by gradually changing the color tone and playing with size. She uses the strong horizontal the T provides to arrange the letters, making the eye move from O to T seamlessly. One still reads the word offset; nothing more is needed to understand it. Tissi takes advantage of the natural eye movement from left to right to connect the word and image in our mind organically. I was and still am fascinated.

The second female designer whose work stopped me when I saw it was April Greiman’s. I had the opportunity to see her talk in Carbondale, IL, in 2005. I have never forgotten that talk. There was a desire to search in Greiman’s narrative as she told the story of her career, which resonated with me profoundly. I wished I had talked to her afterward. Her work would leave me speechless. The elements dance in the space in almost every design she creates. I had not seen work like that when I started to study design. I remember learning the grid and alignments, but Greiman’s work turned on a lightbulb. The page becomes a stage for the performers in her work. Her ideas about how design works on a printed page influenced me the most in my perception of space, page, and type.

Jennifer Sterling has influenced the way I see and perceive typography. The typography in her work is like something that floats on the page, like a lightweight feather that moves and turns. Her work is experimental and pushes the limits of the page and even motion. We expect to see the letters moving in a certain way, but in her work, the typography can and will take unexpected turns. Sometimes, Sterling incorporates shapes and elements to enhance ideas and the typographic movement.

Architect Zaya Hadid’s work makes me look twice. She passed in 2016, and it is a loss. You should visit Hadid’s website to explore her designs. This quote from her site summarizes how I feel about her work and why I admire it:

…the beauty and virtuosity within her work is married to meaning. Her architecture is inventive, original and civic, offering generous public spaces that are clearly organized and intuitive to navigate

Zaha Hadid

Below is one of Hadid’s designs: the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University. The building seems to want to levitate or fly away. It is simply impressive.

My interest in these designers stems from an admiration for defying the constraints innate to the materials they use playfully. Whether paper, digital, or spatial, these designers don’t just capture the movement in a frame; it feels like the designer is mentally dancing with their design at that moment. There is an organic and symbiotic dialogue between the design and the designer. These works are not void of meaning or purpose or are frivolously pushing the limits. These works result from a deep understanding and even acceptance of the constraints and limitations. Rather than succumbing to those, they embrace these parameters to birth work that seemingly defies its nature. Yet, it is not a rebellious defiance. It is a dance of give and take, a dance of conversation, and a dance of creation.

Of course, I can mention more designers. There are many others who have shaped the way I think about design in one way or another. However, these four designers have what I look for in my work in common: movement. When I started to study design, it was their work that captured my interest, and it still does.

Alma Hoffmann is a freelance designer, design educator, author of Sketching as Design Thinking, and editor at Smashing Magazine. This is an edited version of an original post on Temperamental amusing shenanigans, Alma’s Substack dedicated to design, life, and everything in between.

Header image © Alma Hoffmann; cyanotype painted with watercolor and ink, quote from Adam Crews.

Conran Design Group (CDG), a prominent brand and design consultancy under Havas — one of the world’s largest global communications groups — has unveiled a distinctive new brand identity. Positioned as Havas’ flagship brand and design network, CDG introduces an exciting purpose: design to inspire progress.

This purpose is not just a tagline but a guiding philosophy shaping every aspect of Conran Design Group’s identity. The brand adopts a striking typographic approach spearheaded by Jean François Porchez, a French type designer recognized for his work with Le Monde and the type for the French Olympic team. The new logo emphasizes that design is central to business and everyday life. Meanwhile, bold iconography captures the essence of its diverse locations, showcasing the brand’s global presence.

The rebranding effort extends beyond aesthetics, reflecting an evolved proposition that integrates sustainability across its offerings. With a renewed focus on brand strategy, design, experience design, and communications, CDG aims to deliver meaningful progress for businesses, individuals, and society.

“Fundamentally, the new brand places design at the heart of the offer; it’s central to our name, history, and future and reflects an unwavering belief that progress needs to be designed. The new marque, with the D at the centre of the C, is at the core of the identity and a shorthand for our positioning. It feels confident, full of personality, and culturally relevant,” says Lee Hoddy, Executive Creative Director.

The launch of Conran Design Group’s new brand identity aligns with the introduction of Citizen Brands, a study and accompanying framework designed to help brand leaders achieve balanced growth in an unbalanced world. The study offers a comprehensive brand and design strategy to guide leaders in creating brand experiences catering to both individual preferences and societal good.

CDG’s reinvigorated identity reaffirms its legacy and propels it into a new era of creativity and impact. With its unwavering belief in the power of design to drive positive change, Conran Design Group seeks to continue shaping the future of brands.

Coffeehaus at COLLINS hosts a monthly communal gathering for people from all walks of life who share the goal of simply showing up to experience creative community. March’s event featured a conversation, book signing, cocktails, and treats with the illustrious Craig Frazier, who discussed his newly released book Drawn, a compendium of his illustrations for prominent publications and businesses around the globe.

An internationally renowned illustrator with a career spanning since 1978, Frazier’s illustrations are celebrated for their wit, optimism, and simplicity.

His creative contributions have appeared in the New York Times, Time Magazine, Fortune, Bloomberg Business Week, Harvard Business Review, and The Wall Street Journal. Frazier has an impressive roster of blue-chip clients, including Adobe, American Express, Boeing, Chevrolet, Deloitte, MasterCard, Mohawk Paper, Navigant, The Royal Mail, U.S. Postal Service, and United Airlines.

He has also designed eight postage stamps, including the beloved 2006 Love stamp and the commemorative Scouting stamps in 2010/11.

Frazier’s artistry goes beyond fulfilling client requests; he illustrates what he feels will make people stop, look, and think. Coffeehaus at COLLINS was a packed event, buzzing with creative energy from like-minded folks. I was fortunate to connect with Frazier at the event and followed up with some questions about his process and the importance of work that invites people in.

(Interview edited for clarity and length).

During your talk, you emphasized the importance of creating an approachable book with meaningful stories rather than just a visually striking but weighty coffee table book. What is the significance of incorporating narrative elements, and how does this approach enhance the reader’s experience? Additionally, how did you strike a balance between narrative and visuals?

It’s not unlike my work. You must invite people in and make them feel welcome. Physically, I wanted the book to have weight yet a manageable footprint. I wanted it to be functional on a desk, in your lap, or on a plane (thus the slightly smaller dimension than many monographs). I wanted it to feel useable, not monumental. There is something intimidating about an oeuvre of someone’s lifetime of work—so I wanted to soften the barrier. The scale of the book, the use of Garamond, and the size and pacing of each illustration contribute to its approachability. My amberliths, sketches, and sketchbooks demystify the process and invite the reader backstage. The idea of narratives woven throughout the book breaks the rhythm and reminds the reader that the illustrations are the products of a greater effort—both conceptually and professionally.

My life experience and my choices inform my work—the two are inextricably connected. I have found the result immeasurably rewarding and hope the work reflects that. This is the part of work life that I wanted to reveal. Things happen. We can’t control everything, but we can lend a guiding hand.  

This book is for the curious. Whether you are a designer or not, revealing the ‘whys’ of my work will alter your understanding of it. My intention is to allow people to see parallels to their own lives and careers, regardless of their profession. We all make choices that shape how we feel about our jobs. I’m curious how creative people make their work and connect their life stories to it. Asking those questions leads to a deeper appreciation and a chance to learn something. I want that experience available to the readers of Drawn.

It is predominantly a visual book, no question. One can enjoy it on that level alone. The written content is micro-dosed to not compete with the visuals but complement and contribute depth.

I draw elements that support the story, not decorate it.

Your work is celebrated for its visual riddles and graphic wit, often embodying both simplicity and depth. How do you balance clarity and complexity in your work, especially when dealing with abstract concepts or visual puzzles?

Simplicity is a guiding principle in all of my work—design or illustration. I subscribe to both the aesthetic and conceptual orientation, so it’s easy to abide by. It works—simplicity serves comprehension in its elegance and functionality. Simplicity is necessary now more than ever when we are all operating at the edge of our visual threshold—it becomes an attractor because it asks less of us. When we overload our messaging (or visuals), it’s at the risk of getting passed by. I stick with singular messaging, which makes for singular illustrations. I draw elements that support the story, not decorate it. Simplicity equals clarity. The more abstract, the simpler the equation must be. If done right, there is beauty in simplicity. Embedding riddles and wit in the illustration brings a smile to the mind. The illustration’s depth is in the reader’s mind—it’s the place the illustration takes them.

When discussing your creative process, you mentioned taking something to the brink and then stepping it back. How do you recognize when you’ve reached that edge, and what factors influence your decision to pull back or further refine your idea?

This question is challenging because I don’t have a specific formula for it—it’s intuitive. The best way to describe it is to say that when I think I have found an angle to tell the story—I then attempt to regulate how the reader discovers the answer within. It’s a matter of leaving breadcrumbs rather than the whole loaf. It’s always a matter of leaving room for a reader to invest time (often only seconds) and mental energy to understand the message. Breadcrumbs also leave room for interpretation, crucial in talking to a larger audience. I’ve learned that people are smarter than we often give them credit for. Clients always want to make sure their readers get it, but in doing so, they often eliminate the fun by over-explaining it. It’s a delicate balance, and I stand my ground with clients. I’ve got a good instinct for it by now.

There is a lot of attention to creativity, how we do it, and the secrets to turning it on. I’ve never paid much attention to that and tried to develop good habits and a problem-solving discipline. If you sign up to be a designer, your job can’t wait until the muse shows up.

Drawn delves into curiosity, self-doubt, and confidence, all of which are common experiences for creatives. How have these themes influenced your journey as a creative? Can you share any personal anecdotes or pivotal moments where you’ve grappled with self-doubt and how you overcame it to push your creative boundaries?

Curiosity is key. We must be curious about what others make and how to inform and inspire our own creativity. We also must be curious about the oddities around us. These are the fuel for ideas. Self-doubt and confidence are opposites, yet both motivate us. Both are necessary to keep the other in check. Self-doubt—however uncomfortable it is—is critical to doing good work and growing. The better our judgment, the easier it is to become complacent and make safe work. I find my own self-doubt to be often an indicator that I’m breaking new ground. We all experience self-doubt because creativity isn’t science—it’s experimental by design. The good news is that with experience, self-doubt wanes and gives way to confidence, and if we are lucky, humility lies right in between both—the most essential element of personal growth.

I frequently have doubts about my work particularly when I’m sketching on assignment. When I give it a little time to breathe and look at the work with fresh eyes, the doubt often subsides. I remind myself that new is often uncomfortable and these are the chances we must take.

There is a lot of attention to creativity, how we do it, and the secrets to turning it on. I’ve never paid much attention to that and tried to develop good habits and a problem-solving discipline. If you sign up to be a designer, your job can’t wait until the muse shows up. Though she does make appearances, we must operate in an ‘always go’ position.

As it relates to ideas, my solution is to keep sketching. It is the cheapest and fastest prototyping method out there. It is a discipline that I have practiced my entire career, and it never fails. Every sketch I make is an experience of seeing something and understanding it better. I have far more unsuccessful sketches than successful ones, but they are not mutually exclusive. You must turn over rocks until you find what you are looking for. I have a confidence in process—the more you produce, the better the chances are of arriving at something new—it’s that simple.

Your work has inspired many aspiring illustrators and designers. You offered the valuable insight that “style comes just as much from your deficiencies as well as your expertise.” Could you elaborate on this concept and explain how embracing one’s shortcomings can contribute to the development of a unique artistic style?

Understanding what we each ‘have to offer’ is an endeavor you can’t suddenly take on one day. It’s an understanding that comes over time and practice. We never fully understand it, but we must move toward it and often get out of its way. That said, we work to develop personally and professionally, and the goal is to find where we can each put a spin on things. Our fingerprints on our work are the characteristics reflective of both our strengths and weaknesses. Our ability to accept both of those—our deficiencies being the toughest—is where our individuality and point of view reside. The world is full of people—and companies—trying to create a mass consumable perception. But—as practitioners—we shouldn’t take that approach. The baseline is to be a good problem-solver. However, the expression and articulation of those solutions can be personal and unique to each of us. Herein lies the risk and the satisfaction. One reason this works is that it is honest and defendable. It’s easier to stand up for our own ideas than it is for others. The second reason is that unique work stands the best chance of being novel in the eyes of the public. As designers, we don’t have to have thousands of clients. We must have enough to support the economy of our practice. I have found that making what I can make and searching for audiences that appreciate my sensibilities is much easier—and more satisfying—than working in the inverse. Differentiation serves the competitive nature of our job.

As designers, we don’t have to have thousands of clients. We must have enough to support the economy of our practice … making what I can make and searching for audiences that appreciate my sensibilities is much easier—and more satisfying—than working in the inverse.

If you want to get your hands on Drawn, which I highly recommend — it’s fantastic; you can order his book here.

Since its founding, National Geographic, or NatGeo for short, has evolved into a multifaceted platform spanning print, digital, television, and more, exploring science, geography, history, and culture. NatGeo seeks to inspire curiosity, foster understanding, and champion conservation efforts worldwide through its articles, documentaries, educational initiatives, and photography.

The globally recognized magazine, which has over 84 million monthly readers, unveiled a significant design refresh this month. This transformation, revealed in the March issue, marks the debut under Editor-in-Chief Nathan Lump and Creative Director Paul Martinez, who assumed their roles in 2022. With Lump’s rich editorial background, including publications like TIME and The New York Times, alongside Martinez’s creative expertise at Travel + Leisure, the duo brings a bedrock of experience to the publication.

The key design and content highlights include:

• New sections, including “In Focus,” a selection of full-page images from National Geographic’s photographers in the field, amplify the focus on photography and visual storytelling.
• Short-form content is now interspersed with in-depth features to create a more varied and dynamic reading experience.
• A larger typeface for an easier read – an intentional update taking reader feedback into account.
• And a subscriber-only cover that features more artful, intimate visuals.

I reached out to Lump and Martinez, eager to discuss the driving forces behind this redesign and their plans for holding 130+ years of tradition, while addressing the evolving needs of print and digital audiences. Our conversation (condensed for length and clarity), is below.

The redesign marks a significant shift in National Geographic‘s visual identity and content structure. What was the inspiration behind deciding to introduce new sections like “In Focus” and the added emphasis on visual storytelling?

NL: We’ve had an emphasis on visual storytelling in our pages for many decades, so while I don’t see our recent adjustments as a particular shift in that direction, we are continually looking for ways to heighten for the reader what is special about what we do. The core of our mission is helping readers to discover and better understand the wonder of our world, and for me, a lot of what I wanted to accomplish with this refresh was to showcase the true diversity of the subjects we cover and what we’re learning about them – from animal behavior to science to history and more. Our new recurring story types are designed to do just that. “In Focus,” a handful of pages at the start of the book, is in many ways a microcosm of that wider approach: we are fortunate to have relationships with great photographers around the globe who are always at work, and this column brings readers a selection of their recent images from out in the field, across the full spectrum of topics of interest to our readers. 

PM: A segment such as “In Focus” truly emphasizes one of our strengths: photography. Placing this at the forefront is not just about captivating the reader with compelling images but also about swiftly propelling them into the heart of the magazine. This seamless transition leads directly into our initial main feature, where we aim for readers to immerse themselves in a deeper narrative.

How do you balance honoring the magazine’s rich heritage of storytelling, particularly through its iconic photography, while also pushing boundaries in today’s media landscape? In what ways does the redesign reflect the evolution of storytelling mediums and audience preferences?

NL: I am extremely conscious of our legacy and of the incredibly loyal, devoted readership we are fortunate to have, and of course that makes you be very deliberate and thoughtful when you make changes. But legacy can also lead you to be too conservative and hold you back from making genuine improvements in the service of your audience. My feeling is that as long as you retain your commitment to telling meaningful stories that align with your brand and meet your reader’s expectations of quality, you have permission to adjust as long as you are putting yourself in the reader’s shoes and thinking about what will serve them best. I thought a lot about what it means to innovate in print as we approached this work and tried to ask myself whether traditional conventions still held true. Years of working on digital content and products have grounded me in UX thinking and research, and I drew on that in this process. Our decision to radically simplify the book structure—essentially, almost the entire magazine is one unnamed “section” that consists of shorter and longer stories mixed together—stems from an understanding that digital and social environments have conditioned us to consume content in more free-flowing and serendipitous way. The story selection and flow are still highly curated, as any great magazine should be, but it allows for more variation and surprise that we think makes the overall experience more pleasurable and engaging.

Design plays a significant role in ensuring that readers do not encounter difficulty with the content.

Paul Martinez, Creative Director

The decision to incorporate more short-form content alongside in-depth features is interesting. How do you navigate maintaining depth and substance while catering to shorter attention spans in today’s digital age?

PM: Many of our decisions revolved around the concept of pacing. Our strategy involved interspersing shorter stories among the longer ones to create a dynamic flow of peaks and valleys for the reader. We discovered that grouping all the longer features together risked reader fatigue, so placing shorter pieces between them offers readers a chance to engage swiftly with the content.

From a design standpoint, we aimed to signal to the reader when they were transitioning from a longer feature to a shorter story. To achieve this, we developed a consistent template for the shorter stories, facilitating a smooth exit from and entrance into the longer features. Additionally, we sought to engage the typographer more in introducing the features to signify the beginning of a substantial story.

Typography plays a crucial role in readability and accessibility, and your decision to introduce a larger typeface reflects a commitment to improving the reader experience. How did you approach this aspect of the redesign, particularly in response to reader feedback?

PM: Ensuring readability is a constant and top priority. Design plays a significant role in ensuring that readers do not encounter difficulty with the content. Moreover, from an aesthetic perspective, we aimed to provide sufficient space for the increased type size in the body copy and captions to breathe. By augmenting the white space in the layouts, we were able to strike that delicate balance and hopefully improve the reader experience.

The subscriber-only cover featuring more artful and intimate visuals is a bold move, especially in an era where digital content often takes precedence. What motivated this decision, and how do you see it contributing to the magazine’s relationship with its most loyal readers?

NL: I am conscious that our relationship with subscribers is a personal one—they’ve invited us into their homes—and that the experience of receiving a printed magazine in the mail and diving into it on your sofa is quite particular relative to other ways that you encounter content in other environments and platforms. On a traditional newsstand, you need to shout, as it were, to gain a potential reader’s attention. In digital, it’s much the same—you have milliseconds in someone’s scrolling to grab their attention. When they’ve subscribed, they’ve already indicated an interest in your content and a willingness to engage. That’s not to say that the cover doesn’t need to provoke engagement, but when you hold a magazine in your hands at home, you are quite literally up close and personal with it. That allows us, I think, to showcase artistry and to be quieter in our choice of image when it’s appropriate, and we deliberately went minimal with type, in a nod to the old National Geographics with type-only covers that essentially served as a table of contents. Our goal is still to intrigue or to move the reader in some way, but we can take a different approach that we hope delivers something tailored to the subscriber’s mindset now that they’re ready to sit down and read.

How do you navigate the preferences and consumption habits of print readers versus digital consumers, and what lessons can other content creators learn from your experience? Any advice for media companies looking to strengthen connections with their audiences in an increasingly digital landscape?

NL: Like many publishers, we know that our print and digital audiences are quite distinct, and while they share some common affinities, they are not mirror images of each other. For many years, at other titles, I tried to achieve nearly total platform convergence—with all content designed to flow seamlessly between platforms—but I no longer think that’s the best approach. Increasingly, we take a fluid approach to our content creation, with some stories designed specifically to satisfy the needs of either print or digital (or social) audiences, and then selectively, those stories migrate to other platforms, often with modifications and sometimes in a different medium. It’s more bespoke and requires more care, but if you build the intention into your production process from the outset, you can ensure you’re generating the right type of material and minimize the effort required after the fact. This is an essential part of being responsive to audience preferences. What will work for a certain type of reader or user in one place will not necessarily work for another reader or user somewhere else. My goal with all our storytelling is to maximize the reach and impact of our work, and the way that works is by recognizing how preferences and behaviors vary based on where someone is and their mindset. The through line, of course, is quality – personally, I find this thinking and the process it informs so much more creatively energizing than when I started my career, although it is undoubtedly more complicated. You can’t do everything all the time, so it’s also important to be mindful of who you are most focused on reaching and strategically what you are trying to get out of building that relationship. I think that today, in digital environments, in particular, success is a lot about super-serving more specific audiences and interests. In some ways, we’ve always done this with our printed magazines, so we’re well positioned to thrive wherever we may be because we think consumer-first, fundamentally, and build that into everything we do.

Founded in 1972 on the Upper West Side, H&H Bagels has grown from a local favorite to a cultural institution cherished by New Yorkers. With plans to launch numerous new franchised and company-owned locations across the country, the challenge was clear: modernize the brand while staying true to its New York roots and appealing to a broader demographic.

As H&H Bagels prepares for a nationwide expansion, it has turned to the expertise of High Tide, a renowned New York City-based creative studio specializing in brand identity. High Tide is no stranger to building NYC fast-casual/dining brands, known for its work with Dig Inn, Sweet Chick, Mexicue, and many others. The goal: extend a warm invitation to people across America to indulge in the authentic taste of a New York City bagel.

We saw it as a huge responsibility to bring an iconic local institution to everyone in a way that showcases what makes NY culture so special.

Danny Miller, Founder and Creative Director, High Tide

For High Tide, the opportunity to reimagine H&H Bagels held personal significance. “This project brought back memories from my childhood of stopping by H&H on my way to Central Park,” explains High Tide’s Founder and Creative Director, Danny Miller. “We saw it as a huge responsibility to bring an iconic local institution to everyone in a way that showcases what makes NY culture so special.”

The transformation began with a new visual identity, encompassing everything from the website and packaging to signage and interior design elements for each physical location. The logo, featuring clean custom lettering set against a redesigned version of the original seal, strikes a balance between modernity and homage to the past.

Typography, photography, and color were carefully curated to convey a sense of accessibility and premium quality. A mix of serif, sans serif, and script typefaces adds depth and character, while vibrant pops of color inject energy and excitement into the brand’s visual language.

Jay Rushin, CEO at H&H Bagels, acknowledges the significance of this evolution: “As we embark on a new chapter with our national expansion, enhancing our visual identity was essential to delivering an elevated experience for our customers.” Miller adds, “Wherever someone experiences H&H, the brand should stand out – welcoming others to feel the excitement of eating a classic NYC bagel.”

With High Tide’s expertise, H&H Bagels is poised to captivate taste buds and hearts across the country, all while preserving the essence of a beloved New York institution.

In the process of rebranding, JOAN recognized the multitude of stories yet told. While striving for a gender-neutral system, they also acknowledge the intrinsic role gender plays in shaping its identity. A creative agency led by women is still a rarity in an industry largely dominated by men. Yet, JOAN thrives, boasting experience, passion, and leadership across advertising, design, production, and media.

Led by Anjela Freyja, JOAN’s internal design team crafted a visual identity reflecting the agency’s fighting spirit and commitment to growth and inclusivity. The new brand captures JOAN’s expressive, daring, crafted, relevant, and visionary DNA, appealing to corporate clients and cultural influencers.

• Soulful: Two warm, accessible, and friendly typefaces and candid office and project photography capturing the agency’s direct communication style
• Daring: An edgy, bold, highly-saturated color palette
• Crafted: A technical gridded design system that prioritizes attention to detail and technique communicates their craft expertise
• Relevant: Contemporary digital design, animation, and 3D techniques that flex the team’s savvy and knowledge and highlight the agency’s cultural relevance
• Visionary: A sharp logo inspired by Joan of Arc’s iconic sword, paying homage to the namesake and the origin of the agency’s name

The design elements, including warm typography, bold colors, technical design systems, and nods to cultural relevance, are complemented by sleek metal materials, reflecting JOAN’s bold personality. This new identity serves as a framework for their global expansion.

Beyond the expected updates to its website and social channels, JOAN’s rebrand includes unique collaborations such as one-of-a-kind merch with Ray’s NYC. While the brand draws inspiration from Joan of Arc, it also esteems other influential figures, embodying a commitment to storytelling and community engagement.

JOAN’s new brand identity is more than just a logo change; it celebrates its past, present, and future, honoring the diverse voices and talents of the JOAN community. Like those who came before them, they embrace their collective history, experiences, and talents, committed to sharing meaningful stories with the world. As they boldly declare, “We are JOAN.”

I regularly think of the late Enzo Mari, a wholehearted and iconoclastic advocate for the power of DIY (design-it-yourself). Allesandro Mendini called him “design’s conscience.” He famously encouraged workers to engage their creativity and independent thought through antagonistic means. Instead of a flat-pack furniture manual, he gave you a drawing and some 2x4s to make a chair. By making things harder to use or more difficult to understand, Mari wasn’t just being contrarian; he was railing against passive consumption. Good design quietly exists, but bad design demands our attention, engagement, and introspection. His legacy is that of dissent against ‘good’ design—visible only in rebellion against the norm.

Good design is invisible.
Bad design is unignorable.

This rebellion is not new. Throughout history, a lot of good art has been bad design. The Dadaists and Brutalists both rejected the dominant aesthetic of their time. Instead of tradition, they embraced ugliness and absurdity. Through bad design, they pushed us out of our comfort zone, emphasizing engagement over ease.

Rei Kawakubo made us notice and interrogate our understanding of beauty and form. She used clothing to distort the body itself—a powerful statement against the maxims and assumptions of mainstream fashion. In film, the Dogme 95 movement created strict, absurd rules to frustrate and rethink mainstream cinema’s polished, formulaic productions. Their medium became the message.

Perhaps most poetically, the architects Arakawa and Madeline Gins took this a step further with their Bioscleave House—a literal embodiment of challenging norms through discomfort. The house, designed to disorient and provoke, refused to be invisible, demanding instead to be continually, consciously navigated and questioned. Athens-based architect Katerina Kamprani is another purveyor of discomfort-based design.

Mother Design, too, embraces the ‘bad’ as a strategy to disrupt and engage. The brand we created for Eyebeam, a not-for-profit art and technology center in New York City, exemplifies this approach. It’s uncomfortable—vibrating color combinations, graphic patterns that challenge prolonged viewing, and a font that disrupts the flow of text with unconventional and awkward letterforms. It never sits still, fidgeting in a constant state of flux. Overall, the brand forces the viewer to engage with a message’s medium before its meaning, turning the “crystal goblet” on its head.

In each of these cases—from art to fashion to architecture—it’s only the “failure” of design that made them successful. It’s only in the breakdown of convention that new ideas emerge. In other words, we must embrace ‘bad’ design to uncover ‘good.’ In a frictionless world, bad design is sandpaper. It challenges complacency. It makes us uncomfortable. People don’t like it. It forces them to engage, to question, and to think.

The Bauhaus, Marcel Duchamp, Kool Herc, the Sex Pistols, and the Memphis Group thrived on principles initially seen as flawed or ‘bad.’ Yet, each profoundly reshaped our cultural and aesthetic landscapes.

Bad design is not something to avoid; it’s a critical component not just of the creative process but of living. Like Mari taught, it’s about learning rather than following. It’s about entering a building and walking into a “purposeful guess.” It’s about watching a bad movie. It’s about wearing a funny hat. It’s about being weird. In embracing the ‘bad,’ we uncover the potential for transformation—both in design and in ourselves.

In a world where we laud good design for its invisibility, perhaps it’s time to celebrate the unignorable—the bad chairs, the frustrating UIs, the push handles on pull doors—designs that fail beautifully, teaching us more about our world and ourselves than perfection ever could.

This is a guest post written by Elliot Vredenburg, Associate Creative Director at Mother Design.

In 2014, Elliot was mistakenly sent an MFA instead of an MA by the California Institute of the Arts, so he decided to continue working in graphic design. For the past decade, he’s worked as a multidisciplinary designer with various organizations and individuals, creating powerful, concept-driven work.

He’s led and contributed to collaborative projects with notable artists, cultural institutions, and global companies, including Netflix, the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, MGM Studios, Alex Israel, and Universal Music Group. Sometimes, he’s a copywriter, too.

Bereal’s work, encapsulated in The Black Yearbook, offers an intimate portrayal of the joys, challenges, and truths encountered by Black students navigating higher education. The book challenges our societal narratives with honesty and depth, and in the process, Adraint Bereal opens our eyes.

I was fortunate enough to ask Bereal about his educational and creative journey in bringing The Black Yearbook to life; below is our interview.

(Interview edited for clarity and length).

Left: The Black Yearbook cover, Right: headshot of author Adraint Bereal

Bereal’s profoundly personal project began with his alma mater, the University of Texas. Through a collection of portraits, personal statements, and interviews, he provided a window into the lives of Black students in a predominantly white environment. Inspired by his initial exhibition, 1.7, a raw and candid portrait of the experiences of Black men at UT (1.7% of the student population), Bereal expanded his vision. He embarked on a nationwide exploration from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to predominantly white institutions and trade schools.

What sets Bereal’s approach apart is his commitment to showcasing more than just the trauma often associated with Black narratives. Instead, he amplifies stories of resilience, joy, and triumph amidst adversity, challenging societal perceptions and stereotypes.

In visiting schools for The Black Yearbook, what was a pivotal moment or encounter during your travels that deeply resonated with you and shaped your understanding of the complexities within the Black student experience?

AB: Traveling far west to Alaska to conclude my travels was such a reflective moment. The four to five months of travel were filled with the constant noise of trains, planes, and cars. My best friend accompanied me to Alaska, and it was the most peaceful moment I had experienced. Because The University of Alaska-Juneau is a relatively small campus, I interviewed only two students, which left me with a lot of time to relax—something I hadn’t really been able to do. On our second day in Alaska, my best friend and I hiked to see the Mendenhall Glacier, after which we found ourselves running back to our taxi in a snowstorm. The conversations with the 116 students were kind of like this – enthralling, and before you know it, you are caught in the middle of a storm trying to seek shelter. Work like this requires courage, and I learned I have no shortage of it while running into a storm head first.

The heart of The Black Yearbook lies in its dedication to honest dialogue. Each profile is a testament to the individuality of Black college experiences. Through stunning photography and compelling narratives, Bereal captures the essence of each interviewee, allowing their voices to shine through.

What struck me most about Bereal’s work was his design approach. Every page of The Black Yearbook bursts with energy and creativity, reflecting the diversity and vibrancy of the Black college experience. It’s a refreshing departure from the monolithic portrayal of higher education, offering a multifaceted representation that celebrates the richness of Black culture and identity.

You weave together interviews, photographs, and illustrations to capture the multifaceted narratives of Black students navigating the educational landscape. How did you approach the storytelling process to ensure that these narratives were accurately represented and celebrated in their fullness, capturing moments of joy and triumph alongside the challenges and adversities?

AB: Creating a book like this requires a lot of openness, and that’s at the core of each conversation. I went into each meeting with little to no expectations, knowing that the conversation could be as short as a few minutes or as long as a few hours. Had I approached this in a measured and solely quantitative way, I may not have been able to cut through surface-level conversations to reach a more personal and lived experience. Patience is a virtue.

The Black Yearbook has been described as both radical and reverent, offering a space for Black students to see themselves reflected while challenging societal prejudices. How can creative projects like yours contribute to conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion within educational spaces, and what do you hope readers, particularly Black students, take away from your book?

AB: The Black Yearbook continues work previously done by artists and scholars such as Toni Morrison, Monroe Work, and W.E.B. Dubois. The increase in digital technologies has created a lack of physical media to preserve Black existence. We must be the architects of our narrative, and that is what I’ve done. I’ve created a lasting document of existence to preserve our stories for future generations. Understanding – that’s the takeaway.

In a society where mainstream narratives often overlook or stereotype Black experiences in higher education, The Black Yearbook serves as a powerful corrective. Bereal’s work challenges us to reframe our perceptions and embrace the complexity of Black college life. It’s a testament to the resilience, strength, and beauty of the Black community and a reminder of the importance of amplifying diverse voices in the narrative of higher education.

Founded in November 2006 by a team of insurance experts, Go.Compare has long been recognized for its meticulous approach to comparing various products and services, including insurance policies, financial products, energy tariffs, and more. Unlike traditional comparison sites, Go.Compare distinguished itself by prioritizing the display of policy details alongside prices, setting a new standard in the industry.

Over the years, Go.Compare’s mission has evolved while remaining steadfast in its commitment to providing reliable and comprehensive comparisons. The company has cultivated a vast network of trusted partners, ensuring users can access a wide range of reputable options. Authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (equivalent to the SEC in the US), Go.Compare offers users peace of mind in their decision-making process.

The rebrand signifies a strategic step forward for Go.Compare, solidifying its reputation as a dependable ally for consumers while injecting a burst of new life and character into the brand.

Go.Compare’s standout feature is its accessibility. The service is free for users, a testament to the company’s dedication to empowering consumers with transparent information.

Unlike others, Go.Compare doesn’t just list options; it serves up choices that are genuinely beneficial for users, placing their interests at the forefront,” says Max Ottignon, co-founder of Ragged Edge. “So we amplified that difference, positioning Go.Compare as the Champions of Choice.”

With an impressive 97% awareness rate, the recent rebranding initiative aims to capitalize on the website’s recognition and attract even more users. At the core of Ragged Edge’s rebrand is a genuine point of differentiation: Go.Compare is the sole comparison site accredited by BIBA (British Insurance Brokers’ Association), emphasizing trustworthiness in every recommendation.

“Ragged Edge worked closely with every part of our business to ensure they understood exactly what our aspirations were and how we wanted to evolve in the future,” says Paul Rogers, Marketing Director at Go.Compare. “Insurance can be heavy going – a grudge purchase. Ragged Edge has made it fun and rewarding. The rebrand has helped us to evolve visually and strategically and given us an even stronger sense of purpose, authority, and momentum as we continue to provide transparency and support for customers across a broad range of complex products.”

Central to the rebrand is the iconic figure of Gio Compario, Go.Compare’s beloved mascot. Gio, portrayed with exaggerated features in charming cartoon form, serves as the brand’s “choice champion,” advocating for users across every aspect of the Go.Compare experience.

In collaboration with artist Rami Niemi, the rebrand introduces an illustrative style that breathes life into the brand’s insurance products, departing from conventional stock imagery to offer a fresh, engaging visual narrative.

Complementing the visual overhaul is a new verbal identity – “the voice of choice” – characterized by relatable wit that resonates with customers. A custom-designed typeface adds warmth and character, reinforcing the brand’s distinctive personality.

The rebrand, designed to be instantly recognizable and scalable, ensures maximum visibility and engagement across various platforms. Ragged Edge’s collaboration with Go.Compare extends to the brand’s high-profile sponsorship of the Wales rugby union team, further solidifying its presence in the public eye.

The central idea behind the updated brand is encapsulated in the phrase “Do right by nature,” highlighting NYBG’s commitment to studying, protecting, learning from, and enjoying nature. It serves as a call to action and recognizes NYBG’s leading role in environmental stewardship.

The new brand voice mirrors the tone and spirit of New York and the Bronx, embodying optimism, empathy, and purpose. It aims to convey NYBG’s enthusiasm for the natural world, promote inclusivity, and demonstrate expertise.

A redesigned logo emphasizes the NYBG abbreviation in a bolder, more contemporary style, blending the essence of New York City with the Garden’s natural beauty. The typography, featured in our 2024 Typography Report, draws inspiration from hand-drawn natural forms, symbolizing confidence and impact.

Curious about the strategy behind the project, I spoke with Jane Boynton, senior creative director, and Ana Camargo, lead strategist of Wolff Olins. NYBG’s CMO, Michael Crowley, also weighed in. Our conversation is below (edited for length and clarity).

With a vision of deepening community connections while expanding environmental action, what specific elements of the brand refresh aim to strengthen local ties while also addressing global environmental concerns?

AC: The former identity, while elegant, had some cues of a “white box gallery” — where maybe not everyone feels welcome, and not everyone feels seen—places where you usually can’t touch the art. The Garden is such a sensory experience. So we wanted to make sure that in the evolution of the brand, we created a platform in which many different audiences could feel welcome, connected, and seen in the brand. Addressing those issues locally helps us tackle them from a global perspective.

We also wanted to reclaim the fact that this is a New York cultural institution and own that with pride. So, as we thought about the tone of voice being more approachable and empathetic, we also wanted it to be deliberate. We wanted it to be a straight shooter, like New Yorkers are, and residents of the Bronx.

We want NYBG to feel like everyone can own it, from the neighbors to the trustees, the board of directors, and the investors. We created the brand to flex according to all those audiences, from the neighbors to the people who visit the Garden physically, the people who visit online, the people who do research connected to the Garden, and the trustees.

The brand refresh includes a new logo that unites the spirit of New York City with the natural beauty of the Garden. How does the new logo, with its references to natural forms, reflect the personality and impact of NYBG?

JB: The old logo already stood for the ongoing impact on preservation the brand was actively doing and its participation within the local community. So we didn’t want to throw those associations away. We’d like to think that we took the previous logo and amplified it.

Our big, beautiful idea for the New York Botanical Garden is this concept of doing right by nature. Unpacking that idea, the ‘do right’ refers to the active state of the organization, the call to action, the study of nature, the protection of it, the enjoyment of it, and the learning from it. That ‘do right’ is expressed through the boldness of the letter forms. They evoke a sense of confidence that speaks to the organization’s impact and leadership. 

The boldness also speaks to nature. Think about when nature is at its best, and it’s thriving, it’s lush, and it’s rich, and it’s full of form. It’s not skinny. That boldness speaks to where we want nature to be in that thriving state. That boldness is also a nod to the spirit and attitude of New York and the Bronx. We are New Yorkers, and our boldness and confidence in that sense of being direct is part of what identifies us.

Bringing all of these things together, we’re hoping the new logo unites that iconic spirit of New York with the natural beauty of the Garden, paired with the active nature of the people behind the organization fighting against climate change and biodiversity loss.

AC: What I also love, of all the things that Jane has already mentioned, is the ‘doing’ – the action – and the ‘by nature’, which has this beautiful idea of side by side with nature. It’s not behind nature. It’s not in front of nature. It’s not that nature is leading, and we need to follow. We wanted to convey a symbiotic relationship. Because I think part of why we’ve gotten into this environmental mess is because humans have forgotten that we are nature.

Doing right’ is everything the Garden does: taking that perspective of the plants and doing right by them, speaking for them, researching them, and bringing their wisdom and intelligence to life.

The photography is from nature’s perspective, ranging from intimate to immersive shots. How does this POV contribute to telling the story of NYBG, and how does it create a more engaging and immersive experience for visitors?

JB: This element in the toolkit was already working hard for the client. The Garden really invests in photography. They have a photographer on staff and an incredible library of stunning images.

So, our task was more about how we can better align the photography moving forward with this idea of ‘do right by nature.’ Photography offers the opportunity to amplify that wonder in nature and its ability to teach, guide, and inspire us

For the style of the photography, we drew on a diverse set of different angles and perspectives, which allowed us to capture more surprising and unexpected views of all the plants, people, and the place. And more specifically, it’s from nature’s angle or perspective. What would nature’s perspective be if we’re embodying ‘do right by nature’? How would a bird see the Garden? We put nature behind the lends to try to capture the spirit and vitality of this wonderful place and how being here can shift all of our perspectives.

AC: This is a really important point. It’s also part of the evolution we considered because if we’re thinking about that shift, to remember that we’re all part of nature, photography that focuses on the plants and the fungi, it’s easy to forget that we’re part of the same system. As Jane said, that was a vital element to bring the people back in to make all those audiences feel seen and part of that environment.

How do you see the updated brand identity actively contributing to and supporting ecological initiatives? How can a strong brand presence influence public perception and participation in sustainability efforts?

AC: Our client was already doing so many amazing things. Our job was to take those actions, enhance them, and amplify them. As we expand the brand to be more empathetic, welcoming, deliberate in how it shows up, proud, and more New York and the Bronx, that platform can strengthen the brand’s presence and put more weight behind it.

Then, NYBG can use that weight behind its sustainability initiatives. We wanted to make sure that more people care about the environment and engage in sustainability initiatives as they’re drawn into the new brand.

Sometimes, when you see brands or NGOs showing up, the discourse focuses on the things that you need to lose for the planet to gain or for the planet to thrive. We wanted to make sure that NYBG communicates in such a way that doesn’t revolve around what any of us has to give up for the planet to continue functioning. It’s about what we can all gain in a more sustainable life, in a more conscious way of being on this planet. We wanted to bring more folks into that conversation through beauty, abundance, and through that lens of what is there for all of us to gain.

What was the most interesting thing you experienced working through this rebrand with the New York Botanical Garden while developing this project?

JB: I represent a lot of the general public in the area in that I didn’t realize there was all this incredible research and rigor behind the organization. I only saw NYBG as a place, as an experience to visit the train or the orchid show. I didn’t realize that behind all of that are these incredible climate and science research efforts. And it’s very inspiring. It’s what makes NYBG unique and different. And to Ana’s point, it is the reason to get people to care. And so that was a big, eye-opening moment when I understood the full breadth of this organization.

AC: So it’s not just a visual transformation by any means. It’s a way to signal to the world all of these amazing things NYBG has been thinking about and putting into practice as an organization and will continue to accelerate over the next few years.

How does the ‘Do right by nature’ idea translate into practical initiatives or programs within the NYBG’s mission and activities?

MC: ‘Do right by nature’ reflects NYBG’s longstanding commitment to plants, fungi, and the natural world. Since our founding in 1891, our mission and activities have centered around three pillars — science, horticulture, and education — that bring plants and people together. We’re helping nature to thrive so that humanity can thrive.

Branching Out, our strategic plan for 2024-2030 includes longstanding NYBG programs and new initiatives to help us achieve five goals, all of which serve people, plants, and the planet. Bronx-centric programs serve our local community through projects such as Bronx Green-Up, which supports hundreds of community gardens, urban farms, and school gardens across the borough, and Bronx Neighbors, which provides free access to our grounds for residents. As a cultural destination in NYC, we help people to find peace and well-being in our natural oasis. Educational programs bring children close to nature from a young age to incubate the environmentalists of tomorrow. And our scientific research programs are re-centered through a lens of environmental action, focusing our diverse efforts around goals addressing the dual climate and biodiversity crisis.

What initiatives is NYBG undertaking to more fully engage with climate and biodiversity crises? How does the new brand inspire public engagement and action towards a sustainable and biodiverse future?

MC: New initiatives include the program for Urban Conservation Strategy, a research and engagement platform that will engage with local and international non-profit and research partners to advance urban resilience and assist decision-makers across New York City— and in cities around the world. The Bronx River Watershed Health & Resilience Program will be a collaboration between our scientists, horticulturists, and local partners to develop local outreach and plant-based strategies to improve our local ecosystem. We will prioritize high-impact research collaborations across various areas where our researchers have expertise, including nature conservation, restoration, and sustainable agriculture. We are committed to pursuing botanical and fungal research with applications that will serve the planet. The new brand foregrounds NYBG Science with its own style treatment, which draws attention to the incredible research conducted by our scientists. Overall, our new positioning as “plant people” creates a more cohesive identity for our entire staff and programs, uniting science, horticulture, and education experts to apply all of our resources to the broader mission of doing right by nature.

The new brand identity is described as an active, bold, and welcoming presence that connects and inspires. How does the brand aim to foster a sense of connection to nature and the NYBG mission among diverse audiences, including current and future generations?

MC: Every aspect of the new brand identity—from the logo to the color palette to the brand voice—was designed to celebrate science and nature and to create a more welcoming and vibrant experience for our guests. The refreshed logo takes inspiration from iconic New York City designers and institutions, but you’ll also find nods to nature hidden within. The logo and our new custom typeface, NY Botanical Gothic, are full of organic shapes and draw inspiration from posters from the environmental movement of the 1960s and ‘70s. We also created a special logo treatment to represent NYBG Science, signifying our scientists’ microscopic view of the plant world.

The colors we use in our new branding are inspired by nature and named after various plants and fungi. Our vibrant color palette is more welcoming and, in combination with the bold typeface, draws visitors in to learn more. It’s a reflection of the biodiversity found on our grounds and represents our diverse city and the borough we call home. After all, the Bronx is NYC’s greenest borough! Our brand reflects the Garden’s 133-year history while looking ahead to a bright and botanical future. NYBG is so many things for so many people – a place of respite in a concrete jungle, a place for cutting-edge scientific research, a place to experience art and culture – and our new brand embraces each of these roles, not just for today, but for the generations of purposeful plant people that follow.

The recently released 2024 PRINT Typography report speaks to an intense balancing act between legacy and future impact of typefaces. This renewed identity for NYBG is evidence of this consideration, with a custom wordmark that is a confident, bold, and impactful embodiment of the organization’s call to action.

In tumultuous times, bold brands thrive on unique viewpoints, meaningful collaboration, creative bravery, and unwavering craftsmanship; precisely the approach taken by French start-up OLALA!

Founders François Blum and Simon Ferniot understand that taste remains paramount in consumer choices, especially in the plant-based industry. With this focus on taste, they revamped their brand design to propel their plant-based seafood globally. Teaming up with EVERLAND, a global consumer brand and design agency based in Scandinavia, they developed a comprehensive strategy encompassing brand positioning, communication, activation, and visual identity.

With a mission to provoke good growth through strategy, innovation, creativity, and consumer experiences, EVERLAND shapes bold future-looking consumer brands.

“When nearly all competitors focus on rationality and sustainability, we focus on the emotional aspects of having a great meal. Desires and tastes make for a much more robust platform”, explains Mads Hauge Lindum, Senior Brand Strategist at EVERLAND.

OLALA! crafted a product appealing to gourmet food enthusiasts, not just vegans and vegetarians. The new strategy and identity prioritizes taste excellence and ensures it’s reflected in every aspect of the brand, from casual conversations to formal communication. Even the name OLALA! reflects a well-known feeling – “Ooh là là” in French – a pleasant surprise. All communication revolves around great taste, delightful surprises, and the joy of savoring quality seafood.

We want to make waves, “ says Simon Ferniot, CEO & Co-founder at OLALA!. “We’re here to challenge the market but do it sustainably. Everland helped build a platform for breaking through the ordinary and creating lasting change for the better.”

OLALA! drew its visual inspiration from bistro culture, ​catering to food enthusiasts through its premium yet subtle branding. The design emphasizes the centrality of the meal experience, with off-white tones reminiscent of tablecloths and golden illustrations elevating the presentation. The logo reinforces the message of quality, healthfulness, and environmental friendliness. Currently offering six products, including “Salmonderful,” “Tunalicious,” and “Toramazing,” all featuring key algae ingredients, OLALA! plans to expand its product line soon.

“OLALA! is about taste in more than one way. It’s about the craft, creativity, and a mouth-watering sensation steaming on your plate. It’s understated confidence, verbally and visually; it’s what’s needed to make change happen.”

Carl Larsson, Creative Director & Partner at EVERLAND

*My criteria for choosing my top African American Designers were simple: a) I must love their work, and b) they must be older than I (born in 1966).

I do not intentionally exclude well-deserved and talented younglings. But I wrote this article as a call back to my younger self, to recognize that the path before me was designed Black and beautiful.

Now, read on and shine on.

Charles Dawson (1889 – 1981)

Best known for his illustrated advertisements, Charles Dawson (Charles Clarence Dawson) was an influential Chicago designer and artist through the 1920s and 30s.

He was born in 1898 in Georgia and went on to attend Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute. After two years, he left when he became the first African American admitted into the Arts Students League of New York. Dawson abandoned the pervasive racism of the league when he gained acceptance to the Art Institute of Chicago, where, in his own words, their attitude was “entirely free of bias.” During his time there, Dawson was heavily involved and went on to become a founding member of the first Black artists collective in Chicago, The Arts & Letters Collective.

After graduation, he went on to serve in the segregated forces of WWI, where he faced combat in France. He returned to find a changed Chicago: one racially charged due to a slowed economy and trouble finding jobs. In 1922, Dawson began freelancing, producing work for other black entrepreneurs. Five years later, Dawson played a major role in the first exhibition of African American art at his alma mater called Negro In Art Week.

Dawson took part in two different Works Progress Administration programs under Roosevelt’s New Deal, including the National Youth Administration, where he designed the layout for the American Negro Exposition, a piece composed of 20 dioramas showcasing African American history.

He eventually returned to Tuskegee, where he became a curator for the institute’s museum and passed away at the ripe old age of 93 in Pennsylvania. Dawson will always be remembered for his great contributions to African American art, design, and advancement.

Aaron Douglas (1899 – 1979)

Known as a key artist in the Harlem Renaissance, Aaron Douglas was a pivotal figure in developing a distinctly African style of art through his blending of Art Deco and Art Nouveau styles with connections to African masks and dances. His illustrations, published in Alan Locke’s anthology, The New Negro Movement, showcased his detachment from European-style arts and evolution into his own style, clearly communicating African heritage.

Douglas graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1922 with a BFA. He then taught high school art before moving to New York two years later to study under German artist Winold Reiss.

He became the most sought-after illustrator for black writers of his time after his covers for Opportunity and The Crisis, dubbed “Afro-Cubanism” by leading art critic Richard Powell. Among his other notable covers and illustrations are his designs for Carl Van Vechten’s Nigger Heaven and God’s Trombone, James Weldon Johnson’s epic poem.

Douglas was well-versed in Harlem nightlife, where he spent many nights gaining inspiration for his designs and depictions of the black urban scene. His murals, adorning the walls of various institutions, cemented his name as a major artist of the Harlem Renaissance. His best-known work is a series of murals called, Aspects of Negro Life, which Douglas created for the 135th St. branch of the New York Public Library.

He later left New York to become chair of the art department of Fisk University in Nashville, where he resided until his death in 1979.

Leroy Winbush (1915 – 2007)

One week after graduating high school, Winbush left Detroit for Chicago to become a graphic designer. His inspiration and mentors at the time were sign designers on Chicago’s South Side. He began creating signage, flyers, and murals for the Regal Theater, where he rubbed elbows with some of the most famous black musicians of the time.

Winbush then went on to join Goldblatt Department Store’s sign department, where he was the only black employee. In 1945, after years of working for others, Winbush started his own company, Winbush Associates, later Winbush Designs. Here, he landed accounts with various publishing houses, doing layouts for Ebony and Jet, among others. His ambition and charisma eventually helped him gain acceptance as a black designer and entrepreneur.

Later in life, Winbush began teaching visual communications and typography at various Chicago universities. He concurrently mastered the art of scuba diving, a feat that helped him land a position as part of the crew tasked with creating Epcot Center’s coral reef.

Winbush was adamant in his desire to be remembered as a “good designer,” as opposed to a “Black designer,” but was well aware of the influence he could have on the progression of the Black community. He designed a sickle cell anemia exhibit and exhibitions of the Underground Railroad for different Chicago museums to illuminate Black history, past and present, to the public. His accomplishments throughout his lifetime make LeRoy Winbush a notable African American graphic designer worth checking out.

Eugene Winslow (1919 – 2001)

Born in Dayton, Ohio, into a family of seven children, Eugene Winslow’s parents stressed the importance of education and encouraged their children to study the arts. Winslow attended Dillard University, receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He then served in WWII as part of the revered Tuskegee Airmen.

After the war, Winslow nurtured his lifelong artistic interest by attending The Art Institute of Chicago and the Illinois Institute of Technology. Winslow then went on to co-found the Am-Afro Publishing house based out of Chicago, where in 1963, they published Great American Negroes Past and Present with Winslow’s illustrations. That same year, he also designed the seal commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation for the Chicago Exposition. Throughout his career as an artist, designer, businessman, and entrepreneur, Winslow always sought to promote racial integration wherever possible.

Georg Olden (1920 – 1975)

Born in 1920 in Birmingham, Alabama, to the son of an escaped enslaved person and opera-singing mother, Georg Olden was a revolutionary designer who helped pave the way for African Americans in the field of design and the corporate world.

After a brief stint at Virginia State College, Olden dropped out of school to work as a graphic designer for the CIA’s predecessor, The Office of Strategic Services. From there, the connections he made helped him land a position at CBS in 1945 as Head of Network Division of On-Air Promotions. Here, he worked on programs such as Gunsmoke, and I Love Lucy and eventually went on to help create the vote-tallying scoreboard for the first televised Presidential Election in 1952.

Praised in his day and posthumously, Olden appeared multiple times in publications such as Graphis and Ebony. In 1963, he became the first African American to design a postage stamp. His design showcased chains breaking to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. By 1970, he had won seven Clio Awards for creative excellence in advertising and design and eventually won the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) award in 2007. Celebrated for his talent, charm, and business intelligence, Olden was a revolutionary African American graphic designer who made advancements in the industry and for all African Americans.

Thomas Miller (1920 – 2012)

Born in Bristol, Virginia, the grandson of enslaved people, Thomas Miller’s talent, hard work, and ambition helped him become one of the first Black designers to break into mainstream graphic design.

Miller graduated and earned a Bachelor of Education with a focus on the arts in 1941 from Virginia State College. Soon after, he enlisted in the army and served in WWII, achieving the rank of First Sergeant.

After the war, Miller was determined to learn about commercial design. He gained acceptance to The Ray Vogue School of Art in Chicago, where he and fellow student Emmett McBain were the only African Americans besides the janitors.

After graduation, Miller searched for jobs and denied one offer in New York because he worked “behind the screen.” Unwilling to tolerate the company’s overt racism, Miller passed on the offer and eventually joined the progressive Chicago studio Morton Goldsholl Associates. It was here that Miller, as chief designer, worked on high-profile campaigns such as the design for 7-Up in the 1970s. As a supporting member of the design team, he also worked on the Motorola rebranding, the Peace Corps logo, and the Betty Crocker “Chicken Helper” branding, earning accolades for himself and the company.

Miller also freelanced, starting when he served in WWII and continuing through his work with Goldsholl. Through his independent work, Miller was commissioned to create a memorial to the DuSable Museum’s founders. This job resulted in one of his most well-known pieces, the Thomas Miller Mosaics, now featured in the museum’s lobby.

Miller’s hard work, dedication, and artistic talent helped him pave the way for many African-American artists and designers to come.

Emmett McBain (1935 – 2012)

Emmett McBain, born in Chicago in 1935, is lesser known than some other designers I’ve profiled. But McBain made major contributions to the advertising and design world and for all African Americans through his successes in the business world.

Emmett McBain, a true visual thinker and communicator, attended The American Academy of Art and the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he became a talented watercolor artist. Post-graduation, McBain worked for several notable agencies and firms as a designer, art supervisor, and creative consultant before co-founding Burrell McBain Incorporated. This advertising agency, which later became the largest African-American-owned agency in the States, aimed to serve their accounts while gaining the trust and loyalty of the Black community. McBain was key in running the agency, landing valuable accounts, and constantly developing new and fresh ideas. His former partner, Thomas J. Burrell, praised his leadership skills and ability to think outside the box.

McBain left Burrell McBain in 1974 to focus on independent art and design in his Hyde Park, Chicago neighborhood, where he later passed away in 2012 at 78.

The University of Illinois at Chicago has a collection featuring his works entitled Emmett McBain Design Papers. You’ll find print ads, record album covers, and transparencies of Billboards, all McBain designed.

Archie Boston (born 1943)

Known for his blatant self-deprecation and humor, Archie Boston was a pioneer in challenging the racism of the 1960s and 70s through his designs and attitude.

One of five children, Boston grew up poor but well aware of the importance of education. In 1961, his artistic talent landed him acceptance to Chouinard Art Institute. While at university, he interned with the advertising agency Carson/Roberts, where he cemented his desire to work in design and eventually returned to the agency years later.

After graduation, he worked at various advertising and design firms before forming Boston & Boston with his older brother, Bradford. It was here that they created provocative pieces showcasing their race, as well as creativity, in pieces such as “Catch a Nigger by The Toe” and by selecting the Jim Crow typeface for their logotype.

For the majority of his career, however, Boston was an educator. He landed a position as a full-time lecturer in the art department at California State University, Long Beach, before creating their design department and eventually becoming head of the visual communications design program. He influenced countless young designers there, inspiring them through his encouragement and standard for excellence.

Emory Douglas (Born 1943)

The former Revolutionary Artist and Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party, Emory Douglas’ career in commercial art has been centered around civil and equal rights propagation from its beginnings.

Douglas’ first exposure to design came when his crimes landed him in the Youth Training School of Ontario, California. Here, he worked in the print shop and learned about typography, illustration, and logo design. Later, Douglas enrolled in commercial art classes at the City College of San Francisco after running into a former counselor from the center who encouraged him to do so

During this time, Douglas became active in the Black Panther Party after being introduced to the founding members, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Douglas offered up his design skills while watching Seale work on the first issue of the party’s paper, The Black Panther. He was well aware of the importance of having illustrations and artwork to help reach the many illiterate members of the communities the party was targeting. Much of his art and illustration for the paper initially focused on Black rights, but it soon expanded to include women, children, and community figures alongside the party’s focuses. While working on The Black Panther, Douglas coined and popularized the term “pigs” in reference to police officers.

In the 1980s, the Black Panther Party, as Douglas had once known it, was mostly dissolved by law enforcement efforts. Later, Douglas moved to care for his ailing mother and continued to pursue some independent design. His revolutionary artwork helped to educate and agitate repressed and suppressed communities of the time.

Sylvia Harris (1953 – 2011)

Noted for her unwavering desire to help others, Sylvia Harris was a graphic designer, teacher, and business owner who used her research and skill set to reach far and wide.

Born and raised in Richmond, VA, Harris experienced the desegregation of the 1960s directly. This experience provided the foundation for her interest in social systems and their effect. After receiving her BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, Harris moved to Boston, where she worked with various creative types. Through her work with WGBH and Chris Pullman, she realized the design field’s breadth and depth. After much prodding from her mentor, Harris enrolled in Yale’s Masters in Graphic Design program.

Two Twelve Associates was created with two of her former classmates in 1980 after graduation. Here, Harris began to explore how to use and grow her skill set to develop large-scale public information systems. Her work with Citibank set an early precedent for human-centered automated customer service.

In 1994, Harris left Two Twelve to create Sylvia Harris LLC, where she changed gears and began focusing more on design planning and strategies. Harris helped guide some of the largest public institutions, hospitals, and universities with systems planning. As creative director for the US Census Bureau’s Census 2000, Harris’ rebranding efforts helped encourage previously underrepresented citizens to participate.

Harris was awarded the AIGA medal posthumously in 2014, three years after her untimely death at the age of 57. Harris will always be remembered for her contributions to the design field and far beyond.

Art Sims (Born 1954)

From his first foray into the art world with the “Draw Me” test from magazines and TV of the 50s and 60s, Sims excelled. He attended Detroit’s Cass Technical High School, known for its dedication to the arts. From there, Sims gained acceptance to the University of Michigan on a full scholarship. During the summer between his junior and senior years, Sims landed a job with Columbia Records to produce a series of album covers. After graduation, the Sunshine State called his name, and Sims headed to LA.

Sims scored a job with EMI, but he was ultimately let go for pursuing freelance work. He went on to work for CBS, where he continued building his independent portfolio. When he was let go this time, Sims was prepared and already had the office space for his firm, 11:24 Advertising Design.

After seeing one of Spike Lee’s films, Sims knew he had to work with the director. He went on to design posters for Lee’s New Jack City, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, and most controversially, Bamboozled.

Ever the entrepreneur, Sims is developing a greeting card line and writing screenplays while teaching graphic design to African American middle schoolers. Art Sims is the epitome of talent, drive, and ambition, someone every graphic designer should know.

Gail Anderson (Born 1962)

Known for her uncanny ability to create expressive, dynamic typefaces perfectly suited to their subject, Gail Anderson is a designer and teacher with an impressive tenure in the field.

Born and raised in New York, Anderson’s ever-burning curiosity about design began with the teen magazines of her adolescent years. It was cemented while studying at the School of Visual Arts in NY. Here, Anderson began to develop her methodologies and no-holds-barred approach to design.

After college, Anderson eventually landed at The Boston Globe for two years, working with those responsible for pioneering the new newspaper design of the late 1980s. Moving on to Rolling Stone in 1987, Anderson worked seamlessly with AIGA medalist Fred Woodward, where their creative process always included lots of music, low lighting, and late nights. Her work with Woodward was always exploring new and exciting materials and instruments to create Rolling Stone’s eclectic design. They utilized everything from hot metal to bits of twigs to bottle caps to create their vision.

After working her way up from associate to senior art director, Anderson left Rolling Stone in 2002 to join SpotCo, where her focus shifted from design to advertising. At SpotCo, she’s been the designer behind innumerable Broadway and off-Broadway posters, including that of Avenue Q and Eve Ensler’s The Good Body.

Praised as the quintessential collaborator for her inclusive, expressive, and encouraging attitude towards working together, Anderson also admits that many of her “high-octane” designs occurred at night, solo. Whether it’s her collaborative work, solo projects, magazine layouts, or theatrical posters, Anderson designs work with and for her subjects, always emphasizing their highest potential.

The Unknown & Overlooked Designers

They are many, often invisible, but we feel the impact of their work throughout history, and we should acknowledge them. Many African American graphic designers worked behind the scenes and did not receive credit for their work due to the racist norms of the times. 

These include:

• The logo creators for the uniforms of the Negro baseball and basketball leagues;
• Trail-blazing entrepreneurs like Madam C.J. Walker, Annie Malone, Carmen C. Murphy, Mae Reeves, Anthony Overton, Frederick Patterson, and many more;
• The unknown graphic designer who painted the bold and sobering “A MAN WAS LYNCHED YESTERDAY” flag, hung by the NAACP from their New York offices whenever they learned of a hanging;
• Those presently active (Black Lives Matter) are creating banners, posters, signs, and media protesting discrimination of all kinds. Graphic design, after all, is about communicating a message effectively.

The truth of all history cannot be understated. As a designer of the African diaspora (African-Jamaican-Canadian), I believe in knowing those who paved the way. These men and women boldly pushed past racial inequality with their talent and perseverance to help create the way for all.

Glenford Laughton is founder of Toronto-based agency Laughton Creatves, a design studio that believes design is a highly-collaborative endeavor (hence the missing ‘i’). This article was written and researched by Glenford Laughton and originally published on the Laughton Creatves website. Republished with permission of the author.

Sources: AIGA, The Design Observer, The University of Chicago Library, Atlanta Blackstar, The History Makers, Wikipedia, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Design Archive, and The Root.

Originally founded in Paris, Stereolabs emerged as an AI vision company with its sights set on equipping robots with human-like perception. With their cutting-edge cameras and software development kits (SDK), Stereolabs has empowered over 200,000 developers and 1,000 companies to harness the power of 3D vision in robotics.

However, despite their technological prowess and widespread adoption, Stereolabs found themselves constrained by an awareness issue. Their success in developing hardware, particularly the renowned ZED camera, led many to perceive them solely as a camera company, overshadowing their equally impressive software offerings.

Recognizing the need for a strategic rebranding, Stereolabs partnered with Pentagram to reshape its narrative. The focus shifted from being perceived as a mere provider of cameras to a visionary company offering comprehensive solutions for robotic perception. The new narrative emphasizes Stereolabs’ mission to empower robots with advanced perception capabilities, transcending the limitations of traditional robotics.

Pentagram crafted a dynamic visual identity integrating IRL and digital environments to complement this narrative shift. At the heart of this identity lies a multidimensional spark symbolizing the capture of vision in a digital context. This symbol is a unifying element across Stereolabs’ ecosystem, reinforcing the company’s commitment to precision and innovation.

Moreover, Pentagram developed a comprehensive modular diagram language to illustrate the simplicity and effectiveness of Stereolabs’ ecosystem. These diagrams highlight the ease with which developers can integrate Stereolabs’ hardware and software solutions, thereby unlocking the full potential of autonomous robots.

In addition to the visual identity, Pentagram meticulously designed a color palette and type system that align with Stereolabs’ positioning. Each element of the design system, from the technical icons to the choice of fonts, reflects Stereolabs’ dedication to precision and clarity in conveying complex information.

Key Highlights of Stereolabs’ New Visual Identity:

Dynamic Symbol: The multidimensional star-shaped symbol captures vision in a digital context, seamlessly transforming across various applications, showcasing Stereolabs’ commitment to intelligent robotics.

Modular Diagram Language: Designed to effectively communicate how Stereolabs’ product family can be configured into tailored solutions, illustrating the user-friendly and flexible nature of the ecosystem.

Technical Icons: Distinct icons convey the readiness and robustness of Stereolabs’ technology, serving as visual cues for key features.

Precision through Perception Design Language: Simple and direct visual design underpinned by a technical grid layer, emphasizing accuracy, reliability, and attention to detail.

Color Palette: Each hue in the palette aligns with the ‘eyes’ and ‘brains’ narrative, with Signal Green (SL-Lime) serving as the DNA of the Stereolabs brand.

Type System: Utilising Neubau’s NB Akademie™, a grotesque style with a mechanical tone, ensuring precision and clarity in conveying complex information.

The result of this collaboration is not merely a cosmetic makeover but a strategic realignment of Stereolabs’ brand identity. By conveying their role as both the “eyes” and “brain” of robotics, Stereolabs is poised to lead the next wave of innovation in autonomous systems.

With this new brand identity, Stereolabs is well-positioned to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of robotics and continue pushing the boundaries of what is possible. As they embark on this exciting journey, Stereolabs reaffirms its commitment to shaping a future where robots possess unparalleled perception and intelligence.

I’ve profiled a handful of agencies here at PRINT that are actively combating this agency stereotype, including Six Cinquième in Montreal and Rev Pop in Milwaukee. Another refreshing take came to my attention: an agency in Austin, Texas, that wears the additional mantel of creative community facilitator—introducing Preacher.

Founded by partners Rob Baird (Chief Creative Officer), Seth Gaffney (Chief Strategy Officer), and Krystle Loyland (Chief Executive Officer) in 2014, Preacher emerged around the pillar of “soul”—making more soulful decisions, finding more soul in their work. AdAge named Preacher the Small Agency of the Year in 2019, 2020, and 2022, and maintaining this boutique agency’s size and energy is central to the partners’ mission. 

At the end of last year, I had the opportunity to chat with Preacher CCO Rob Baird. We had a lively conversation about Austin’s creative exuberance, hybrid office spaces, and what growth looks like for a small agency.

(Interview edited for clarity and length.)

How has being based in Austin affected Preacher’s ethos and work?

There are three founding partners of Preacher, and we always say that Austin’s the fourth partner— it was somewhat intentional. Two of us are from Texas, me being one of them.

We all met working at Mother in New York. I think people often start agencies because they’re frustrated or there’s some sort of gap they see, but honestly, we were really happy. We were working on global brands and loved our life in New York, but the idea came through some projects happening in Austin. We kept watching the change and the growth, and we started to feel like, Man, if we were to do anything different, it would just be having our own place to get to make all the calls and decisions. Even if we made the wrong decisions, at least they would be our decisions. 

So we dreamed and schemed for a year and a half. The more we thought about it, the more we felt like Austin was the move. It’s always been kind of mine and Krystle’s spiritual home, and now Seth also loves it as well. We started Preacher in 2014 when life in New York began to feel like we were in a little bit of a bubble; it’s kind of its own thing in New York. And the more we spent time coming to Austin, we were like, Wow, there’s a genuine, generous kind of creator-maker-DIY culture here. It’s still going on despite all the changes in the tech industry; Austin still has this vibe of generosity and camaraderie, like, Let’s make amazing shit together. 

It turned out to be the best decision because it shaped the work and the agency’s makeup. Also, the location influenced how we operate with our clients; this is a big-time hospitality town with food and drink, and we’ve adopted that. The entire downstairs of our office is more like a cafe-store-art-gallery-hotel than an office. Being in Austin has changed our approach to everything.

What is it like operating as a “small” agency? There are a lot of connotations around big agency culture and the grind that comes with it. How is Preacher doing things differently? 

We’re a good size; we can work on global clients, big projects, or smaller brands within huge corporations. But I think we’re also pretty nimble, and our size lets us still design album covers, make music videos, and do stuff that is harder to do if you’re a giant. It’s a nice sweet spot. We never had a number dream, but I think the team has been around 65 or 70 for a few years now, and it feels good.

I’ve always been interested in what “growth” means for an agency like yours. Because in agency land, bigger is by no means better, and getting larger shouldn’t necessarily be the goal. Preacher has found other and more interesting ways to keep growing outside of size. 

That’s how we’ve been thinking about growth, actually. We started doing this free art and literary zine called “The Good Word,” we built a recording studio in our new office just because we were working on so much music packaging. You don’t make much money doing it, but it’s a lot of soul and pride for the designers and the crew that works on them. 

In the same way, our art gallery gives 70% to the artists very intentionally. The gallery doesn’t make much money; its purpose is to let the artists make more and, hopefully, give back to the community. The recording studio has the same model. In Austin, musicians struggle for the money and the space to get their music going, so we built one as part of our new office. Hopefully, in 2024, we’ll have our first artist record their album there. In the short term, it’s enabled us to do more projects with a music angle, which has been cool. 

So for us, that’s the more exciting growth. We make a lot of merch for the Preacher brand, just for ourselves, but now, fashion companies are approaching us for collaborations. So, that’s the growth: intentionally pushing into things and seeing if some of it sticks. 

Because there’s such a massive creative community here, it’s been cool to play a little bit of a connector role for ourselves and others.

How does it feel to be the epicenter and facilitator of all of this creative energy?

We used to laugh at the fact that, for a while, people in Austin just thought we were an art gallery; they didn’t realize what we do. 

Because there’s such a massive creative community here, it’s been cool to play a little bit of a connector role for ourselves and others. We showcase illustrators, designers, and artists in “The Good Word.” Then, when we have our huge South By [SXSW] blowout party, people from Portland, London, San Francisco, and wherever are here take a copy, and suddenly, those creatives are getting hired to work on Nike jobs. Or a photographer friend who showed in the gallery gets an A-list photo rep. Or a few people come together in the space, and the opportunity presents for an amazing local photographer to do a photoshoot. It’s been really fun to see that kind of energy. We’re not doing it with any hope that it comes back to us, other than it feels fun to be in the middle of all that. We thrive off of it. 

We’re trying to encourage people not to feel like they have to make such a hard line between their work stuff and their side hustle…. Don’t be afraid to cross-pollinate a little bit.

By definition, agencies inherently bring together a wealth of creative people, so it’s great to see you all leaning into that with these offerings. How does that mentality extend to your employees?

We’re trying to encourage people not to feel like they have to make such a hard line between their work stuff and their side hustle— This is my work, and this is my creative passion. Bring your creative passion into your work! If you’re a fantastic photographer but your role is strategist, bring photography into your strategy work to tell the stories. Or, if, in addition to being a killer copywriter, you’re really into short-form fiction, let’s create a literary festival or a writing symposium, or let’s put together a compendium like McSweeney’s. 

There’s a lot you can do if you can get people excited. Don’t be afraid to cross-pollinate a little bit. We’ve tried to set the space up where people can use it to make the most of their talent and time as long as they’re here.

Having a physical office space is central to Preacher, not only for how you tackle your client work but also for hosting events and being this creative hub. How have you gone about preserving that in the context of the work-from-home culture boom we’ve seen develop in the COVID era? 

We like the flexibility of the combo. So we’re back in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and then on Monday and Friday, we all work from home. The three partners believe that, overall, we work better together in person. There’s a more creative, collaborative thing happening.

Of course, we all proved how much we could get done during COVID, but if I’m being honest, I don’t enjoy the work-from-home days better. I like having that flexibility, and it’s great for our staff, but some of those work-from-home days end up being the ones where I’m just grinding from meeting to meeting to meeting to meeting for 10 hours straight.

In the office, it feels alive! It’s outside, it’s inside, it’s in groups. Sometimes, things that take a half hour on Zoom can be done in nine minutes if you drop by somebody’s desk. You get back to printing things out and marking them up or watching a cut together— it’s so much more of a tactile, alive, creative experience.

Images courtesy of Preacher.

To maximize the impact of the new identity, Repslabel orchestrated a comprehensive campaign that works across various elements, including digital publications and promotions. The conceptual campaign pays homage to Baroque composers, utilizing graffiti to shroud their identities in secrecy, infusing Les Boréades with an enigmatic quality that focuses squarely on the music itself. This strategic approach enhances the ensemble’s artistic presence and showcases the adaptability and creativity embedded in their revitalized visual branding.

The newly crafted identity is flexible and designed to adapt seamlessly across various media over time. The typographic approach carries a distinct personality, communicating information with clarity and impact. The grid structure provides versatility, accommodating different visual and typographic elements based on the integrated content. A simple yet powerful color palette adds sophistication and allows for harmonization with diverse graphic styles.

Repslabel’s ‘Go for Baroque’ approach, combining contemporary graffiti in contrast with the highly ornate and elaborate style of Baroque, is music to my ears.

Two key drivers stand out: necessity and opportunity.

Necessity often arises from mergers, leadership shifts, or public perception crises. Meanwhile, opportunity stems from growth projections, substantial shifts in products/services, or market-driven company restructuring. Whether by necessity or opportunity, here are some more reasons why a company might choose to rebrand:

1. To Adapt to a Dynamic World: Staying relevant and market-competitive by aligning with changing consumer needs.
2. To Reflect/Reinforce Values and Vision: It’s not just about a new look; rebrands reflect a company’s core values and vision for the future.
3. To Stay Technologically Relevant: Establishing a more robust digital presence and enhancing user experiences in an increasingly online world.
4. To Evolve with the Customer: Signals a commitment to growth and innovation, driving companies to meet changing customer demands.
5. To Reposition for the Future: Strategic repositioning allows companies to capture new markets and expand their global footprint for the future.

Here’s a roundup of companies that launched notable brands that piqued our interest in 2023.

US Army by Siegel+Gale

National Portrait Gallery by Edit Brand Studio & Peter Horridge

Jell-O by BrandOpus

Nokia by Lippincott

We also covered the controversy surrounding the Nokia logo refresh in our Type Tuesday column.

Burberry by Burberry

Reddit by Pentagram

Check out my interview with Pentagram’s Natasha Jen about the Reddit brand refresh.

Fanta by the Coca-Cola Company and Jones Knowles Ritchie

City of New York by Graham Clifford

PRINT also covered New Yorkers’ thoughts (well, tantrum) on the new logo.

“X” logo by Sawyer Merritt

Pepsi by PepsiCo

Read our coverage of the Pepsi rebrand.

Johnson & Johnson by Wolff Olins

Wolff Olins launched their own brand refresh in 2023, too.

MAX by DixonBaxi

This rebrand by London’s DixonBaxi, elicited some big feels from consumers. PRINT’s Chloe Gordon interviewed Sarah Ratinetz, creative director at Forsman & Bodenfors, touching on emotional attachments, if content is more important than design, and her sweet personal connection to HBO.

Eurostar by DesignStudio

Slurpee by Safari Sundays

The Year of the Rebrand isn’t just about a new look—it’s a bold statement of evolution, resilience, and a commitment to staying at the forefront of innovation. Which is your favorite?

BREAD, a free, limited-edition zine, uses design to tell stories and educate readers in a relatable and accessible way. As a brand extension for Cash App, the zine bridges financial literacy and culture, using design and storytelling to make complex financial concepts more accessible and engaging. The inaugural issue focuses on Bitcoin, offering readers a fresh, inclusive perspective on the digital currency.

Cash App’s vision for BREAD extends beyond just information sharing; it aims to transform how people perceive financial education. In a world where discussions about money can be daunting or exclusive, BREAD seeks to make learning about finances more accessible and enjoyable for everyone.

What sets BREAD apart is the collaborative effort of influential artists, designers, and writers, including Allison P. Davis, Richard Turley, and DAISUKE. Their diverse contributions explore various topics, from Bitcoin mining to rebranding the cryptocurrency and unveiling the enigma surrounding its creator.

The BREAD Bitcoin Issue is available in select stores across major US cities. Readers can also access the zine online to order a free print copy.

BREAD Contributor Highlights:

Writers: Allison P Davis, Collier Meyerson, Emilia Petrarca, Margaret Rhodes, Elise Craig

Designers & Illustrations: DAISUKE, Richard Turley, Porto Rocha, FRKO, Cevallos Bros, Stephanie Specht, Steven Montinar

Raul Lopez (LUAR Founder) 

Preserving Reddit’s innate creativity stood as the cornerstone of the redesign process, focusing on refining the company’s brand positioning. Reddit boasts a distinctive authenticity reflected in its platform’s unique features and iconic alien mascot, Snoo. Moreover, Reddit thrives on its curious, informed, and engaged community. With these elements in mind, Pentagram aligned the updated brand with four core attributes: inherent eclecticism, positive distinctiveness, delightful absurdity, and genuine candor.

These traits, coupled with Reddit’s empowering essence as a hub for genuine conversations, culminated in a strategic redefinition: Reddit as “the heart of the internet.” I had the pleasure of speaking with Natasha Jen, partner at Pentagram and design lead for the Reddit brand refresh, who shared the team’s insightful approach with me.

The most important thing that designers need to consider is to put the brand in a more time-based context. It’s not just about this moment in time. It’s about how you take what is most essential of the brand and then how you evolve it, but you have to stick to the spirit.

Natasha Jen, Partner at Pentagram

(Conversation edited for brevity and clarity.)

Having to synthesize years of Reddit collateral must have been quite an undertaking. You had to unite hundreds of pieces. How did your team initially approach this streamlining?

First, we had to identify the spirit of Reddit. What is their ethos? What’s driving them now, and what drove them in the past? What is driving them forward? Once we identified those big ideas, combing through the collateral became easier because we had guardrails. That guidance helped us determine what was valuable, a maybe, and what needed to go into the garbage.

We understood the Reddit brand traits very clearly. They are eclectic. They are different. They want to be positive. They’re delightful and absurd. As a Redditor myself, I see the absurdest move throughout the experience. That was very apparent to me. They’re also candid. They’re real. These traits infuse in everything Reddit does.

These traits informed a very specific brand: Snoo is critical. Why? Because Snoo is eclectic. Snoo is adorable. Snoo is the character that holds a lot of these brand attributes. We needed to keep Snoo, but we also had to give it a rebirth so that Snoo could live in the future, embodying these qualities so specific and true to Reddit.

Identifying the importance of Snoo and its emotional range, did this lead you to the new strategic description of Reddit as the “heart of the internet”? What else led you to this discovery?

Reddit is where people participate and contribute to create this massive knowledge base. It’s a knowledge base because people discuss things and contribute to the content. Each subreddit is an in-depth discussion of people who are passionate about that subject matter. Calling it “the heart of the internet” foregrounds Reddit’s humanness. It’s a hugely and purely human platform. You can’t do that with AI. Reddit does not use algorithms to rank things. The ranking is all done by upvoting and downvoting. That’s total democracy by the people. Changing “The front page of the internet” to “The heart of the internet” conveys a similar mindset. It’s just that we humanized the platform a lot more.

With this diverse and active user base, ensuring that the brand nods to the aspects that have made it familiar to existing users, how will the refreshed brand resonate and potentially attract new users to the platform?

I can hope for the best because I know how much effort has gone into simplifying to attract a new user base. Reddit has many unique features that can be overwhelming to anyone new. Two examples are understanding what r/ means and the upvote/downvote feature.

Reddit has made significant changes to streamline the user experience, particularly for those new to the platform. While this involved simplifying some more elaborate features that long-time users found awesome and playful, our intention was to create a more welcoming and less overwhelming environment for newcomers. Through Reddit’s thoughtful simplification process, the nature of the platform is still true, but it has become a lot easier for anybody to understand and use. Our job was to honor the simplification effort that started long before Reddit hired us to rebrand.

Would you say that’s the secret sauce for any major brand refresh, just simplification?

No, I don’t think so. Simplification can be over-reductive. The key for any rebrand is to truly understand and solidify brand attributes, which must reflect a brand’s ethos. You have to figure out the personality of the organization, be it a product, service, or group of people. What are the brand traits? And you have to bring that spirit into the new era. That’s how every iconic brand evolves. Think about Disney—the time when Walt Disney drew Mickey Mouse was a very different media landscape to today. Disney is one of the world’s most admired and loved media companies. What stays true is the spirit of adventure, fun, and loving, all these wonderful attributes that Disney embodies.

If you don’t immediately recognize the name Rudolph de Harak, you’ve definitely seen his work before. This midcentury icon managed to make simple, minimal design feel playful and innovative with his use of bright colors and psychedelic textures. He brought his unique vision to the covers of groundbreaking psychology books, covetable classical record sleeves, and even Seventeen magazine, where he served as Art Director for over a year. In his five decades of work, de Harak made significant strides in the field of graphic design and influenced countless imitators.

But what made de Harak tick? Who were his favorite artists, and how did his style evolve over time? Artist, author, designer, and educator Richard Poulin unpacks everything you’d ever want to know about this titan in his new book Rudolph de Harak: Graphic Designer: Rational Simplicity. In our latest edition of PRINT Book Club, we’ll have the distinct pleasure of talking to Poulin about the artist and why his work still feels so inventive today.

Don’t miss the chance to dive into design history with an expert of the form on Thursday, January 26 at 1 PM EST! You can preview images from the book below, register for the call here and buy Poulin’s book here.

What do all of these movies have in common? Other than being classic—dare I say iconic?—films that have each played a role in defining American cinema, they all have another connective thread of which even the biggest cinephiles are likely unaware… 

These classics are just a few titles from a laundry list of beloved cinematic masterpieces that all have opening credits created by the same title designer, Dan Perri.

Don’t be too hard on yourself for not knowing this— it’s a sad reality that title designers are unfairly under-acknowledged on the whole, and are rarely given the credit (pun semi-intended) that they so sorely deserve. Considering his staggeringly impressive resume, Dan Perri should be a household name. The Star Wars opening titles alone should be enough to put Perri up there with other film greats in terms of recognition, yet very few viewers probably even consider the creators behind these works of art. 

Luckily there are a subset of advocates for title designers like Perri within the cinematic universe, such as those at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City, where an exhibition chronicling Perri’s 50-year career is now on view. ‘Dan Perri and the Art of the Title Sequence’ is led by the Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs Barbara Miller alongside guest curator Lola Landekic (the Editor-in-Chief of the project Art of the Title). It includes a video interview, sketches, storyboards, type, logo designs, and other production material from a range of films Perri played no small part in putting on the map. Ultimately, the exhibition serves as a long-overdue celebration of an unsung and often overlooked aspect of filmmaking by highlighting the work of a legend in the field. 

I recently had the great joy of chatting with Perri directly about his journey as a title designer and his exhibition. How does one get into creating title sequences in the first place? What’s the process like for coming up with a title sequence? What was it like designing one of the most identifiable and revered title sequences of all time? I had to find out from the master himself. 

Perri was first introduced to graphic advertising design at his high school in Los Angeles, thanks to his art teacher, Barbara Brooks, who had been an agency art director on Madison Avenue in the ’50s. As it turns out, she used issues of PRINT as reference materials for students, and it was in these very copies of PRINT that Perri first discovered the work of the world-renowned graphic designer Saul Bass. “I studied him and loved what he did and wanted to be like him,” Perri told me. “I developed my style to reflect some of his characteristics and approaches to design. Then, luckily, I learned that Saul had offices right in LA on Sunset Boulevard.”

By that time, Perri was already working for himself as a sign painter, painting signs for businesses in and around LA. “So I was aware of and familiar with type, and as I learned more about letters and type styles and so on, I became very interested in designing letterforms.” After learning that his hero Saul Bass lived and worked in the same city that he did, Perri decided he needed to meet him directly and show him his work. So with his portfolio in tow, Perri began taking periodic trips to Bass’s offices in the hopes of grabbing his attention from the building’s lobby. Perri never had an appointment, but what he did have proved to be more valuable: undying persistence and the confidence of naivety. 

Finally Perri’s determination paid off when, one day, Bass himself walked past him in the building lobby. “I introduced myself and he invited me into his office, where he very graciously and very patiently looked at all of my work— every single piece that was there,” Perri told me. “He critiqued me and decided that I had something that he was interested in. He said he wanted me to come back and that he would keep track of me and what I was doing. He offered to give me advice and help me learn more about the world of design that I wanted to be a part of so badly.” 

Perri’s career took a slight detour when he joined the Navy during the Vietnam War, but he was fortunate enough to continue designing while enlisted. “I worked as a journalist in the Navy on a couple of different ships. I designed and wrote a newspaper every day, and did a lot of graphic design for different things within the Navy,” he said. After this stint, he ventured back to Bass, who offered him a job. “But something went off in my head,” Perri told me. “I said to myself, If Saul Bass wants me, I must be good enough. So I turned down the job and I opened my own little studio.” 

After striking out on his own, Perri partnered with an old high school classmate of his, Steve Smith, who had been working at an aftereffects house and had experience in title design and creating art for the screen. They launched their own independent design studio together called Perri & Smith, where their opening title sequence for the 1973 film Electra Glide in Blue caught the attention of the director William Friedkin, who then hired Perri to design the opening titles for The Exorcist (1973). 

This was Perri’s first solo project, and the success of the film catapulted him into title design stardom. “The Exorcist was one of the first big blockbusters, so once that hit, everyone in the industry knew who worked on the film; suddenly I was the flavor of the week,” Perri said. “This was in 1974, and it’s been that way ever since. I’ve been so lucky and fortunate that I’ve never had a day without work.”   

At 77, Perri is still designing titles to this day. He’s also teaching and speaking at film schools, design schools, and festivals all over the US, and even in Europe, spreading his wealth of knowledge with the next generation of title designers. “There’s an enormous amount of interest in my work,” Perri said. “Students always want to know how I did things, especially when I was working optically, which was much more primitive in its mechanics. They want to know how to put something on film, compared to the ease of doing it digitally. They’re always very curious to know what it took for me to do the titles for Nashville (1975), or Taxi Driver (1976), or any of the other films that I’ve done on film.” 

When it comes to Perri’s title design process, of course there is far more than meets the eye. “There’s two levels: there’s the titles themselves, and then there’s whatever the titles are with on screen,” Perri told me. There are also many parties involved in the production of a film who need to be appeased within a given title sequence, ranging from the filmmakers and the studio to the distribution companies and the actors and technicians. Title sequence stipulations for each of these entities are governed by their hyper-meticulous contracts. “Oftentimes, the lead actors’ names have to be the same size as the title; they go into extreme detail about needing to be the same size, same color, same type style, same height, same thickness and so on, so I have to be aware of all of those sorts of requirements.” 

From there, Perri tackles the background imagery for the sequence. “Sometimes I might shoot them, or direct them, or find artwork, or take photographs, or decide that they will be on black, or whatever it is,” he said. Perri is also a completist with his practice, who demands full creative control of his title sequences from start to finish. “Because I’m a specialist, people want me to create sequences for the film rather than just designing a logo, and pass it off to them and hope they put it on screen the way I envisioned it. I require that I handle the entire project; I design the logo, all the titles, and then I supervise putting it together and delivering it completed. I’ve enjoyed a lot of autonomy in my work. Fortunately, I’m trusted and respected and given the reins to do what I think is best.” 

The ideation process for Perri seems more like a preternatural gift than anything else. All he requires is a pencil and paper. “I will view the film and then come up with ideas. These ideas are still a mystery to me; I don’t know where they come from. They’re just suddenly in my mind’s eye. I see images, I see motion, I see whole sequences sometimes, all based upon my emotional reaction to viewing the film. It’s a simple process,” he told me. “Once I get an idea, I literally have to scramble to find a piece of paper to draw it out. I always use a pencil with an eraser on the back of it so that I can draw something and then erase it and change it and so on. This is a process that has been with me ever since I began when I was painting signs; I would sketch them out with paper and pencil. It’s worked for me all this time and I still do it exactly the same way. If I don’t capture an idea on paper right away, sometimes it goes away, it just evaporates; it’s gone, I can’t remember it. So it’s a process that requires a very quick response to the idea.”

Perri’s brain is so prolific that he usually fields a handful of concepts. “I’m fortunate that, not only do I get one idea, but I get many ideas,” he said. “There’s an ongoing thing where one might pop up in my head suddenly a day after watching the film, or come out of something that I thought of yesterday. So it’s a very exciting ongoing creative process for me.” 

Once the idea has blossomed, Perri begins to explore how to apply it to the screen. “Now, with computers, I can just scan my drawing and start manipulating it on the computer. But the computer is just a tool. It’s a terrific tool, but it’s dependent upon the idea,” he said. “You can then take it a lot farther because of the ability of the computer, but without the idea, there’s nothing. I live on my ideas.”

For someone who’s worked in the same industry for 50 years and counting, Perri has witnessed the evolution of title sequences and their production process firsthand. “There’s a lot more technology available for designers to use now, and so many sequences have become much more complex,” he said. “They’re very busy and full of many design elements. Sometimes, I think they have too many tools to do too many things with. Oftentimes, I think less is better.” 

Aside from obvious advancements in technology and the leap from film to digital, there’s also been a dramatic shift in the structure of the title sequence industry, which has moved from individual title artists to large groups of designers who work for studios. “When I first started out and for most of my career, we all did our work personally. Myself and most of my competitors— Saul Bass and others— did our work and got credit for it as an individual. But nowadays, title sequences are done within teams, with names like Digital Kitchen or Imaginary Forces or Prologue. They approach and solve the problem of what to design for the film as a group. They collaborate with each other and then they attack the director with all of these ideas from all different directions and all different viewpoints. They may produce a better product— I don’t know!” Perri said. “But when people want me to work on a film, they want me. They don’t want people who work for me, or some team or group of people— they want me.”

Perri has always been incredibly protective of his creative vision for his projects, and has rejected any notions of expanding to work with other designers. “I’ve never had any collaborating designers in my studio that work for me, nor have I ever hired anyone to design something for me that I then pass off to the director,” he said. “I reached a point years ago where I had so much work that I had to make a decision: should I work more like Saul Bass where I hire a few designers with me, and supervise them and develop their ideas, and then take it to the client as mine? Or should I start turning jobs down and only do what I can do myself? That’s what I chose to do, and I still operate that way; I can’t let go of any of it. I’m always grateful for having that autonomy, that control of my work, and that appreciation of it. That’s why I still work— because I still enjoy that.”

While Perri has been fortunate to mostly collaborate with directors who respect his legacy and vision, there have been a few trickier experiences, not least of which came when creating his most well-known title sequence, the scrolling opening credits for Star Wars. “I always thought of it as a stupid space movie, and when I was working on the film, it was not a good experience for me,” he told me candidly. “Working with George Lucas was not a thrill. He was very put-upon and overwhelmed, and always angry and difficult. He was known for not being able to communicate what he wanted very well, so people were always trying to drag it out of him.”

The process for creating what might be Hollywood’s most well-branded title sequence was such a pain that Perri was eager to get it over with. “Whenever I would go out to ILM [Industrial Light & Magic], I’d wait for him for hours to show him things that I’d brought,” he said. “Finally, when he looked at it, he never liked it, and would send me off with some other idea, or something else to look at. It wasn’t fun to have to wait for him to then be criticized by him and rejected. When I finally came up with the idea that we used, I was glad to just see the end of the road and be done so that I could move on with another project.”

Likely due in part to these negative associations, Perri did not expect the fanatic reception of his work on the film. “I was amazed, and I’m still amazed. It’s never ended,” he told me. “I meet people all the time who realize that I did those titles and they’ll flip out. They can’t believe that they’re meeting the person who did the title sequence that apparently is so important to them. They have to sit me down, and they have to tell me everything about the day they first saw the film. It’s just astonishing. I look at them in wonderment. The film itself never really impressed me a whole lot, but I know that hundreds of millions of people around the world feel differently about it.”

Perri has had a handful of unforgettable encounters with the franchise’s notoriously feverish fanbase. “I’ve been invited to go to Star Wars conventions to sign autographs, and I’ve seen the whole gambit of these Star Wars maniacs,” he continued. “They wait in line to get my autograph or to take pictures with me; sometimes people will have me sign their forehead or the top of their head. One young woman had me sign across the top of her breasts!” 

Now, thanks to the Museum of the Moving Image exhibition, more than just these Star Wars die-hards have gotten to fawn over Perri and his work. The designer himself initiated it, as part of his desire and need to share his work. “It happens that I do something that is appreciated by people, and I want to pass it on to the next generation; I want to share what I’ve done and what I know. I feel obligated to do that,” he said. He’s done this previously by teaching and speaking to students, writing his book Hollywood Titles Designer: A Life in Film, and now through the ‘Dan Perri and the Art of the Title Sequence’ exhibit. 

“When I saw it and walked through it, I was thrilled, almost to where it felt like I was seeing someone else’s work,” Perri reflected on seeing the exhibition in person for the first time. “I was impressed; I’ve never seen all of my work together at one time. Sure, I can watch videos of my work strung together one after another, but it’s not the same as being in this space, where there’s the actual objects that I created and filmed and used in different projects.” 

The exhibition is on view through January 1 within the museum’s Video Screening Amphitheater, but it’s safe to say Perri’s legacy will live on forever.

Over his many years working as a designer, Sahre has doggedly remained independent. He is a frequent visual contributor to The New York Times, designed book covers for authors such as Chuck Klosterman, Malcolm Gladwell, and Clarice Lispector. I had an opportunity to talk with him about this honor and his initial response to the big news.

Did you know this work was being submitted for a Grammy? Have you ever had your work submitted before? How long have you been working with They Might Be Giants?

I did. I’ve been serving as unofficial designer-at-large for the band since 2012. There have been other projects we’ve done that were submitted, but honestly, I never gave it much thought. A Grammy nomination seemed far-fetched (still does) for all kinds of reasons. This is primarily because nearly everything I have designed for They Might Be Giants are things I have wanted to make for the sake of making. The great thing about the nomination is that it provides a moment to ponder all of the great things we have made together of the years.

Can you tell me a bit more about Book and how you approached designing it?

Book is They Might Be Giants 23rd studio album. It’s an album that is also a physical book of lyrics and photography. It is 12” x 12”, which is the same size as a vinyl LP. The idea is in the classic surrealist Treachery of Images mold— it’s an album that is titled Book. Since it is an actual book, calling the album Album would have been misleading, right?

[TMBG band member] John Flansburgh and I have been talking about doing a book for several years. A bunch of false starts led us here. We found Brian Karlsson through photographer Gus Powell. Brian’s street sensibility bumps into TMBG’s music in all sorts of interesting ways. John, Brian, and I pored over his images and created various edits.

As I have done with a number of other TMBG projects, I purposefully abandoned current production methods. I really liked the idea that the typewriter would force me to do a kind of physical performance with each song, with the type play responding to the images in differing ways. The type echoes songs and images in some instances and ignores them in others.

The typewriter is inconvenient, so it forces you to improvise and create in ways that feel new, even with lapsed technology. A few years ago, we did an epic nine-part music video shot entirely with 8mm film for the TMBG song “Tesla.” This took six months, and every day was a challenge. Not a day went by when I didn’t ask myself why I was doing this to myself! The last thing I expected while endlessly typing at 2 AM in the studio was a Grammy nomination. It’s equal parts wonderful and inexplicable. Book is exactly the opposite of where technology is pushing everything; manually typing a 144-page book [as we approach] the year 2023 is absurd. But then again, maybe Auto-Tune will [feel] interesting/new in 50 years.

Is it true you hand-typed the entire thing? (And what happened when you made a mistake?) How did you go about designing something you were typing in real time?

Yes, entirely. However, I started the work by having designers Woojoo Im and Shiqing Chen experiment with the songs on the computer.  Shiqing was in China and Woojoo was in Korea, and they didn’t have access to a Selectric typewriter, so they used InDesign and created study after study with the closest approximation to monospaced typefaces they could find.

Meanwhile, I bought an IBM Selectric III typewriter on eBay. Mine is tan (I really wanted a red one). I found a place called Reptronics to have it serviced. Turns out, Reptronics is run out of the owner’s garage in a suburb somewhere in New Jersey. The Selectric III is from the late-1970s, and the one I purchased is the self-correcting model. I started with the idea that all text would be typed manually, including corrections. I piggybacked on the studies that Shiqing and Woojoo created. When mistakes were made— as long as the paper was still in the typewriter carriage— I could correct with a little backspace key with a small ‘x’ on it. Once the paper was removed from the carriage however, whiteout had to be employed. As a result, I spent a good amount of the COVID lockdown typing. There was a three-to-four-week period of inactivity while I waited for new ribbon cartridges to arrive. 

My favorite aspect of working with the Selectric III was the ability to work with different typefaces. Typeballs (golfball-sized metal balls) could be swapped out on the fly.

The typeballs deployed in Book were:

• Courier
• Olde English
• Letter Gothic
• Script
• OCR-A
• MANIFOLD
• Symbol
• Orator
• Dual Gothic

How do you collaborate with TMBG? Do they always approve all your ideas?

All They Might Be Giants projects start and end with Mr. John Flansburgh. Often John will come to me with an idea. Sometimes, it’s a collaboration. Sometimes, it’s a specific need. Sometimes, I just make shit up. In the 1980s, I started my design career listening to their music while I worked. I know the band inside and out. Mutual respect goes a long way…

If you win, this will be your first stop to getting an EGOT! What’s next on your agenda to conquer?

I had to look that up. No agenda really, other than waking up tomorrow and asking “What do I get to design today?”

While most of the brands he chose already retain a strong ’80s association, like Vans or Uno, he doesn’t shy away from modern tech, like Spotify and Playstation. The designs feature a light spot-the-reference feel that ’80s kids are sure to love. Serra’s reimagined Spotify logo recalls a glitchy landscape from Tron, while Microsoft and Playstation’s color-blocked squares evoke the classic look of handheld memory game Simon. Clean lines and poppy, streamlined colors ground his designs in the here and now.

Check out some of our favorites below, and explore the rest of Serra’s work on his website.

Designed By

While Kece spends most of his time designing for paying clients, he recently did a bit of pro-bono work for a local piano teacher. After continuously passing a flyer for lessons, Kece realized that there was a much more effective way to present the information. His ingenious revamp mimics the layout of a keyboard, featuring pull out tabs that look like piano keys. This simple, innovative design stands out in a public space, and its kindhearted backstory makes it all the better.

Project Credits
Onur Kece

You can still buy the calendar on the website for São Paulo design shop Gengibrão, and you can keep up with Estúdio Drama on their Instagram.

The 2022 Lunar Calendar poster was our first project created as a studio and dedicated part of our profits to food donation. That’s part of why the theme is “brazilian fruits”, with vibrant colors printed using risograph. It’s composed of three colours: fluorescent pink, yellow and gold.

Project Credits

Design: Laís Zanocco and Tiago Araujo
Illustration: Brenna Oriá, Caroline Aranha, Laís Zanocco and Natália Sayuri Lara

There’s BRB, RFP, TL;DR, and many, many more. In fact, there are so many examples of shortened internet jargon that Pentagram created an 83-page glossary called The FBI Guide to Internet Slang. This clever collection features over 2,800 acronyms, a quiz on 14 especially absurd ones, and two primary typefaces by Pentagram partner Matt Willey. The two fonts are appropriately named Edgar Sans and Clyde Slab, inspired by notorious FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and his deputy and rumored lover, Clyde Tolson.

Pentagram’s latest annual greeting challenges readers to decipher the cryptic acronyms found on social media.

Internet lingo is constantly evolving, especially on social media, where it can seem impenetrable to anyone who doesn’t spend most of their lives on the platforms. In 2014, the FBI’s Intelligence Research Support Unit commissioned a comprehensive study of the jargon, noting that “with the advent of Twitter and other social media venues on the internet, the use of acronyms and shorthand has exploded.” The result was a somewhat preposterous 83-page glossary consisting of over 2,800 entries that range from obvious examples like LOL and OMG, to ones that are more obscure and amusing, such as PWP (plot? what plot?) and NTTAWWT (not that there’s anything wrong with that), and even the design-minded RFP (request for proposal).

This exhaustive list inspired Pentagram’s latest annual greeting, “The FBI Guide to Internet Slang.” The booklet challenges readers to identify 14 abbreviations of varying difficulty and absurdity, with answers at the back. The acronyms are set in two custom typefaces designed by Pentagram partner Matt Willey, based on the markings that appear on the agency’s uniforms, particularly in popular media. The two fonts are fittingly named Edgar Sans and Clyde Slab in honor of longtime FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and his deputy and alleged lover Clyde Tolson. Additional examples appear as a typographic pattern in the gatefold cover, printed in black-on-black foil stamping.

A limited number of copies of the booklet are available while supplies last. To receive one, simply provide proof of a donation of any size to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the non-profit organization working to defend civil liberties in the digital sphere. Make your donation here, then forward a copy or screenshot of your donation receipt to info@pentagram.com.

Project Credits
Pentagram

COVID-19 hit the creative community particularly hard, and it remains one of the sectors most at risk from the crisis. A year into the pandemic, a report from Otis College of Art and Design reported a loss of 175,000 jobs in California alone while in New York employment in the creative fields fell by 66%.

On the surface, such bleak prospects do not bode well for students and emerging creatives, who have also experienced unparalleled upheaval in their schooling. But on a more positive note, these circumstances have provided new opportunities to nurture emerging design talent, which may well reap positive, long-term changes.

I’ve been seeing this firsthand in my role as a Dean at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, and as President of D&AD, a non-profit education organization and awards program for advertising and design that bridges the gap between education and industry.

For example, last year D&AD partnered with Google to expand D&AD Shift, a free industry-led night school for new creatives facing barriers to accessing higher education and employment. Originally founded in London, D&AD Shift with Google moved onto New York and is now expanding to three additional cities, including Sydney. More than 67% of graduates have gone on to work for leading creative companies such as Droga5, The Mill, McCann, and Design Bridge. These promising results made it possible to establish a digital campus and enhance the reach and accessibility of the program.

While the accessibility and quality of online education has been one of the pandemic’s biggest challenges, it has the potential to be one of its most positive legacies. Through their remarkable adaptation to online learning, students at Central Saint Martins have developed a unique set of transferable skills that we believe will have real value in commercial settings. In digital spaces, they are learning new ways to connect, elevate, and amplify their ideas.

The wider creative community is also seeing opportunities to do things differently in the wake of the pandemic. This includes leading agencies and brands, who are adapting their approaches to support and nurture young design talent.

Alasdair Lennox is Group Executive Creative Director of Experience, Americas, at Landor and Fitch, one of the agencies that leads workshops at D&AD Shift. For him, the pandemic has highlighted the importance of supporting creatives without formal design education.

“Greater diversity equals more creativity, but we need to actually create those opportunities for people,” said Lennox. He also acknowledged that the pandemic has provided an unexpected benefit in the form of more diverse design talent.

“San Francisco, where I am based, is an amazing creative hub, but it is too expensive for many people to live in,” he continued. “Three years ago, we would have hired people in a commutable distance. But now we can hire talented people from much further away. It has become a real leveler.”

Remote working has also encouraged creative agencies to enhance their support systems for interns, as well as graduates and dropouts transitioning into real jobs.

“The experience of work for interns can feel very transactional at the moment,” said Jess Marie, Creative Director at Design Bridge, New York. “They’re briefed, sent away, and then have to present that work back on digital platforms like Teams, which can feel very formal. We are making much more of an effort to teach them step-by-step processes, and have introduced an internal mentoring program, which we will keep in place for in-person settings as well.”

D&AD Shift recognizes the importance of Marie’s point, and we recognize that not all opportunities will arise immediately following the 4-month night school. To address this, we have recently created Shift Select, an additional month of on-the-job learning. In this program, Shifters can specialize in a pathway of advertising, design, or production and learn with our agency partners. We’ve also introduced Shift Studio, an industry-led learning experience that will enable the Shift alumni to continue to develop their portfolio. This program will include guided brief responses, tackling business, and societal challenges, working directly with in-house teams at brands including Google, Disney, giffgaff, and Here Design.

It is crucial for brands to support emerging creatives, especially when it comes to improving access and diversity. Ratna Desai, Director of Product Design at Netflix for Personalization Experience believes that technology companies can play a big role in preparing the next generation of designers. She believes “the people designing our service need to be reflective of our global members. It’s essential to building inclusive products.”

To this end, Netflix has launched its own program called the Netflix Pathways Bootcamp, which develops students’ technology skills by applying them to real-world business problems. They aim to increase representation in the tech industry, particularly among Black and Latinx communities.

As a result of initiatives like D&AD Shift, both Marie and Desai have observed more individuals offering their time and resources to support junior talent. 

“There are individual driving programs set up to help creatives who want a career in the industry, but haven’t had the opportunity to come through college,” Marie noted. “John Glasgow, the Co-founder of creative agency Vault 49, spearheads an initiative giving students from low-income backgrounds the opportunity to work on projects and broaden their networks, for example.”

Desai has also noticed a rise in exciting, hands-on opportunities. “I recently attended a fantastic event called Made in the Future, founded and led by Kristy Tillman, Director of Product Design at Netflix for Creative Production & Promotion,” she said. “The program provides the opportunity for design leaders and senior practitioners to come together and share ideas, find camaraderie, and to support the professional development of Fellows (emerging underrepresented design talent) through a series of immersive events.”

There’s no denying that the pandemic hit the creative community hard, but it has also provided a wide range of benefits. It accelerated the acquisition of new skills, encouraged us to consider new approaches to design education, and reiterated the importance of collaborating as a community to ensure new creatives can fulfill their potential. It’s also proof that, even as established creatives, we never stop learning or evolving. I’m proud of D&AD for its support of emerging talent, and I encourage creatives far and wide to get involved however they can.

The 2022 Awards deadline has now passed, but if you would still like to enter, get in touch with the Awards Team at awards@dandad.org.

Years later, Chulo dropped out of SCAD, describing the experience as “expensive for no reason.” After a stint at a branding agency, he returned to his roots of freelance designing for smaller musical acts. That led to Chulo creating mixtape covers for rappers like GoldLink, Chaz French, and IDK. His star rose right alongside theirs, and he eventually attracted the attention of producer Illmind. Chulo joined the producer’s independent label before landing at Atlantic, where he currently works as Art Director.

Now you can see Chulo’s work everywhere, from the record shop to the singles on a curated Spotify playlist. He reckons that he has worked on thousands of covers, and his impressive list of clients includes Cardi B, Yoko Ono, Kodak Black, Jon Bellion, and Radamiz.

When you talk to Chulo about his favorite album covers, it’s easy to get a sense of what inspires his own work. Below, we dive into the images that have made the biggest impact on Chulo’s creative practice.

(This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.)

Gorillaz – Demon Days

I bought this album from FYE. I had to be a freshman in high school, and I was going to a new school. That was just my soundtrack, top to bottom—kind of dark, very melodic. I didn’t know anything about Gorillaz, other than their hit song was on VH1 all the time.

I remember the cover vividly, being on my way to school and listening to Demon Days. I just felt like the characters resonated with me. They’re really cool, and it just made me feel really cool, you know? It’s a great mixed bag album too. You have some gospel, you have some hip-hop, some soul, and some electronic. It just runs a wide gamut. When I think about it, it’s played into who I am a lot more than I think. I’m a lot of different cultures, music experiences, and perspectives packed into one person.

Jay-Z & Linkin Park – Collision Course

I was a big Linkin Park fan, even before Jay-Z. I was growing up in Virginia, you know, super suburban, and I was just like, “what is this?” It’s just a very eclectic cover—very heavy hip-hop [influence with] the graffiti. There are a lot of illustrated hands, you have the paint, and it just feels so raw, you know? But this is one of the first CDs I purchased, and I had the deluxe edition with a DVD. I played that all the time.

Thinking back, with Linkin Park and Jay-Z, it was a perfect mashup of anime, Black culture, and rebellion. It’s just cool, you know? This cover specifically is what got me into album covers and design. It just did a lot for me, and that definitely pointed me down this path.

JMSN – Priscilla

I remember coming across this music in college. I was going to SCAD at the time, but this was just such an obscure photo. Like, what is this red box over this woman’s face? And I just listened to the music—it’s a very melodic, very dark, macabre R&B album. 

I did [a cover] for Chaz French called Happy Belated. I used that kind of red to box him and his daughter in as well, so the inspiration for that came directly from [JSMN’s] cover. It was just so striking. The color blocking is insane; it’s a little morbid, but it just stands out.

Anderson .Paak – Malibu

Definitely my favorite Anderson .Paak project. I think the collage work is beautiful. It just adds this whimsical mystique to it that makes it feel like a fairy tale. The cover is by Dewey Saunders. I didn’t know him when this came out, but over time, we’ve gotten to know each other. He’s still killing it with the collages. He has a lot of art shows going on, but he did a beautiful job with this. It’s one of my favorites of all time. Top 10.

Do you ever do any collage work yourself?

I did for Kiiara a while ago, for her single “Messy.” I did five different sets, one for each character in the music video, and then one of her on top of the car.

How involved was she in that?

She was involved, feedback-wise. But I presented this idea, and they thought it was dope.

That was early on for me at Atlantic. The way it usually goes is, I ask, “What are your inspirations?” ​​You get stuff from the artist first, and then you figure out how everyone will build it. You don’t start before you get some information. Otherwise, it’ll just be a waste of time. But I was ambitious. 

What are your deadlines usually like?

They’re pretty open. Sometimes there are rushes, and it’s like three to five days. But from marketing agency life, that was the same day. Someone would say, “Alright, we need this in the next three hours.” And [I’m] like, yo, what? 

So it’s very comfortable. We’ll get weeks or months because we have to plan photoshoots, get mood boards together, and make sure we hire the right creative. Or it’s something I work on myself— there’s just a lot of variables, but they give us lead time.

Sylvan LaCue – Apologies In Advance

That was my first time working with Sylvan. I was a fan of his projects before, and I reached out constantly. “Next project, let me work on it.” I badgered him as often as I could. And eventually, he hit me one day, and he said, “I think it’s time.”

You were a fan before?

Oh yeah. He told me the concept, and it was going to be like an AA meeting. So I made this Apologies in Advance logo—the merch looked incredible. And in this project, he speaks on this thing as a young 20-year-old with questions and being confused. So it touches on mental health, and there are interludes where it talks about situations we can all relate to. 

It’s a very healing album for people that listen to it. It makes you feel like you’re not necessarily alone in these situations where you might find yourself confused. So it just means a lot to me, and it came out super clean. They got the banner printed that same week, so it wasn’t Photoshop— it’s practical design.

Do you prefer to do something with more graphic components, or do you like photoshoots with artists better?

Practical design is always going to be key. Having a good setup, having a set designer, having things made, and getting that shot feels more honest. Things that are over touched-up or graphics-heavy can be great, but sometimes, when you’re trying to convey a message, that’s not the way to go. I think covers with as little text as possible and a strong image will transcend everything.

Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak

That is when I first got introduced to Kaws. His work has just been incredible across the board, and Kaws is one of my favorite artists. Very trendy, very hypebeast-y, but at the end of the day, I like what I like. Who cares!

But the color bars on the side of this album cover spoke to me. We referenced that in a GoldLink album I worked on, And After That We Didn’t Talk. So on the side of the album, we have color bars where we just made this language out of circles, with these little dots…in a similar fashion to [these colors] on the left side of Kanye’s album.

Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly

Incredible cover. I mean, Black people in front of the White House, who would have thought?

It’s definitely just a vibrant time in history, where barriers are being broken, but at the same time, people are getting hurt. But everyone’s still kind of hopeful, and we’re trying to grow. I feel like this cover just embodied where everyone was at [in 2015]. And even his single kind of threw people off. Like, “I Love Myself?” Why is this the first single of the project? 

But it’s coming together. The image just says so much to me. It’s okay to be yourself, no matter how rugged [or] ghetto, or however you want to speak. Our differences are what make us great. Imagine everyone being the same. I would cut my finger off just to be different.

Radamiz – Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes

That’s by Sam Lindenfeld. Great illustrator. 

I never heard of Radamiz until I came across this cover. And it’s a beautiful project, one of my favorites sonically [and] visually as well. It just feels like family. Even though he’s hidden in the corner, and you can’t really see his face. It’s like, what is this story? The mystery on top of the art sold me and pulled me in. When I’m feeling off or confused, if there’s too much going on, I listen to this album to reset.

Solange – A Seat At The Table

Incredible sounding album, [with] one of the greatest tracklists. I’ve revisited it hundreds of times. So obscure, but it just works because it’s balanced. The line guides your eye to where it needs to go. It’s just so subtle, and it’s a comfort to look at. It’s always been something I reference often, and it just fits. 

How do you reference it? 

Type, layout, organization, publication design. I’ve never sampled it or tried to do anything like it, but it definitely inspires me to think not so linearly, if that makes sense. The cover is linear, but it’s not at the same time. We have some records that get flipped vertically, and some are horizontal, but you have these lines that aren’t perpendicular, and the balance is just perfect.

NoMBe – They Might’ve Even Loved Me

This cover stood out to me a lot. All these bodies are on top of one another, and it looks so peaceful. It’s one guy and a few women, so I’m assuming it’s like past relationships, just with everyone in one place. It’s kind of crazy, but it just works. I like that the type on the top right just kind of spirals down, and it just repeats, but it’s there like a stamp. I always keep this in mind as well. It’s very well done.

There’s something really handmade about it. Do you ever feel like you get to do that? Where you’re actually getting to draw a little bit or do something by hand?

Yeah, definitely. Draw, scan, rip, scan again, paint— all that. I need to stand out and do something different at the same time. 

I’ve done so many covers. If I had to count, hundreds, maybe 1000s? Probably 1000s. But just having to be different all the time is very important to me. I feel like my popularity has grown a little bit, but I think it hasn’t at the same time, because you can’t pinpoint me to one specific thing.

As businesses vie for attention in an oversaturated market, a strong brand identity can make all the difference. That means spot-on color is a must for print campaigns.

Brands are looking for differentiation

According to Shopify’s Future of Commerce 2022 report, an astounding 10 years’ worth of e-commerce growth occurred in the first quarter of 2020. Following this pandemic-induced boom, companies are now tasked with investing in their brands to stand out from the competition, gain new customers, and keep them coming back for more.

The other major trend the report highlights is that “digital advertising is more costly and less lucrative than ever before.” The declining returns of digital make print a cost-effective way for brands to get in front of customers.

Using color to stand out

What hasn’t changed is that color continues to be a crucial aspect of a brand’s visual identity. Chris Javate, a Creative Design Director in New York City, says that color is “a detail that makes a world of difference when it comes to branding.”

Today, as design trends reflect a highly competitive arena, marketers are using brighter colors or, alternatively, unique and subtle shades to leave a lasting impression. Looka, a logo-design and brand identity platform, reports a trend toward “bolder, neon colors,” citing the 2021 update of Baskin Robbins’ logo. Its analysis states, “Small brands are also opting for bigger colors as the online marketplace becomes increasingly saturated with competition (thanks COVID-19).”

While bright colors are all over packaging, magazines, and catalogs, some understated hues are trending too. Designers are turning to earthy tones, pastels, and slightly faded colors to give images a retro appeal. Delicate gradients are making a big comeback as well.   

Consistency is key

Whatever palette a design team chooses to convey a brand personality, the way it renders across various mediums matters a great deal.

Javate says, “With branding, consistency is key. You want to make sure your brand is represented the way you want, at all times. It comes down to the simplest elements like placement, sizing, and color. If you get a communication from a brand, and the color is a bit off, it’s in danger of losing equity.”

In-house proofs save time for creativity

Printed proofs are a key tool in ensuring that a particular palette keeps its integrity.

Javate says, “If you have a red design and send it off for printing without a proof, everything could turn out looking orange. We send direct mailers, catalogs, and print ads to various printers, and they all have different settings. The color proof from your side says, ‘this is what you have to match,’ so everyone has the same point of reference.”

Designers often send their work to a print provider, wait for the proofs to come back, and check that they look as intended before sending them off for production, whether that be to a publication or a packaging manufacturer. Sometimes this can take several rounds, which is a time-consuming process.

Having a right-sized production-level printer in the office, such as the RICOH Pro C5300s, gives time back to designers, allowing them more freedom to explore their options. Javate explains, “Being able to print proofs in-house means you don’t have to wait for someone else to print it before checking it.”

At home with color

Any interior designer will tell you that they found themselves booked up for the last two years. As we’ve had to spend more time at home, the domestic arts underwent a revival, and segments such as home retail became big business. 

In this catalog for a home goods store, the colors suggest a sense of comfort and calm. By creating proofs on the RICOH Pro C5300s before production, the designer was able to make sure that the aesthetic subtleties came across accurately. 

Lights, color, action

While live entertainment hasn’t fared so well recently, the industry is expected to make a strong rebound.

Lou Capone, who leads color management projects for Ricoh, emphasizes the importance of accurate hues for his entertainment clients: “It’s all about getting the right reaction from the end-consumer. When they see a poster of an entertainer or athlete, they should have a real, visceral reaction. That’s how you create the connection with them. That’s why it’s so important to get things like skin tones, eye color, and halftones to look realistic.”

With fast, in-office proofs, creatives can make sure that photography strikes just the right tone.

RICOH Graphic Communications is committed to supporting the vitality of the graphic arts community. Your brilliance continues to drive us and the products we create. This series explores the role, resurgence, and retro appeal of paper for creatives in today’s digital age.

Experience the power of proofs. Request samples here.

The package’s seamless blend of modern features and more classical details creates a timeless appeal. VJ-Type’s Dahlia typeface communicates an elegant aesthetic across all the theater’s marketing materials.

Project Credits

Nick Dahlen
Violaine & Jeremy

Sometimes, supporting individuals can go a lot further than we think. The power of connection in the creative industry can be impressive, and some designers might need that extra boost in these challenging times. If you’re looking to support Ukrainians, this list of designers might help you discover new creators you love. If you’re interested in donating money, check out our list of links at the bottom of the article.

OUUM | @ouum_studio

Founded in 2016, Ouum is a design studio that focuses on architecture and 3D visualization. Their work pulls color palettes from 60s pop art and interior design, as well as the Bauhaus and Modernist movement. Ouum’s designs are bright, whimsical, and beyond intriguing. I only wish I could submerge myself in their worlds, like a big fluffy chair resting on a bright green stage. Be sure to follow Ouum if you’re looking to bring some funky colors to your Instagram feed. 

Mad Cats | @madcats.agency

Kyiv’s Madcats Agency has plenty of spunk and a zest for design. Their fun, tongue-in-cheek personality is immediately visible on their website, which turns your standard, arrow-shaped cursor into a cat’s paw. Madcats’ work is highly visual and makes a strong impact through bold colors and enticing typography. Follow their account if you’re looking for inspiration to step and create outside the typical box. 

The First The Last | @thefirstthelast.agency

Kyiv-based design studio The First The Last prides itself on pushing clients beyond the norm. They design branding in addition to apps and websites, creating a complete, 360 approach. The agency’s engaging Instagram account showcases consistently dynamic, typographical, and sleek designs. They balance their unmistakably futuristic graphics with an elegant sense of timelessness. 

Kat Bielobrova | @kat.bielobrova

Once you get to know Bielobrova’s vibrant, bubbly aesthetic, you’ll recognize it right away. This Ukrainian designer and illustrator uses bright colors and abstract textures to create irresistibly warm designs. Her feed also includes videos of her process, revealing the dedication and hard work put into each poppy, eye-catching graphic. 

Obys | @obys_agency

Obys Agency’s account showcases engaging, street-art inspired designs. The stark contrasts and involved typography create a sleek aesthetic that’s consistent from post to post. Their sharp imagery and deep palettes are sure to stand out on your feed.

Doctors Without Borders 

International Committee of the Red Cross

“Keep Ukraine’s media going” 

Kyiv Independent

Voices of Children

World Central Kitchen

HIS THING IS A THING: @thingnw is a thing! And I got to do the graphics for it, enlisted by the incomparable @zzzacksss! Adam hired me to do the 2013 Sasquatch festival posters and event graphics kit, which to be able to see it al up close? Was one of the coolest days of my little life. Those main stage banners were like 60 feet tall!!! I met the Tame Impala crew in the backstage, making the day completely complete. But, I digress…

So check it out: We had the THING poster done two full years back, but due to Covid-19 ravaging the land, had to put it all on hold. We cryogenically froze the files in our vault and Adam was finally able to rev THING back to life, and just a couple days back they launched the site and announced the line-up. So awesome to see it come to life! Check out the killer animation, and all the other details at: thingnw.org.

Sadly, I’ll be in Michigan at the end of summer, so I won’t be able to go, but to all you Northwesterners, you should head up to Port Townsend to hang at the THING festival! Do it!

Thank you, Mr. Zacks! Always an honor to roll the sleeves up for you!

Project Credits
Aaron Draplin

They read a lot.

Books cover their home. I have that on good authority, at least because Zoom can only tell you so much, but there are many shelves. Jonathan has managed to keep the stack by their bedside relatively lean—a solid two books for consumption, reading only one book at a time and likening juggling multiple titles to watching two movies at once. Still, Jonathan manages to read an average of two hours a day, so we can easily put them in the double digits category for books read per year. Some of us are lucky to count what we read on two hands. That’s not the admission of a proud philistine, mind you, it’s mostly about finding the time. 

It’s all the more impressive given their commitments. There’s teaching at SAIC and working as a senior designer at Gale Partners, not to mention their own experimental—and truly impressive—type work they do within their private design practice. Oh, and they just opened and co-founded a new design studio in Chicago, Mx. Studio (but more on that in a bit).

Jonathan, of course, is no stranger to the city. They were an army brat born in Germany, but their family moved back to Chicago when they were six. It was then that they fell in love with Marvel comics, particularly the X-Men, where they became enamored with villains and anti-heroes like Magneto, a baddy that can control magnetism but will stop at nothing to protect his fellow mutants. Comics inspired Jonathan to draw and recreate their favorite characters and even invent their own. More importantly, the lettering and type jumped off the pages and into their subconscious, a steady drumbeat of POWs and BANGS that only enhanced the stories.

“One of the influences consistent in my life is literature and reading,” Jonathan says. “It starts there, even if you go all the way back. My mom was a teacher, so there was a particular emphasis on reading and writing. If you follow the timeline, that leads to comic books, which is a combination of art and literature. Even the lettering in comic books always struck me as a thing that was very significant and very intentional.”

Later on, in high school, under the influence of their friends, they became more interested in hip hop and graffiti. “When I have this conversation with my students,” Jonathan says, “I tell them, that’s the beginning. I didn’t know it at the time, but that was the start of my foray into graphic design—this interest in letters and what letters could be and drawing language in letterforms.”

“I think for me, my interest in typography and lettering is its ability to be communicative directly, indirectly, or somewhere in between,” they add. “I’m interested in visual rhetoric and what happens when you adjust or alter language. Like, what else can letters do? For me, a huge part of it isn’t just what the type is saying but also the feeling it creates. That’s what draws me to the visual nature of language. It’s never about what’s just said.”

At the time, however, graphic design wasn’t quite at the forefront of their plans moving forwards, and they even weighed joining the military and doing the ROTC instead of going to college. Jonathan knew they wanted to be an artist, however, but they were also well aware of that time-honored joke about the differences between artists and pizzas and how only one of them can afford to feed a family of four (and yes, this also applies to writers and musicians and any other artsy-leaning folks). Instead, folks encouraged them to pursue an applied art, like design. 

“It made sense for me because I like to draw, I like letters,” they say. “Then I learned about typography and combining type and image. That was a path that made sense for me.”

*** 

“I’m really interested in the longevity of physical objects,” admits Jonathan.

“The tactile nature of visual communication introduces another interesting area. If I’m looking at it on a screen, I think, yes, I’m absorbing information, and it’s serving a purpose. But it seems like that’s more limited. With physical objects, the relationship between me and the thing is more significant because we both exist.”

Screenprinting has long been a love of theirs and something they gravitated towards early on in their artistic journey. But Jonathan vividly recalls that web design was really just getting introduced after they left college, whereas everything they learned before was print design. Instead of throwing their hands up, they had to adapt, and it’s something they stress to their students all the time. “You have to learn the principles of something so you can adapt and evolve. You have to ask questions and figure out what you need to know next,” they say.” Essentially, if you want to master how we design, you still need to understand the actual craft itself, or at least the very foundations.

Meaning, you’ve got to get in there and get your hands a little dirty. And that’s one of the things that makes Jonathan’s work as compelling as it is—the bringing of the handmade and the tactile in with the digital, and it’s a distinct feature that’s played out across their career.

“I try to blend these two worlds in a way that makes sense. Even if I’m working on a project and I’m creating a digital poster, I’ll think, alright, this is cool, but can we make the poster move or inject feeling based on time? I like the idea of taking a physical object and seeing what it feels like when it’s moving.”

Indeed, the type is very much alive throughout much of their work, whether it’s static pieces like the posters they designed for the release of the book The Transcode Manifesto or the numerous compositions with actual motion design. Two pieces from their ACAB series feature the words “stop justifying police violence” and “stop killing black people” swirling around in a circle with letters slowing down and speeding up, overlapping, and creating an almost palpable sense of exhaustion in a never-ending loop.

Much of Jonathan’s work acutely and insightfully explores race and the challenges of Black people living in the United States, likening it to being in a “constant state of revelation.”

“You have to go through this process of becoming more and more conscious and aware of how you’re situated in this country and what the context is based on being black, right? And that’s sad. As time goes on, it has nothing to do with what I do or who I am or how many degrees I have or the work that I’ve done. The position that I’m situated in has everything to do with the color of my skin. 

“It would be irresponsible of me to not say something or not respond visually.”

“I don’t want to be super judgmental of colleagues in the field of design. But at the same time, I’m just one person that doesn’t have a large platform. I exist in a public sphere. I make work, and I put it out there. But I feel like there are a lot of companies that have very large and visible platforms, and they are all remarkably silent when it comes to something like condemning white supremacy or the murder of a 13-year-old child.”

“If you’re going to be a responsible or morally accountable citizen that specializes in visual culture and messaging, for you to remain silent in the public sphere, that’s unfortunate.”

Jonathan is also non-binary, and some of their personal studies focus on gender theory, feminism, and gender equality. Jonathan’s poster campaign “Choose,” for instance, explores and revels in one’s autonomy when it comes to determining their own identity, while “Gender Trouble” utilizes quotes from a Judith Butler book of the same name, blending the analog and the digital by layering 35mm photos and creating something ambiguous.

Writer and activist Rebecca Solnit also looms large in Sangster’s mind, and her book The Mother of All Questions inspired a downright dizzying piece using screenprints, wheat paste, and spraypaint on reclaimed wooden panels intended to challenge the viewer’s own binary thoughts. Created for Typeforce in Chicago, Jonathan landed on the Solnit quote “naming is a crucial part of transformation” in one of their journals. By manipulating and layering the text, the work hits on the significance of naming and confronts our assumption of how we view and perceive things.

“One of the weirdest things for me, looking at the field of design, is how intentionally so many things are gendered,” Jonathan says. “In terms of design and visual rhetoric, we’re the ones responsible for crafting and creating work that other people form opinions and thoughts around. That’s not something that I think should be taken lightly. That’s the thing that gives us the ability to reach inside somebody’s head and shift a thought from one thing to another.”

“Even in the handling and portrayal of gender roles or gender norms, this is something that isn’t handled very well in contemporary society,” they add. “It’s another one of those things that the design context is, if you bring it up, you’ll get a shrug, and someone will tell you that this is the way we’ve always done it. That’s not true; it’s that no one is requiring you to think about it intentionally, so you’re just not doing that.” 

***

“We are digital gremlins and cyber sailors. We’re kittens with big eyes, and puppies with a keen sense of smell. We’re scumbags and bandits. We’re idealists and realists. We’re a sleight of hand and a binding spell. We’re tailors, crafters, cobblers, and fighters. We fall asleep queer and cuddly. We wake up and choose violence.”

That’s Mx.Studio’s design ethos, in a nutshell, the one you’re greeted by when you visit their newly launched site. Jonathan co-founded the studio with their partner KT Duffy, as the two had already collaborated on projects together for about a year. Using the formal title and honorific Mx. for the studio’s name as both designers identify as non-binary also serves as a mission statement. Not to mention that it’s a pretty cool name and because, typographically, they could make “Mx.” look damn good.

“One of the reasons we wanted to do this is because we weren’t finding a lot of places out in the world where we could work on projects that fit how we want to operate in the design world,” says Jonathan. “I always joke that my goal in design is to make really dope work with really dope people. And I’ve been able to do that. But KT and I also have this drive to do no harm. That is something we’re passionate about.’

According to Jonathan, their approach to the work also complements each other—Jonathan handles type visual experimentation while KT is a creative technologist. KT is “all about the squiggles and colors and shapes,” whereas Jonathan is very black and white and contrast-driven. Recently, they worked with Acre and Data Made on the Chicago Arts Census branding and identity. Currently, they’re doing a project for the community-driven Chicago Park District, developing their cultural mapping project that brings artists together.

“We want to focus on our values and our ethics and our morals,” they add. “We don’t like the idea of doing something just because, and we don’t like the idea of doing something just because it’s going to be more financially lucrative. Our alignment of vision, drive, and ambition is in line with what we want to do to contribute to culture. That’s really where Mx.Studio came from.”

Still, Jonathan has no plans to abandon teaching any time soon and is inspired to challenge the foundations of graphic design history, bringing in a more contemporary vantage point for their students.

“Teaching type, I think that we’re at this point in the canon where we don’t just have to highlight and focus on these design legends that are old, dead white men,” they say. “We’re in the 21st century. For me, it’s a problem if you can’t engage in contemporary design with what’s getting made or what’s happening now. Why am I falling back on Helvetica and Garamond? There are so many things that exist or are constantly getting made that are really cool, really functional, and really dynamic. For me, that’s a huge part of the research.”

Jonathan scoffs at the idea of teaching graphic design the same way it was taught to them two decades ago. “There are so many more things that have happened, so many more things that we have easy access to in terms of the body of knowledge that creates graphic design history,” they say. “If we’re not keeping up with new discoveries and helping students inform their work through that, then we’re doing something terribly wrong.

“I like to help. I try to. I try to engage with contemporary society and engage with people, ask questions, and contribute to a body of knowledge. That’s why I teach, and that’s also why I make my work.”

Recently, Jonathan talked to a friend that also started teaching, and they both reached the same conclusion—that it’s actually kind of awesome? “Like, you get paid to make cool work, talk about cool work, and help other people make cool work,” they say.

“Yes, it is awesome.”

The dictionary is the result of discussions about the current situation and issues of art institutions in Poland among representatives of the artworld. Above 120 slogans and their definitions assign goals and future of the cultural world.​​​​​​​

Project Credits
r m