Studio: Love & War

New York City’s Love & War recently received a huge accolade in the form of the 2011 James Beard Award for Outstanding Graphics for their identity work for The National restaurant. With a minimal wordmark (and a lovely abbreviated alternate), excellent typography and wonderful illustrations, it’s a classy and elegant identity that also doesn’t take itself too seriously, much like the majority of Love & War’s portfolio of work.

Partnering and creating distinct projects for such high profile clients as Sony, Martha Stewart and NBC, there’s a distinct air of restraint and thoughtfulness in both the copywriting and design that is rarely found when working with such large corporations. Be sure to also check out their work on social media campaigns for both Malibu Rum and for the movie Despicable Me. Adorable and clever.

Visit Love & War’s site here.

Relaunched: Lippincott.com

Legendary branding and consulting agency Lippincott has recently redesigned and relaunched their website and it’s jam packed with not only their newest campaigns but also some of their classic work, many of which have become mainstays of American culture. The website design is clean and brisk, I especially love the “quick view” feature to swiftly access portfolio imagery and case studies.

Visit Lippincott’s website here.

Studio: Neue

With a trailblazing identity for the Nordkyn region under their belts, I figured I would take a closer look at Norway’s Neue design studio. With simple but elegant executions their book does not disappoint.

Branding enthusiasts and designers are hopefully aware of their logo for Nordkyn, a reactive geodesic form whose form alters based on temperature and wind speeds in the Norwegian locality. They are clearly a patriotic bunch with other projects for the Norwegian Post and a fantastically minimal and metaphoric approach to branding the Norwegian Boatowners Association. Be sure to also check out their superb work branding and packaging designs for the Artic Berry line of candies, the energetic palette and subtle touches like watercolor brushed leaves are sweet and refreshing.

Visit Neue’s website here.

weekly stimuli – vol. 37

Here’s the 37th edition of Weekly Stimuli a weekly installment of visual genius and creativity grabbed from my inspiration archives.

Enjoy the images after the jump.

GRACE branding – Creature Studio

Seattle design firm Creature recently posted this update to their portfolio for GRACE, the Global Resource for Advancing Cancer Education. I love the simple typography, symbols, and refreshing color palette. The website is also minimal and easy to use, and I love the extra design touches like the “donate” button.

See more GRACE examples on Creature’s website here.

Nike Better World – website

Sports titan Nike has recently launched it’s “Nike Better World” website, a highly informative, visually engaging site devoted to sharing the corporation’s recycling efforts, devotion to the art of sport around the world and to motivate it’s customers and users to enact change as well. The facts alone are impressive, but what I really enjoy is the interface itself – a simple dotted line connects seemingly disparate facts into a joined, unifying narrative. I also really like the multi-layered imagery, which gives an almost 3-d quality to the visuals. I assume this is the work of the highly talented Wieden+Kennedy, but I can’t find mention of it on their site.

Visit Nike Better World here.

Update: Nike Better World was designed by Duane King and Ian Coyle in collaboration with Wieden+Kennedy.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky – Domino’s Behind the Pizza

Domino’s Pizza, utilizing the fine talent of advertising firm Crispin Porter + Bogusky, has over the last year and half re-engaged their customers through a series of ads and campaigns focused on transparency – dirty secrets behind advertising, real-life taste testing, persuading nay-sayers and now through their wonderfully interactive “Behind The Pizza” website. CP+B have created a fun and informative interactive experience whose mission is teach customers not only where in America it’s ingredients come from, but also who makes them and how they are processed. It’s a bold move for a “fast food” chain, but one that’s right in line with current trends of healthier eating and more access to information about the food we eat. Domino’s has developed a very unique voice amongst the pizza wars and I’m curious to see if it pays off for them.

Visit “Behind The Pizza” here.

weekly stimuli – vol. 34

Here’s the latest installment of Weekly Stimuli – a batch of images from my inspiration archives.

Enjoy the visuals after the jump!

weekly stimuli – vol. 33

Here’s the latest installment of Weekly Stimuli, a batch of images from my inspiration archives.

Enjoy the images after the jump!

An open to letter to Gap…

Dear Gap -

Ya, so you kinda screwed up, didn’t you? Releasing a new logo is fine, companies do it all the time, your sales were lagging and board rooms think that their old, musty logo must be to blame. Rebranding is as American as blue jeans, and Gap, whether some like it or not has become an American Institution. Out with the old, in the new, so they say. But your “new” wasn’t very refreshing, was it? In fact it was downright boring, and derivative, and comes across like a strange last-gasp prescription medicine meets American Apparel merger gone wrong.

Did you realize this when you chose this logo? Surely you had HUNDREDS to choose from right? Surely, this wasn’t some “downtime” project for the in-house marketing team to tinker around with when they weren’t thinking up new ways to incorporate Lenny Kravitz or his child into an ad full of white space and Helvetica? Surely there was careful strategy and thought and bold, energetic, exciting brand extensions attached to this selection, right? I have yet to hear which highly creative, methodical authority on branding you went with for this little marvel, but I have a hunch there wasn’t much to this whole exercise in the first place. Which brings me to my main point of contention.