Design Good Design

I recently became a dad to a wonderful, amazing little boy. Watching him observe and learn has made me see things with a whole new perspective. Just the other day we were in our garden and he was pointing to the sky. As much as I looked I couldn’t see what was so interesting to him. With his limited vocabulary he kept saying “that!” and continued to point with great excitement. I kept looking... Suddenly I saw it. He was looking at the moon. Something I take for granted every single day had caught his attention for the very first time! Our adult heads are so full of the day to day and the things that we think we know, that we often forget the joy of seeing for the first time and we take for granted all that surround us everyday... We take so much for granted!  Sometimes forgetting the status quo, not accept everything just because it's what's expected of us and looking with fresh eyes, asking 'why', can be so important. I’m not advocating chaos here but instead a for...

A good friend sent this brilliant conceptual design for pasta packaging back in March 2016, when it was featured on the contemporist . It has since gone viral, appearing on a number of respected design blogs. I just love how this fun concept uses the different pasta to signify individual hair styles. Designed by Nikita Konkin .

At the end of 2016, as I draw closer to my final week with CTTC Design, I had been handing over as much information as I could to my then design team, to which I extend you all on this list now. I know that many have often laughed at me being such a design groupie… I promise that it comes from my love of what I do! To this end, before I left, I had decided to note down a few of the things that have helped to bring great joy, learning and passion to my design life over the years, and now wondered if you would also be interested to see what I had written.  Its really a “for what it’s worth” list of designers, books, websites and blogs. I do hope that it is of some interest to you, and also that it maybe even helps to bring some creative passion and inspiration to your lives… I also don’t mind if it’s banished to the 'read later' part of your blog readers - you know the one I mean... AKA the bin ;-). Below is what I had sent to the team at  CTTC Design, a  couple of day...

I am sure that many of you already know that today is my last day with CTTC Design, before beginning an exciting new role in 2017, (more on this soon). When I left the UK for South Africa back in 2009, my brief was to help grow a fully operational design studio. It has taken a lot of blood, sweat and tears and I have loved every single second of it! I am so proud that today, not only have we achieved our objective, but I strongly believe that we have a world class design team with some of Cape Towns best packaging experts and many incredible business partners! After eight years of playing a role in the company’s incredible growth and six unforgettable years prior to that, at our UK partner 'Somerset Creative’, I am so honoured to have been part of this incredible journey and wanted to thank each and everyone of you, who has touched my life throughout this time! Thank you! Love and design... Do what you love and love what you do… Stay hungry and stay foolish... ------------------- B...

Many years ago, I travelled across the USA. It was an incredible experience that I will always cherish. Business has kept me traveling back and I have since designed branding and packaging for some of the countries largest retailers. One of my memories of my time traveling the US was the bright branding used by the many of fast food companies. Competition in the US was so much greater than that of the UK, where at the time I had travelled from. Now living in Cape Town many of the chains are starting to appear here. We recently saw the arrival of Dunk'in Donuts. I am not necessarily, someone that frequents fast food establishments, but the branding is of interest to me. I love how some are stooped in the history of 1950's America. I also love how they have subtly changed over the years. To read through some of my older posts, there are stories on the evolution of Burger King and Ihop. Taco Bell is another of the brands that I did not got to see, growing up in the UK. Back in 200...

World renown branding agency Interbrand, have redesigned their famous word-mark, in-house. Moving the design into a clean but simple use of Helvetica, this supports their new look website. You can read more about interbrand below and can visit the site by clicking here . More here: Matthijs van Leeuwen project page Johnny Trinh (website) project page About Interbrand (from their website) At Interbrand, we believe that growth is achieved when an organization has a clear strategy and delivers exceptional customer experiences. We do both, through a combination of strategy, creativity, and technology that helps drive growth for our clients’ brands and businesses. With a network of 24 offices in 19 countries, Interbrand is a global brand agency, and publisher of the highly influential annual Best Global Brands and Breakthrough Brands reports, and Webby Award-winning brandchannel . Interbrand is part of the Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC) network of agencies.