Design Good Design

Its spring in Cape Town and this time of year is filled with colour as the wonderful varieties of flower open up to display an impressive palette. People travel from far and wide to visit the Westcoast national park where for a limited time (1 month) the impressive bloom is in its full beauty. I get a lot of my colour ideas from nature and this is such a fantastic time of year to discover brilliant combinations. I will always remember a presentation by renown brand designer Michael Wolff where he explains how we often overlook the rich source of colour that nature offers and how we shouldn't just rely on our Pantone swatch books. He told the story of his business partner, the late Wally Olins, returning from a meeting to find the entire Wolff Olins design team away from their desks. When eventually the designers return, a furious Olins demands an explanation as to their whereabouts. To his surprise his partner Wolff explains that he took the whole team to Hyde Park for the afternoo...

Its spring in Cape Town and this time of year is filled with colour as the wonderful varieties of flower open up to display an impressive palette. People travel from far and wide to visit the Westcoast national park where for a limited time (1 month) the impressive bloom is in its full beauty. I get a lot of my colour ideas from nature and this is such a fantastic time of year to discover brilliant combinations. I will always remember a presentation by renown brand designer Michael Wolff where he explains how we often overlook the rich source of colour that nature offers and how we shouldn't just rely on our Pantone swatch books. He told the story of his business partner, the late Wally Olins, returning from a meeting to find the entire Wolff Olins design team away from their desks. When eventually the designers return, a furious Olins demands an explanation as to their whereabouts. To his surprise his partner Wolff explains that he took the whole team to Hyde Park for the afternoo...

I recently moved house. Living in Cape Town I have managed to built up a pretty good collection of local wine. One by one I pulled out each bottle from my old wooden wine rack (which I once saved from someone chucking out!!!) and covered them in bubble wrap, in preparation for the big move! Within the collection was one very special bottle that I knew I would eventually re discover. I'm not sure that I will ever drink it. Not because of the wine inside (I don't even know what wine is inside!), but isntead for the memory of how I received it. The bottle has been over labelled with one that is beautifully designed and reads, "Massimo Vignelli 80th Birthday Celebration". When I eventually found the bottle I wiped away the light covering of dust and just stared at it for a moment, recalling my memories from the day that I met my design hero, Massimo Vignelli. In 2009 I was offered the fantastic opportunity to live and work in Cape Town, South Africa. When my wife and I s...

You always know where you were when something really moves you… After last nights tragic news of the sudden death of pop music icon Prince at just 57, I felt compelled to share how his contribution to music, art and design had touched my life. Last night I tuned into one of my favorite internet radio shows and to my surprise, the station was playing back to back Prince tunes. It was out of character for this station, but I wasn’t complaining as Ive been a big fan of Prince over the years and continued to listen, wondering if the DJ had scored an interview with the Prince himself! For those of you who are not aware, Prince not only sang but also wrote many of music’s most recognised songs, from 'Nothing Compares to You', made famous by Sinéad O'Connor to The Bangles ‘Manic Monday‘ and Chaka Khan's ‘I feel for you’ (which originally appeared on his 1979 self titled album). The list of great songs written by Prince goes on and on! As I tuned in, the aforementioned 'Not...

As the creative director of a branding and packaging design studio, I have to travel quite regularly. From meetings with clients, to colour passing and QC with print partners and manufacturers. I also live and work overseas in Cape Town, so I'm often flying back to the UK with my wife and my little boy to visit our family's. Were only into April and I can count at least fifteen flights this year already. Yesterday morning I was on the red eye from Cape Town to Durban to work with one of our print partners, colour passing and QC on a new range of labels my studio have just designed. Ive taken the flight many times before, but yesterday something different happenned. For 40 minutes we sat, boarded on the plane as maintenance was carried out. This meant, when the plane finally took off, the sun was just begining to rise. As we rose higher, the view over Cape Town and Table Mountian was just breathtaking. I marvelled in awe at its absolute beauty. Street lights were still illuminat...

For the past three years Ive had the great honour of being selected as a mentor for the Adobe Design Achievement Awards. The mentorship program is oganised in collaboration with Adobe and ico-D (the world body for professional design, an international council that promotes the designer’s vital role in society and commerce that unify the voices of designers worldwide. www.ico-d.org ). Throughout my involvement, I have had the pleasure of mentoring some fantastic students that have gone onto successful design positions. More on the Awards and the Mentorship program below. _ The Adobe ico-D Mentorship program is offered to any student who participates in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards competition (ADAA). The program is composed of the 5 I 5 I 5 Mentorship and the Portfolio Review. In this dual program, each mentor will select ten students from the ADAA participants who applied for the opportunity. • One student is selected for the 5 I 5 I 5 Mentorship, which consists of 5 one-on-one ...

This limited addition design to celebrate the 255th anniversary of Porto’s Sandeman is just stunning. The attention to detail used in the design by agency  Volta  is incredible. I love the use of type; breaking the serif on the brand name Seixo giving it some real identity. The finish is also beautiful, employing the use of embossed lettering and illustrative elements, texture paper stock and touches of gold foil. On my recent trip to Bologna I came across these wonderful old Vintage Sandeman bottles that I couldn't wait to share with my branding and packaging design friends! I also thought very apt addition to this post. Of note is the 1977 Queens Silver Jubilee Edition, which brought back many fantastic memories of my family and where I was born in the UK!

After a number of rigorous design checks, these are the shortlisted, final four logo's, chosen by the Games selection committee. A. Harmonized chequered emblem B. Connecting Circle, Expanding Harmony C. Surpassing One’s Personal Best D. Flowering of Emotions Click  here  to visit the link, where you can read more on each selection. Then, have your say! You can now help make the final selection by clicking here .

Ok, so I am a graphic designer and yes that does mean I am an Apple user! Ive used an Apple all my professional life but as I was reading through the brand, design and technology news today, this stunning designed, new HP laptop was unavoidable to ignore.  Its styling and finishing is just stunning! Here is what the HP website has to say: This is design and technology taken to a whole new level. Artisan materials and striking craftsmanship create an experience unlike anything else. With a uniquely stunning design 10.4mm thin combined with impressive performance with full Intel® Core™ i5 or i7 power2, the world's most luxurious laptop is completely irresistible. Piston hinge design Drawing inspiration from high-end furniture details, the stunning simplicity of the artfully-crafted piston hinge folds flush for a clean, nearly hingeless look. Crafted with durable aluminum and carbon fibre, this impossibly thin laptop redefines perfection. The world's thinnest laptop - Feathe...

A good deal of my branding and packaging design projects are within the cosmetic and beauty industry and since 2003 I have been travelling to Cosmoprof and Cosmopack in Bologna, Italy. The fair is the Worlds largest beauty fair and is a the place to get an insight into the industry's newest fashions and trends. Here are some of my brand and packaging highlights from this years Cosmoprof Bologna fair. I felt really uncool at this years show. I was one of the only men without a beard and when I say beard, I mean a huge beard!  A whole industry has appeared over the past six months. Beard products!!! I really liked the design for the global Cosmoprof shows. It reminded me of past Adobe identity's.

Michael Bierut is without doubt one of the most admired and respected designers of our time. Ive had the great fortune to meet Michael twice and both times I have walked away feeling incredibly inspired by his immense knowledge of design. Even with his notoriety and industry standing, he comes across as unassuming, humorous and with a great deal of warmth. He was a real pleasure to speak with about design. He has hosted the Cape Town's Design Indaba for many years and this is where on both occasions I had been lucky enough to meet him. Micheal Bierut has won many design awards. He previously worked as vice president of graphic design at Vignelli Associates. In 1990 he joined Pentagram's New York office as a Partner where he continues today to run a team of designers, working across many disciplines of design. I'm a huge fan of Michael’s work and achievements. I’m a regular visitor to the ‘ Design Observer ’ a website to which he was the founding writer. Bierut's book ‘...

In 2014 we sadly lost one of designs true pioneers Massimo Vignelli. In 2011 I had the great pleasure to meet Massimo. He had re branded one of South Africa's largest retailers who were also clients of the business that I was creative director for. I had been kindly invited to Massimo's Cape Town leg of his 80th birthday that coincided with the Design Indaba. It's not everyday you get to meet one of your heroes and this meeting will always stay with me. Vignelli was a master of design and employed the use of simplicity and restraint through the use of basic geometric forms. His broad, multi discipline body of work includes everything from, household products, packaging, way finding and signage, but is best known for his branding work for the likes of Bloomingdales, Knoll and United Colours of Benetton. Vignelli's principle was, "If you can design one thing, you can design everything," Vignelli moved to New York in 1966 and founded Unimark International, which...

More than any other book, this is the one that I suggest to all that I mentor or employ. Even after his death in 1996, Paul Rand is still viewed as one of the (if not the) most celebrated graphic designer(s) of our time. Although a skilled master at book and poster design, Rand is best known for his brand identity work, including his logos for IBM, ABC, UPS and Steve Jobs Company Next. Rand was one of the first American designers to use the clean 'Swiss Style' of graphic design. He was a professor emeritus of graphic design at Yale University and in 1972 was inducted into the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame.       László Moholy-Nagy wrote of Rand: Among these young Americans, it seems to be that Paul Rand is one of the best and most capable [. . .] He is a painter, lecturer, industrial designer, [and] advertising artist who draws his knowledge and creativeness from the resources of this country. He is an idealist and a realist, using the language of the poet and ...