Design Good Design

In my Classic Brands series, I am going to feature interesting facts and a brief history to some of the world most iconic branding and packaging designs. I couldn't think of a better place to begin the series than with the worlds very first registered Trade Mark. A great conversational piece at any dinner party is the question, ‘what was the world’s first brand identity?’ The answer is the instantly identifiable red-triangle of the Bass Pale Ale logo. This distinctive identity was registered under the United Kingdoms 1875 Trade Mark act. Due to the fact that the act actually came into effect on 1st January 1876, an employee of Bass queued outside the registrar's office for the whole of the New Years Eve night to ensure that they were the very first in line to register the trademark the following day. Thanks to the efforts of that Bass employee, Ratcliff & Gretton Ltd received the first two registrations, the Bass Red Triangle for their pale ale and the Bass Red Diamond for ...

In a recent interview for a design magazine I was asked, " who and what inspires me ". It's a question that I am often asked and my initial reply is usually "everything", from my family (my wife and son are without a doubt my biggest inspiration) to the great icons of our industry such as Paul Rand and Soul Bass to the the work of Henryk Thomaszewski, Jan Lenica and Henri Matisse (the list could go on and on and on…) I wake up inspired almost every morning and by the time I am in my studio, or out with my family on the weekend, I have often seen something to trigger creativity. It really does come from everywhere, from a texture, a colour, a conversation, a story to something quirky! In Iconoclasts Season 6, Episode 5, Paul Smith tells how he was once walking down a street with an advertising exec. The marketing person says that he sees about three things whilst Smith sees around Fifty! I am a huge fan of designer Michael Wollf and his thoughts on what he descri...

I have a belief that love and hard work go hand in hand! I strongly believe that if you don't love what you do then you'll be unable to dedicate yourself fully to it and it's unlikely you'll be able to produce great work! It may be hard work to get out of bed and drive to the office each morning. It may be hard work to get through each day, but that doesn't mean that your actually working hard at what you do! if you don't love what you do then how can you invest yourself to the fullest and do what it takes to be the very best you can be. As with any relationship, if there is no love, how do you get through the tough times? There will always be days that test you, but it's how you deal with these situations that really count. You will always fight for what you love. So if you love what you do, giving up is never an option and you will stick with it through thick and thin to find a solution. The simple truth is, if you love what you do then no one can take it ...

I’ve been living in South Africa for almost six years now and anyone that knows me will also know that I am an avid collector of anything of visual interest. In fairness most would think what I find visually interesting strange. It can be anything from a texture on a wall, aged billboard signs, street art, old architecture to vintage branding, signage and packaging design. The cell phone camera and large hard drives have saved my family home from a man cave cluttered with all the stuff. In my defence though, I am a commercial designer and being aware of your surroundings and able to see the world differently is so important. One of my pet hates are freshly briefed designers rushing off to Google for their only stream of inspiration. They miss the amazing visual library that surrounds them daily on the way to the office. My reference of collected visual interest has been invaluable to me over my two decades of a designer. When I first moved to Cape Town in 2009, I went through a creativ...

Joe Posner at Vox Video asked the legendary graphic designer Michael Beirut to explain the elements of a great logo design.

I am an avid collector of design books. Its a real love of mine. I’ve built up quite a comprehensive library and I am always suggesting or lending my books to my team. Recently, readers of this blog have also been asking for book recommendations, so I thought that I would post a few of my personal favourites. Symbol by Steven Bateman and Pentagram partner Angus Hyland has been a valuable source to me when developing logos and brand identity systems. There are over 1300 logos included with the book divided into groups that relate to their visual characteristics. There is also a number of case studies that give a great back-story to some of the worlds most recognised symbols including that of Apple, Nike and Continental Air by Soul Bass. This is a book that I can really recommend to anyone working in branding and logo development. Its also different to many other tittles I own as I rarely lend it out as it's been such a great source of reference over the years.        ...

Burger King as a brand has long interested me. Ive spent time in Australia where the franchise is instead known as Hungry Jacks. In 1971 the company wanted to make a move into Australia with it's first franchise in Perth but was unable to use the Burger King name as it was already trademarked by an Adelaide based Food Shop. I am currently living in South Africa and Burger King only arrived here in 2013, with it's first franchise opening in the may of that year in Cape Town. This was 18 years after it's competitor Mc Donnalds arrived. Burger King however decided to take a similar tack as Nandos when the South African Company opened in the UK. To differentiate it from KFC, Nandos positioned itself as a higher end brand offering. Burger King used this same tactic when moving into ZA and it seems to be working for them, at least for now, with huge cues outside it's restaurants. That said the company currently have only 12 outlets compared to over 200 McDonnalds franchises. ...

A brief History of the Kentucky Fried Chicken brand. Kentucky Fried Chicken was founded by Harland Sanders, who began selling chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin Kentucky in the 1930's. An entrepreneur, Sanders identified the potential of franchising his restaurant concept and the very first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" franchise opened in Salt Lake City in Utah in 1952 by Pete Harman who was both the owner of one of the cities largest restaurants and a good friend of Sanders. Harman hired a sign writer named Don Anderson to work on the first restaurant, who coined the name "Kentucky Fried Chicken" creating a good product differentiator (being chicken) and a vision of southern hospitality for the brand. Harman also introduced the "bucket meal" and trademarked the phrase "Its finger Lickin' good", which over time have both played an important role within the companies identity and advertising. With my interest in branding, packaging...