Design Good Design

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...

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...

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.

Reading through the newspapers recently, I came across this advert for the new Century City Conference Centre, opening in Cape Town early this year. I really like the branding that cleverly encompasses the four 'C's from the name and the clean type selection that's used in two weights. I also thought that the advert was very well executed. All in all a nice piece of work. Click here  to read more about this exciting new project.   

In 2011 I had the great pleasure of attending a presentation by Diebedo Francis Kere at Cape Town's Design Indaba. Kere spoke with so much integrity and told a story that brought some in the auditorium to tears. After finishing his degree in architecture at Technische Universität in Berlin he chose to return to his home town of Gando in Burkina Faso and to use his education to help re build his community. Using the limited materials that were available in Gando, Kere worked with his community to build beautiful low cost structures that worked within their natural environment. I hope that you are as inspired as I was by this incredible mans achievements.

A huge thanks to my company CTTC Design and Nedbank for the invitation to the premier of 'Refuse the Hour", a chamber opera (performance art) by South Africa's most internationally acclaimed artist, William Kenteridge. The venue for the evenings performance was the Cape Town City Hall. It always feels like such an honour to be inside this important and beautiful building. The very same place that in February 11th 1990, Nelson Mandela, standing on the balcony, made his first public speech after his release from prison. The evening began with dinner and drinks. On the table was a flipbook by Kenteridge titled 'Hurdle' to accompany the evenings performance. After dinner we entered the incredible auditorium, the amazing backdrop to the evenings show. The stage was set with mechanical structures made from bicycle wheels, drums, pipes and megaphones. The performance begins with the story of an eight-year-old boy on the train with his father who chronicling the ancient G...

In 2013 I attended the Design Educators Indaba, which endeavoured to create a forum for educators within design to engage with each other and to increase their knowledge of creative education. The event followed the three-day Design Indaba conference in Cape Town. The seminar was hosted by Neville Brody - world-renowned designer, professor and Dean of the School of Communication at the Royal College of Art in London along with Lawrence Zeegen, (Dean of Design at London College of Communication, University of the Arts in London). The event focused on presentations and a round the table discussion which resulted in a strategy for 'Creative Education in Developing Communities'. Back in 2013 I was working as a commercial designer for a studio in Cape Town but was also involved with a South African NGO who was helping young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain education, training and the skills required to find employment. The event was a great opportunity to gain a valuabl...

The World-renowned 'design Indaba' conference takes place each year in February at Cape Town’s CTICC conference centre. The event sits at the top of the design community’s calendar with the three-day program including presentations and insight from both the worlds most established and celebrated creative professionals along with local up and coming talent. Renowned graphic designer Michael Bierut has helped host the conference since 2010 and will be returned this year to also present. This years (2015) distinguished speakers included co founder of the world renown advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, Dan Wieden who was the brain child of the Nike tagline "Just Do It", Stanley Hainsworth who has held senior creative positions at Lego, Starbucks and Nike and Pentagrams Emily Oberman. Managing director and founder of the Design Indaba is RavI Naidoo who was also the brainchild behind Interactive Africa, responsible for high profile projects including the “First African in ...

Last year Dan Wieden spoke at Cape Town's Design Indaba conference. Wieden's words have inspired me for many years, so it was a rare opportunity to hear one of the most respected authorities on advertising and creative thinking speak in person. Wieden is probably best know for co-founding one of the worlds most admired advertising agencies; Wieden+Kennedy and coining the Nike tagline "Just Do It." Incidentally Wieden pitched the idea to Nike in 1988 after he had read a newspaper article about Gary Gilmore who was sentenced to death for murder. The condemned man was reported as saying “let’s do this” as he faced a firing squad. Wieden suggested a slightly altered version as the slogan, changing it to "just Do It". The rest as they say is history. In his Design Indaba presentation, Wieden spoke on the importance of allowing yourself to be able to fail and his addiction to Chaos! Many years ago I stumbled across the ' Welcome to Optimism ' blog which i...