Design Good Design

For the past five years I have had the great pleasure of being selected as a mentor for the ico-D and Adobe design Achievement Awards . This year however, I had the added bonus of also being chosen as a pre selection judge! I really enjoy what the awards stand for and it always feels so good to be able to support young design talent! Below are some of the fantastic young/student designers that I discovered, whilst judging the awards. There's some amazing talent here! If your hiring new creatives I would certainly urge you to view some of these talented young design stars of tomorrow and please support the ADAA! https://www.behance.net/ gallery/35944337/COP-25- United-Nations-Climate-Change- conference https://www.behance.net/ gallery/27135599/environment https://www.behance.net/ gallery/36153385/Sanfonzon- Street-pop-up-book https://www.behance.net/ gallery/33968594/Letter-for- Truth-Logo https://www.behance.net/ gallery/30570553/ Beruehrungsangst-fear-of- touching https://www.beh...

This incredible invention from Windhorse Aerospace could see a revolution in the way the world delivers aid to those effected by natural disasters. The Windhorse website writes: "For the first time ever, aid will be delivered accurately to those in desperate need with this use of a revolutionary and unique Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV). There were over 125 natural disasters last year, add this to areas of conflict and the number of people starving as a result gets to breath taking levels. Access to the people affected can be restricted due to the loss of infrastructure and many other dangers. Also, traditional methods of deploying aid can be ineffective, inaccurate or just impossible to use. Windhorse has developed a specialist UAV called POUNCER™ that will be loaded with appropriate food, transported to the disaster area and fly independently to its pre-planned destination and land accurately into the selected landing zone, avoiding all infrastructure problems, corruption or hostile...

In 1974 Walter Herdeg edited issue 165 of Graphis Diagrams, a square hardback book showing the scientific side of graphic design. It contains beautifully illustrated, full colour diagrams of abstract data and theres also some lovely multi layered maps that use transparent papers. The cover is a fantastic example of the modernist Swiss style of type and design. It really is a thing of beauty, an iconic classic and I once had a copy, or should I say, I may still have a copy... Somewhere! It wasn't that I forgot I had it, but instead that I was recently reminded when I turned to page 46 of Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne's fantastic book '100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design', and there it was in all it's glory, featuring in the chapter 'The Square Format! I am not completely sure of how this book came into my life. My father was always great at picking up a bargain and may of bought it second hand for his son. My family always supported my love of everything c...

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  Taiwanese artist has spent the past four months working on a life-size car made out of 25,000 cell phones. Lin Shih-Pao has spent four years travelling the world, collecting old and discarded mobile phones for the work of art. The installation took four years to complete. The phones are are glues and nailed around an internal wooden frame. The artist created the piece of modern art as a way of spreading environmental awareness and is a statement on the importance of recycling electronic waste.

Facebook has a new corporate identity designed in collaboration with it's in house team and Process Type Foundry’s Eric Olson. Although the new brand mark is a subtle move on there are a number of changes. Generally the characters are a lot more rounded (especially the ‘e’ and ‘o’). The original logos 'f' and 'a' worked together whereas the new logo has a single story ‘a’, The ‘b’ now has a prominent stem and overall its less bold in weight than the original. This revised brand mark replaces the original logo designed in 2005 by Joe Kral and Cuban Council, which used Process Type Foundry’s font Klava as a starting point. You can read more at Under Consideration's website Brand New by clicking here . Another of Facebook's iconic logos which is also changing is the small friends icon. The image of a man and a woman that sits in the corner of the sites pages will soon look different thanks to the company’s in house designer Caitlin Winner. The previous logo of...

Last year (the 3rd of July 2015), marked the 30th anniversary of the release of the original 'Back to the Future' movie. It features the fantastic quote: "Roads! Where were going we don't need roads." The 1980's were such a golden time for me growing up and this particular movie played it's part in my transition from a boy to a young adult. Yep I was one of those kids that sported the Marty McFly inspired look which included a body warmer, the tongues of my ankle high sports shoe sticking out over the sprayed on bleached jeans and of course topped off with a mullet ! Yep, I was that cool back then!!! If your one of my younger readers or if you were stranded on a desert island back in the 1980/90's then the premise of the movie is that an eccentric scientist Doc Brown (played by Christopher Lloyd) builds a time machine out of a DeLorean (that's an iconic 1980's sports car if you were looking for a message in a bottle on that island) and sends te...

Britain's Design Council champion great ideas that make things better and ultimately improves lives. This was illustrated perfectly by David Kester in his 2011presentation at Cape Town's Design Indaba. His speech focused on a challenge that the Design Council made to Britain's top designers and manufacturers to reduce infection rates within the NHS. Companies worked in collaboration to produce innovative hospital furniture and equipment that improved usability, storage and made them easier and quicker to clean. The Bedside Cabinet Fewer hard-to-reach corners and surfaces make the bedside cabinet easier to clean and more accessible for patients. The problem: Existing bedside cabinets are difficult to clean. Their complex internal spaces, inaccessible surfaces, angular joints and rough, absorbent materials can harbour liquids, dirt and bacteria. The solution: A revised version of the traditional bedside cabinet made from durable, wipe-clean plastic that reduces the number of ...

Back in 1990, aged just 18, I can still clearly remember using four software packages. There was Aldus PageMaker and Freehand, an animation package called swivel and then there was Adobe Photoshop. Since then, Adobe Photoshop has been a good friend of mine. Its been with me throughout my design career. In 2013 I was interviewed for Advanced Photoshop Magazine and over the past two years (2013/14) I have been a mentor for the Icograda endorsed Adobe Design Achievement Awards. Without doubt, Photoshop and Illustrator are my two favourite software packages. They have allowed me to create almost all of my portfolio of work. To celebrate Photoshop turning 25 years old, eight of today's experts were asked to use 1990's version 1.0. The clip below shows the hilarious results as each of the experts try to get to grips with how limited the first version is in comparison to today's Creative Cloud version. Surprisingly though, the first version of the software had levels, however ther...

Over the past months we have seen some very high profile brand redesigns within the tech sector, including the likes off Google, Opera and Lenovo. To this end, I thought that it would be interesting to take a brief look behind the scenes at some of the agencies, processes and rationales that have been employed within each of the three projects. Google One of the most publicised re design is that of the Google logo mark, probably due to that fact that it plays such a huge part of our daily lives. Unlike the recent Facebook re design which most people didn't even realise even happened, this recent redesign of Google does seem to have formed two very distinct camps between those who love it and those who really dislike it. I just want to start by saying that I am well and truly in the LOVE IT camp! I really am a fan! Visually, this new approach delivers on a fresh modern feel but there’s so many more reasons why this new brand mark improves the Google experience for me. The obvious ad...

Back in 2011 I attended a presentation by David Butler, Coca-Cola's VP of innovation and he outlined how the company were using revolutionary systems to operate on a global scale. This included designing their vending machines so that they could be easily modified to accommodate the vast stable of brands owned by the company and interchangeable languages for use throughout the world. David's presentation was an inspiration in both business agility and creating modular systems. Coca-Cola have continued to innovate! A little earlier this year Coke announced that they had created the world's first plastic bottle made entirely from plant-based material. Coke partnered with Varent for the project who are creating chemicals and fuels using renewable resources to replace crude oil. With the plant bottle project Varent used BioForming technology that converts starches and sugars found in plants to produce the plastic. Incredibly, the plant bottle feels just like a normal PET plas...

Welcome to my new blog! I have created it as a place to encourage topical discussion on creativity and innovation, celebrating both the beauty and success of the finished product, but also the journey and the processes involved along the way. I want us to talk about inspiration, ideas and where they come from, taking risks, failing and succeeding. We wont be taking anything for granted. I'm going to be asking why a lot. There will be design resources, including some great books and blogs to read, guides on fonts and packaging design, information on some of the worlds best design agencies and step by step insights into real world product development. There will be regular feature's on vintage type, branding and packaging. This will include a vast collection of images collected over many years, often accompanied by an historical look into the way these brands have developed throughout their lifespan. I also wanted to include a section on designing for good. Throughout the World, ...