Category: Identity

Orange Hive Identity

Emanuele Cecini designed the identity and branding for new creative agency, Orange Hive, based in Frankfurt, Germany. The designs included the creation of a logo, print stationary, website layout and art direction of the branding photography.

The logo finds a surprising and elegant balance of lines and empty spaces, the branding is straightforward and uses a limited number of elements and information, and the pop of color provided by the orange accents gives the ensemble a nice twist, preventing it from being boring instead of the classy minimalism it achieved. I’m especially fond of the signage application!

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Windows 8 Logo

Around the web we can find many minimalist versions of logos and packaging of well-known brands, and these examples are usually made by students or designers as personal work.

However in this case, Microsoft has developed a new logo, for its new operating system, Windows 8, based on the concepts of simplicity and clarity and using just a single blue colour. I think this is the most important point about the new logo. A representative explains:

It was important that the new logo carries our Metro principle of being “Authentically Digital”. By that, we mean it does not try to emulate faux-industrial design characteristics such as materiality (glass, wood, plastic, etc.). It has motion – aligning with the fast and fluid style you’ll find throughout Windows 8.

The new logo design has been made by Paula Scher at Pentagram and I really enjoyed it when seeing it for the first time.

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m_lab

m_lab is a project recently completed by Barcelona based company Espluga + Associates, whose area of expertise ranges through advertising, naming, graphic design, branding and many other things ending with …ing. m_lab is the first store of Mesoestetic in Europe (the company specializes in developing skin care products). The level of involvement Espluga + Associates had in this project was truly comprehensive. The work included visual identity, graphic design, interior design, branding and packaging.

I love how the lab-like sterility of the interior was made stylish by incorporating recognizable furniture pieces and familiar typography. Helvetica-driven signage and packaging make a great contribution to the overall design. The whiteness of the white is accentuated by the blue-tinted recessed lighting, which is another clever and beautiful detail.

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Frozen Dutch

Besides the great taste I also like the visual identity of Frozen Dutch, an Amsterdam based bio-enhanced ice cream brand.

Mr. Boonstra created a fresh minimalistic identity with a direct Dutch approach focusing on the ice cream brand’s strongest assets: the appealing flavors that change with the seasons and the fresh ingredients each brings. Simple packages with bright colors and big typography and a clean website which gives you an overview of their flavor assortment.

Frozen Dutch is on sale at Marqt (Amsterdam and Haarlem).

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Minimalism in a maximalist market

A dose of minimalism and efforts for changing the perception is maybe the simplest definition for Antrepo Design Studio.

Minimalist effect in the maximalist market is about simplicity, with this project, the studio is trying to find alternate simple version for some package samples of the international brands. Antrepo team think almost every product needs some review for minimal feeling. I love the approach.

What is your choice in these 3 different variations?
1. Original variation
2. Simple variation
3. More simple variation

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Fray Identity

I’m in love with Fray’s 2010 identity designed by London based graphic design consultancy, Build.

From the choice of typeface, to the paper stock selection, the end result just bliss. It’s the lack of elements that opens up to more possibilities.

Fray is a new venture from Simon Waterfall, and looks to change the way design agencies work, and hints that they are already working with 3500 staff. The minimalist business cards acts as a template, allows staff to write their names in the debossed blank spaces. The letter/invoice letterhead is another fantastic detail as well.

How do you react to minimalist identities and how minimal is your business card?

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Identity Art & Architecture St Luc Institutes Brussels

Clean, simple and elegant were the first words which came to mind when I saw the identity for the Art & Architecture of the Saint-Luc Institutes in Brussels.

The consistent use of typography, the amount of white space and the small details are a big inspiration for all minimalist minded people. You can download a digital version of magazine #11 for some more inspiration.

The identity for this Bi-annual magazine is designed by the French graphic designer Carine Collin who lives and works in Brussels. She has a good portfolio and her website is also a clean piece of art. I think I am in love!

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Konst & Teknik

Swedish graphic design company Konst & Teknik can count work for Mono Kultur magazine in its impressive portfolio.

Particularly mentionable here are the book covers for Deleuze och mångfaldens veck and The Rest is Silence, and the extremely useful CopyPasteCharacter—an online tool giving easy access to typographic characters—that negates the need to learn alt codes and other such shortcuts. What a marvellously simple time saver.

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London 2012 concept posters

In his review of 2009, Michael Johnson revisited these London 2012 Olympic Games concept posters by Alan Clarke.

Although the official London 2012 identity, created by Wolff Olins, caused a huge stir on its release (no doubt the desired effect), opinions of the concept are very much polarised; and ever since the unveiling in 2007 there have been notable attempts to offer something more akin to Olt Aicher’s meisterwerk.

Clarke’s idea, linking particular Olympic events with nearby tube stations, was enough to scoop ‘best in show’ at last year’s D&AD new blood exhibition.

What with the impending ubiquity of the official branding, plastered on everything from cereal boxes to Adidas merchandise, these concepts are a tantalising insight into what could have been.

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Nouveau identity

Hunt Studio from Melbourne, Australia, developed this identity and branding for Nouveau Developments, also from Melbourne.

The complete identity uses only a single colour, a dark metallic grey. This colour was chosen to reflect the modern colour palette often used in surfaces and materials by Nouveau.

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