Design Musings

It’s not often that a project comes along that feels both new and timeless, but a recent publication featured on  It’s Nice That  seems to strike that balance.  A Life Among Letters  is a book that delves into the work of Czech graphic designer and typographer Clara Istlerová, a pioneering figure whose contribution to the visual culture of postwar Czechoslovakia is significant, yet not widely known outside of her home country. What makes this project so interesting is its quiet, considered approach. In an age of self-promotion, Istlerová’s story is one of dedication to the craft itself. Working entirely with analogue processes, she was one of the few women in the male-dominated field of Czech typography. Her book covers and typographic work show an expressive and intuitive feel for letterforms, a tangible quality that can sometimes be lost in the digital age. If you grew up in Czechoslovakia, the article notes, you have probably held one of her designs without knowin...

It’s about time I revisited this blog…we moved the new posts across to a blog built on our website, which makes a lot of sense, but has left this blog feeling like an abandoned Wild West town! What to do with it then? How about some interesting design related finds from around the world? New design posts will follow soon!

What a busy year! 2015 has been a blur in the studio with a real variety of exciting projects. With our own work we have been focussed on the 2016 calendar - something a little different! We are posting them out now to our clients and soon you will be able to buy one on our website. We brought you our pick of Design Classics - actually quite a tricky brief! There is so much good design out there, we selected those items that stood the test of time and are still being referenced in design today. If you sign up to our newsletter you can see which piece we feature each month. Here a few of our favourites from this year... Our 2015 calendar was all about time travel! For December we conclude with The Time Machine, H.G. Wells' marvellous creation. A book that has inspired countless future generations with stories that dart through time. Our idea came from the well loved movie Back to the Future Two, where Marty McFly travelled to the future (and the past)  to right some wr...

Quite often the websites I design are minimal, controlled and use white space rather lavishly. However sometimes a project calls for something a little more bold. When I was designing this website for Nick The Pro, I decided to go for bright. Nick has the golf shop at the beautifully located St Enodoc golf course in Cornwall. We started by designing Nick a logo and then some stationery and finally this website. Nick stocks the best gear for golf but at really competitive prices. He also offers pro lessons and a great fitting service - quite a lot to communicate in a design! I wanted this website to grab your attention from the outset so I went for a vibrant green background, the monitor is filled with grass and then I used chunky boxes to display the content which scrolls while the background is fixed. We have an image animation and feature boxes showing the latest special offers on the Home page. The site also has a Twitter feed and a custom designed map showing their location...

It has been a busy season for our friends at Polzeath beach, Wavehunters. We manage their design and this year they have been keeping us busy!! We shared recently about the trailer we branded for them, see here . We have also produced some brand new brochures, lovely uncoated booklets with one colour wraps showing all that the team have to offer.  This year the company has really expanded with Wavehunters Marine running boat trips out on the sea, spotting all sorts of beautiful wildlife - puffins, dolphins and seals! So the brochure we designed needed to show all the courses and lessons they offered, surfing for kids, grown ups, groups, stand up paddle boarding and of course, those boat trips. We used large characterful photographs full of colour to complement the monochrome branding. The brochures were left in key locations in Cornwall, like St. Moritz hotel where we designed a feature wall - organising the photographs, sign writing and vibe of this point of sale. ...

Some stationery to show you! The work in our studio is very diverse, I think that is because of all the wonderfully interesting companies we work with in Cornwall. Large or small I really enjoy meeting new clients and sussing out what they need.  Recently we met with bespoke carpenter, Nick Paul Williams, who had a refreshingly creative approach to his joinery. We are building him a website as we speak, but first we started with the brand. He already had an emblem of an oak leaf and was keen on keeping the colours of gold and blue. Our challenge was to move this logo on to become a brand that rightly represented this young craftsman.  Reducing his name to NPW and including 'bespoke' helped to communicate the personal aspect of Nick's work. Also to make clear that he can turn his hand to all aspects of joinery we picked out three key elements; carpentry, joinery and construction.  We also provided Nick with a separate element that he could use as a stamp o...