Second Draft

Lucian Bernhard "Priester" matches poster (1906) - View original image We often talk about minimalism in modern web design—stripping away the clutter to focus on the user’s primary need. But as with most things in our industry, this isn’t a new idea. I was reading an excellent article on DailyArt Magazine recently about Plakatstil (literally "Poster Style"), and it struck me how relevant these century-old principles still are. Originating in Germany in the early 1900s, Plakatstil was a reaction against the complex, swirling patterns of Art Nouveau. It was initiated almost by accident in 1906 by Lucian Bernhard. The story goes that he entered a poster competition for Priester matches and, trusting his instincts, simply painted two matches and the brand name on a flat black background. It was bold, direct, and completely rejected the ornamental fuss of the time. Hans Rudi Erdt's "Opel" poster (1911) - View original image The key features of Plakatstil—fl...

Henri's Walk to Paris Hardcover by Saul Bass   Vintage Kids' Books My Kids Love I've been completely captivated by a recent article from AIGA's   Eye on Design   titled, "Why did so many mid-century designers make children's books?". It explores a fascinating and somewhat unexpected corner of design history: the period when some of the most influential graphic designers of the 20th century turned their talents to creating books for children. We're talking about legends like Paul Rand , Saul Bass, Ivan Chermayeff , and Leo Lionni – names synonymous with corporate identities, film title sequences, and modern art. So, why the pivot to picture books? The article delves into several compelling reasons. One key factor was the post-war baby boom, which created a massive market for children's literature. Simultaneously, advancements in printing technology made it possible to produce high-quality, colorful books more affordably. But beyond market forces, ...

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!

Hi, my name is Tom and here is what I did in my week of work experience at pickle design. Emma and Carl made me feel welcome. I had never used a Mac before so it took some getting use to but now I can use the Mac with ease.  The programmes I used were InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop all made by the company Adobe.  My first project was to create a business name and logo for an electronics company trying to sell headphones and during this project I made the front page of a web-page for it. Then I adapted a website into a mobile friendly format, The Quarryman pub. My second project was to make a double sided A5 leaflet for Comic Con using Indesign and Illustrator, during this I made a mood board to inspire me. My third project was to create packaging for fudge I did this by using Illustrator and Photoshop, I made another mood board of fudge related objects. My last project was to create a fold-out leaflet for Camel Self-Storage I added infor...

We recently have been designing quite a few business cards for our clients, this one in particular is for luxury holiday cottages in Polzeath, Mesmear. I love business cards as they are a chance to have a little fun with the brand. In such a small space, bold colour and design can be used to full effect.  With these cards I wanted to make the most of our client's location. Being so close to the sea and great holiday spots on the North Cornish Coast, I thought the best way to communicate this was by drawing a little map. As well showcasing location, the friendly style of illustration speaks of escapism and holiday vibes right from the outset.  The business cards are full colour using soft blues, greens and grey, and for added interest we picked the logo out in blue hot foil. The foil makes the logo shimmer beautifully, just like the sea.  The tone of voice is friendly and inviting with a well-chosen quote setting the scene, The Sunday Times writes "This is as...

We thought you would like to see a brochure we designed for the Wheelhouse. We posted a story about their website in 2012 which you can read here . This friendly guest house has a great location, right on Porthcressa Beach, St Mary's, on The Isles of Scilly. Previously our clients sent out a leaflet to anyone enquiring, but we wanted to create more of an upmarket brochure. We preposed larger sized pages to a standard six page DL, to allow more of a journey, meaning the central spread matched their panoramic views. We printed the brochure on uncoated stock to add texture to the feel, adding quality and really making use of the great photography of their location. There are elements of the website that we carried across, sky blues and boating navy complement the Polaroid style images. We layered the pictures - images of sea views, details of hospitality and pictures of the rooms - to create interest. Phrases from the website were brought in accompanying minimal text, making ...

This week we enjoyed having Carissa in the studio for her work experience, she wrote a little about her time with us: "Hi guys. My name is Carissa, here's a bit about my week at Pickle Design. First of all I don’t think it could have gone better as I am a very nervous person and Carl (although absent most of the time as his wife had twins!) and Emma made me feel very welcome, which made it easy to work and learn from them. When I started I had not use the Apple programming before, so I was introduced to that as well as the programmes I used throughout the week. The programmes I used were InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop, all made by Adobe. They each had their difficulties and challenges, but with help from Emma I managed to figure out basic use of them. My first project was to create a logo for a local restaurant that my father owns called “The Granary”, this took the longest as I had to learn all the programmes, but I learned a lot from this. Next, in Photosh...

The Molded Plastic Dowel-Leg Chair. View source .   Wow, this year is moving fast! Now we have embraced March and 2014 is looking to be a good year, we are working on some really interesting projects. The month of March on our very lovely Pickle Design calendar showcases a chair by husband and wife team Charles and Ray Eames. The rather does-what-it-says-on-the-tin name it has, is Molded Plastic Dowel-Leg Chair. Despite having an ugly duckling name, this 1950s chair has become a design classic due its simple and beautiful design. Eames Chair Design. View source . The designers never saw their furniture as finished, constantly updating when new materials and techniques came available. Charles and Ray Eames saw their legacy as “getting the most of the best to the greatest number of people for the least” - quite a mission statement! Their designs have stood the test of time and still look very contemporary in chic modern interiors. You can download March’s calendar f...

The Y Chair by Hans J. Wegner. Image found here . We find ourselves in February, and on the 2014 Pickle Design calendar we are showcasing the Y chair. Download a desktop version of the February calendar here . At Pickle we love looking at all areas of design for daily inspiration. We use Facebook , Pinterest , Twitter , Tumblr to drench ourselves in creativity, but there really is something quite special about chair design. Not only does a seat need to be comfortable (trust us, we sit in one all day!) but a well designed chair can make a statement about the designer themselves, the home owner, or society at large. Hans J. Wegner created this chair in 1950, basing the design on traditional Dutch paintings of merchants sitting in Ming chairs. Wegner was a perfectionist. Stylistically there wasn’t necessarily a common thread between his designs, it was more his ethos that shone through, he said "the good chair is a task one is never completely done with", it was "...

2014 is here! We like to start as we mean to go on, with good design, so we have a little present for you. You may have seen our new calendar showcasing classic chair design, well, we thought we would make each month available for you to download for free. Now you can have a sleek calendar for your computer desktop. January depicts the Tulip chair designed in the 1950s by Eero Saarinen. A version of this chair was used in the original Star Trek series but slightly altered. One of the Tulip chairs from Enterprise’s bridge once sold for $18,000! To download yours, visit our website here . Each month we will post a link so you can download the next one. Enjoy! Emma Julian.

Last week we enjoyed having Jess Fisher in the studio for her work experience, she wrote a little about her time with us: Monday and Tuesday: On Monday I was given the task to create some packaging for a brand of Shea Butter. First of all I had to research Shea butter on the internet. I found how it was made, what it is made from and where it is made. Using this research, I then had to design my logo. We decided to call the brand 'Shea beauty' as this was the name of an already existing product for Pickle Design.  I then made my logo using two different font styles, a fun, informal one and a clean, white font. I felt they went well together and I chose the duck egg blue colour as I felt it contrasted well with the white. I chose the pale brown colour because it was very similar to the colour of the Shea butter. I then decided to add an illustration of the nuts used to create the product. I chose these because I felt they represented to brand well. I then had t...