Alex Trouchut

The work of Alex Trouchut has come to my attention recently. He is a freelancer and based in Barcelona but has worked on some enviable briefs from major players in the commercial arena. His typographic exploration is only equaled by his ability to create all kinds of different styles of illustration. However, he is most noted for the style of typography exemplified by his cover for The Rolling Stones, Rolled Gold. When I first saw the album cover I was in awe of his work. He defines his work ethos as 'more is more'.

The Parlour, WMH at their best

I love this playful design for Fortnum and Mason's luxury ice cream parlour, 'The Parlour'. The design appears to be made up of chocolate sauce and evokes a distinct desire for the sticky, delicious ice cream on offer. A great example of a brand identity selling the product and calling the consumer to action.

All new Ford Fiesta

A clever advert that draws the viewer in. It manages to convey the tone of voice that is needed perfectly through 'funky' visuals.

Funki Porcini-Fast Asleep

Funki Porcini's album Fast Asleep employs some absoloutely wonderful photography and ingenious image manipulation as well as a great understanding of the fundamentals of typography to produce an eye-catching, stunning peice of design.

Brrreaking news

This is a good exaple of a successful integrated campaign. It shows that often the end result of a campaign like this is greater than the sum of its parts. In this example the original billboard ads that acted as a precursor to the tv ads created intrigue with their purposefully ambigious but eyecatching copy. This meant the tv ads pulled the picture together for the viewer, unravelling the integrated campaign and letting the viewer 'discover' the meaning of the earlier ads.

Pleix French collective

Pleix are a small collective of designers, digital artists and musicians based in Paris who work on a range of diffrent works. This video, 'Birds' was created for the track 'Poney Pt. 1' by Vitalic. Shot using a high speed camera, the super high frame rate capture means that the video can be slowed to a phenomenal speed creating fascinating imagery. The video also includes throwing dogs around a room into nets (not visible) to create the impression of flight.

Victoria & Albert Museum brand identity

Designed by Alan Fletcher of Fletcher/Forbes/Gill and Pentagram, the V & A brand identity is not only iconic and distinctive. It is also a fantastic piece of typography. It looks as fresh now as it did in 1989 when it was created.

The Storyteller's Art

This exhibition poster was produced to promote Kit Hinrichs' 40 year Retrospective by Pentagram. In the poster, Hinrichs’s familiar white beard is composed of project names. I think it is a good idea and has been executed well, although I feel the illustration could be a little cleaner.

Twins Communications identity

The Worldwide Logo Design Annual (WOLDA) has revealed some great talent this year. My personal favourite is the entry from The Action Designer that won the Norway category designed for Twins communication. It is simply one of those designs that is so simple and yet so clever.

Invoice typeface

I was perusing the work of type foundry You Work For Them recently and found this great typeface. It was inspired by mixing the vertical to horizontal stroke weight ratio of sans-serif fonts while adding serifs. The effect this creates is impressive, with unique display features that also reads well at smaller sizes.

Similar design

I recently saw an article highlighting the similarities that can occur within logo design. I feel that this illustrates the fact that it has become hard to have a truly original idea. Our environments and influences are often similar and this can lead to homogenous design solutions being arrived at. This fact puts even more value on innovative design. The companies shown here are...

Pseudoroom design and Cyberathlete Professional League.

Belfast City and South Hams Food and Drink.

Sumpter & Gonzalez LLP and Stylegala.

Scottish Arts Council and Artworkers.

Action Designer

Some great work by Action Designer. Very inventive using the urban environment in a very effective way to publicize the Oslo Jazz Festival.

Herb Lubalin

I have recently learnt about Herb Lubalin, one of the seminal graphic designers of the second half of the twenteith century who created the typeface ITC Avant Garde.
The problem was that the typeface was overused and misuded and eventually became a stereoptypical 1970s font. However, I still believe this to be a great piece of typography.

brand identities from Social UK

These brand identities are exemplary of the sort of great branding work London branding agency Social UK are producing.

Beijing Opera - Theatre production company

Human - Music production

Askonas Holt - Performance/Theatre managment

Prestigious Textiles -Textiles

Concise, clear concepts communicated brilliantly. Branding at it's very best.

PAPERFONT

This alphabet has been created by Ipsum Planet for Neo2 magazine. It is made up entirely of scrap bits of paper and I believe it is a very effective piece of typography.