Final responce to email

Stephen from design something more

Hi Katie, no worries…

Q1. In relation to your recent work are there any projects that have been particularly successful? (in terms of your personal opinion, audience reaction, clients opinion) 

Every brief poses unique and interesting design challenges, so it’s fun (and vital) to see how they develop in different ways. We always ask ‘how can design make you feel?’ and ‘what can design do?’.

We recently created a new identity for a fitness nutrition brand – The Power of Me. It’s a nice example of how naming, logo, language and illustration were all considered from scratch, to create a really joined-up big idea. It’s about empowering you to do amazing things. It sets itself out as an antidode to the muscle power ‘battery fuel’ style that persists in the gym/fitness world.

York Mediale, is an international digital arts festival happening next year. In this instance, the design needed to take more of a backseat. As the festival is about the art and commissioned work itself we didn’t want it to be consumed by an overpowering identity system. But at the same time we still needed to build recognition and help people understand what the festival was about. In response, we developed a very simple iconic symbol for the festival, and then re-interpreted it through a variety of different interactive stings. These helped the identity feel eclectic – hinting at the variety of artistic content – and at the same time communicate the broader idea of what a digital arts festival was about.

We’ve also recently been working with the Holbeck Viaduct Project – a community-led campaign to transform a disused 1.6km stretch of iconic Victorian architecture into a connected, re-purposed public space. The design needed to help galvanise the work of the project done so far, and give it a strong visual feel that would help raise awareness for the work done. The solution was guided by the principle of being inclusive and open. It needed to reflect the collaborative nature of the project – and be true to the grass-roots approach. This informed everything from the straightforward but fun typographic style, to the no frills newspaper print the project reports were produced on,    

Q2. Are there any other projects or pieces of design that you think are particularly successful from other designers? 

Yes, so many! I guess in terms of what I’ve really enjoyed this year; ManVsMachine for Nike/Airmax. MuirMcNeil’s unqiue covers for Eye. The New F1 identity by Wieiden and Kennedy. Anything by Javier Jaén. Heart and Stroke Foundation by Pentagram (technically last year but I’ve find myself anecdotally referencing it a lot). The illustration of Cuphead – does that count? Above all – I’m looking forward to checking out the annual ‘Designs of the year’ at the design museum. Always a super inspiring look at how people are thinking about design in different ways.

Hope that helps!

Many thanks

Stephen

Something More

+44 (0)113 8878416

Duke Studios, Sheaf Street

Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS10 1HD

Quotes to use :

"It’s a nice example of how naming, logo, language and illustration were all considered from scratch, to create a really joined-up big idea."