Design Week articles from August 2007

Design Week archives from August 2007

Google leaps up Interbrand chart as Ford and Gap struggle.(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Last summer the term 'Google' was honoured in the Oxford English Dictionary - since then the value of the US mega-brand has risen 44 per cent, according to this year's Interbrand survey of top brands. Google's brand value is now listed...

Gin inspires Schneider wallpaper.(Luxury gin brand Bombay Sapphire collaborated illustrator Jasmin Schneider )(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Luxury gin brand Bombay Sapphire has collaborated with Berlin-based illustrator Jasmin Schneider to create a wallpaper design inspired by the distinctive blue bottle. Schneider's Art Nouveau-style design uses the shape of the iris root -...

Penguin cover designs.
August 2, 2007... Encompassing more then 70 years and 700 Penguin cover designs, Seven Hundred Penguins is a pictorial history of the iconic British publishing house since its conception in 1935. From the bold graphic print of Graham Greene's classic The Quiet...

David Collins to unveil luxury restaurant for Langham Hotel.(The Langham Hotel London )
August 2, 2007... The Langham Hotel London is set to unveil its second hospitality area designed by David Collins Studio, with the opening of The Landau restaurant this autumn. The standalone 'destination' restaurant is just one phase of a dramatic #50m...

De-construct sketches out dynamic plan for MOI website.(The Museum of Illustration )
August 2, 2007... The Museum of Illustration has chosen digital media consultancy De- construct to design its website, following a competitive pitch. The website will effectively provide MOI with its only home over the next five years, since the museum -...

Billington's to relaunch range of sugars.(Springetts designs visual identity for food industry.)(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Billington's is to relaunch its range of sugars with a revised visual identity and the introduction of recyclable boxes, designed by Springetts. The identity features a hand-written 'B', and an illustration of sugar cane has been added to the...

Red Central festival brand is by the book.(Daily Telegraph Bath Festival of Children's Literature.)(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Red Central has designed the branding and brochure for the inaugural Daily Telegraph Bath Festival of Children's Literature. The festival organisers offered the Bath-based consultancy the work because of its credentials in children's...

Amanda Levete has designed an installation.(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Amanda Levete of Future Systems has designed an installation, in the form of a curving wall of about 220 interlocking leaves, to be unveiled outside the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank as part of the London Design Festival's Materials...

Digital M&A activity 'frenetic' as Elmwood joins the fray.(Graphic arts industry.)
August 2, 2007... Digital acquisitions in the design industry took another lurch forward this week with the news that Elmwood Design is hunting for a digital consultancy. The acquisition plans come against a backdrop of digital deal-making, with three...

HiQ gets to grips with Fitch's customer-focused store design.(Goodyear Dunlop)(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Goodyear Dunlop's fast-fit retail division HiQ is about to roll out its new store design, created by Fitch. The group's rebranding work with tyre manufacturer Goodyear helped it to net the contract, says Fitch design director Simon...

Lewis Granaiola styles Skandium.(Scandinavian lifestyle retailer Skandium new store designed by designers)(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Scandinavian lifestyle retailer Skandium is to open a new flagship store this month in London's Knightsbridge, with interior design by Lewis Granaiola. The concept for the new store aims to differ slightly from the retailer's Marylebone...

Random House's in-house team bold cover design.(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Random House's in-house team has come up with this bold cover design for the hardback version of Toby Barlow's Sharp Teeth, a book about ancient werewolves living in modern-day Los Angeles. Natasha Michaels created the stark cover artwork,...

IN BRIEF: Blue River Design rebranded.(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Newcastle consultancy Blue River Design has rebranded TDI, a think-tank tasked with identifying gaps in the current strategy for tackling sex offenders. Blue River wanted to create a bold, simple identity to communicate a hard-hitting,...

IN BRIEF: Lowey design brochure.(Oxford University)(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Loewy has designed a brochure for Oxford University's Said Business School, which aims to help it raise #20m for the creation of a new world-leading Executive Education Centre. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: Simon Jeal best in show graduate.(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Moving Brands has picked Simon Jeal as the best in show graduate from an exhibition at the La Viande gallery from 27-30 July. The show comprised work by 12 students from the Arts College FDA Design Practice at Camberwell College of Arts. Jeal...

IN BRIEF: Navyblue design annual report.(Her Majesty's Courts Service.)(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Navyblue has designed this year's annual report for Her Majesty's Courts Service. It aims to show that HMCS is 'open, forward-looking and focused on people, not processes'. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: 72Dotsperinch wins pitch.(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Digital design consultancy 72Dotsperinch has won a pitch to create two websites for Norwegian gallery Galleri Sand. The consultancy will be creating an on-line presence for the gallery's forthcoming New York venue, as well as for one of its...

COMMENT: Confidentiality clauses are tying up too many groups.(CDT Design )(Viewpoint essay)
August 2, 2007... In the past week I've encountered four design groups deprived of the right to promote stunning work because of the stringent demands of over- anxious clients. CDT Design could not publicise its far-reaching rebranding of ActionAid until...

E3 changes tack to differentiate microsites for V&A exhibitions.( Victoria & Albert Museum)(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... After its Village Fete last weekend, London's Victoria & Albert Museum is busy gearing up for two forthcoming exhibitions that are taking place this autumn, which sees the V&A appointing E3 to create a pair of microsites. The contract...

Sage stirs drama into decor for So Restaurant basement.(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Soho-based Japanese restaurant So Restaurant has benefited from a smart redesign of its basement by interior designer Russell Sage. The restaurant on London's Warwick Street, W1, offers fusion dishes along with 'modern, Minimalist decor'...

Internal comms vital for design, says Radley Yeldar.
August 2, 2007... If cries from staff of 'nobody tells me anything' are becoming familiar then you could be in need of a shake-up of your internal communications strategy. According to the authors of a new report from Radley Yeldar - Goodbye Staff...

NEWS IN PICTURES: Dover Street Market revamp.(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... London's Dover Street Market, W1, has just revamped its interior features for its biannual Tachiagari. New spaces have been designed by Rei Kawakubo, Alber Elbaz and Jun Takahashi. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

NEWS IN PICTURES: Vanilla bar and restaurant opens.(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Designed by its restaurant director Matthieu Destandau, with all-white interior and colour-changing LED lights, new bar and restaurant Vanilla opened last week in Great Titchfield Street, London W1. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd....

NEWS IN PICTURES: Mercury chandelier.(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Artemide will feature the Mercury chandelier, designed by Ross Lovegrove, at the Aram Store New Moves exhibition, which will take place during this year's London Design Festival in September. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and...

NEWS IN PICTURES: Lucy Williams to unveil her work.(Architect Lucy Williams )(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... Architect Lucy Williams is to unveil her work at her first major solo exhibition, Beneath a Woollen Sky, including The Lighting Showroom 2006, based on a Milanese shop. It will take place at the Timothy Taylor Gallery, London W1, from 7...

NEWS IN PICTURES: Thousand Nights and One Night retold.
August 2, 2007... With illustrations by Jan Pienkowski, co-creator of the Meg and Mog series, The Thousand Nights and One Night is retold by David Walser and published by Puffin on 4 October. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

ANALYSIS: A chance to think big.
August 2, 2007... Designing the UK pavilion for the next World Expo is a much-coveted task. Emily Pacey checks out the six shortlisted proposals for Shanghai 2010 If designers wrote their own briefs, they might read a bit like this: 'Designer to have...

PRIVATE VIEW: Doing the business.(Column)
August 2, 2007... Senior designers have more to offer clients than mere creativity. Mark Shaw says they should provide wider consultancy services and become 'business designers' The world of graphic design is changing under our noses. All of us are...

INSPIRED: Ian Humphrey Turquoise.(Brief article)
August 2, 2007... I'm a big fan of the so-called 'loose cannons' of society. Take 'outsider art', for example. It was traditionally an art form made by prisoners and the mentally ill, those outside of the norms of established society, although it now...

LETTER: Healthy criticism is good for the design profession.(Letter to the editor)
August 2, 2007... What an extraordinary reaction by Ben Marston (DW 19 July) to Michael Wolff's 'rant' (DW 28 June). It's natural to want to defend your work. But Marston's criteria seem odd. He suggests you can't judge a piece of design unless you have...

Voxpop: Who should take over as chairman of Design Council?
August 2, 2007... What sort of person should take over as chairman of the Design Council when George Cox's tenure comes to an end this autumn? Who would you put in the frame? It is imperative the next chairman of the Design Council transcends both the...

LETTER: Don't they know humans never read food labels?(Letter to the editor)
August 2, 2007... Sadly, our labrador and two cats aren't quite as avid readers of Design Week as I am, but they have a rather important query. They'd like to know why they've now started to get each others' food, due to errors on the part of the human...

LETTER: Small fish doing just fine in experiential, thanks very much.(Letter to the editor)
August 2, 2007... We welcome WPP's entry into the experiential sector via the launch of FitchLive (DW 19 July), if only as a very public testament to the ascendancy of live marketing. It has been predicted for some years that experiential would be the...

LETTER: Let's get things straight about New Blood briefs.(Letter to the editor)
August 2, 2007... In response to Kelly Burnett's letter (DW 19 July) on D&AD and New Blood, I'd like to set out the facts. Some people confuse New Blood with the Student Awards. At New Blood, the course or college, not the student, pays a membership fee...

PROFILE: James Harrison.
August 2, 2007... Success came early for furniture designer James Harrison, courtesy of a deal with Habitat, but he retains the pragmatism and level-headedness he learned while growing up on a farm, says Max Fraser James Harrison's first foray into the...

RETAIL: Screen appeal.(Playboy Beauty )
August 2, 2007... In the battle for customer attention, seductive moving images integrated into shop display stands seem to do the trick. Matthew Valentine reports on the latest initiatives in the high-end cosmetics arena Retail displays are all about...

FILM: Celluloid type.
August 2, 2007... Film isn't just about moving images and spoken language - the written word, too, can have a strong impact on the big screen. Quentin Newark reflects on some key ways in which typography and graphics have been used in cinema This month,...

BUSINESS INSIGHT: Together we'll work things out.
August 2, 2007... In today's fast-moving world, you're only as good as your next 'big idea'. Multidisciplinary approaches are usually the best way to find it, suggests Brian Mansfield I've always been fixated on big ideas. The scary, hairy variety that...

Take the chill off summer.(Big Chill festival)
August 2, 2007... By Fiona Sibley It would be crass to bemoan the disappearance of summer with so many people suffering substantial damage to their homes and livelihoods. But despite harrowing weather conditions across the country, The Big Chill festival...

Hermes announces awards for new talent.(Hermes Ltd)(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... Luxury goods brand Hermes is launching an award for product designers, to recognise newer designers rather than established design 'superstars'. The triennial Prix Emile Hermes launches in June 2008, with cash prizes of E50 000 (#34...

Aspinal of London appoint GP Studio.(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... Luxury leather retailer Aspinal of London has appointed GP Studio to transform its on-line identity into a 3D brand with its first site at Selfridges, London. Peter Grimes, creative director of GP Studio, says, 'Because of Aspinal's...

Beefeater Gin moots visitor centre.( Four-by-Two )(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... Beefeater Gin is considering building a visitor centre at its London distillery. Interior design group Four-by-Two is conducting a feasibility study, having redesigned the distiller's premises to accommodate corporate guests. Four-by-Two,...

London 2012 bodies launch 'design panel' tender process.(Olympic Delivery Authority )(London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games )
August 9, 2007... The organisers of the London 2012 Olympics are ramping up their design capabilities with a hunt for a panel of design and creative services consultancies. The Olympic Delivery Authority and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic...

Fallon tunes up logo portfolio for BBC national radio stations.(British Broadcasting Corp)
August 9, 2007... The BBC is set to relaunch all the identities for its national radio stations by the end of this month. London-based advertising agency Fallon, which has an independent design division, was chosen to redesign the logos and brand toolkits...

Oracle completes branding for redevelopment of old M&S HQ.(Marks & Spencer headquarters)
August 9, 2007... The design plans have been unveiled for the former Marks & Spencer headquarters in London's Baker Street, which is to be transformed into a striking glass atrium for a new development. Design and advertising group Oracle Advertising is...

Heinz to launch premium soup range.(Cowan Design)(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... Heinz is set to launch three premium soup ranges, with packaging by Cowan Design. Farmers' Market offers a variety of flavours, with packs using photography to 'reinforce the message of fresh local vegetables'. Soups of the World uses recipes...

In-house concept trialled by HSBC in flagship City branch.(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... HSBC has opened its largest branch in the UK in the City of London, using a fresh design concept that offers more retail space and dedicated areas for different customer types. Devised by the bank's in-house design team, the concept will...

Caulder Moore scoops Spa SPC retail task.(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... The Buckinghamshire-based luxury spa resort Spa SPC, part of Stoke Park Club, is developing a new salon, shop and reception, with design by Caulder Moore. The consultancy, which was appointed without a pitch, has been tasked with...

Wolffe & Co buys up rival Scottish consultancy Pointsize.(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... Last Friday, Dumfries-based design consultancy Wolffe & Co completed its acquisition of Glasgow design consultancy Pointsize Associates. The move is part of the 'growth by acquisition' strategy led by managing director Andrew Wolffe, who...

Notting Hill is subject of new book.(photographer Derry Moore)(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... Notting Hill is the subject of photographer Derry Moore's new book, due to be published in November by Frances Lincoln. Designed in-house by Becky Clarke, in collaboration with Moore, it contains 120 colour photographs, some of which are...

IN BRIEF: Stand create brand identity.(Tennent Lager)(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... Glasgow-based Stand has created a brand identity for a Tennent's Lager scheme to educate bar owners and their staff on how to maintain and build product quality standards. The consultancy has also created marketing materials. Copyright:...

IN BRIEF: O2 latest handset.(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... O2 has this week rolled out its latest handset, the O2 Cocoon, with packaging design featuring an existing letter-box friendly shape, by Lambie-Nairn. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: New room design for Travelodge.(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... Travelodge has unveiled a new room design by The One Off Company, just four years after a Conran Design Group 'refresh'. The hotel chain has also shortlisted Agency.com, Soup and Twentysix London to redesign its website. Copyright:...

IN BRIEF: Dupliquick Zebra Award.(Richard Chapman )(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... The Dupliquick Zebra Award for poster of the year 2007 has gone to Richard Chapman for his work for magician Chris Cox's show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

COMMENT: The banking sector needs to invest in better branch design.(HSBC)
August 9, 2007... Banking giant HSBC is glorying this week in the opening of its biggest ever branch in (see News, page 5). Indeed, it is claiming that the outlet in the City of London is the biggest bank in the UK. And size isn't the only distinguishing...

Red Leader rejigs Camden Arts Centre website to increase use.(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... London's Camden Arts Centre has appointed Red Leader to redesign its website, following a three-way pitch. The London design and production group, which won the work in June, is to revamp the site in a bid to improve its accessibility,...

Ex-Wallpaper team unveils 'compact' Esquire redesign.(Hearst Business Communications Inc)(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... Hearst Communications' Esquire magazine launches its redesign tomorrow, devised by the title's art director David McKendrick. The September issue of the magazine, which was founded in the US in 1933, sports a new, compact A5 size. It will...

Acid demands tougher measures against IP theft.(intellectual property theft)
August 9, 2007... By Emily Pacey Describing an object or someone's taste as 'cheap' used to be an insult, but bragging about budget store bargains now counts as status- raising small talk. The less it cost, the more savvy a consumer you are. But...

NEWS IN PICTURES: Design United Worldwide design Tokyo Tales.(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... Specialist arts design group Design United Worldwide has designed Tokyo Tales, an account of artist Stella Whalley's journey through the seedy underbelly of Tokyo life, with a mix of photography and Manga-style imagery. The book will be...

NEWS IN PICTURES: Brownjohn appointed by Start.(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... Brownjohn has been appointed to develop a brand proposition and visual identity for business centre group Start (formerly Start International). The new brand will be launched in September. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and...

NEWS IN PICTURES: Will Alsop creates Table Tools.(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... Architect Will Alsop has created Table Tools, a set of cutlery shaped in random forms, which are moulded to the shape of the hand, for Canadian company Umbra. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

NEWS IN PICTURES: Jens Risom exhibition.(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... An exhibition of the works of Danish-born American designer Jens Risom (chair, pictured right) and New York painter Larry Zox is being created by Jonathan Stephenson and takes place at the Rocket Gallery, Tea Building, Shoreditch, London E1,...

NEWS IN PICTURES: House of Dorchester refresh.(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... Halo Design has undertaken a refresh of the brand identity and packaging of Dorset-based chocolatier House of Dorchester. The revamped products are available in Tesco and Sainsbury's. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

NEWS IN PICTURES: Rocket Gallery book.(Rocket Gallery published Keld Helmer-Petersen book)(Brief article)
August 9, 2007... Rocket Gallery is publishing a book entitled Keld Helmer-Petersen: Photographs 1941-1995, which offers insight into both the photographer's artistic development and the history of 20th-century photography. Copyright: Centaur Communications...

ANLAYSIS: Stepping on to the global stage.( London Design Festival)
August 9, 2007... Australia has long been a fashionable travel destination, so why isn't the Sydney Design Festival more widely celebrated? asks Sarah Woods As the hype starts to build for the London Design Festival, a lesser- known Antipodean event is...

PRIVATE VIEW: In praise of dissent.(Adrian Shaughnessy )
August 9, 2007... The 2012 logo debate highlighted the way designers close ranks when faced with honest criticism. Adrian Shaughnessy is amazed they still get away with it I once sat on a music industry design awards panel along with half a dozen music...

INSPIRED: Tom Jestico Jestico & Whiles.(Architectural services)(Personal account)
August 9, 2007... We were invited to submit designs for an entrance gateway to a new public park, the size of London's Hyde Park, at the heart of the new Pudong business district in Shanghai, China. Having no written brief, job architect Nic Sampson and I...

LETTER: If anyone has the right to criticise, it's Michael Wolff.(Letter to the editor)
August 9, 2007... In Michael Wolff's letter (DW 28 June), he says, 'Thank God we woke up, reacted and expressed ourselves,' and then goes on to critique diabolical work featured in the previous issue of Design Week. He has triggered a debate, and he's also...

Voxpop: What do mainstream brands need to learn?
August 9, 2007... Last week's global brand survey by Interbrand saw surges from Google and Burberry at the expense of the majors like Coca-Cola, Gap and Ford. What do these big mainstream brands need to learn from the upstarts if they are to reverse their...

LETTER: Design management to get Skills Panel support.(Letter to the editor)
August 9, 2007... I fully sympathise with Caroline Norman, who feels that her MA Design Management course is not well known among UK and European Union students (DW 26 July). During our research we came across several innovative programmes, including her...

LETTER: Designers need an ambassador to raise our public profile.(Letter to the editor)
August 9, 2007... When I meet someone new, the first thing they ask me is, what am I studying? Product design, I say. But that isn't a good enough description - they look puzzled, and some time later they make the point to ask me about it again because they are...

LETTER: You've got to hand it to Turner Duckworth.(Letter to the editor)
August 9, 2007... Has anybody noticed the similarity between the label for Johnsons Juice, created by Reach design (DW 4 July) and the award-winning design for the Belazu brand of olive oil products, created by Turner Duckworth? Bruce Duckworth, Turner...

PROFILE: Kate Astbury.(Interview)
August 9, 2007... She is the third generation of her family to become a photographer. Kate Astbury's speciality is wide-angle photomontages of the epic and the domestic. Paula Carson finds the only thing holding her back is print size A fleeting hug, and...

MOBILE PHONES: Gadget mania.(Apple Inc)
August 9, 2007... Is Apple's much-hyped iPhone really all it's cracked up to be? Sean Dodson looks at some alternatives that could even become classics in their own right It's one of the most desirable gadgets of recent years, but also one of the most...

WALLCOVERINGS: On a roll.
August 9, 2007... Developments in digital techniques and bespoke hand-printing are combining to make wallcoverings one of the most innovative areas of interior design. Bethan Ryder takes a look at some of the latest ideas A rugged beach stretching out...

BUSINESS INSIGHT: Hatch your firm in an incubator.(Business innovation)
August 9, 2007... Business incubator units can be the ideal place to get your start-up off the ground in an affordable and supportive environment, says Charles Hadcock Incubators can be excellent 'starter homes' for embryonic creative consultancies, but...

Body building sights.(Personal account)
August 9, 2007... By Adam White At the age of ten, and inspired by Doctor Who, I worked for hours on my first tin-can robot, fascinated by the idea that you could make a machine with 'human' properties. The farthest I got was a delicately made hand - with...

De-construct to rebuild Crafts Council site.(Brief article)
August 16, 2007... The Crafts Council has appointed De-construct to redesign its website, following a two-stage unpaid creative pitch. Intro, which refreshed the council's logo (DW 18 July), was among the five contenders seen off by De-construct in the...

Jones the Bootmaker celebrates 150 years.(Brief article)
August 16, 2007... Jones the Bootmaker will celebrate its 150th anniversary this September with a commemorative identity created by Dalziel & Pow. The identity, based on the concept of reinvention, will be used to showcase a collection of new shoes that take...

Rich leaves design for top enterprise role.(appointment of Harry Rich at Enterprise Insight)(Brief article)
August 16, 2007... Harry Rich, Design Council deputy chief executive, is to leave the strategic body after eight years. Rich is moving to take up the post of chief executive of Enterprise Insight, the organisation behind the Make Your Mark campaign. He will...

BBC shortlists groups for review of its design and digital rosters.(British Broadcasting Corp. )
August 16, 2007... The BBC is poised to shortlist a raft of design and digital groups as part of a formal review of its rosters, which are being reworked. The corporation's design roster currently consists of 21 consultancies, offering a broad spectrum of...

Red Dot to end German bias as six UK groups scoop gongs.(Graphic arts industry)
August 16, 2007... Just six British design groups triumphed at this year's German-based Red Dot awards, gaining eight awards between them. A total of 34 nations submitted 3880 entries, of which 336 received awards and 27 won Best of the Best awards. ...

Faber and Faber produce cover design for Shortcomings.(Brief article)
August 16, 2007... Faber and Faber have produced the cover design for the hardback release of Adrian Tomine's UK debut title Shortcomings, the story of theatre manager Ben Tanaka and the struggles he faces when his girlfriend moves to New York. The artwork was...

Millennium Centre gets Sweet new look.(Welsh National Opera)(Brief article)
August 16, 2007... The Wales Millennium Centre - the home of the Welsh National Opera - is to launch a new identity this week, designed by Sweet. The small Cardiff-based group beat 49 other shortlisted consultancies to win the public tender for the WMC...