Design Week articles from March 2009

Design Week archives from March 2009

Bruce Mau calls for action on social ills at Design Indaba.(Design Indaba conference)
March 5, 2009... Design visionary Bruce Mau has called upon the international design world to combat the world's economic and social ills. Canadian Mau, founder of the Institute Without Boundaries, issued the call to arms at last week's Design Indaba...

Essence Design scraps plans to auction its creative services.
March 5, 2009... Essence Design is dropping plans to auction its services after receiving negative feedback from readers of www.designweek.co.uk. The Birmingham-based consultancy unveiled the initiative, intended to gain it exposure and find the current...

Bloom Design designs Cowshed's new range.
March 5, 2009... Bloom Design has designed Cowshed's new maternity and baby range, Udderly Gorgeous, launching this week. Bloom Design managing director Jill Marshall says the use of natural linen texture with sheer pink detail aims to create a visual...

Audsley takes Shaw's post at Ziggurat.
March 5, 2009... Ziggurat Brands design director Andy Audsley is to replace the consultancy's creative director Kate Shaw, it has emerged. Audsley, who has been with Ziggurat since early 2005, and is the designer responsible for PepsiCo's new brand Red Sky...

Von Essen Hotels goes urban with Battersea scheme.
March 5, 2009... Von Essen Hotels this week unveils the identity and interior design plans for its first metropolitan development, Hotel Verta. The multi-million pound mixed-use development, due to open next to London Heliport in Battersea, south-west...

Brahm creates brand identity for Asco Educational supplies.
March 5, 2009... Brahm has created a new brand identity for Asco Educational supplies. The identity, which launches this month, uses the strapline 'Big ideas for little people', and is based around the characters of the Asco Village. Brahm has worked with...

Real Studios flies high on galleries brief.(National Museum of Flight Scotland)
March 5, 2009... Real Studios is creating two new permanent exhibitions at the National Museum of Flight Scotland. One of the galleries will tell the story of the NMFS' home at East Fortune air base, in East Lothian, while the other will look at the...

Life Agency creates new packaging for Cravendale milk.
March 5, 2009... Life Agency has created new packaging for Cravendale milk, which will hit the shelves on 9 March. The plastic bottles are 100 per cent recyclable and 10 per cent of each new bottle is made up of old Cravendale bottles. Phil Butterworth,...

Land Design works up digital offering for Southend.
March 5, 2009... Land Design Studio is developing an architectural brief for the Digital Exploration Centre in Southend, Essex. The proposed centre will celebrate the use of digital technology in academia, the arts and the commercial sector. The concept is...

Circle develops strategy for Middle Eastern autocare brand.(Abu Dhabi National Oil Company for Distribution )(Brief article)
March 5, 2009... Circle has been appointed to a six-figure brief to develop a new vehicle services brand for Middle Eastern energy company Adnoc Distribution. Adnoc, whose main business is petrol retailing, and which is owned by the government of the...

Magis to unveil new designs.
March 5, 2009... Furniture company Magis will unveil a series of new designs at the Milan furniture fair, which runs from 22-27 April. The new range will include the Stool 360deg by Konstantin Grcic, and the Cubo multifunctional container by Naoto Fukasawa. ...

Brandhouse revitalises Fruit Shoot for Britvic.
March 5, 2009... Britvic is set to relaunch its Robinsons Fruit Shoot range with a packaging redesign by Brandhouse. The redesign, thought to form part of Britvic marketing director Simon Stewart's plans to shift Britvic's #50m marketing strategy away...

IN BRIEF: The Peezy collection.(urine collection device developed by Funnelly Enough won the Design Week Awards Best of Show prize)(Brief article)
March 5, 2009... The Peezy, a urine collection device developed by Funnelly Enough, has won the Design Week Awards Best of Show prize. Apple's MacBook Air was highly commended. Established & Sons, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the National Gallery won...

COMMENT: These awards show design can really make a difference.(2009 Design Week Awards)
March 5, 2009... You couldn't get a better indicator of the directions that design is taking than the two main contenders in the 2009 Design Week Awards. The creator of the runner-up, the MacBook Air, has become a regular at awards events. What Apple...

Caulder Moore gets the cut right for Michaeljohn push.
March 5, 2009... Caulder Moore is redesigning the interiors of a Mayfair hair salon, ahead of a planned expansion of the brand to create a London-based hair and beauty chain. Michaeljohn, whose customers include Twiggy and Princess Anne, appointed Caulder...

Holmes Wood shows the way around British Library site.
March 5, 2009... Holmes Wood is creating new wayfinding for the British Library in London. Lucy Holmes, creative director of Holmes Wood, says the consultancy was appointed directly last December. She says Holmes Wood had previously worked with the...

Branding and health issues set to boost low-alcohol market.
March 5, 2009... New research shows that the UK is downing 76 pints of low-alcohol beer a minute, in a slightly tipsy binge-drinking session unseen since the Middle Ages, when everyone from royalty to street children drank mild stout in favour of choleric...

NEWS IN PICTURES: New brand for Milton Agency.
March 5, 2009... Magpie Studio has created a new brand for TV and film group Milton Agency. The five-star graphic device creates an 'M' in the negative space, suggesting the group's work behind the scenes in make-up, hair and costume. Copyright: Centaur...

NEWS IN PICTURES: Greater London Authority East Festival.
March 5, 2009... All of Us has created 'After Xenakis and Le Corbusier', an installation exploring the relationship between the composer and the Modernist architect. It will form part of the Greater London Authority East Festival, which opens in Shoreditch,...

NEWS IN PICTURES: Sarah Boris creates print materials for annual gala.(Brief article)
March 5, 2009... The Institute of Contemporary Art's in-house designer Sarah Boris has created print materials for its annual gala on 26 March. On 3 April the ICA will launch a catalogue, designed by Sara de Bondt, to commemorate its 60th anniversary...

ANALYSIS: Packing a bigger punch.
March 5, 2009... As fmcg clients start to recognise packaging's point-of-sale potential, design consultancies are gaining ground in the marketing mix, writes Gina Lovett The intangibility of design, and the difficulty in measuring its effectiveness and...

PRIVATE VIEW: Screening out the past.
March 5, 2009... Using paper-thin screen technology, the moving image is colonising public spaces. What does this mean for the future of graphic design? asks Adrian Shaughnessy Despite the technical and engineering miracle of the London Tube, a railway...

INSPIRED: Matt Judge.
March 5, 2009... Matt Judge Sea and Designassembly.org Sol LeWitt, who was born in 1928 and died only two years ago, is an artist I've admired and respected for some time now, not only for the calibre of his work, but also for the manner in which he...

LETTER: Only those who 'do' can talk about hardship.(Letter to the editor)
March 5, 2009... With regard to James Woudhuysen's recent letter (DW 19 February), I'm all for a bit of soul searching in these difficult times, but please, we can do it without the preaching approach taken by those who teach, talk and cannot do. The...

VOXPOP: Design Council message.
March 5, 2009... How could the Design Council communicate its message more effectively to the industry? I think I share its ambition, but I'm not sure what the message is. The ideal position, for an organisation jostling to be design's best mate, should...

LETTER: The industry must stop talking change and act.(Letter to the editor)
March 5, 2009... I attended February's Designer Breakfast, where Michael Peters offered a veteran's insight into the current state of the design industry in the UK. He highlighted the problems faced by the industry, including bad art schools and...

LETTER: Designers must stick to principles, despite the crunch.(Letter to the editor)
March 5, 2009... Recently, Design Week has featured more articles on the financial aspects of design than on design itself. At the risk of sounding too idealistic, perhaps we should embrace the credit crunch as an opportunity to look beyond the bank...

LETTER: Government design procurement is based on ignorance.(Letter to the editor)
March 5, 2009... I read with interest your comment (DW 12 February) on Government procurement of design services. The way public sector contracts are awarded seems inconsistent and incompetent. I have run a graphic design consultancy for 20 years,...

PROFILE: Ken Freivokh.
March 5, 2009... Yacht designer Ken Freivokh's Magellano T72 epitomises the open brief he has been given by Italian luxury boat manufacturer Azimut. He explains to Tom Banks how lateral thinking and an 18-hour day underpins his ethos At the foothills of...

BAROQUE: Baroque rocks.
March 5, 2009... The ornate grandeur of the Victoria & Albert Museum's forthcoming Baroque exhibition might seem out of place in our credit-crunched times. But the Baroque style informs the values of many contemporary designers, says John Stones, who takes a...

LIGHTING: Light up.
March 5, 2009... Outdoor illumination is an increasing presence in urban spaces, but designers are working hard to complement structures rather than obstruct or overwhelm them with inappropriate schemes. Anna Richardson checks out the latest developments ...

BUSINESS INSIGHT: Procurement is worth the pain.
March 5, 2009... For designers, procurement can seem like a stifling process. Barry Seal explains how they can make it work for them With purse strings tightened, it is no surprise that procurement departments have increased power. For brand-owners, it...

REVIEW: Medicine show.(photographer Hege Saebjornsen )(Brief article)
March 5, 2009... By Anna Richardson What do you do when you reach burnout, realising your work-life balance is way off-kilter? If you're photographer Hege Saebjornsen, you rethink, start working with the Samaritans, take yourself off to Japan and read...

Frayling to lobby Government on status of design education.
March 12, 2009... The outgoing rector of the Royal College of Art, Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, is set to mount a campaign to persuade Government to rethink its categorisation of design education. Frayling has signalled an intention to go to 'the...

LDA event will highlight London 2012 creative opportunities.(London Development Agency )(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The London Development Agency is planning to stage an event to highlight contract opportunities around the 2012 Olympics for the creative sector at the end of this month. The LDA is thought to have appointed an organisation with 'a strong...

Muji Award 03.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... An exhibition of the winning designs in the Muji Award 03 programme is to open at the Muji store on London's King's Road. It will feature Yuka Lida's gold prize-winning Straw Straw and Ken and Eri Sugimoto's silver prize-winning Trash Pack...

Prize-winning carafe goesto market.(Top Tap carafes )(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The winner of the London on Tap carafe design competition is set to go into mass production in late April. An initial run of 10 000 Top Tap carafes by designer Neil Barron will be manufactured in time for the summer rush. Barron, of...

JPA designs aircraft seat with unique configuration.
March 12, 2009... James Park Associates has designed a new business-class airline seat, which will launch to the market at the end of this month. The Cirrus seat has been created for client Sicma Aero Seat Services, a seat manufacturer based in Issoudun,...

Fascadale packaging.
March 12, 2009... Nevis Design has created branding and packaging for the limited-edition single malt Fascadale, from the Adelphi distillery. Fascadale, meaning 'ship's haven', lies on the north west point of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Nevis has worked with...

Together creates logo and signage for new #8.6m Towner gallery.
March 12, 2009... Together has created the identity, signage and launch materials for Towner, a new contemporary art gallery set to open in Eastbourne, East Sussex. Towner, the new incarnation of the Towner Art Gallery, will open on 4 April in a new #8.6m...

David Rowley creates Marks in Time.
March 12, 2009... Freelance designer David Rowley has created Marks in Time, a book that celebrates 125 years of retailer Marks & Spencer. The book will be on sale in M&S stores in May and published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson in September. It involved close...

Design sector in recession for next two years, says Sorrell.
March 12, 2009... The only significant issue facing the design industry in the next two years will be 'recession, recession, recession', according to WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell. Speaking exclusively to Design Week last Friday - the day that WPP...

Award-winning cushion from Matter may reach production.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The Design Business Association's Inclusive Design Challenge winner Matter plans to meet seating manufacturer Herman Miller this week to discuss bringing its cushion to market. Bath-based product design group Matter was crowned winner of...

Sandpolo identity.(Underscore )(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... Underscore has created the new identity and marketing collateral for Sandpolo, which will hold two international polo events this year. The two-day London Polo event will be held at Horse Guards Parade, SW1, in June, and the British Beach...

Small Back Room creates new face of Luton Gateway.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... Small Back Room has created a new brand identity for Luton Gateway, a public/private sector company supporting economic growth in Luton and south Bedfordshire. SBR was appointed last December following a competitive pitch with two other...

IN BRIEF: Manchester Museums Consortium targeting new visitors.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The Manchester Museums Consortium is targeting new visitors as part of a strategic campaign devised by Glorious Creative. The first stage is a series of pavement plaques. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: Australian Woman of the Year.(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... Gill Hicks, founder of Mad for Peace, a non-profit organisation which uses art and design to promote peace, has been named Australian Woman of the Year in the UK. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

Let's reward usability and social relevance in design.
March 12, 2009... It would have been inconceivable a few years ago that an unglamorous product would win a design award. Yet in the space of a week we have seen two take top accolades in what can only be a welcome shift for design, broadening the portfolio of...

BASCA relaunches with new look by Studio Dempsey.(British Academy of Composers and Songwriters)(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... The British Academy of Composers and Songwriters is this week relaunching under an identity created by Studio Dempsey. Studio Dempsey founder and former CDT Design director Mike Dempsey explains that a 'subtle' name change prompted the need...

Uniform slashes perceptions with logo for digital film fest And.
March 12, 2009... Liverpool-based consultancy Uniform is branding the new digital film festival Abandon Normal Devices, which is set to be staged this September in Liverpool. The Foundation for Art and Creative Technology in Liverpool, which is...

Ideo collaborative public- sector pilot heads for roll-out.
March 12, 2009... Global design consultancy Ideo and sustainable development charity Forum for the Future is working to secure Government funding ahead of national roll-out of their I-team scheme, aimed at driving innovation in the public sector. The design...

NEWS IN PICTURES: The Loop Design.
March 12, 2009... Surrey-based consultancy The Loop Design has designed the new identity for Waverley Borough Council, which is rolling out across a number of sub-brands, including 'youth' and 'leisure'. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and...

NEWS IN PICTURES: Thomas Gibson Fine Art.
March 12, 2009... Agenda Design Associates has created the catalogue for an exhibition of work by Colombian artist Fernando Botero, which is showing at Thomas Gibson Fine Art, London W1, until 8 April. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

NEWS IN PICTURES: Joseph Joseph.
March 12, 2009... Damian Evans of Element Design has created two new products for Joseph Joseph - a compact herb chopper and an adjustable-height rolling pin. They will go into shops in April. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

NEWS IN PICTURES: Melody exhibition.
March 12, 2009... Designer-makers including Jo Davies, Andrew Palin and Ikuko Iwamoto will exhibit their works at Melody, an exhibition running at the SDC Gallery, London EC2 until 9 May. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

ANALYSIS: History lessons.(Designs of the Time )
March 12, 2009... The organisers of the second Designs of the Time can learn from the first programme in 2007. Angus Montgomery reports 'Designs of the Time 07 was an experiment - a prototype, if you will,' says Malcolm Page, deputy chief executive of Dott...

PRIVATE VIEW: Ultimate Europeans.(European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century)(Viewpoint essay)
March 12, 2009... What's 'European', exactly, and what might it mean aesthetically? Hugh Pearman wrestles with an elusive concept - and finds an answer of sorts I've always wondered what 'European' meant. For us, it tends to exclude 'British'. Something...

INSPIRED: Giovanna Forte.
March 12, 2009... Giovanna Forte Funnelly Enough Three simple things inspire on a daily basis. The second is my Brompton bicycle. It transports me effortlessly and with dignity across London and beyond. It is beautiful, compact and elegant. The third is...

LETTER: This call to arms must be backed up by transparency.(Letter to the editor)
March 12, 2009... I was interested to read about Bruce Mau's call for designers to combat economic and social ills (News, DW 5 March). His Massive Change project has captured the imagination of many who believe design has more to offer. Aware of this, in...

VOXPOP: What would you do if you had an hour on the fourth plinth?
March 12, 2009... What would you do if you had an hour on the fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square, as part of Antony Gormley's One & Other project? If we're doing our job properly then my chance of being selected is becoming statistically less...

LETTER: BDI and Design Council share the same goals.(Letter to the editor)
March 12, 2009... Regarding the recent discussions between British Design Innovation and the Design Council, referred to in your article (News, DW 26 February), I'd like to make the following comments: I was present at the BDI/Design Council meeting on 11...

LETTER: Universities are key to training for global design challenges.(Letter to the editor)
March 12, 2009... Your magazine's Professional Development supplement (DW 26 February) raised some very interesting points. When conditions are tough, most of us hardly notice cuts in training budgets - we question the return on investment and see time...

LETTER: Pencilling in a little flattery draws out the best in people.(Letter to the editor)
March 12, 2009... Following my recent Inspired piece in your magazine (DW 8 January), a new box of pencil crayons landed on my desk, from student Chris Haydon. I know they were from him because his name and details were engraved on the lid. Even more...

PROFILE: Luke Miles.
March 12, 2009... LG set up its new European design centre in London last year, with head of design Luke Miles in charge. Anna Richardson speaks to him about the importance of location, teamwork and the UK's 'creativity gene' Last summer, South Korean...

PACKAGING: Back to basics.
March 12, 2009... It's boom time for supermarket own-brand ranges at the moment, as recession-hit consumers are less easily seduced by brand names and premium credentials. Sarah Woods unwraps the latest trends in food packaging design Brand snobbery is a...

RETAIL DESIGN: Double act.
March 12, 2009... Appointing top creatives from different disciplines to work on a one- off, high-profile project is a risky strategy, but it has paid off handsomely for Kvadrat with its new London showroom, a colourful fusion of the two- and three-dimensional,...

TRAVEL AGENTS: Package ideals.
March 12, 2009... Travel agents with a retail presence are being hit by the recession like other high street brands, but some sectors are bucking the trend. Clare Dowdy checks out four specialists investing in store refits to better serve their customers ...

BUSINESS INSIGHT: Opt in when you earn out.(creative design studio Mook)
March 12, 2009... An earn-out can be the start of something new, as well as an ending. Tom Adams reveals why he is still in business long after the event Mook was a creative hotshop in Hoxton when 'digital' was actually called Web design, and grown men had...

REVIEW: To print or not to print.(British Pop Art)(Brief article)
March 12, 2009... By Anna Richardson Rules are there to be broken, a motto that can readily be applied to Joe Tilson's body of work. In the 1960s, Tilson, one of the founders of British Pop Art, made a list of some of the things he was told you should...

Eurostar shortlists designers for redesign of train interiors.
March 19, 2009... Eurostar is understood to be on the brink of appointing a consultancy to redesign its train interiors, following a six-month tender process. Seymour Powell is believed to have made the final shortlist, along with one or two other groups....

Crunch-era 100% Design offers flexibility to target wider audience.(Brief article)
March 19, 2009... This year's 100% Design trade exhibition will feature a new floorplan, a 'festival spirit' - and possibly Designersblock. Designed by Jam, the new floorplan will feature spaces for live performances. It will also offer flexible display...

Richard Ardagh creates letterpress.
March 19, 2009... Richard Ardagh has created a letterpress poster to mark the 150th anniversary of Wilton's Music Hall, London E1, the world's last surviving grand music hall. The poster, along with a selection of Ardagh's other work, will be on display at an...

New round of job losses at Landor.(Brief article)
March 19, 2009... Landor is in the process of making six redundancies. Those leaving the consultancy include creative director Derek Johnston, who has been with Landor for ten years, and planning director Phil Gandy, who has been with the group for around...

UKTI runs its first design mission to Milan furniture fair.
March 19, 2009... UK Trade & Investment is to run its first design trade mission to Milan during the city's international furniture fair this year. The idea behind the mission is to support UK designers keen to investigate overseas opportunities, as well as...

Mark Holmes to present collection of deskware and tableware.
March 19, 2009... Former Established & Sons design director Mark Holmes will present the debut collection of deskware and tableware from his new brand Minimalux next month, during the Salone del Mobile in Milan, in the Grand Hotel et de Milan from 22-25...

Oliver Blackwell creates a cable-tidy device.(Brief article)
March 19, 2009... Designer Oliver Blackwell has created a cable-tidy device called Revolution Ball, developed for the gardening and DIY market. He says the product, an update of the traditional drum-shaped cable tidy, was born out of a frustration with using...

EU design policy will boost jobs, says Beda president.
March 19, 2009... The formation of EU design policy will result in more jobs for designers, according to president of the Bureau of European Design Associations Jan Stavik. The newly elected Beda president, who last weekend replaced Michael Thomson...

CSA&CTA to refurbish London HQ for the Design Council.
March 19, 2009... The Design Council's offices in Covent Garden, London WC2, are to be refurbished by joint team Clive Sall Architecture & Carl Turner Architects. The group was appointed to the #170 000 contract following a three-way pitch in January,...

Design Nation showcase.(Brief article)
March 19, 2009... New designs French Bench by Chris Eckersley and Winter Flowers by Katy Holford will go on display as part of the Design Nation showcase at this year's Chelsea Flower Show. Work by Ella Doran, Sharon Elphick and Carole Waller will also be on...

Holmes & Marchant repacks Philadelphia cheese for Kraft.(Brief article)
March 19, 2009... Holmes & Marchant has designed new packaging for Kraft soft cheese brand Philadelphia. The consultancy, which has been on Kraft's roster since 2006, pitched for the Philadelphia work in April 2008, according to a spokeswoman. The...

IN BRIEF: Spring design branding campaign.(Brief article)
March 19, 2009... Spring has designed branding for a campaign, supported by BBC Radio Suffolk and the East Anglian Daily Times, to bring the Olympic torch to Suffolk in 2012. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: Milan furniture fair.(Brief article)
March 19, 2009... Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto has created an installation called Crystallised Wind for the Lexus exhibition L-finesse at the Milan furniture fair from 22-26 April. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

COMMENT: Beda appointment should bring opportunities in Europe.
March 19, 2009... There's been an interesting shift in focus for UK design in recent years, from the local to the global. Most groups in, say, the Design Week Top 100 have dabbled in Dubai, China, Russia or India of late, largely because their multinational...

Herbert Hall wine branding uncorked by ex-Identica duo.
March 19, 2009... Former Identica creative director Geoff Halpin and marketing director Brendan Martin have teamed up to create the brand for English sparkling wine Herbert Hall. Herbert Hall founder Nicholas Hall explains that it has been necessary to...