Being keen riders, we’re proud to be part of the motley crew involved in the creation and inception of the inaugural Melbourne Bike Festival.

Headed by the tyre-less Pip Carrol, the Melbourne Bike fest is kicking off this November with 5 days of bike worship and related events. The identity we created is designed to reflect the intention of the festival, that is ‘to get more people riding by providing an accessible, non-competitive and celebratory event for bike riders of every ability and riding style’. We Rationalised this internally as a licorice all sorts identity that is inclusive of the aesthetic and interests of the full spectrum of cyclists, young, old, commuters, collectors, retro, cruisers, fixed, free, racers, maybe even lycra clad. This is achieved mostly through the lexicon of wheel symbols that will eventually be badges, stickers, coasters and hopefully bar plugs (right Pip?). So far it only appears online and as a logo in a few places but the roll out (pardon the pun) is going to be great.

Researching bike visuals is something that some of us are known to do in our spare time anyway, but this process produced some gems that are far too good not to share. For example: Bike Type and this flickr goldmine.

Being a project that happened between the cracks and mostly after dark, it was a pleasure to develop the visuals with Peptoloab, Carla McKee and the Talented Mr Rob Cordiner who seems to be spending more and more of his valuable time with us these days applying his craft on numerous projects.

After a solid few months of creative development, we are really enjoying the feedback on our concept for Rebrand Tasmania. If you haven’t already, check it out and let us know what you think.

Emoh Ruo is an exhibition exploring Australian architecture in three modes – vernacular, built and speculative.

This is the latest is a series of projects that we have worked on with Cameron Bruhn and Jan van Schaik, extending on our proposal for the Creative Direction of the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale. The exhibition will be presented as part of the International Architecture Showcase at the London Festival of Architecture 2010, from Saturday the 19th of June and then travel to Australia in the coming months. We have worked on the identity, exhibition design, catalogue and collateral.

The name, while suggestive of indigenous antipodean language is quite simply, ‘Our Home’, backwards. The logotype we developed was inspired by a section of the exhibition that documents welcome signs from a range of Australian localities. Quoting the catalogue, “These curiously archaic signs tell us that we have arrived in a city, town or region – that we are here and not there. They silence the child’s voice from the back of the car that asks “Are we there yet?” These signs also speak of colonial settlement ambitions, civic pride and tourist promotion”. The result combined this archaic, decorative and informal reference with the gravity of the speculative work by the practices involved.

More images soon, in the meantime all the exhibition information is here.

The latest in a series of collaborative projects with Minifie Nixon Architects, has just been realised. Cafe Bourgeois is located in the suddenly urban docklands area, at the base of the new Myer building. We were involved in the creation of the identity and interior graphic. To Quote MNA, The cafe identity and architecture are entwined, the spatial gymnastics implied by the wallpaper mirroring the ironic ambitions of the franchise name. From our end, the process of developing the wallpaper took several twists and turns to achieve the result that MNA were looking for, that was making the space feel more rhythmic and less box like. Here’s to collaboration.

Photography by Albert Comper

We’re proud to say that together with Cobalt Niche, our work on the KeepCup project has contributed to it being listed as a finalist in the 2010 Premier’s Design Awards.

The Premier’s Design Awards highlight exemplar initiatives in and from Victoria where design has been used effectively, sustainably and strategically to innovate, increase productivity and/or boost competitiveness and exports. The winning recipients of this accolade are considered to be at the pinnacle of the use and application of design in Victoria. Read more about our involvement and process here. Fingers crossed.

Process Journal describes itself as a new quarterly design publication that showcases the very best of Australian and International design. It is for this reason, as well as the fact that it looks to be beautifully considered and designed, that we’re proud to be included in the first issue alongside the likes of Spin, Hofstede, 3 Deep and others. They also have a great site/blog that is well worth a visit. Thanks Thomas.

It’s not always the case, but sometimes clients can bring us a truly amazing set of ideas, and the job of refining and visualising them is a pure and absolute joy. 

Having seen our work on Graphic-Exchange, Malik from Sankoré, a newly formed lobbying firm in South Africa, contacted us to discuss bringing his vision to life. The brand story captured our imagination from the very start. Sankoré (which means “people of knowledge”) was formed by a senior member of one of Africa’s most powerful traditional dynasties and Malik Dechambenoit, a younger, french/african/spanish/english speaking political adviser with 10 years experience as a UN negotiator on the battle fields and in the board rooms of Africa. Working with African heads of state, the firm has launched to promote good governance and help Africa seize the moment, as it emerges onto the world stage as a new global powerhouse.

To embody our clients deep cultural connection to their African homeland of Timbuktu, in harmony with their truly modern, global, progressive world view, the identity had to be an authentic, cultural fusion. As the face of the business, we talked at length with Malik about his personal style, which included tailored suits and bespoke accessories, so we internally set ourselves the challenge that any brand we produce must be subtle and refined enough to work as an insignia on a set of cuff links that he would enjoy wearing. He presents himself as low key, diplomatic and sharp and he also gave as the reference of the afropolitan (read article here). We had plenty to work with.

The creative journey first explored a stylised monogram “s”, which through refinement, evolved to encapsulate the essence of an agadez cross, an ancient African symbol that represents protection and divinity. People of Muslim faith believe the arms of the cross disperse all evil from the individual, whilst our client sees it as a symbol of leadership, optimism and tradition.

The final typography we settled on was customised Gotham, which through it’s uniform spacing and clean, accessible letterforms helped personify the modern democratic values we were trying to evoke. As is often the case, when so much work goes into the concept and refinement of the identity, print and online application centered on showcasing the mark the most refined and elegant way possible.

Our thanks go to Malik and the Sankoré team for making this project possible and for sharing their many insights into the cultural and political landscape of Africa along the way.

We have been fortunate enough to work with the team at CERES Community Environment Park to help launch an exciting new concept in sustainable living. 

The big idea our client is bringing to Melbourne is based on the Food Connect model of organic food delivery, that has been operating successfully in Brisbane since 2004. It’s all about reconnecting urban communities with the farmers that grow their food and creating a happy, healthy food supply chain that values every person in the cycle, from the recently unemployed that work hard to make it happen, to the lucky citizens that get to eat fresh, tasty, spray-free produce.

The key point of difference to any other organic food delivery service, is that it’s a movement, not a franchise. The program is entirely not-for-profit, so success is measured through positive community outcomes, built on the premise that food is a joyful element of daily life that should bring us all together.

As you can imagine, the project presented a fantastic opportunity to tell a story. The brand identities were created to distill a sense of being “from the earth”, sustainable and community-based. We were told by one of our friends recently that the identities look slightly communist-era, which we thought was a very quirky reflection on our ultimate intention to embody a movement, rather than just establish a business.

Beyond the core brand, we also created an illustrated and photographic language that unpacked the message “Join The Fair Food Movement”, exploring the beautiful truth of what it means to eat fresh, fair, sustainable, local food. As well as design we have been working closely with CERES to source the most responsible suppliers for any branded materials we produce. We’ll be sharing more folio examples once they’re made/printed/stenciled/stamped. Read more and get involved here.

Over at Rebrand Tasmania we’ve just released three creative options, which have been informed by the input we have received so far in the first 3 months of the project.  Check it out and tell us what you think.

After the Mercury, the most widely read newspaper in Tasmania picked up on the story, the site has experienced a huge surge in visitation and participation. As we expected the response has been a healthy mix of positivity, skepticism, personal expression and constructive contributions. It is safe to say we have been stunned by the level of response and are really keen to kep up this level of participation over the next few weeks. More than anything else we are really happy to have been able to tap into the passions and emotions of all those who have responded.

These are just a few snippets of the commentary the Mercury article received when published online. Read the article and commentary here.

Thanks to all those who have jumped in and had their say, and thanks in advance to all those who waiting in the wings.