Words within Words

Here we explore a visual communication technique
The following presentation highlights examples of how the designer has primarily used the written word to illustrate an idea or concept. What sets the following examples apart is the economy and restraint that has been employed by the designer. By merely finding a solution within the word(s) or language that surround each subject.

There also appears to be an effortless feel to these design solutions that belies the fact that each and every designer has had to work hard, striving to find that solution. However at some point on their creative journey they have had a ‘eureka moment'! They have made a creative connection or series of connections and when analysed, in order to achieve this, they have employed one or more of the following techniques:-

They have consistently kept an open mind.
They have visually interrogating the surrounding word(s) & language.
They have exploited the incidental.
They have embraced serendipity (a happy accident) and happen-stance (chance occurrence).
They have approached the problem both laterally & from 360 degrees.
They have applied a relevant or appropriate technique to enhances the concept... 

...but most importantly they have looked and looked, and looked again.

“Brains A one Ale” - Brewing cask ale in Cardiff for over 125 years.

Logotype for the Earth Art Institute - 1992.
One powerful word is hidden within another.

Vidal Sassoon 50th Anniversary Logotype - 1992.
Stylishly combines both name & number.

Apartheid succinctly illustrated - Designer - Bryn Jones

The designers actually found four directions.

Personal Christmas card - Designed by Rita Kinsella - 1995

Poster for New York based human rights charity Witness.
Designed by Lippa Pearce Design

Claire is marrying Dave - Wedding invite
Designed by The Chase Creative Consultants

Great use of an anagram amongst Friends!

Course language.

Book cover for a Pan Paperbacks on the ultimate diet.
When given the word fasting as the title the designer saw greater possibilities.
From - Smile in the mind 1.

The co-operative Bank Calendar - 1991.
Designed to raise money for 6 special niche charities.
The introduction above contains a hidden message.

Manchester Evening News are expanding & moving office
Designed by The Chase

Is Ikea a good Idea...discus.

Year 1 creative thinking type solution.
Designed by Jennie Potts 

Designed by Matt Johnson - 2007

Advertising Standards Authority press campaign.
 D&AD runner up 2002

‘The difference a letter can make’
Advertising Standards Authority press campaign - D&AD winner 2002

Fine Art Degree show Poster - 1994 - Designed by Mark Hurst.
University of Central Lancashire

French Connection UK - Trevor Beattie in 1997. 
French Connection used the abbreviation FCUK on an internal memo.
The idea evolved into one of the highest profile and most controversial
British ad campaigns of the 90's.

Brand marketing campaign for Manchester City.
2008/09 season - by Mark Studio

Proposed identity for The Mitchell & Kenyon Cinema - by The Chase - 2006

Pilotlight Australia
Pilotlight’s aim was to spark ideas, turn heads & make people think.
Seeing something good or unexpected, in something bad.

Cystic Fibrosis - Johnson Banks
“In discussions and research, it became apparent pretty quickly
that the condition is widely misunderstood.
Most people don’t understand what it is, or what it does,
until someone close to them is affected by it”.

Alzheimer’s Australia - Interbrand Australia - 2012
The following brand features a flexible logo that changes & evolves
to communicate different messages. 
Using two colours and often just four words the idea communicates
the name of the organisation, highlights a problem and features
a strong call to action.

A great little book, highly recommended.

...and finally the Scunthorpe problem

The Scunthorpe problem is the blocking of e-mails,
forum posts or search results by a spam filter or search
engine because their text contains a string of letters
that are shared with an obscene word. 

While computers can easily identify strings of text
within a document, broad blocking rules may result
in false positives, causing innocent
phrases to be blocked.

140 Twitter Characters

These hipster mash ups were created out of cutting and rotating the twitter logotype.
For no reason at all apart from the challenge.

Pinterest

Working with limited means and within strict limits can be a liberating experience. Here we feature a range of digital sketches and designs based around one simple needle. 

A haystack

The Creative Journey

An insightful summation by illustrator Tom Gauld.

Just what?

We can only surmise as to just what the initial sign spelt out?

Hair Loss

Blackpool South shore.

The Letterheads

Here we feature the cast of Neil Bennison's 2016 award winning Letraset animation.

Johnnie Wlakre

Some late night brand developments that never saw the light of day...until now!

DM17: The Design City Reframed

Last week one our 3rd Year Advertising students, Jemma Redpath, attended the 5th annual Design Manchester all-day conference. She's kindly sent through some of her thoughts for Disciples...

The Design City Reframed conference was an experience full of diverse speeches and presentations that have certainly left an impression on me. The conference covered all sorts of topics including branding, architecture, film and modern art that were very refreshing. However, some were a little more random. One designer (not to mention names) spent his whole allotted time talking about writing songs for his LP- which would have been fantastic if we had seen some of the actual process. Half way through the talk he revealed, “by the way, you’re not actually going to hear any of my songs.” Not the best start to the event I must say!

There were however some really great speeches that made up for the disappointing start of the conference. Louis Mikolay from North gave a fantastic talk all about the rebranding of the Science Museum. As we know there was a lot of public backlash about ditching the existing brand image, but he represented his agency well and stood by North’s decisions and final work. I took away 3 main lessons from his talk… Number one: research is important. Number two: making visual observations of a brand will help you to identify ways to develop it further. Number three: be brave and stand up for what you creatively believe in, even when other people’s opinions might differ.

Tash Wilcox who is currently working with Hyper Island and Jane Murison, from the BCC, talked about very similar topics. Murison talked about how a lot of the time, we don’t make informed decisions due to our tendency to wait to be given information, and how social media has emotional consequences if we use it too much or too less. Wilcox relatedly discussed how we often seek the approvals of others on social media and how that can stop us from exercising our brain. Both talks were slightly anti-tech but amongst the humour and jokes they both highlighted some important advice. Firstly, we can make our own choices by making the good popular and the popular good. Secondly, we can put technology aside and strengthen our mind by developing our physically talents such as drawing and painting.

Overall, I would definitely attend the conference again. It was full of creativity and I genuinely left feeling motivated and more excited about my own projects. The general atmosphere was great to be in and it was reassuring to know that some of my own student creative worries were echoed amongst such successful and accomplished people. I look forward to attending similar events in the upcoming months and I most certainly am looking forward to attending the next Design City Reframed.

Stranger & Stranger

Tom Shaughnessy, Design Director at Glorious and also friend of the course has shared with us an agency called Stranger & Stranger. They're an agency who somehow slipped through the net on my radar, but are definitely worth sharing with you. Specialising in packaging and branding they are an agency who create - rather, craft - exceptional and exquisite pieces of design.

Mainly for the alcoholic drinks industry, they design the labels, bottles, packs and everything that falls under their client's brand. It's worth spending some time understanding and appreciating the level of craft and detail through typeface selection, illustration style through the idea and the actual end product itself. They also have an interesting design mantra:

DON’T FIT IN, STAND OUT ™

They've also designed and printed a beautiful book featuring a few hundred of the four and half thousand jobs they’ve done over the past 20 years. It is expensive but quite a few blogs give you a sneek peek.