The Fox is Black

26 October, 2023

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Graphic Design

A+ Is One of My Favorite Branding Studios That I Didn’t Know Existed

A+ is the studio of Graham Bradley, who describes the practice as “a design and technology studio that creates type.” And as it turns out, they’re one of my favorite studios, I just didn’t realize it. So there’s this restaurant called Bell’s located in Los Alamos, a small town in the middle-ish of California’s, roughly 2.5 hours north of Los Angeles. Owned by Daisy and Greg Ryan, Bell’s holds. special place in my heart because the food, service, and experience of eating there, are all incredibly thoughtful. A small but important aspect of said experience, is the branding, which is where A+ comes in.

The look and feel of Bell’s branding is French by way of California (which is also how I would describe the food). A+ created a bespoke typeface, charmingly named Henri, as well as a number of custom logos, a flexible menu system that can accommodate new items, as well as some cutie illustrations that bring the brand some extra personality. It all feels haphazard in the best way, like an eclectic assortment of items you’d find at a French brocante.

A+ also ended up working on Daisy and Greg’s other restaurant Bar Le Côte, a seafood tavern in Los Olivos that they opened along with co-owner and executive chef Brad Matthews. It’s like the eclectic, kinda zany cousin of Bell’s, and the vibe of the interiors and the branding help to communicate that.

The type work here astounds me, especially as A+ was able to create a dynamic typeface that can also be reorganized into a “wordmark built from geometric, Art Deco letterforms, stacked together like a set of blocks.” I hadn’t seen this animation until I found A+ and it’s so remarkable to see all the letters come together so nicely like that.

The work Graham is doing is so inspiring and varied. He also recently worked on the new logo and typography for wework, and even an amoeba/bacteria inspired typeface that’s so blobby and beautiful.
25 September, 2023

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Graphic Design

Rainer Schneider Gets an Iconic Brand Update from Hyperfocus

Rainer Schneider, a contemporary restaurant reinventing German cuisine, recently received a fresh looking brand identity from the folks at Hyperfocus. They decided on an analogue aesthetic for the photos, sprinkled in some fun copywriting, and embraced a lo-fi design approach, emphasizing the values of sharing and new culinary adventures. The visual identity they created is raw, sincere, and straightforward, evoking a sense of familiarity and timelessness. I’m such a fan of type-driven branding and this hits the mark for me. A bold type pairing, pared back color palette, it never goes wrong.
14 September, 2023

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Design

Identity Design for Santorini-based Hotel HOM by k2 design

How does one design a brand to emphasize it as a perfect summer retreat? Greek design firm k2 design has employed their vision for a new hotel simply called HOM, highlighting its one-of-a-kind charm which sets it apart from the typical honeymoon hotel vibe that saturates Santorini.

With a nod to the simplistic beauty of Greek design, they’ve incorporated elements like handmade pottery and vibrant colors that evoke the carefree spirit of summer living. The tones they’ve chosen are gorgeous, they feel so rich and lively, and the hand-drawn illustrations bring such a familiar, human touch to the overall brand. Overall, there’s this really nice interplay between the simplicity of the typography and the character of the textures and colors used throughout.
3 August, 2023

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Graphic Design

New York Times Gets Salty Over Diamond Crystal Rebrand

It’s almost comical how mainstream brand redesigns are at this point. Being in any creative field, you’ve experienced random folks having an opinion on your work. The nosy executive, the random PA, or in this case, the amateur home chef. The New York Times, or more specifically, journalist and cookbook author Marnie Hanel, has decided to wade into the murky waters of branding, asking, What Happened to Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt?

To summarize the piece, Diamond Crystal hired Enlisted Design to work on a fresh look for the brand, as well as create smaller boxes for home chefs (it was previously only sold in very large, 3 lb. boxes). And ultimately, the piece tries to say that things shouldn’t change. That because Diamond Crystal is in some TV shows like The Bear, Ina Garten swears by it, and that it was used in the (toxic and abusive) Bon Appétit test kitchen years ago, it is somehow sacrilegious for the outdate design of the box to change.

Opinions are like assholes, everyone’s got one. Over the years, I’ve learned that everyone is entitled to their opinions, they don’t affect me or hurt my feelings. It does bother me though when there’s a lack of understanding on how branding, marketing, and capitalism connect in our modern world. It clearly states that Diamond Crystal “aims to increase the annual revenue … from $3 million to $50 million.” It cannot grow 16x with that ugly, old, 3 lb. box that was hard to find in most grocery stores. This is primarily, a business decision, a growth strategy, that happens to include a redesign.

Speaking to the design itself, it’s nice! In the article’s byline, it’s described as “minimalist branding.” Sure, it’s simple, but minimal it is not, with bold, typography that bring an interesting bit of personality. The color palette is almost a direct opposite of Morton Iodized Salt, probably the best known brand of salt in the U.S., and distinctly different from the green and white color palette of the other major flakey salt brand, Maldon. Is the design following some rather well-worn trends? Sure, though I’ll assume that most consumers of salt wouldn’t be aware of that, only us design nerds. Some of the comments in the article stated, essentially, that the new design will “blend in with all the other salts on the shelf.” From my point of view, that is not the case here.

I give props to Enlisted Design for their great work, andI totally feel for them right now. The amount of weird spam they’re going to get from this clickbait-ridden article is going to suck. Context and insight is important.
2 August, 2023

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Graphic Design

Studio Bruch Builds a Strong Brand for Carpentry Company, Hea

Award-winning Studio Bruch is an Austrian studio specializing in creating visual design concepts and strategies for branding, editorial design, packaging, and signage, both in analog and digital formats. They recently completed a branding project for a carpentry company called Hea.

Bruch created custom-made lettering and type design that aims to combine contrasting elements such as angled and round, hard and soft, to showcase the creative possibilities of working with wood. The typefaces are based on the simplified form of a wooden board, creating a cohesive and intelligent approach to the brand. This design also aligns with the company’s claim that “Everything is built on wood.” Further, the brand is enhanced by warm and atmospheric imagery that really gives it a modern and timeless feeling.

For me, I’m so impressed with how effective the type is with such a simple concept. The way the joints of the letters connect really gives that feeling of wooden boards coming together, and they even remind me of the curves of the iconic Thonet 214 chair. The color palette is also really doing it for me, love the muted greens and golden amber tones paired together. One of my favorite branding projects of the year, for sure.
28 July, 2023

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Graphic Design

Image Format Creates a Timely Identity for Théâtre des Salins

I think it’s so special when someone is able to develop a brand identity that looks how something would feel. Case in point, this season’s look and feel for the Théâtre des Salins developed by Image Format. Now, these days, gradients are everywhere, it’s literally impossible to avoid them at this point. Though in this case I love what Image Format has done, giving the impression of time and seasons shifting, or that’s how it reads to me personally. And the typeface they’re using, Baste, has such an eclectic look, like a silly, rounded monospace, which feels retro and quite contemporary.
24 July, 2023

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Graphic Design

Deeply Cafe & Bottle Shop Branding by Humid Daze

My love for food-related branding is unending, and when I spotted this work from Humid Daze, I was immediately a fan. Humid Daze is a one-man design studio helmed by Sean Jones, a designer and illustrator based in Atlanta. The work he did for Deeply, a cafe and bottle shop in Florida, is clean and timeless, using elements of sans serif type paired with hand drawn elements. It’s all so crisp and clean that you can’t go wrong, and in the end, it allows the coffee to shine through clearest. I feel like everyone could use a little spot like this in their neighborhood.
19 July, 2023

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Graphic Design

Sola Coffee Co Branding & Packaging by Studio MPLS

The folks at Studio MPLS are always up to something cool, creating some of the most striking branding and packaging designs out there. For example, their work for River St. Joe is one of my favorite projects, ever. Most recently, they released new work for Sola Coffee Co, a coffee shop opening soon in the northern part of Minnesota.

The system they built for the brand seems pretty flexible, utilizing either three or four typefaces (and some varying weights) and a seven color palette, which they’re able to bend in a number of directions. I’m such a fan of a type-based design systems, and I think they’ve made a lot of smart choices with the contrast between each. Just enough personality and quirk to be ownable without feeling whacky (in a bad way, whacky can be great). Most importantly, in my opinion, is it’s sense of timelessness. I write about this a lot and I do think it’s a good marker of strong design, especially in regards to product packaging and identity.