Matt van Leeuwen is a graphic designer in New York with a love for typography and a keen eye for color, his work spans a 20-year career of making bold and iconic work in New York and The Netherlands. He and I recently found ourselves in an animated discussion about the color red—its influence, its meaning, its everywhere-ness.

Try naming ten blue or yellow brands off the top of your head. It’s not as easy as it is with red.

Matt van Leeuwen

The color red is ubiquitous in the world of brands. “Consider this: Ferrari and Coca-Cola. Louboutin and McDonald’s. Prada and Heinz. Red moves seamlessly between luxury and accessibility. It’s a color that brands across the spectrum trust to make an impact,” says van Leeuwen. Countless others appear across all industries: Adobe, Netflix, Target, Lego, UniQlo, Marvel, Levi’s, YouTube, Pinterest, and RedNote (a newcomer hoping to welcome people migrating from TikTok). Somewhere between 20% to 30% of Interbrand’s Best Global Brands incorporate red into their identities. “Try naming ten blue or yellow brands off the top of your head,” van Leeuwen continues. “It’s not as easy as it is with red.”

This ubiquity isn’t accidental. Red commands attention like no other color. Thanks to its long wavelength, it’s one of the most visible hues on the spectrum, second only to yellow. So, it makes an obvious choice for brands wanting to cut through the visual noise of our consumerist lives. That visibility is also why stop signs, fire trucks, and sirens are red. It’s a color designed to make you stop, look, and pay attention. This visibility extends beyond physical warnings. In language, red is used to convey caution and danger: being “in the red” signals financial trouble, and a “red flag” warns of impending issues. Red is fire, blood, and in some cases, poison. It taps into primal instincts, evoking both fear and urgency.

Red’s dominance is rooted in both history and human psychology. Anthropologists Russell Hill and Robert Barton’s 2005 research suggests that, across nature, red is tied to aggression, dominance, and heightened testosterone levels. In the animal kingdom, flushed skin and vibrant red displays signal readiness to fight or mate. Applied to humans, wearing red can subconsciously prime individuals to feel more aggressive and dominant, making it a natural choice for sports teams—and political movements. The red MAGA cap wasn’t just a branding choice; it was a psychological trigger. Imagine that cap in blue—it simply wouldn’t have had the same impact.

This cultural duality underscores red’s remarkable versatility as a symbol, capable of embodying both hope and hostility depending on context.

“Historically, red has been the color of revolution. During the French Revolution, red caps and flags symbolized popular revolt. In 1917, the Russian Revolution solidified red as the color of socialism and communism. For Americans during the Cold War, red wasn’t just a color—it was the enemy,” he says, continuing, “The term ‘Red Scare’ captured the nation’s fear of social ideologies. Maps painted the Soviet Union red, embedding the color deeply into the national psyche as a symbol of danger. Yet today, that symbolism has flipped. Red now symbolizes Republican, and Trump has taken it a step further, commandeering the color red to brand his own movement.”

This shift isn’t just political; it’s profoundly visual. In design history, red was beloved by early 20th-century modernists like Kandinsky, Lissitzky, and Malevich for its bold, disruptive energy. Kandinsky even reserved the central square of his three elementary shapes for red, acknowledging its commanding presence. Red has always been the color of change, of defiance. It’s no wonder it has become the face of modern populism.

But it’s important to recognize that red carries a different significance and meaning in other cultures. In Eastern cultures, red is a symbol of luck, joy, and prosperity. It adorns wedding dresses, envelopes gifted during the Lunar New Year, and temple decorations. It represents vitality and celebration—a stark contrast to the West, where red often signals danger, aggression, or defiance. This cultural duality underscores red’s remarkable versatility as a symbol, capable of embodying both hope and hostility depending on context.

“Western association of political red with Republicans is a relatively recent development. It wasn’t always this way,” says van Leeuwen. “In 1976, NBC’s John Chancellor introduced the first color-coded electoral map, lighting up Democratic states in red and Republican ones in blue. It wasn’t until the chaotic 2000 election that networks standardized red for Republicans and blue for Democrats, etching this visual language into the political landscape. Before that, the colors were interchangeable.”

Populist politics demand a populist color, and red delivers.

As we watch this new wave of red rise, we wonder whether we’re witnessing branding at its most elemental. Trump’s campaign, wrapped in red, taps into centuries of symbolism—revolution, power, defiance. Like the biggest global brands, it’s designed to provoke and polarize, to be both loved and hated. Populist politics demand a populist color, and red delivers.

The question now is how we respond. Will brands pivot away from red to avoid unintended associations? Or will they double down, embracing its boldness despite its political baggage? Perhaps, like every revolution, this one will force us to rethink our symbols.

In design, as in politics, every color choice carries weight. But red? Red carries history, emotion, and power. It remains the ultimate provocateur—bold, commanding, and impossible to ignore.

And that’s why red will always matter.

The post Red: The Color of Power, Passion, and Populism appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Storytelling that highlights the region’s vibrancy, traditions, and people anchors the campaign. Adam Stewart, Sandals’ executive chairman, narrates the campaign film, emphasizing the brand’s intimate connection to the islands. The campaign moves beyond generic notions of all-inclusive resorts to focus on experiences that embody the soul of the Caribbean.

Wolff Olins brings a new visual identity rooted in what they’ve dubbed “Natural Vibrancy.” The refreshed look and feel integrate local influences with modern design principles, striking a balance between heritage and contemporary appeal. It’s not just about looking tropical—the look feels genuinely connected to the culture and environment of the islands.

Travelers today are looking for the authenticity that Sandals and Beaches resorts stand for, so it’s an incredible opportunity to help a family business born in the Caribbean to continue innovating from its legacy and delivering all-inclusive hospitality for the next generation of travellers.”

Brian Meyers, executive strategy director at Wolff Olins

This shift speaks to a broader trend in branding: the move toward authenticity and storytelling. Sandals isn’t just competing on luxury; it’s carving out a distinct narrative space that resonates with travelers seeking meaning in their experiences.

By placing the Caribbean front and center—visually, verbally, and experientially—Sandals takes a confident step in defining its brand not as a destination, but as an extension of the region it calls home. This is branding that feels personal, thoughtful, and perfectly timed for today’s travel audience.

“Made of Caribbean encompasses the true heart and soul of our organization,” said Adam Stewart. “We are so deeply grateful to the teams at Leo Burnett and Wolff Olins for beautifully capturing who we are at our core. My father and Sandals Resorts’ founder Gordon “Butch” Stewart, built these world class brands through celebrating the place he cherished so deeply. He believed with unwavering certainty that the Caribbean was worthy of deep exploration – and that its people, the most welcoming in the world, are a constant source of joy. His vision lives on in everything we do and it is with great pride and gratitude, that we declare to the world, we are ‘Made of Caribbean.’”

The post Wolff Olins Crafts a Brand ‘Made of Caribbean’ for Sandals Resorts appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

While some teams in other women’s professional sports leagues are upping their branding games as well—with clubs like Angel City FC and the San Diego Wave setting the bar in the NWSL— there is still ample room for growth (and investment) across the industry.

The newly launched Professional Women’s Hockey League, for example, unveiled its six inaugural franchises last September, each of whom has puzzlingly rudimentary logos and even worse wordmarks all in drastic need of some TLC.

And lest we forget the shambolic brand rollout of BOS Nation FC of the NWSL. TooManyBalls.com might be gone, but it will live on in infamy forever.

The WNBA continues to set and elevate the standard for women’s sports branding in the US, with franchises like the NY Liberty leading the charge. After diving headfirst into the mania surrounding the NY Liberty’s mascot, Ellie the Elephant, this past WNBA season, I had the pleasure of speaking directly with the Liberty’s chief brand officer, Shana Stephenson, about the brilliance of Ellie.

Since then, I’ve continued thinking about the state of branding in women’s sports, and the nuances of branding professional women’s sports teams versus their male counterparts, and once again sought out Stephenson for her expert insights. I also reached out to sports branding professional and graphic designer Britt Davis for commentary, who has worked with the likes of the WNBA, NBA, NFL, MLS, MLB, New Balance, ESPN, and collegiate teams through LCKR ROOM and B.CRTV Brands.

Stephenson and Davis’s thoughtful responses to my questions are below, lightly edited for clarity and length.

How important is the branding of a women’s sports team to their ultimate success on the court or field? One might think that only the players and their performance matter, but can you elaborate on how a franchise’s total package affects how a team plays?

SS: It’s essential to create a strong brand identity and an impactful platform to generate visibility, build a strong fan base, and connect with your players. Not only will you see the best basketball at New York Liberty games, but we are incredibly deliberate in ensuring fans will see the best fan experience as well.

The New York Liberty has been intentional in how we cultivate our fan base, and simultaneously bringing our brand identity to life through the in-arena atmosphere and experience at Barclays Center. We’ve designed our home venue to be an immersive, cultural experience, and our fans take it a step further by bringing the energy game after game, helping motivate, hype up, and create excitement for the players.

It’s no coincidence the Liberty just won our first WNBA championship in franchise history— this was always part of our long-term vision.

We’ve elevated our mascot, Ellie the Elephant, in unimaginable ways, hosted A-List celebrities and influencers from all different industries to sit courtside and perform at our games, and now we’re seeing an increase in media presence, fans, and attendance. We’re seeing everything come together so serendipitously, and it’s no coincidence that the Liberty just won our first WNBA championship in franchise history— this was always part of our long-term vision.

BD: Branding plays a pivotal role in shaping the overall experience, not just for the players, but for the fans as well. It’s the spark that fuels excitement, energy, and emotion, creating a dynamic atmosphere that resonates with both sides. This connection sets the tone for unforgettable moments that forge lasting bonds between fans and teams— bonds that solidify loyalty and passion. 

For me, these moments are the heartbeat of creative assets, from taglines to merchandise, inspiring everything fans wear and share to proudly express their unwavering support.

How do you see branding for a women’s sports franchise different from branding for a men’s franchise? What aspects are the same?

SS: The WNBA and many professional women’s sports teams and leagues are newer to the industry, leaving room to push creative boundaries and build something truly unique and authentic to the market. That growth opportunity can allow women’s sports teams to capture attention in uncrowded spaces and help brands meaningfully engage with some of the most diverse and loyal fans in sports.

One way the Liberty has pushed a creative boundary is through the team’s Xbox partnership. We created a custom gaming-inspired basketball court to celebrate the launch of one of the year’s most-anticipated video games. Our mascot Ellie is another example of how our team has pushed creative boundaries, with our fresh take on this part of a team’s branding, we’ve not only helped attract new audiences, but we’ve also created opportunities for new brand partnerships with Nike, Bumble, Lyft, and others.

WNBA players understand their role in growing the game, so they’re more accessible. They also speak out about women being undervalued and underrepresented in society overall and understand the value of using their platform to be vocal about social issues.

An aspect of branding that is the same for both women’s and men’s sports franchises is highlighting the elite athletes who are the heart of our team and the face of our league. This is something we are incredibly intentional about so that our players get the name recognition they have earned and deserve.

I’d also add that WNBA players understand their role in growing the game, so they’re more accessible. They also speak out about women being undervalued and underrepresented in society overall and understand the value of using their platform to be vocal about social issues.

BD: Having worked on both men’s and women’s sports projects, I approach them with the same level of intention and research-driven creativity. The process is fundamentally the same— understanding the team’s vision and goals and crafting a brand that speaks to the heart of the sport. 

That said, during the exploration phase, teams might highlight specific visuals or tones they want to emphasize or avoid in order to keep the focus on the game itself. I respect this direction, but I also believe there are unique ways to celebrate and elevate women’s sports beyond just the brand identity. From compelling storytelling to amplifying fan voices, there are countless ways to showcase what makes women’s sports so meaningful. As a woman working in the sports design space, I can’t help but feel an extra sense of excitement when I see the branding of women’s franchises making its way into the spotlight on my timeline.

There are unique ways to celebrate and elevate women’s sports beyond just the brand identity. From compelling storytelling to amplifying fan voices, there are countless ways to showcase what makes women’s sports so meaningful.

Which women’s sports franchises stand out to you for their successful branding? What elements of their branding set them apart and have fueled their rise to the top? 

BD: This is a tough one! The teams that truly stand out to me are the ones that deeply integrate into local culture, creating a genuine connection with their communities. Teams that tap into the nostalgia of a rich legacy and long-standing presence also leave a lasting impression. In terms of digital content and blending lifestyle-driven elements like retail, I’ve really enjoyed what teams like the Las Vegas Aces, NY Liberty, and Atlanta Dream have done. Their city-inspired branding and mascots have made them fun to follow over the past few seasons. 

I also have to give a shoutout to Team USA Women’s Soccer and Basketball— these athletes bring such incredible energy and personality, and the content surrounding them is both entertaining and empowering.

What strides have been made in women’s sports in general, and women’s sports branding specifically, since you’ve been involved in the industry? In what ways is there still room for growth?

SS: We’re in the midst of an explosion of popularity for women’s sports, which has opened new avenues of growth in the industry. In 2024, experts predicted that for the first time, women’s elite sports—like the WNBA—would generate over $1 billion in revenue, which would be a 300% increase from just three years ago in 2021.

In the WNBA specifically, the Liberty’s successful 2024 championship run was part of a WNBA playoffs which saw a 142% increase in viewership compared to 2023. And Game 5 of the WNBA Finals, when the Liberty won their first-ever championship, was the most-viewed WNBA Finals game in 25 years, with ESPN broadcast viewership peaking at 3.3 million.

A key business focus for our team over the past few years has been to increase brand visibility through broadcast viewership and unique brand partnerships. This year, the Liberty signed a broadcast deal with FOX5 in New York, bringing Liberty games to 7.5 million households across the Tri-State area, and we also launched our first direct-to-consumer streaming platform, Liberty Live, further increasing accessibility by bringing games directly to our fans.

A unique advantage of being a women-led franchise is that we are able to create new sponsorship categories and opportunities. We’ve collaborated with notable brands—many of which are new to sports and/or new to the WNBA—spanning fashion, beauty, health, and everything in between. In every partnership, we prioritize working with brands that share our core values, commitment to player benefit, and the larger narrative we are pursuing as an organization. Off-White, Hero Cosmetics, NYX Cosmetics, and RMA Network are just a few examples of some of our recent, successful partnerships.

Our strategic approach is working. The Liberty has continued to break barriers and set new records—from viewership, attendance, merchandise sales, social media engagement and more—numbers are up across all areas of the business, but there’s more to be done. We must continue the momentum and build on the foundation we’ve created in order to achieve long-term, lasting success for women’s sports overall.

Numbers are up across all areas of the business, but there’s more to be done.

BD: In recent years, it’s been exciting to see the growing coverage and visibility of women’s sports. This increased attention not only sparks greater interest in the sports themselves but also opens up more opportunities for creativity within the space. With more eyes on their teams, we’ve seen a wave of intentional outreach to creatives—especially women-owned agencies and independent creators—to help shape brand identities and retail collections. There’s also been a push to develop community programs that introduce young girls to sports, fostering deeper connections and experiences. As the space continues to evolve, I’m excited to see even more innovation around key campaign moments, like schedule releases, and how these moments further strengthen fan engagement.

The post Enter the Golden Age of Branding in Professional Women’s Sports appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

PRINT’s social feeds have become a dynamic stage for celebrating fresh talent, exploring design trends, and connecting with our ever-passionate audience. We shined a spotlight on groundbreaking artists and pulled on some threads of our industry’s most thought-provoking topics. But, as always, a few posts rose to the top, sparking the most likes, shares, and conversations across our platforms. So, without further ado, let’s revisit the top moments that defined PRINT’s social media in 2024.

Instagram

1. The Daily Heller: This Election is Not Yet in the Bag

2. Stuart Semple Calls Out Hostile Architecture with Powerful OOH Campaign

3. You Are All Wrong About the Jaguar Rebrand

Threads

1. (Our very first Thread!)

At last, but not least. PRINT Magazine has been at the forefront of design, showcasing the best in visual culture and creativity.

2. Call Yourself a Graphic Designer? You Have W.A. Dwiggins to Thank

3. Carolyn Mazloomi Uses the Power of Quilting to Honor Black History

Twitter

Most Clicks: In Conversation with Plains of Yonder, Title Sequence Creators for ‘The White Lotus’

Highest Retweets: Pantone 2025 Color of the Year is an Understated and Harmonious Hue

Top Likes: Decolonizing Design: Ukraine’s Fight for Visual Identity

Facebook

1. You Are All Wrong About the Jaguar Rebrand

2. ATX’s Guerilla Suit Delivers a Double-Dose of Hometown Brand Love

3. The Daily Heller: Wild Lines on the Loose at the Design Museum in Munich

LinkedIn

1. Bald’s Branding for Lazy Tuesdays Makes “Just Being” Fashionable

2. Dieline Awards 2024 Studio of the Year-Winner Wedge Breaks Down Its Big Wins and ‘Special’ Process

3. Stitches Meet Pixels in this Typeface Inspired by Norwegian Embroidery

Looking for more ways to stay connected with what’s happening in design in 2025? Follow us on Instagram, Threads, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Here’s to another year of creative discovery and connection!

The post PRINT Year in Review: 2024’s Most Loved Posts appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

While these perverse toys might look real at first, they are, in fact, figments of Rosemberg’s imagination, visualized through AI software. Using the style of 90s toy advertisements and packaging, the Forbidden Toys project deploys dark humor to poke fun at commercialism and the toy industry. But first and foremost, it’s clear that Rosemberg is just having a laugh. The artist was kind enough to answer a few of my questions about their Forbidden Toys series, shedding light on their background, process, and the use of AI in the arts. Their responses are below.

What’s your art background?

I have formal academic training in photography and film, but I’ve spent my entire life irresistibly absorbed by artistic creation in its most diverse forms: literature, drawing, design, music… 

A few years ago, I began exploring creation from a conceptual perspective, which led me to leave modified works and toys out on the streets. That conceptual exploration eventually gave birth to the project we’re discussing today: Forbidden Toys.

That said, I consider the art I made as a young child to be part of the overall corpus of my work. I’m still inventing stories and drawing monsters.

Where did the idea for your Forbidden Toys series come from? How did that develop into what it is today?

Toys have always been present in my work in one way or another (in addition to being an avid collector of toys and peculiar objects), so the idea was always there. 

I’ve always been deeply fascinated by the evolution of AI, and I vividly remember how awestruck I was the first day I tried DALL-E mini and asked it to generate 1960s-style laser guns. While the results weren’t realistic yet, they were precise enough to make it clear that it could be used as a creative tool in the future.

During a particularly stressful period when I barely left the house, I developed the Forbidden Toys project, which continues to serve as a form of therapy to this day. As the project gained popularity, I began refining the images and producing real objects, which is where the project currently stands.

What AI software do you use for Forbidden Toys? What are your general thoughts on AI usage in the art world?

I currently use several: MidJourney, DALL-E 3, Runway, and Wand, depending on my specific needs. I then mix and finalize everything traditionally using Procreate or Photoshop.

Naturally, I support the indiscriminate use of AI, just as I support any tool that an artist can use to express themselves. The controversy around using copyrighted material to train AI models feels distant to me because of my contradictory reluctance to fully accept copyright as a legitimate right. That said, just as generating illustrations or designs doesn’t make you an illustrator or designer, it does allow you to materialize concepts, which is, by definition, an act of conceptual creation.

The eternal post-Duchamp debate on authorship and what qualifies as art is as stimulating as it is repetitive. This debate has been unconsciously revived with the popularity of AI, and though it’s framed from a new perspective, it’s the same old argument. It’s true that this technology will inevitably create casualties, as always happens with groundbreaking tools; particularly among certain technical jobs and commission artists whose styles are easily imitated. 

However, the debate is irresolvable, and it will always be fascinating to read theoretical frameworks that supposedly distinguish art from what isn’t.

The eternal post-Duchamp debate on authorship and what qualifies as art is as stimulating as it is repetitive. This debate has been unconsciously revived with the popularity of AI, and though it’s framed from a new perspective, it’s the same old argument.

What’s your typical process like for developing your ideas for each Forbidden Toy?

The initial process is identical to any other artistic project I’ve undertaken; I always carry a notebook where I jot down ideas and sketches. This essentially gives you an extension of your brain with a prodigious memory; anything can inspire an idea. 

Once I’ve determined that a concept is interesting, the first thing I do is draw it to get a sense of what I’m looking for. After establishing a clear vision, I move on to wrestling with AI to generate the necessary elements. Working with AI is like dealing with a half-deaf art department since my ideas are often very specific and leave little room for abstraction; the process can be as tedious as it is inspiring. With all the required elements prepared, the most labor-intensive part of the process begins: combining everything traditionally in an image editor, where I fix errors, finalize the texts, and refine the overall composition. 

Much like making a film, the final result always diverges from the initial mental image you had. Your job is to approximate that vision, and the important thing is that the narrative and message are expressed in the way you intended.

Which of your Forbidden Toys is your favorite? Is there a particular Forbidden Toy that you feel encapsulates what you’re trying to do with the project the best?

It’s hard to pick just one because, beyond each having unique characteristics, they’re all part of the same project, so my preference is purely personal.  I’d say my favorite is “Zappy” because it marked a turning point in how precisely I could convey my ideas.  

The toy I think best encapsulates what I’m trying to achieve with the project is undoubtedly “Pregnant Ken.” For some inexplicable reason, it caught the attention of a Cypriot MP who turned it into a scandal and got fact-checking agencies investigating the image’s origins. The whole fiasco culminated in an official statement from Mattel denying any connection to “Pregnant Ken.” 

Naturally, I’ve got the statement framed at home as a trophy.

What are you trying to communicate or say as an artist with the Forbidden Toys series? What sort of experience do you hope your followers have with your creations?

At its core, I aim to open a window into a nonexistent past and provoke the kind of reactions that would arise if these objects were real. Toys are a medium we all know, and that shape our personalities, always leaving a residue of identification that is fascinating to play with. By presenting objects with a familiar context but grotesque essence, an inevitable comparison to reality occurs, leading to thoughts I find deeply engaging: Is this real? How does it work? Who in their right mind would think of something like this? 

These reactions are the essence of what I aim to convey because they forcibly stimulate a subverted reflection on the concept itself. At the same time, they can serve as a commentary on censorship, ideology, taboo, governance, and the weight that advertising language carries within them.  

In a way, I compel viewers to recreate the experience of wandering through a bazaar and stumbling across a Bin Laden action figure from a Western perspective.  

My followers generally fall into three main categories: those who appreciate the artistic value and understand the project, those who interpret it as purely humorous, and (my personal favorites) those who believe the toys are real.  

All of them are right.

The post The ‘Forbidden Toys’ Series Proves that There is a Place for AI in the Arts appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

And if you’re still reeling from it, the holidays are a perfect time to get punch-drunk distracted on a bounty of brilliant book covers.

For as much insanity as the year held (and it was … a lot!), it was offset by a constant stream of cathartic tomes and jackets. To that end, in 2023 our annual December list featured 50 titles—and it has now doubled to 100. 

Some of my personal favorites: Thomas Colligans’ beautiful cover for Beautyland, which has been stuck in my head for the better part of a year. Janet Hansen’s work on Ask Me Again, is equal parts electrifying and haunting. Pablo Delcan’s genius VanderMeer covers the best encapsulations of the Southern Reach series since his Spanish editions. Arsh Raziuddin’s jacket for Knife. Alex Merto and Seymour Chwast’s Tom Wolfe reissues. Pete Adlington’s utterly perfect Not Waving But Drowning. Grace Han’s take on God of the Woods, which disproves the theory that great covers are only the stuff of niche imprints and genres and not mainstream bestsellers. And so many others, which you’ll see below.

Here’s to all the striking work in 2024, and all that we have to look forward to in 2025. There has truly never been a better time to get lost in a book—or a book cover.

The post 100 of the Best Book Covers of 2024 appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

From a fresh face (or lack thereof) on some Murakami, to Dante’s Inferno as you’ve never seen it, to a psychedelic Clockwork Orange experiment, the rest of our favorite finds from the month(s) follow!

Publisher’s description:
With his bestseller Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates established himself as a unique voice in his generation of American authors, a brilliant writer and thinker in the tradition of James Baldwin.

In his keenly anticipated new book, The Message, he explores the urgent question of how our stories—our reporting, imaginative narratives and mythmaking—both expose and distort our realities. Traveling to three resonant sites of conflict, he illuminates how the stories we tell—as well as the ones we don’t—work to shape us.

The first of the book’s three main parts finds Coates on his inaugural trip to Africa—a journey to Dakar, where he finds himself in two places at once: a modern city in Senegal and the ghost-haunted country of his imagination. He then takes readers along with him to Columbia, SC, where he reports on the banning of his own work and the deep roots of a false and fiercely protected American mythology—visibly on display in this capital of the confederacy, with statues of segregationists still looming over its public squares. Finally, in Palestine, Coates sees with devastating clarity the tragedy that grows in the clash between the stories we tell and reality on the ground.

Written at a dramatic moment in American and global life, this work from one of the country’s most important writers is about the urgent need to untangle ourselves from the destructive myths that shape our world—and our own souls—and embrace the liberating power of even the most difficult truths.

What was the brief for this book? 
The brief was a very simple one: simplicity, strength, and a three-strand story. Then, a lot of discussion with the editor around really capturing the essence of the book. In terms of visuals, it was completely open.

Tell us about the blank space in the middle—how you arrived at it, and what it represents.
The blank space in the middle was almost not an intentional solution. I felt the overall package needed a timelessness to feel intriguing, and powerful but also elegant. The temptation with a book like this is to make a bold countercultural statement, to rely on protest graphics, etc., to give it an outsider attitude, which would be a completely valid approach and is certainly something I explored early on. But I also felt strongly that I wanted to play up to the alignment [of] Ta-Nehisi Coates in the lineage of socio-political [authors] such as Toni Morrison, Noam Chomsky, and James Baldwin. With that in mind, I wanted to convey clarity and authority. I felt the title and author name in themselves did a lot of that work for me.

How did you choose the type treatment?
The typeface I used was Grobek; this arose partly [because] it’s not a type aesthetic I have used previously (sometimes, there’s no better reason than that) but also this goes back to my decision to shy away from protest graphics in this design route. I decided to do the opposite, something elegant and light with a slightly unconventional serif. Somehow I found that through not being shouty, this stood out more, possibly due the sheer mass of negative space on the cover, which is echoed with a lighter typeface with huge counters.

How about the color bands?
The color bands frame the type elements, anchoring them to the top and bottom of the jacket. They are simply a reference to the three strands of the journey undertaken by the author, referencing Senegal, Palestine, and the U.S. But they also serve a purpose in harking back to Midcentury book cover design, further signaling the literary lineage I wanted to emphasize for Ta-Nehisi.

Is it difficult to make a cover this restrained yet effective?
I guess it can be sometimes difficult to get a cover this restraint approved. I think as long as it’s been well-designed, restraint is an admirable trait in designers (if appropriate!). But I had great supporters straight away for this cover in my art director, Richard Bravery, and the publisher for the title, Simon Prosser. It was one of those occasions where there was pretty much consensus straight away that was the strongest route—let’s just go with it!

Is there any added pressure when designing a book for such an important voice as Coates?
There is always some pressure for whoever you are designing for; you are trying to visually communicate the essence of another artist’s work in a different medium. But working for Penguin and Hamish Hamilton means that you get to work on covers for some of the most seminal figures in literature, so the excitement of that far outweighs the pressure. (Unless I’m on like round 80 and everything I’m doing still looks shit.)

Cover design by Matt Dorfman

The post 22 of the Best Book Covers of the Month: November 2024 appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

The New Look of Money

Remember when financial brands looked like, well, financial brands? They evoked trust and solemnity in shades of blue, with clean layouts and sophisticated type conveying decades (centuries-even) of dependability. Chime and Klarna are rewriting the rulebook, building sleek, mobile-first apps that feel more like social media platforms than bank branches. Chime uses inviting, saturated colors and uncluttered visuals, making money management feel intuitive and, dare I say, friendly. Klarna has also nailed the balance of simplicity and style but with a hint of playfulness. It’s as if these brands are saying, “Money doesn’t have to be a chore,” which resonates deeply with a generation empowered by quick, user-centric digital experiences.

Chime brand refresh by jkr.

Radical Transparency

Klarna stands out here with its “Pay Later” options, which are communicated upfront and without fuss. It’s all about empowering the user with knowledge and then trusting them to make informed decisions. On the crypto side, transparency is even more crucial given the complexity and volatility of the market. The best crypto brands don’t just list risks; they break down what those risks mean in a practical way, bridging the gap between excitement and informed caution. It’s refreshing to see brands lean into candor, and young consumers are responding with trust.

Klarna brand by their in-house team.

Personalized and Empowering Tools

For many young people, managing finances still feels intimidating. Enter brands like Check My File, which offers simple, comprehensive views of credit standing across multiple agencies. The service is not just about delivering numbers; Check My File offers insights, making credit monitoring feel like a useful, even empowering habit. Personalization isn’t just about flashy algorithms; it’s about creating tools that users actually find helpful and that build loyalty in an authentic way. For younger audiences, this type of personalization makes finances feel less abstract and more like something they can control.

Check My File brand by Ragged Edge.

Creating Community and Social Connection

It’s no secret that social media plays a major role in how young people make financial decisions, and these brands are tapping into that big time. Klarna and 1inch are turning financial management into a shared experience. Klarna, for instance, collaborates with influencers and uses a social commerce approach, embedding itself into the lifestyle and aesthetic young people are drawn to. Meanwhile, 1inch builds communities for shared learning, making finance feel inclusive rather than exclusive. These new brands are not just selling services; they’re creating spaces where people feel a sense of belonging (and dare we say, fun!), even when dealing with something as traditionally daunting as personal finance.

1inch campaign by Talent in collaboration with the Bruce Lee family

These fresh brand aesthetics and marketing strategies signal that financial companies are finally catching on to what young audiences have long wanted: accessibility, straight talk, personalization, and community. By embracing the values of younger audiences, financial brands can become more like guides than institutions. And as they continue to evolve, it’ll be exciting to watch just how far this new wave of finance brands can take us.

The post From Intimidating to Empowering: Financial Brands for the Next Generation appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

In a snapshot of today’s AI-driven design landscape, over 10,000 designers from 135 countries shared their thoughts, and the results are clear: designers are finding that a future with AI could be, well, pretty darn exciting.

The survey reveals that over half (52%) of freelancers are now harnessing generative AI to level up their work—up from 39% last year. And they’re not just dabbling; they’re diving in with excitement. A whopping 56% say they’re thrilled about the potential of AI in their field, with most using it to brainstorm ideas, knock out copy, or take care of mundane tasks (hello, automation).

But it’s not just excitement for efficient practices in their work; it’s dollars and sense, too. For 61% of freelancers, AI has already impacted their income, up from 45% in 2023, and nearly half expect the tech to give their earnings a boost down the line. Sure, a third of responders are a bit anxious about AI’s economic effect, but optimism appears to rule the day.

“Disruption in the design industry is something we’ve all experienced first hand,” says 99designs by Vista CEO Patrick Llewellyn. “We believe in the power of human creativity, and it’s inspiring to see both the excitement and pragmatic approach to the opportunities created by this new technology. These optimistic survey results, alongside the fact that our designer community has now earned over half a billion dollars through the platform, reassure us that while the landscape is evolving, the future of design is bright.”

The combined optimism and pragmatism of designers suggests an evolution rather than a revolution. And with designers’ earnings on the platform recently surpassing a cool $500 million, the data points to a future where AI may just be the paintbrush to human innovation’s canvas.

In an industry that’s no stranger to disruption, it seems designers are welcoming AI as a collaborator, not a competitor. And with the majority looking to upskill and keep pace, they’re proving that AI might just be the muse that creativity’s been waiting for.

The post From Hesitancy to Hope: How Freelancers Are Embracing AI appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Women’s professional sports are “having a moment”, but this did not happen in a vacuum nor did it happen overnight. In a highly anticipated episode (for us), the hosts finally got a chance to sit down with Claire Knapp (CEO of Havas Lynx) and Denise Melone (Managing Director of Havas Life San Francisco) to discuss the implications of the growth of women’s sports, both as a business and as an opportunity. Both of these female leaders are accomplished athletes, and we discuss the role of things like teamwork, coaching, and mental fortitude learned on the judo mats and tennis courts, in their successes as corporate leaders at Havas.

The growing interest in the competitive aspects of women’s sports has coincided with the appearance of women in a variety of hitherto-denied spaces, such as the boardroom, the judging panel, and even just full-court basketball. While this shift is notable, both Knapp and Melone express the sentiment that disparities in treatment, compensation, and conversation are still as important as ever to address and overcome. What’s important is how we talk about women, not as bodies but as humans and, in the case of this episode, as fierce, aggressive, badass athletes.

Welcome to Breaking the Code! Behavioral science is a cornerstone of modern marketing practice, but much of what passes itself off as behavioral science is just bs. Good social science gives us the insights and roadmap we need to change behavior, but bad social science just muddies the water and tarnishes the social sciences. As behavior change is a core objective of marketing, getting behavioral science right is crucial. Listen in as hosts Brad Davidson, PhD and Sonika Garcia, MPH, Medical Anthropology Strategists at Havas Health, sound off on what is, and isn’t, good social science, from a variety of disciplines covering new topics every podcast.

Learn more on LinkedIn and Spotify.

The post The Evolution of Female Success appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

When it comes to Baby Boomers, there is a lot for brands to love.

They are the second-largest generation next to Millennials. They hold more wealth and disposable income than other generations. Their spending power influences entire industries from travel and leisure to healthcare and housing. Boomers are loyal, not just to brands but to employers, too. But here’s the catch: the term Baby Boomers comes with baggage. It’s time for marketers to toss that baggage aside and embrace this powerful demographic.

Who Are the Baby Boomers?

Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are so named because they emerged during the post-World War II baby boom. They were the largest generation until Millennials surpassed them in 2020. Today, the youngest Baby Boomers are in their early 60s, approaching retirement.

Given this group’s size and influence, it makes business sense to understand their wants and needs. For instance, Boomers are likely free from child-rearing responsibilities, have more time to enjoy life, and focus on managing their health and saving for retirement.

But this generation—73 million strong—gets overshadowed by unfair assumptions associated with the term “Baby Boomer,” and those stereotypes can get in the way of understanding the demographic. They’re seen as out of touch with technology, resistant to change, and entitled. Younger generations harbor resentment, blaming Boomers for having economic advantages that seem out of reach today, like affordable housing and secure jobs. The meme #OKBoomer only fuels the fire.

Stereotypes Harm Business

These stereotypes don’t just harm people aged 60 and up. Here’s how they hurt creative agencies and our clients’ businesses, too.

Missed Marketing Opportunities

Clinging to inaccurate views of the over-60 demographic can make businesses overlook a lucrative segment. Failing to develop products and services that resonate with them, companies miss out on significant opportunities to build brand loyalty with this generation. The travel, entertainment, learning, and wellness industries are among the sectors ripe for opportunities with this generation, given their financial means, more leisure time, and a natural interest in managing their health proactively.

Inaccurate Marketing Strategies

Assuming that an over-60 demographic is tech-inept is a costly mistake. This generation is digitally engaged, and outdated messaging will fail to resonate with this group’s diverse interests and lifestyles. Businesses that paint them with a broad brush risk missing the mark entirely, alienating a diverse group that values direct and meaningful communication.

Loss of Valuable Insights

Businesses that stereotype and under-leverage their over-60 workforce can lose valuable knowledge and experience. Dismiss this generation, and companies may overlook the insights seasoned employees bring to product development and customer service. These companies might also miss mentorship and knowledge transfer opportunities within their organizations.

What We Should Do

Marketers should retire the term “Baby Boomer” and adopt a more nuanced approach. Here’s how to get it right.

Understand the Demographic

Build buyer personas by gathering data on behaviors, preferences, and motivations through surveys, interviews, and behavior analysis. Generative AI can help by analyzing large datasets to uncover patterns and create rich personas. AI-powered tools can even simulate interactions, allowing marketers to test messaging strategies and fine-tune their approach.

Be Mindful of Your Words

Instead of “Baby Boomers,” use phrases like “ages 60 and up” or “active adults.” Build trust by demonstrating brand credibility and reliability, values this generation holds dear.

Emphasize Value

An over-60 audience is price-conscious as they near retirement. Mention pricing early in your communications and make it easy to find. Offering discounts is a smart strategy. Try using discount codes in exchange for email addresses to generate interest.

Get Your Content Right

An over-60 audience appreciates direct and informative content. Provide value through detailed blog posts, articles, and how-to guides, especially about health, hobbies, and personal finance topics. Reviews, referrals, and testimonials can be powerful motivators because this audience values social proof.

#OkBoomer might make for funny moments, maybe even some viral content, but it is not helpful in the broader branding and marketing context. Do your homework to build trust with this unique audience and create a win-win for your brand and a generation ready to engage.

One doesn’t necessarily associate poetry with the day-to-day business of a thriving agency, but Jim Misener, CEO of 50,000feet, has found great success being an exception to the rule. Most mornings, you can find him deep in thought about clients’ brand strategies, and by midday, he’s making rounds with tasks in hand. Jim received a B.A. with highest honors from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and completed the AIGA Program for Creative Leaders at Yale and the Executive Program at the University of Chicago Management Institute.  Jim is also a board member at the Design Museum of Chicago. 

The post It’s Time to Put “Baby Boomer” on the Shelf appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

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Marketers have picked up on the cultural trend towards wellness branding, and are enthusiastically, if somewhat disingenuously, leaning into claims that are technically true but not very helpful–“no added sugar”, for example, is true, but irrelevant, for a product that has a high glycemic index (like fruit juices). This “healthwashing” has been seen across the spectrum of brands, from the curious case of fast food chains removing unhealthy signifiers like “fried” from their names (BK, Dunkin’, KFC, etc.), to the less curious but equally nefarious labeling practices of breakfast cereals and protein bars, brands are eagerly touting their health benefits.

In this episode, hosts Sonika Garcia and Brad Davidson discuss healthwashing and touch on many forms of virtue signaling. One important takeaway: People are keenly aware of their health nowadays, so brands across the board shouldn’t shy away from communicating the real role they can play. The importance is delivering that message in a way that’s true to each brand, maintains its identity, and respects its audience.

Welcome to Breaking the Code! Behavioral science is a cornerstone of modern marketing practice, but much of what passes itself off as behavioral science is just bs. Good social science gives us the insights and roadmap we need to change behavior, but bad social science just muddies the water and tarnishes the social sciences. As behavior change is a core objective of marketing, getting behavioral science right is crucial. Listen in as hosts Brad Davidson, PhD and Sonika Garcia, MPH, Medical Anthropology Strategists at Havas Health, sound off on what is, and isn’t, good social science, from a variety of disciplines covering new topics every podcast.

Learn more on LinkedIn and Spotify.

The post If Everything is Healthy, Nothing Is appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Paris 2024 has also provided us with much to chew on by way of design. We’ve got state-of-the-art facilities in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, dazzling looks and fits on athletes, and a unique Opening Ceremony on the Seine that was just so French. Of course, there have been far less successful design displays, including questionable kits and even aspects of the Games’ overall branding.

We’ve compiled a non-exhaustive list of some of the good and bad design we’ve clocked so far from our couches. Let’s get into it!

The Good

The Opening Ceremony

For the first time ever, the Olympics Opening Ceremony unfolded on a body of water. While there had been a fair amount of skepticism around the cleanliness of the Seine leading up to the Games, most of that concern seemed to float away during the show, as the Opening Ceremony delivered a true, avant-garde spectacle. Paris served as the stage for the production, with the athletes sailing down the Seine on boats in the Parade of Nations. The Passerelle Debilly bridge turned into a runway for a fashion show with a Last Supper vignette that featured drag queens, differently abled performers, and bodies of all sizes and shapes. The state of Mississippi wasn’t a fan of the progressive re-imagination and pulled all of its advertising from the Olympics, but we thought the vignette was a poignant highlight.

In our humble opinion, the show’s high point was an operatic thrash-metal tribute to Marie Antoinette that portrayed the famously guillotined Queen of France singing the French revolutionary song “Ça ira” while headless. That it took place in the Conciergerie, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the place of Antoinette’s imprisonment during the French Revolution was an added stroke of genius, right down to the blood-red streamers exploding from the structure.

The Medals

The medals that winning athletes receive are arguably one of the most important designs at each Olympic Games. Outside of the fun, zig-zag textured face of these Paris 2024 medals, each contains a small Eiffel Tower fragment. Iron that had been removed and preserved during renovations made to the Eiffel Tower over the last century has been infused—18 grams (0.04 pounds), in fact— into each and every medal. How cool is that?

USA Women’s Gymnastics Leotards

While all eyes have been on the breathtaking athletic abilities of these women, we couldn’t help but marvel at the gorgeous leotards Team USA sported. We found the rhinestone star-spangled navy blue designs pictured above particularly fetching, with each stone catching the light magnificently as Simone Biles and her comrades spiral through the air.

Stadiums and Facilities

Given that these Olympic Games are playing out in one of the most gorgeous cities in the world, it’s not surprising that many of the stadiums and facilities are true knock-outs in their own right. The brightly colored pastel palette of the Games’ branding has been incorporated into many of these venues, making for fun and vibrant backdrops as the best athletes in the world compete.

Pierre Mauroy Stadium Basketball courts

Our favorite part about these gorgeous basketball courts is the textile-like pattern repeated throughout the arch, punctuated by the turquoise rectangle marking the foul-shot line. We also love the subtle touch of lavender accent details throughout the space.

Place de la Concorde Skateboard Course

The Games’ skateboard arena uses the same color palette as the basketball courts, bringing a sense of calm to the concrete and infusing an otherwise gritty sport with softness.

Volleyball Eiffel Tower Stadium

This photo speaks for itself. Beach volleyball at the base of the Eiffel Tower? It doesn’t get much better than that!

Grand Palais Fencing Facility

The Grand Palais is already a historic site whose construction began in 1897 for the Universal Exposition of 1900. Add a duo of dueling fencers to the foreground, and you have the ultimate view.

Place de la Concorde BMX Freestyle Course

This sea of lavender slopes is so soothing and adds an air of intrigue when juxtaposed with the tenacity of BMX riders.

The Olympic and Paralympic Village Playground

We all know things are getting a little rowdy inside the Olympic Village, but what’s more exciting to us is the design of this playground on the premises. Olympic and Paralympic athletes need a spot to relax and unwind after achieving glory, and this is just the place.

USA Soccer Player Trinity Rodman’s Hair

USA soccer star Trinity Rodman was already known for her style and swag before these Olympics, but she upped her game to even greater heights with the choice to go with long, pastel pink braids on the world’s biggest stage.

Great Britain Diver Tom Daley’s Hand-Knit Sweater

Anyone paying attention to swimming and diving in Paris already knows about fan favorite Tom Daley, a diver for Great Britain. This is the second consecutive Games in which the 5x Olympic medalist has sought refuge in the stands with his knitting needles, creating a kitschy keepsake to memorialize his time in Paris. Daley is far from a knitting novice, as he has his own clothing line called Made With Love By Tom Daley. Some people are just good at everything!

South Korea Sharpshooter Kim Yeji’s Eyewear

Some might say South Korean Sharpshooter Kim Yeji broke the internet with her aura last week, taking home the silver medal in the 10-meter air pistol women’s event while looking like the next big star of an action movie franchise. Her Sci-Fi-looking eyeglasses were a major contributor to her arresting coolness, which had all of us collectively swooning.

USA Track Runner Sha’Carri Richardson’s Nails

While the one and only Sha’Carri Richardson has yet to take to the track, she already gave us a sneak peek of her always statement-making nails at the Opening Ceremony. If we know one thing about Richardson, it’s that she will run incredibly fast, and she will be wearing a mesmerizing set of nails as she does so.

The Bad

2024 Paris Olympics Logo

Upheaval surrounded the 2024 Paris Olympics logo well before the Games began. The general concept of the logo was to meld two symbols associated with the games—a gold medal and the Olympic torch—with Marianne, a figure that represents the French Republic. While these intentions seem well and good, the finished product is odd. Many have been comparing the logo to a “Karen,” with a prissy hairstyle that harkens to suburban moms on their kids’ school PTA boards. The logo isn’t sophisticated or classy in the slightest, especially when coupled with the Games’ attempt at an Art-Deco-inspired brand typeface.

The Phryge Mascots

Did you know that the Paris Olympics has an official mascot? They sure do! But not one that makes any sense. The mascot for these Games consists of a pair of anthropomorphic Phrygian caps, a beloved cultural symbol of France. You can see they were trying to think outside the box here, but where they landed is just downright befuddling. More than hats, these puffy characters look like amorphous red blobs that elicit confusion, not French pride.

Team France’s Opening Ceremony Garb

As we’ve already discussed, there was much to take in during the Opening Ceremony, but we can’t un-see the questionable outfits the French athletes wore as they floated down the Seine. Why are the blazers sleeveless? We’ll never know. More than anything, these look like flight attendant outfits gone terribly wrong.

Japan’s Soccer Jerseys

Every major world soccer tournament blesses us with a fresh batch of kit designs, but some don’t hit the mark. Japan’s soccer teams are wearing jerseys this tournament that look a bit too much like they’re smeared with blood. The design motif might have worked in another color, but the red on white doesn’t land.

US Soccer’s Olympics Branding

We’re thrilled by how well the USWNT is doing in Paris, advancing to the tournament’s quarterfinals with three wins in three games. We’re less thrilled about the branding the US Soccer Federation rolled out for the Games, which is too close to funeral home aesthetics for comfort.

Michael Phelps’ Hair

Michael Phelps might be the best swimmer of all time, but that doesn’t give him the right to do whatever he wants with his hair … Or maybe it does!

The post The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly at the 2024 Paris Olympics (So Far) appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Aimed at Gen Y (you know them as Millennials) fashion and streetwear enthusiasts, Lazy Tuesdays hits the mid-market sweet spot. In an industry crowded with extremes—from the body positivity-wellness crowd to the hardcore fitness fanatics—Lazy Tuesdays found its groove. Bald’s big idea? An athleisure brand that says, “Hey, it’s okay to just be.” No pressure, no fuss—just high-quality gear that fits seamlessly into everyday life. It’s all about enjoying the pause and appreciating life without the rush.

I reached out to Bald founder and CEO Hillel Hurwitz to learn more about this athleisure weekday revolution. Our conversation is below (lightly edited for length and clarity).

Can you walk us through the initial strategic discussions and brainstorming sessions that led to Lazy Tuesday’s unique positioning and naming?

We received an open brief with the main goal of making the brand ownable and fresh. Instead of kicking off with a deep dive into our target audience, we decided first to explore the competitive landscape. Our team included a strategist with a fashion background from Parsons. We connected with change-makers in the industry, and what we found was an oversaturated market where every brand seemed to be selling the idea of ‘community’ in one of two ways: either through a blood, sweat, and tears motivational approach or through an overall wellness and health positivity lens. This discovery led us to a simple yet powerful insight: there is a gap in the market for an athleisure brand that doesn’t make exercise a statement but instead dedicates itself to the relief from it.

Once we nailed down the big idea of ‘just being,’ the name Lazy Tuesdays came naturally through our conversations because it captured the essence of relaxation and balance we envision for the brand

What strategies did you employ to ensure the brand’s positioning as a champion of ‘just being’ resonates in a sustainable and impactful way?

It’s right in the name. What other brand makes clothing for active people but calls themselves Lazy? This juxtaposition between the brand identity and who the brand serves is really what makes it so unique. And this comes down to collaboration at Bald. Our strategists and designers work closely together to be sure nothing gets lost as the idea moves from story to visual development. We take pride in threading the needle from strategy to creative to achieve consistency.

Our story informs the messaging, our messaging inspires the visual identity, and our visual identity leads the product design language. So, the customer feels like they are experiencing a cohesive brand that really knows who they are. 

What was the creative process behind the development of Lazy Tuesdays’ logo and visual identity?

At the heart of the brand is the irony driven by the name “Lazy Tuesdays.”  It epitomizes the harmony between hard work and relaxation. This duality drove our design approach, leading us to select two contrasting typefaces:  Fabiola Script, symbolizing ease and fluidity, and TWK Everett, representing structure and hard work. This pairing highlights that working hard and enjoying life aren’t mutually exclusive, but complementary.

The clover flower emblem we incorporated adds another layer of meaning. Inspired by nature’s resilience, it symbolizes growth, vitality, and the interconnection of life’s journeys. This emblem is woven into every piece of our athleisure wear, blending the spirit of the outdoors with the spirit of balance, all while celebrating moments of relaxation.

Our visual identity is a harmonious blend of contrasts that conveys the core values, creating a powerful ethos of ‘working hard… so you can relax harder.’

What consumer behaviors or trends did you consider in crafting Lazy Tuesdays’ messaging and identity?

The athleisure market is crowded. We knew that to cut through the noise, we had to relieve the pressure often associated with athleisure clothing. Through research, we found that most people already have statement brands in their closets. What they truly desire is a brand that isn’t trying to be another statement like all the rest.

At Lazy Tuesdays, they view daily life itself as hard work enough. Instead of promoting the idea that hard work is only about monumental achievements and an unreal grind, we stand for the notion that hard work is handling your responsibilities and then taking a break. We want people to choose Lazy Tuesdays because the brand makes them feel content and fulfilled with who and how they are, not because it reminds them how much better, faster, and stronger they should be.

The messaging is grounded in optimism and fulfillment, avoiding the trap of overwhelming customers with grandiose ideas. While community has been a dominant trend recently, we believe people crave balance. They don’t want the pressure of representing a polarizing brand every time they step out. We all have a clear image of a “Gymshark bro” or an “Alo girlie.” In contrast, Lazy Tuesdays is for those days when people don’t want to be boxed in by their clothing. They want simple, reliable basics from a brand that lets them be themselves.

What challenges did you face while bringing Lazy Tuesdays to life? Were there any unexpected insights or pivots that significantly shaped the outcome?

Every branding project has unique challenges, and Lazy Tuesdays was no exception. One of our biggest hurdles was the tight timeline. We transformed an open brief from an idea in the founder’s mind into a full-fledged brand in less than 90 days. This required a lean, agile team that was deeply involved in every step of the process, as we simply couldn’t afford any delays.

What was your favorite part of working on this project?

Fashion, fashion, fashion. Even though Lazy Tuesdays has a bit of an anti-fashion vibe, we absolutely love the fashion space. Several of our creatives come from fashion school and industry backgrounds, so this project was a perfect playground for us. We always enjoy the opportunity to stretch our creative and strategic muscles in all directions, but there’s something special about working in hyper-creative industries where we can move with fluidity and without strict rules.

Imagery courtesy of Bald.

The post Bald’s Branding for Lazy Tuesdays Makes “Just Being” Fashionable appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

The project is the brainchild of LJ Rader, a guy in New York City who works for a sports data and technology company and happens to have an uncanny ability to recall works of art that are reminiscent of moments in modern-day sporting events. Rader posts these side-by-side frames on Instagram and X, and has also launched a Substack.

Rader isn’t an art historian or a curator, and he doesn’t work at a museum or a gallery. He is quick to share in his social media bios that he doesn’t use AI to help source the work he references either, making his compelling diptychs all the more impressive. Since following Rader’s accounts, I highly anticipate seeing whatever he will create out of a given day’s slate of sporting events. “Art But Make it Sports” became a key aspect of my enjoyment of the recent European Championships and Copa America soccer tournaments, as Rader posted regularly following games’ biggest moments.

With the 2024 Paris Olympics on the brink of lift-off, now’s the perfect time to smash that “Art But Make it Sports” follow button. Rader has no doubt been rifling through art books and databases in preparation for the games, training for this big moment much like the athletes themselves gearing up for their respective competitions.

Too often the art-sports binary rears its ugly head, but Rader’s gifted eye reveals that there’s much more connection between the two than we might think.

The post “Art But Make it Sports” Connects Classic Art to Modern-Day Sports appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Brands are unique and abstract entities. Beyond the physical products they sell, they represent ideas and images that exist in our minds. Regardless of the brand’s intentions, we often subjectively associate various signals with their identity.

100 Days of ‘Brand Charades’ is a creative, gamified exploration of where brands end and our perceptions of them begin. By engaging artificial intelligence image generators with prompts that describe the brand without naming it, Brand Charades reveals how sometimes AI misses the mark, while at other times, it is alarmingly accurate.

Hyunna Yoo invites us to ponder where the missing pieces are. How close can we get to the essence of a brand when we describe it from our perspectives, especially to our “unbiased” friend, AI? Are the gaps between brand recognition and visualization really within us? Discover more of her project on Instagram.

The post Exploring the Gap Between Perception and Reality Through AI in “100 Days of Brand Charades” appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Sonic branding has emerged as a powerful tool in modern marketing, offering brands a unique way to connect with consumers through sound. Ipsos’ ‘Power of You’ study has shown that sonic devices significantly heighten brand attention. With the notable success of Netflix’s iconic ‘tudum’ sound achieving an 81% brand recall, the impact of auditory branding is undeniable. Leffe is revolutionizing the beer industry with a pioneering sonic identity that intertwines its rich, 800-year Abbey heritage with modern sound design.

Leffe, a revered name within the Anheuser-Busch InBev portfolio, has unveiled its first sonic identity in a novel move for the beer industry. This auditory branding, developed in collaboration with global agency Jones Knowles Ritchie (JKR) and London music and sound agency MassiveMusic, marks a historic milestone as the first of its kind for a global beer brand. Leffe’s journey to a sonic identity is rooted in a deep respect for its 800-year-old Abbey craftsmanship. 

This effort serves as an audacious step towards transforming how consumers experience the brand, blending its storied heritage with contemporary sensory engagement. Lourenço Arriaga, Marketing Director at Leffe, explains, “A few years ago, we embarked on a journey to develop Leffe’s visual brand, aiming to better connect with our Abbey heritage and enhance the overall sensory experience for consumers. We soon identified a significant opportunity in the element of sound.”

In a market where sonic branding is often underutilized, Leffe saw an opening. “Many brands were relying on generic ‘refreshment signifiers’ and a wide variety of music, which created inconsistencies. We realized that there was a huge amount of potential in using sound to truly resonate with consumers and create a more enriching and unique sensorial world for the brand,” Arriaga adds.

The Leffe Sonic System, aptly named ‘The Sound of Monastic Divinity,’ is a triumph of sound design that encapsulates the brand’s historic essence. Developed by recording the acoustics within the original Leffe Abbey in Belgium—home to monks since 1240—the sound of a bursting balloon in the Abbey was transformed into a digital reverb, creating a unique and recognizable sonic signature.

Two distinct sonic assets are at the heart of Leffe’s new sound: the Sonic Logo and the Sonic Palette. The Sonic Logo is a short, memorable mnemonic designed to encapsulate the brand and drive recall. It begins with two notes of an organ melody, evolves into rich chords, and concludes with warm choral voices and a bell, embodying the connection to monastic heritage.

The Sonic Palette is a long-form piece of music, rich with unique melodies, rhythms, and sound design representing Leffe. This versatile composition is a standalone brand asset and a flexible musical blueprint for future content. It can be adapted to various styles, from monastic to modern and upbeat, ensuring it remains relevant across different platforms and campaigns.

Sean Thomas, Executive Creative Director at JKR, elaborates on the creative process: “We set out to create a sonic identity that was both timeless and progressive. Drawing inspiration from Leffe’s birthplace and history, we focused on finding what was distinctive to the brand. From there, we crafted flexible audio signatures and effects that could bring this essence to life across all channels, designed to evolve with the brand and adapt to both current and future platforms.”

With the Leffe Sonic System launch, the brand is poised to reach an estimated 95% of consumers in France, Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands by 2024. This sonic identity will enhance all audio-enabled touchpoints, from online beer purchases and the pouring of Leffe to social media and television advertising.

Leffe’s leap into sound connects the brand’s historical roots and modern auditory engagement to enrich the consumer experience.

The post Cheers For Your Ears: Leffe Unveils Sonic Brand appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Founded in 2020, Merch Aid is an award-winning social enterprise that collaborates with artists and designers to create fundraising merchandise for non-profit organizations. Initially launched as a relief response to the COVID-19 small business shutdowns, the murder of George Floyd expanded the organization’s vision, highlighting the need for expressive merchandise that resonates with current sentiments to provide a means for impact beyond the pandemic’s scope. Their BLM series raised nearly $50,000, and the AAPI series saw similar success. Merch Aid has raised over half a million dollars and has been featured in major publications, including Vogue and GQ.

As the Supreme Court revisits the contentious issue of trans rights, a group of leading trans designers and allies have united to launch a merch capsule to raise funds for the Transgender Law Center (TLC). This initiative follows the success of the Reproductive Rights capsule released earlier this month, which featured work by notable names such as Jessica Walsh, Debbie Millman, and Gail Anderson and raised funds for the National Network of Abortion Funds.

One of the most important aspects of the reproductive justice movement is the sanctity of every mother’s life. When I state that pro-choice is pro-life, I mean that pro-choice is the mother’s life, and I will always value that above all else.

Debbie Millman, writer, designer, educator, artist, brand consultant and host of the podcast Design Matters

Over 500 anti-trans laws were proposed in 2024 alone, and 53 were passed. The Supreme Court’s decision to review state bans on gender-affirming care for minors further underscores the urgency of this latest capsule collection. The Transgender collection will drop today, Thursday, June 27, at 6 PM EST and will feature artists Ren Rigby, Tea Uglow, Lena Gray, Brooklyn Bruja, Sophia Yeshi, and Doug Rodas.

Opinions don’t change identities, bills don’t change identities, politicians don’t change identities: let trans people be.

Ren Rigby, Chief Design Officer and Founder of Proto

Merch Aid’s initiative is part of a broader art as activism movement, allowing designers to address critical issues and enabling supporters to demonstrate their values visibly. All profits will go to the Transgender Law Center, the largest national trans-led organization advocating for the self-determination of all people. Since 2002, TLC has been organizing, assisting, informing, and empowering thousands of individuals, fostering a long-term, national, trans-led movement for liberation.

No matter what anyone’s personal beliefs are, they are PERSONAL beliefs and should not be projected onto others. The simple arrow pointing down under the belt (or sweatpants) is a reminder that’s what mine is mine. MINE.”

Gail Anderson, graphic designer, writer, typographer, and educator

As trans rights face renewed challenges, this merch capsule not only raises essential funds but also amplifies the voices and artistry of the transgender community, underscoring the power of unity and creativity in the fight for justice. Following this capsule, a series of drops by other renowned artists will continue leading up to the election, focusing on social issues such as bodily autonomy, trans rights, immigration, voting rights, and more.

Design has the power to create change, make people think differently, and mobilize people to action. I’m excited to team up with Merch Aid this year to bring more attention to reproductive freedom at such a critical time and election year. Together, by harnessing the power of design, we can raise awareness and inspire action to protect and advance reproductive rights.”

Jessica Walsh, founder of the creative agency &Walsh

Visit Merch Aid to learn more about their capsule drops and to showcase your values by getting your hands on some merch.

Imagery courtesy of Merch Aid.

The post Artivism for Social Justice: Merch Aid Drives Change with Their Latest Capsule appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Compared to many recent Junes, Pride 2024 feels deadly quiet. 

While it felt like the writing was on the wall just last year, even previously rainbow-washed companies appear to be divesting from the annual celebration they were once eager to support. Brands were visibly intimidated after several campaigns became Fox News fixtures last spring, most notably Bud Light, who gave into right-wing pressure after their 2023 partnership with trans activist and social media star Dylan Mulvaney attracted a feverish boycott. It didn’t take long for critics to notice a drastic reduction in Pride merchandise across the board, with some brands even attempting to rewrite the narratives of rainbow merchandise in less explicitly queer directions.

This year, brands like Bud Light seem to be sticking to their 2023 pivots: according to Forbes, the beer giant’s social media hasn’t so much as mentioned Pride, and Nike— who also courted controversy for working with Mulvaney— quietly re-released last year’s collection. While there are still brands making rainbow merch, working with queer creative teams, and donating to organizations like GLAAD and The Trevor Project, current trends are too dire to see this as much more than low-hanging fruit. 

Of course, this is troubling, especially in a high-stakes election year hot off the heels of near-constant legislative threats to the livelihood of queer (most often trans) communities. But queer activists and critics have spent years warning an increasingly supportive general populace that branding would never be enough to protect the community from the fascistic backlash the Trump years revealed is waiting in the wings. While even skeptical members of the LGBTQ community might’ve been able to find some solace in corporate support for Pride, those dollars haven’t translated into substantial or sustainable enough gains to keep up with mounting reactionary violence.

One of last year’s Main Characters was Target, whose evolving relationship with the festival has served as something of a litmus test for the state of the growing backlash. Just a couple of years ago, the big box chain had fairly ambitious releases that involved mugs with Sappho quotes, tuck-friendly swimsuits, and, most notably, items that expressed explicit allyship with the trans community. But in 2023, stores pulled a significant amount of Pride-related items off shelves after not only becoming the subject of reactionary media but violent intimidation: several locations reported vandalism, hateful calls, and even bomb threats to stores that stocked Pride merchandise.

Following Bud Light’s moves, Target has made substantial cuts to this year’s Pride collection and even limited its releases to about half of its stores. While potential danger for employees could make it fair to say the backlash put Target in a difficult position, it’s never advisable to negotiate with terrorists.

Recent comments from a significant number of artists and designers who were contracted for this year’s collection give the impression that Target wanted to have it both ways as well. In an interview with Xtra, illustrator En Tze Loh described watching the store waver dramatically on their agreement, making significant changes like shelving over two-thirds of their collection, removing credits due to “safety concerns,” and limiting the products to online-only sales. While the store may still be selling Pride merchandise, the “compromise” they reached was a pretty militant one, especially for a store that once sold shirts that said, “Trans people will always exist!” It could very easily be argued that Target’s reduced Pride line—like Bud Light and Nike—walks back explicit support of an increasingly threatened community. Loh told Xtra that “one of the alternate designs they had submitted—a T-shirt design featuring the phrase ‘I am valid’—would be used in place of designs they’d submitted with explicitly trans-affirming messages like ‘Protect trans lives’ and ‘Trans futures.'”

Target’s strategy has rightly been receiving a great deal of criticism, but isn’t without its defenders: in a recent comment to Forbes, GlobalData retail managing director Neil Saunders described the store’s middle ground approach as “the sensible choice.” Writer Pamela N. Danziger expresses distrust in critics of rainbow washing, arguing that “the more cynically-minded see it as just another way to monetize from the movement or to proclaim support without doing anything meaningful to advance the cause.” But it’s hard to imagine a crueler conclusion than where she ultimately lands— she agrees with Saunders, saying “no national retailer or brand of any size can afford to alienate significant segments of its customer base.” However, one could argue that business has never looked better for companies that were already doing well. Corporate profits have been at a record high for years, and the recent phenomenon of “greedflation” revealed this isn’t due to rising overhead but a desire to make more money.

Meanwhile, quality of life has plummeted for the vast majority of Americans, with poverty, hunger, disability, homelessness, and general precariousness becoming much more widespread in even previously affordable cities. Members of oppressed demographics tend to get hit harder by these downward trends, and the LGBTQ community was disproportionately affected by economic insecurity even before COVID moved more millions into the hands of the ultra-wealthy. Businesses comparatively don’t seem to have much to lose at this current moment, and even if they did, there would arguably be far fewer stakes for their continued survival than there are right now for living, breathing members of the LGBTQ community.

Target doesn’t seem to be suffering for abandoning a group they were once happy to patronize, and the fickle news cycle may have already moved on from covering the store’s regressive strategy. They’re instead making headlines for selling out of a Tippi Hedren-inspired plush bird that recently went viral on social media, an item from their Pride line whose “[online] description…does not immediately reveal its connection to queer culture.” Palpable outrage hasn’t seemed to translate into anything like a boycott or encouraged pivot away from Target, which doesn’t bode well for future collections from them or their corporate peers.

The winner of this year’s election is likely to be a substantial determining factor in how future Junes will look for the LGBTQ community. A second Trump Presidency poses an immense threat to American democracy, but it’s hard to imagine much beyond the continuation of an unsustainable status quo if Biden wins. The situation for the LGBTQ community is already dire, yet there’s no sense of immediate alarm, even with their supposed defending party in control of the White House and Senate. When I stop to consider the rock and a hard place so much of America is caught in this year, I think again of Forbes’ Danziger calling critics of Pride branding “cynically-minded,” and I wonder if she doesn’t have something of a point, albeit not quite in the way she likely meant. It’s hard to feel optimistic after recalling how “better times” felt: a less terrifying period where the loudest public expressions of queerness were limited to respectable writing, bare minimum investment in queer creatives and causes, and massive corporate parade floats. As America sits in the midst of a dangerous threshold, there might not be a better time for groups in positions of power to really put their money where their mouths are. That makes it especially telling that instead of even turning to their default of virtue signaling, many brands are choosing to wash their hands of any involvement.

If a brand like Target can still receive some form of kudos for continuing to acknowledge the LGBTQ community despite drastic divestment from a previously more robust message, it presents an especially damning read on the supposed heart beneath Pride branding. That might best be summarized by a quote from Xtra’s piece on Target pulled from Shanée Benjamin, an artist whose work was pulled from the store’s Pride collection. “I guess they wanted their messaging for Pride to be generic—’love is love,’ ‘be you,’ all that super quite frankly diminishing and useless slogan work that does not help or…push our community forward,” she said in a video on her Instagram. “That’s what they want— because they don’t give a flying fuck about gay people.”

While the revolution was never going to be branded, there are still plenty of worthwhile places for Pride revelers to spend their dollars, and it’s always a good time to give directly to queer creatives. In the meantime, those looking for a hero in this loaded, scary year would be wise to remember a slogan popular at the kinds of marches that inspired Pride in the first place: “We keep us safe.”

Sarah Fonder is a writer and editor with a passion for arts criticism, media literacy, and human interest stories. You can find her work in a wide range of publications including DIELINE, PRINT, Core77, Design Observer, The Decider, and BUST.

The post What Does the Slow Death of Rainbow Capitalism Mean for the Future of Pride? appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

A brand whose signature slogan is “Taste the Rainbow” is particularly suited for a Pride campaign that feels genuine to its existing brand identity. Beloved sugar candy SKITTLES has rolled out a spin on their iconic tagline for June, “See the Rainbow,” as part of their year-long initiative in partnership with Meetup to connect members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

The SKITTLES LGBTQ+ Directory, powered by Meetup, consists of many LGBTQ+ groups, events, resources, and more to help people across the country find their community. Like-minded gamers, pickleball players, yogis, bookworms, birders, and much more can use the directory to find local community groups and events aligned with their passions and interests year-round. As part of this commitment to connecting queer community members, SKITTLES is sponsoring five local LGBTQ+ groups across the United States to help shine a light on their organizations, members, and missions. These groups include:

The Queer Big Apple Corps: New York City’s premiere symphonic and marching band provides a supportive and friendly environment for musical and artistic expression for the LGBTQ+ community and allies.

Reeling Film Festival: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival recognizes the important contributions that LGBTQ+ filmmakers have made to society, shines a light on the community’s struggles, and uplifts the community’s history.

Urban Bird Collective: Birdwatchers and stewards of nature, the Minneapolis-based group creates safe spaces for the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities to enjoy the natural environment while building birdwatching skills.

Bay Area Derby: An LGBTQ+ friendly Bay Area derby league whose mission includes providing inclusive amateur athletic entertainment and competitive roller derby at all levels.

Las Vegas Gaymers: Las Vegas’ premiere gaming group that focuses on providing a safe community for queer and LGBTQ+ gamers.

SKITTLES’s classic packaging has also received a Pride revamp for the month. The company released its annual limited edition “Pride Pack,” designed in partnership with the female and minority-owned production company NERD Productions. SKITTLES is donating $1 of every Pride pack sold (up to $100,000) to GLAAD to support their ongoing efforts to work through media to increase visibility for the LGBTQ+ community.

SKITTLES and GLAAD have joined forces for a Pride Month Donor Matching Campaign. GLAAD donors can receive a limited-edition fanny pack featuring the signature 2024 SKITTLES Pride Pack design. SKITTLES will match all donations up to $25,000, in which the first 500 donors to make a matched gift of $75 or more will receive the fanny pack filled with SKITTLES and patches.

The corporate chokehold on Pride is here to stay, but it’s refreshing to see brands like SKITTLES tapping in with nuance and care.

The post SKITTLES Celebrates Pride by Helping Queer Community Connect appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Malinic, who leads the London-based Brand Nu Studio and Brand Nu Books, has dedicated over two decades to helping fellow creatives forge successful paths. His previous releases, such as Book of Branding and Book of Ideas, have received widespread acclaim. They are essential resources for entrepreneurs, designers, and brand creators.

Creativity For Sale is a comprehensive guide for artists, writers, designers, and other creatives who want to ignite successful careers and businesses. It offers practical strategies for building and amplifying personal brands and provides powerful tools for meaningful growth.

On the other hand, Mindful Creative offers a roadmap for navigating the peaks and troughs of creative life, career, and business. It encourages readers to reflect on building positive habits and focusing on mindfulness. Through sharing his hard-learned lessons, Malinic provides valuable insights that have transformed his own career and life.

In line with his commitment to sustainability, both books are printed by Park Communications in London, using 100% offshore wind electricity from UK sources. The production process emphasizes environmental responsibility, utilizing vegetable oil-based inks, recycling 95% of press chemicals, and achieving an average recycling rate of 99% for associated waste. The paper is sourced from well-managed, FSC®-certified forests, ensuring the books are certified climate-neutral print products with calculated and offset carbon emissions.

Enthralled with the idea of injecting mindfulness into hectic creative pursuits and navigating chaotic agency life, Radim and I discussed what it means to be a mindful creative and how to build out a toolkit for the 21st-century designer. Our conversation, edited for clarity and length, is below.

I love that both new titles aim to help creatives find success in their career while also avoiding burnout. What I found particularly interesting in Mindful Creative was about mood and flow states. What did you observe in the industry and perhaps your career that compelled you to write about this topic?

These two books are the books that I wish existed 20 years ago when I was starting out. We start our creative careers because we want to do the thing, and we don’t necessarily think about what else we must do to help ourselves actually survive it. It’s like wanting to be a runner; if you go running 5K, 10K, 15K every day, you’re going to start hurting because you need to do all sorts of other things to help you be better at running.

Creativity is meant to be a beautiful topic that makes us feel something and gives us our livelihood. The creative industry can have such a narrow focus that only when things go bad do we start thinking, well, why us? Why now?

I think there is a reason why we sometimes need to burn out to find where the happy middle is. As much as we want creativity to be 100% amazing all the time, it will never be because we are not 100% all the time. It’s understanding how to be okay when we’re not okay and how to look out for others when they’re not okay.

We’ve chosen creativity as our livelihood and profession. And it has so many variables. We must grow, learn, and develop resilience. And we don’t talk about it enough.

In our last conversation, you brought up the idea of facilitating a 21st-century designer toolkit, hoping that your recent books could be part of that toolkit. What tools do 21st-century designers need and why? How does this differ from the needs of the 20th-century designer?

When you look back, there was a lot of focus on being skilled in a certain way to deliver the work. Companies like Adobe, for example, still focus on helping you to make the thing. 

Looking at the 20th-century toolkit, there were design education and software skills, but we missed the soft skills. Where would you put mental health or mindfulness into those layers?

A friend of mine summarized our creative work in the early 2000s by saying, it was get the work done or get the sack. The world was much more cutthroat, cynical, and driven for results.

From what I’ve experienced, people didn’t care if you had troubles or weren’t particularly well; it was “you’ve got an hour lunch break. This is the work that needs to be done. This is the job, go.”

It did not stimulate creativity or discussion. It only added to the percentage of people in our industry who are unhappy. When you look at the statistics, 55% of people in the creative industry are unhappy.

We’re meant to be the unicorns, with fairy dust and sunshine all the time, and it’s not. Why is that?

We try to adopt old ways of creative working and adapt them to new projects and generations, and nothing improves. As a society, everything is moving much faster, especially now, with more knowledge, understanding, and resources. Small tweaks can actually create big results, but most people don’t think about it.

I wrote Mindful Creative because I have lived every sort of creative life and career, from freelancing professional to running my own studio. What burned me out was the fact that I could work every hour of every day.

I reaped the benefits of a more connected, democratized world, which was amazing. But I had no definition of when to stop. For me, creativity was an untamed beast because you can work as long as you want. At the time when I was pushing myself so much, I had a commission for the Canadian launch of Bacardi Breezers. And I told myself, I will make this the most amazing work of my life. There was no need. I just needed to answer the brief and do my best work. I didn’t have to stay up for long hours, but the social media cocktail and the number of followers drove me.

The 20th century was much simpler. We had portfolio books; there weren’t personal websites. Creatives didn’t have to consider making reels. In the 21st century, we have created a much more content-rich and opportunity-rich world. There’s more work than ever before. But we’ve added so many layers that it’s really hard to understand how to operate through those layers.

How do you navigate everything that’s around you? How do you cherry-pick what’s good for you or what can be good for you? And how do you stay true to yourself?

And that is hard to do, especially when you have an immature mind because you feel like you’re falling behind. So many things in our daily lives make us feel inadequate because we’re questioning, am I good enough creatively? Have I got the right idea? Am I doing enough? Am I promoting enough? Do I have enough likes?

Some people pretend that they’re okay and that they’re flashy and going somewhere. But if you don’t have a signposted purpose of where you want to be with your career, then you will do all those things I did 10 or 15 years ago. Going after every platform, every like, every follower, every piece of work, every client, everything.

When I look back, I can’t remember, apart from the Bacardi Breezer campaign, what I did 15 years ago. And I can’t pinpoint why I was working so much that I broke myself. There are no gold medals to win. I was working for something, towards some big picture, but I didn’t have to do all of that.

I needed to discover why I was doing certain things because the work was just a tool. The work enabled workaholic behaviors. We hide in our work behind instant gratification. We take on more because it pushes the pain away and it pushes our reality away.

Our creative lives were simpler before the Internet and social media. Now, we must be like an octopus with eight limbs trying to juggle many things. A 21st-century designer toolkit also implies adaptability to rapidly evolving technologies and trends. How do you stay current with tools and techniques while fostering balance to avoid burnout?

We can do many more things we couldn’t do in the past. I remember having a fantastic conversation with someone who used to be an illustrator for Gucci. His career sounded amazing, but having a linear career is rarer today. I enjoy that I could have reinvented my career five or six times in the last 20 to 25 years. My general curiosity has always led me to ask, what’s next? What’s that? What’s this?

Because the world is so multi-layered, you can do all these incredible things. And that was impossible before, you know? Today, if you have a problem, you can find a way to solve it yourself.

Compared to working for others, running your own show is much more demanding but so much more enriching when you find your own solutions.

Let’s say I’m launching a new coffee company. There are resources at my fingertips to learn processes from stock fulfillment to building creative assets. But possibilities and more opportunities come at a price. The world is heavier than ever before. Our brains have to catch up. What was available to us ten years ago differed from five years, three years, even a year ago. That is really fast. And we have yet to process some of the stuff we did 20 years ago, let alone, you know, what’s happening now.

With emerging technologies now, especially AI or blockchain, do you see these tools as means to empower designers to create more sustainably? Or, like you mentioned, does this add to the world’s heaviness?

It comes from within. Let’s say you are good at tennis. You have a good serve. You know how to hit that sweet spot every time. But to get to that point, you need time to develop. In creativity, you can be on the pitch just because you’ve got the right software, even if you don’t have years of development. Once you’ve had some practice, the heaviness of life comes from every angle.

Years of experience teach us how to deal with the other side of everything we wish for. We don’t always talk about it, but there is a dark side to creativity, entrepreneurship, freelancing, or running a studio. We need to talk about both sides so that people can prepare for all kinds of situations.

When it comes to new tools like AI, we panic because it’s not a piece of shit tool anymore. We ask ourselves, is it going to hurt my business? Because I have grown my roots and gone through many experiences, I don’t get so worked up about potential threats.

So, consider which part of AI is a threat to your business. There are parts of AI that can replace me in various ways. But can it really? You need someone to operate the AI. It’s human-enabled to give you a result. We’ve had AI in our lives for a while. AI takes a few bits and bobs and creates a collage from it or another solution. We’ve been doing this in Photoshop for the last 30 years.

When photography came out, painters were upset. You no longer have to paint the landscape because you can take a picture. So the painters moved on to Cubism. AI gives us a challenge and a kick up the ass to do better. It has given us this sort of steroid, hyper, turbo, creative calculator that you can use to see what you can do with it, you know?

If you don’t have a mindful, emotionally mature foundation, that’s when you feel a threat from something like AI. When it comes to high-end creativity, the market still and will always appreciate experts, talent, specialists, and professionals.

It’s the idea of using AI in the ways we need to. There are still photographers and painters. Both are equally valuable. There’s just a slight shift in how they are utilized.

I believe that AI is here to stay. We should think about how to use AI to our advantage because, like the tools you have in Photoshop, it can save you hours. It used to take me two or three hours to retouch an image, but with content-aware fill, it takes ten seconds. And it’s done really well—in fact, impressively.

It’s more about the functionality of our tools, rethinking ideas, or combining ideas we’ve always had.

We need to get it right for legal purposes and implications. It’s evolving too fast for our collective consciousness. Sometimes, technological advances that take time feel less ominous. But AI has been around for quite a long time; we just relabeled it (Grammarly is an example, and we’ve been fine using it as such). 

In the latest episode of the Creativity for Sale podcast, you talked with Mike Schnaidt, the creative director of Fast Company, discussing his career and the process of writing his book, Creative Endurance. My big takeaway was how vital endurance is to the creative process. It takes time to find your rhythm and make sense of your work. But staying committed and continuing to learn and grow is essential. How do you approach cultivating creative endurance in the digital age when flashing lights and alarms seem to be everywhere?

Endurance is something that we don’t necessarily think that we might need as creatives.

When you think of great designers—they are the ones that produce great work seemingly all the time—their careers are all about endurance. Paula Sher, for example.

When you see your peers doing amazing things, it’s easy to sit on your hands and say, yeah, I’m not going to do that. Creative pressure, or what I call ambitious anxiety, is prevalent; not only do you want to do more than you’ve ever been able to do, but you want to do them now.

Preferences become important when you realize it’s impossible to do it all. How do you choose what’s good for you? It takes time to find out because, at first, you want to do everything all the time.

Mike said it beautifully: It’s the understanding of how we can actually come back another day, how we can continue to move forward. 

I had to follow the advice of my books and simplify because I was running a successful studio, but it was making me unhappy because I couldn’t do all of it. I couldn’t be the brain for another three or four people every day, plus be a dad to my family and try to write books. I wasn’t necessarily looking after myself. So, it was about simplifying.

It’s taken all those iterations of my life and creativity to make every mistake and realize that I’m not the only person doing this. Whatever you do, someone else has done it before. It’s about being honest about everything that we do.

Aside from allowing yourself a couple of decades to figure this out, what advice do you have for creatives just starting their careers to cultivate resilience and endurance in their creative practice?

Make a plan about how you will look after yourself and build your personal and creative toolkits. Creatives around my age never made that a priority. Ask yourself: What do I do that stops me from greatness?

What makes you unique? Everyone has a creative journey. What is your creative and personal foundation? There’s no single correct answer to this. It’s about trying to be less of everything and focusing on your creativity, not on pleasing the algorithm. 

Looking after your soul will help you lessen the need to connect with hundreds and thousands of people. Focusing on your circle of friends or clients will get you further because you’re working with people who actually understand you and know how you communicate.

Imagery courtesy of Radim Malinic and Luke Cleland.

The post Empowering Creatives With a 21st-century Designer Toolkit appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

There’s a noticeable divergence from the clinical and sterile aesthetic typically associated with menopause products. Instead, a new wave of brands is embracing elevated design and language that not only speaks to women’s agency and self-actualization in self-care but actively contributes to it, all with an undercurrent of refinement and timelessness. 

One striking aspect of this design shift is the emphasis on packaging that feels more akin to luxury skincare or wellness products rather than traditional pharmaceuticals. Brands like Stripes, a holistic skin and wellness line founded by Naomi Watts, and Somé, luxury cooling sleepwear and sheets, have taken cues from high-end cosmetics, opting for sleek, minimalist packaging adorned with elegant typography and subtle branding. In some product lines, glass bottles, antique brass accents, and thoughtfully curated color palettes add elegance, making these products feel more like coveted beauty essentials rather than medicinal remedies.

Images © Stripes

Another notable trend in this space is the departure from gendered stereotypes and clichés. Unlike some period care products that lean heavily into overtly feminine branding, menopause brands like Stripes aim for a more inclusive and sophisticated aesthetic. By eschewing traditional notions of femininity, these brands cater to a diverse range of women, offering products that feel accessible and appealing to all. And, as we’re seeing more and more period care brands leave behind the stereotypical tropes, think August and Cora, and more platforms speaking opening up the period conversation, like The Period Conversation, it becomes a natural progression for menopause brands to do the same. 

At the heart of this design evolution lies the concept of timelessness. Brands like Lusomé have drawn inspiration from iconic French elegance, aiming to create products that not only transcend age and resonate with women across generations but are timeless. “We’re trying to offer consumers products that are beautiful and thoughtful but also provide symptom solutions,” says Lara Smith, CEO of Lusomé and Somé. By infusing their designs with sophistication, these brands ensure that their products remain relevant and desirable, regardless of the customer’s age or stage in life. When creating her brand, Smith’s design aesthetic goal was that of iconic French supermodels. “I love their timeless elegance and aesthetic. And that’s how Lusomé was originally designed,” she notes.

Images © Lusomé.

Designers and brand creators are crafting products and experiences that acknowledge the emotional and physical journey of menopausal women. From soothing color palettes to ergonomic packaging, every element is thoughtfully curated to provide comfort, dignity, and a sense of empowerment to the consumer. No longer are menopause brands entirely focused on the bottom line. There’s a new understanding that products that relate more authentically to the consumer are the brands that will succeed. 

“All these symptoms are wreaking havoc, from brain fog to hot flashes to emotional dysregulation and the fact that we can’t have kids anymore. That’s an emotional thing,” says Smith. “The empathy for male designers to put yourself in the shoes of a woman going through this transition is emotionally very challenging. How do we make her feel beautiful, comfortable, wrapped in elegance, and exuding confidence? That is important from a design point of view.”

Deb Millard, Brand President of Stripes, says, “I think it all goes back to the consumer. You must be in touch with who they are and what they’re looking for. If you’re doing something in an ivory tower, thinking this is what people want, you’re not in touch. You need to be in touch with your consumer. You need to talk to her; you need to understand her. Make sure you know who your customer is.” 

“What needs to continue to happen is education and research, and doctors need to get trained on menopause. Women need to know what questions to ask and be empowered through their journey and how they deal with this,” notes Millard. “When all those things collide, this conversation won’t be a conversation anymore because it’ll just be how we live our lives. This is a moment in time when design and branding are helping crack open the conversation.”

The conversation is shifting from one that was hush-hush and full of shame to one that showcases the beauty in aging. “We want people to age; aging means that you’re still alive. And so for us, it is really about being supportive,” states Millard. 

Hand in hand with the evolution of design and menopause education comes investors finding the value in menopausal care. “In the world of investment at getting private equity or tech venture or VCs to pay attention to startups, there is a trend of FemTech which covers period care, as well as menopause, or anything female health,” says Smith. “If there’s an influx of capital into brands, it allows us to do more research and infuse more design-related resources to make our brand stand out as it gets more competitive. I think it will continue to shift in the right way.”

As we navigate this new era of menopause care, it’s clear that design will continue to play a pivotal role in shaping the industry. With an increasing emphasis on aesthetics, inclusivity, and empathy, more brands will embrace these principles and revolutionize how we perceive and experience menopause. As consumers demand products that not only alleviate symptoms but also elevate their sense of well-being, the future of menopause care is undeniably bright, beautiful, and empowering.

The design evolution in menopause care represents a significant step in approaching women’s health and wellness. Brands are not only transforming the visual landscape of menopause products but also revolutionizing the way we think and talk about this paramount stage of life.

Header image © Lusomé.

The post Branding Menopause: A Shift Towards Elevated Conversation and Design appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

In the evolving travel market, brand equity — a brand’s value in the eyes of consumers — and design hold significant sway. Factors such as reputation, trustworthiness, and quality of experience/customer centricity have become even more critical when selecting a travel partner.

Several airlines have unveiled rebrands that reflect a broader shift towards catering to diverse traveler preferences, such as Mucho’s rebrand of Aeroméxico to celebrate 90 years and redefine itself as a symbol of Mexican excellence. Yet, as Roshita Thomas recently wrote about Air India, some rebrands falter in capturing the cultural nuances necessary for authenticity and resonance. In a competitive industry, maintaining brand equity requires more than just a fresh coat of paint. Airlines must prioritize safety, reliability, and customer satisfaction to fortify trust and withstand market pressures. Travelers today wield greater control and awareness than ever before. You see this play out in marketplace innovations stemming from Boeing’s notorious challenges, as evidenced by the ability to filter aircraft models on booking platforms like Kayak and Expedia.

An emerging travel industry narrative seeks to answer the trouble with planes and consumers’ concerns in these strange, uncertain times. Companies like Airbnb are transcending boundaries and blurring the lines between fantasy and reality. Airbnb “Icons,” recently highlighted by Charlotte Beach, exemplify this shift towards highly curated, immersive, unforgettable experiences.

With all the recent turbulence in the travel sector, I was excited to chat with Doug Powell, the former vice president of Design Practice Management at Expedia. Powell is an executive design leader, consultant, lecturer, and global thought leader on design issues. We discussed the future of travel and how design and design thinking are helping to shape it.

Our conversation is below (edited for length and clarity).

Amelia Nash: Can you share with us your recent role with Expedia and how you’ve come to think about building recognition, trust, and positive experiences for travelers?

Expedia is a very complicated company in that it has grown by acquisition. It had become a collection of probably close to 20 different companies, some of them you know very well: hotels.com, Vrbo, Expedia itself, Cars.com, and other fillintheblank.com sites. Expedia had become an unruly set of brands, so the company’s goal was to create a common experience. They’re a unique company in that they have the opportunity to own the entire journey for a traveler, from booking your flight to booking your rental car to booking a hotel or a Vrbo short-term rental to booking museum tickets—linking that all together. As a brand, they needed to consolidate and make it clear that Expedia, hotels.com, and Vrbo, their three primary brands, are connected and offer a seamless experience.

It is interesting to look under the hood at the user experience of their brand apps, which are now built on the same design system and UI—again, trying to create a common experience across all platforms.

This is especially true when people might visit different sites for different reasons. Booking via hotels.com versus Vrbo is a choice for the customer, but on the back end, they want their user experience to be seamless.

It should be invisible to the user. It doesn’t matter to the traveler if it’s hotels.com or Vrbo. They want to book their short-term rental or hotel room. As designers, we need to think systemically and pick up on themes. 

Expedia is investing heavily, not surprisingly, in AI as an engine for creating travel experiences, for first envisioning a travel experience and then booking it. For example, they’re demonstrating this flow that starts with “I don’t know where I want to go; I just want to go to a beach.” And that’s the input. Expedia responds, okay, here are flight options, here are rental car options, here are hotel options, and here’s the beach you’re going to go.

Here’s the spooky thing: they’re mining your Instagram feed, your likes and favorites, and your photo library in the background. So when you say you want to go to a beach, they don’t even have to ask you what kind of beach. They already know because you’ve liked your friend’s pictures on Instagram, your friend at a beach. They know exactly where Amelia wants to go. That’s the freaky, geeky part.

That is WILD. I appreciate the “choose your own adventure” style of travel, especially with the state of airlines and air travel, notably Boeing. I have friends who aren’t sure they want to get on a plane and travel right now. How can design and technology help travel businesses adapt to these larger cultural changes and preferences?

That’s a very extreme example of some people’s experience, but it is interesting that “choose your own adventure” can act as a countermeasure. Where sites like Expedia can recognize “Oh, you don’t want to get on a plane? That’s fine. Let me suggest a Vrbo. Let me suggest a road trip. Let me suggest something maybe a little bit more local to you.”

To your point, some people are hesitant to fly, some are interested in more accessible travel, and many are conscious of the environmental impact of travel. An increasing number of people are becoming more conscious of their travel habits and choices and their impact on the planet. Working from home is another aspect. That’s an enduring trend to come out of the pandemic. People are taking longer trips, settling into a place for several weeks or a couple of months, and working from there. Vrbo and Airbnb are now marketing the opportunity in the UI to select an extended stay.

How can design and brand strategies be leveraged to meet these sustainable and experiential preferences and differentiate travel companies in a crowded market? Do any successful brand initiatives come to mind?

A prime example is Airbnb Experiences. Airbnb is a design-driven company, and they detected that Airbnb hosts were starting to offer excursions or city tours as a side benefit to staying at their place. To their credit, Airbnb created a whole product, a service offer that is almost a standalone business, and it’s become super popular and profitable.

Airbnb just did it and got it out into the market. Expedia just totally missed it. Because at the top, Expedia is not a design-driven company. They are not attuned to their customers and their users in the same way that Airbnb is. Expedia didn’t pay attention to the signals and now they’re chasing Airbnb.

Designers pay attention to customers, patients, shoppers, or whoever we design for. By doing so, we stay in touch with our customers as people.

With the travel industry constantly evolving, what is design’s role in adapting to travelers’ changing needs and expectations? Outside of the great Airbnb example, what other innovative design strategies have successfully addressed emerging trends or challenges in travel?

Another is the impact of social media influencers on travel. The Instagram influencer with a million followers who travels and recommends places now recommends an entire trip itinerary. Expedia had a vision of followers basically booking a trip through an influencer, and they were trying to create a back-end functionality for influencers to plug into. So, Sally Jones, whose specialty is traveling in Latin America, can be sponsored by Expedia. On the trips Sally recommends, you click on that trip and get ported right into Expedia to book the exact trip she took.

But you have to have credibility with those influencers. Expedia was behind because an Instagram influencer with a million followers is probably a different demographic than the Expedia user. Their personal brand is on the line when they recommend booking with Expedia. And if a follower books and has a crappy experience on Expedia.com, then it becomes a liability. But the bigger idea is exciting.

How can design, marketing, and branding bridge that gap if your typical users don’t necessarily align with the influencer?

It takes investment from the business, and the business has to make design a priority in solving these early stages of strategizing an idea. Because design and designers are connected to the customer in ways that nobody else in the business is.

That is our [designer’s] specialty. With that connection and understanding of the customer, we then have the ability—our superpower, really—to take that understanding and create something awesome out of it—an experience, a brand, a campaign, a space …

That’s what we do.

Businesses that miss this, that don’t understand, are frequently a step behind. That’s why Airbnb is so unique. They get it, and they have from day one. The first two people in the company, Brian and Joe, are designers. They didn’t have to hire a head of design to fight the battles with design in mind; it’s part of their DNA.

This isn’t to say that Airbnb is perfect, but they tend to be very attuned to their customers, all of their customers, and the complex customer ecosystem.

Considering the online and social media influence on decision-making, how can travel brands utilize design to create memorable, shareable experiences? And how important is it to maintain a consistent visual identity across channels?

You’re uncovering a bigger question about how brands show up in this multichannel world. For some brands, everything doesn’t have to be visually consistent. However, something needs to carry the brand story or voice throughout.

When you give access to your brand to people who are not formally connected to it, such as social media influencers, you can’t possibly control it. 

And so, what do you do as a brand? A generation ago, the answer would’ve been that we could not let people out in the world be agents of our brand. That’d be a shit show! But now we’re in a different time.

Collaborations and user-generated expressions of brands are here now, and many of them are brilliant. People grab a brand, make it their own, and put it back out in the world—they make their own signs, ink decorations, t-shirts …

What do you think about AI, the metaverse, and products like the Apple Vision Pro? Considering the friction in travel and the more thoughtful people are about travel choices, is there an opportunity for travel brands to get on that bandwagon?

We’re very early in that technology and we’re a long way from it being accessible and affordable.

It’s not a high spread right now. But certainly, when you think about, from a marketing point of view, being able to experience places you’ve never been.

If you’re interested in going to Cancun but have never been, technology could offer you an experience of what it’s like there. It would be cool to have a virtual preview. If done well, that particular technology will start to get sticky.

It’s like those 360-degree home tours. You can tour the house before you even visit it.

But hopefully, it’ll be more than just looking and turning the cursor this way or that way.

One of my favorite Disneyland rides as a kid was the California Soaring Adventure because you’d soar through the California seaside in your hang glider. They factored in all the senses: the wind, ocean spray, the citrus smells in an orange orchard. Could we get these kinds of immersive virtual vacations?

What you’re describing is interesting because it’s not like replicating a vacation. It takes you somewhere you could go to, but you couldn’t go in the same way. Think about deep-sea underwater exploration, space travel, or something like mountain climbing.

For experiences that would be difficult for most of us to do, this could be another way of stretching the possibilities.

Do you feel that travel is at risk in the future with AI escapes and immersive virtual vacations? Will people eventually opt for that instead of going to a physical location?

Not in the foreseeable future. It’s down the line, sure.

Travel is a fascinating space. Everybody is a traveler, every person on the planet is a traveler, and everyone has an interest in travel in different ways. For some people, traveling could be going to their family cabin on the weekend, two hours away. Travel could be going to Patagonia and trekking for three weeks. It could be business travel, a family trip to Disneyland, or all these, but everyone travels in some universal way.

Imagery courtesy of the author.

The post The Future of Travel: How Design is Shaping Travel Experiences appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

As part of one of their most recent studies, Tebra surveyed 1,005 adults about their ability to recall, identify, and draw healthcare brands. In doing so, they also asked a subgroup of 111 respondents to draw six healthcare logos from memory.

What did they find? For starters, Walgreens proved to be the number one most well-known healthcare brand, across genders and generations, with Advil and CVS following close behind. Tylenol was found to be the most identifiable pain reliever among Baby Boomers and Gen X, while Advil was most identifiable among Millennials and Gen Z. Unsurprisingly, women identified menstrual care brands 2x better than men, and skincare brands 2.3x better, with 62% of men surveyed able to identify the Tampax logo.

But what do the findings from Tebra’s study actually mean in the bigger picture? What can designers and brand builders in the healthcare space glean from this survey and put into practice? We asked a member of the Tebra creative team, Rachel Kirsch, a few questions to elaborate on their results.

What are the main takeaways from the results of this survey? What do the results tell us about successful (and unsuccessful) healthcare branding? 

The results of our survey illuminate a pivotal aspect of successful healthcare branding: the power of distinctiveness and familiarity. 

Brands like Walgreens, Advil, and CVS, with their easily identifiable logos, stand as testaments to the effectiveness of branding that cuts across various demographics, proving memorable across genders and generations. On the flip side, the struggle of brands like Bayer and Rite Aid to make their new logos resonate with consumers highlights a crucial pitfall in healthcare branding—changes in branding, especially those that significantly alter the logo’s appearance or color scheme, can dilute brand recognition. 

Successful branding, therefore, hinges not just on visibility, but on creating a durable and distinctive identity that resonates with and remains memorable to the public.

Based on your results, what should designers and brand-builders in the healthcare space try to emulate and inversely, what should they avoid?

Our study offers a clear directive for designers and brand-builders in the healthcare space: prioritize uniqueness and consistency. 

The memorability of Allegra’s purple logo in a sea of blue and green allergy medications, and Pepto Bismol’s standout pink, underscore the value of choosing distinctive colors and designs that set a brand apart from its competitors. Conversely, the survey results suggest a cautionary tale against frequent or radical rebranding efforts, as seen with Bayer and Rite Aid, where respondents clung to the legacy branding. 

This affinity for the familiar emphasizes the importance of consistency in logo design and the risk of alienating consumers through significant branding overhauls.

What’s the most surprising aspect of the survey results?

Perhaps the most surprising revelation from our survey was the broad recognizability of the Tampax logo among men, with 62% able to identify it correctly. This insight challenges conventional marketing wisdom about gender-specific product branding and suggests a wider cultural penetration of brands traditionally marketed towards women. 

Additionally, the significant generational divide in digital healthcare services recognition, with Gen Z far more likely to identify online mental health providers like Calm and BetterHelp, points to a rapidly shifting landscape in healthcare consumption and the increasing importance of digital platforms in providing health services to younger demographics.

The post What are the Most Recognizable Logos in the Healthcare Industry? appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Despite recent glimmers of hope, the economic situation in the UK continues to be challenging. One in four UK families said they were regularly running out of cash for essentials, as double-digit inflation, high energy bills, and soaring mortgage rates hit British consumers in the most severe cost of living crisis in living memory.

While headline figures in the US look more impressive, the reality for many people has been just as tough. Incomes have stagnated for many, credit card debt is at a record $1.13 trillion, and 65% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.

How do brands respond? This has been a key question for the drinks brands we represent in Denomination’s London and San Francisco studios. In a tough economy, brands need to work even harder to maintain market share, revenue, and margin and they’re looking for ideas on how to achieve that.

For many brands, the answer has been simple: emphasize affordability. And for a great many, it works. Sales of own-label products in the UK rose nearly 12% in 2023. Target has just introduced Dealworthy, its cheapest-ever range, all costing under $10. In most markets, new, cheaper entrants have done well—look at the success of Shein or Temu in the fashion industry.

For every successful downshifter, many brands fail to gain traction at the lower price point, losing revenue as well as margin. Simply shifting down to a basic proposition does not mean you no longer need to stand out, connect with the consumer, and become a valuable part of their lives.

Value is Relative

In drinks, we’ve seen sales of sparkling wines soar, but not everyone can afford to spend £60 on a single bottle of bubbles. Instead, cremants and proseccos — great quality, delicious, and affordable alternatives to classic champagne — satisfy people’s desire for a sophisticated, bubbly celebration. The Della Vite range from the Delavigne sisters is an excellent example of a brand creating a more premium perception of prosecco whilst offering value compared to champagne.

It’s not only the start-ups that can do this; long-established brands can, too. Gordon’s recent redesign drags it from the back of the cupboard, dusts it off, and reimagines it as a contemporary, even funny, brand that everyone can afford. Just as Waitrose did all the years ago when it renamed its basic range Essentials, Gordon’s is finding ways to help people feel good about making the democratic choice.

What people see as valuable is changing. Where once we ascribed value to conspicuous consumption, today it is as often found in alignment with core values such as sustainability and equity.

The New Luxury

There’s something more fundamental at work here too. What people see as valuable is changing. Where once we ascribed value to conspicuous consumption, today it is as often found in alignment with core values such as sustainability and equity.

So, Method’s refill system doesn’t feel like a penny-pinching choice – we pick it for its environmental impact. In the same way, people choose Wise Wolf from our client Accolade Wines at £10 to £12 for its disruptive, stylish look and feel, fall in love with the fact it’s 100% recyclable, and don’t feel like they’re missing out on a more expensive bottle. “I took a chance on this wine and I’m glad I did,” says one Sainsbury’s review. “The bottle was unique and looked high-end and the wine was great value for money.”

Others are using language cleverly: lighter variants emphasizing ingredients, fruity waters relaunching as infusions, seltzers highlighting refreshment and calorie reduction. The London Essence Company is doing this brilliantly with its tonics, positioning them less as a dilution and more as an addition.

Finally, we’re seeing some clever innovations around format. Wine boxes are less expensive but also more sustainable in terms of environmental impact, drink longevity, and portion control. Equally, it would be far cheaper to buy the ingredients for Moth’s can-only cocktails and make them yourself, but if you’re looking for an affordable alternative to a night out and you only want to buy one or two, then they’re a great option that doesn‘t feel like a sacrifice.

The Harder Path

Value need not be synonymous with basic. There are brands in drinks and beyond that are putting in the effort, and leading the way. We recommend working to understand what would bring value to your consumers’ lives beyond a simple price reduction.

Gaining that strategic insight isn’t easy – but as tough economic times persist, people will find their way to brands that are not only less expensive but also resonate, inspire, uplift, and generally add value to their lives. What’s more, when the economy does pick up, those customers will be ready to explore other, more premium parts of your brand.

Images courtesy the author.

The post Beyond Basic: Rethinking Value for Today’s Beverage Consumers appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Today, the branding industry is in flux. On one hand, the digital era offers brands limitless opportunities to engage with their audiences through social media, content marketing, and personalized experiences. Conversely, a growing distrust of polished corporate messages and a saturated market have given rise to “anti-branding” and “post-branding” movements. These movements favor social good, authenticity, and a focus on product quality over brand image. Patagonia is perhaps the most visible example of this. Adding A.I. to the mix can diminish brand trust if used irresponsibly. For example, brands failing to declare the use of A.I.-generated content will cast doubt on the integrity of all their content, whether or not it is in fact A.I.-generated.

Amidst this backdrop of evolving branding ideologies, many creative professionals are gathering at OFFF Barcelona this week. The International Festival of Creativity, Art, and Digital Design fosters community around contemporary creativity, serving as a trendsetting global hub within design, art, and post-digital culture.

In the spirit of “What’s Next?” I asked five brand leaders whose agencies are represented at OFFF to share their perspective about the state of branding and what the future of the profession might look like. It was intriguing to see the array of viewpoints — the similarities and disparities — regarding the current branding landscape and what brands (and their creators) must consider moving forward. A common thread; true connections with consumers.

The following contributed their thoughts to this story: Veronica Fuerte, Founder & Creative Directress of Hey Studio; James Greenfield, CEO & Founder of Koto Studio; Radim Malinic, Founder & Creative Director at Brand Nu Studio; Max Ottignon, Co-Founder of Ragged Edge; and Surabhi Rathi, Strategy Director at BUCK.

How do you interpret the emergence of the “anti-branding” and “post-branding” trends within the current branding landscape? From your perspective, what specific insights or implications do you believe this trend holds for traditional branding strategies and practices?

Veronica Fuerte: The “anti-branding” and “post-branding” trends signal a move towards authenticity, transparency, and purpose in branding, challenging traditional tactics that focus on saturation and persuasion. Brands now need to deeply embed their values into their identity, engaging in meaningful storytelling and transparent dialogue with their audience. This requires a more nuanced approach, where genuine connections and value alignment become key to standing out.

“Anti branding can work for some, but the key thing for most is that finding the right level of originality is crucial. …Consumers are quick to see through inauthentic attempts to jump on these trends.”

—James Greenfield, CEO & Founder of Koto Studio

James Greenfield: I don’t think either anti or post branding really has much effect on the majority of the brands we see day-to-day. These trends often feel like a seismic shift when they are happening, but in reality, their impact is often overstated. Take the recent example from the start of the 2020s of leading fashion houses seemingly abandoning distinctive logos and embracing a more minimalist aesthetic. It was short lived and we’re already seeing this trend reverse, with Burberry’s recent rebranding demonstrating the continued value of a distinct brand identity. What they really wanted was the freedom to slap a hefty price tag on a T-shirt or a handbag in a flexible way so they could essentially be two brands at one time. 

Anti branding can work for some, but the key thing for most is that finding the right level of originality is crucial. While true originality might be elusive, the desire to push boundaries is essential for brand growth. It’s this very desire to stand out that fuels these “anti-branding” moments, rather than some underlying widespread political branding uprising. It’s also important to remember that anti-branding with a strong political message can only truly resonate with brands that already have a well-defined social or environmental stance.  Consumers are quick to see through inauthentic attempts to jump on these trends. The internet and our access to information means the internet is quick to punish brands it perceives to have wronged, just look at Budweiser sales in the US, so brands have to tread a little carefully and maybe know their customer more than ever? The driver for brands to change is about where and how their customer is more than what they look like when they turn up.

Radim Malinic: Have we reached the peak branding in the last few years? Having a big team to produce world-class work is no longer imperative. You need world-class ambition to produce work that can make international headlines. All you need is a small team and vision with results that align with many brand ‘deja-vu’ identity systems produced by brands much bigger with seemingly endless budgets. Producing shiny logos with animated assets, snazzy illustrations, and mood videos is no longer the stuff of dreams and hefty budgets. Take a team of five and watch the work fly. This makes our collective headway in visual excellence taste somewhat bittersweet. It also has made the branding landscape and its consumers jaded. We have been busy getting better without seeing our work’s side effects happening right before our eyes. Dog food packaging uses the same colour palette and font choices as the latest toothpaste company, bio-oil producing startup, and so on. Most of these brands rely on multi-channel broadcast instead of storytelling, which can result in greater trust and understanding. We’ve also started peeling layers of multinational brands and their campaigns only to realise things are not as we’ve been told all this time. It’s little surprise that we find ourselves in a situation where the old isn’t working anymore, and the new isn’t taking flight. 

Max Ottignon: Don’t sacrifice clarity or relevance for notoriety. Whether ‘anti-branding’ or ‘post-branding’, it’s still branding. A way of standing out and getting noticed in an ever-more competitive, noisy world. Showing up in a way that feels fresh and authentic can be incredibly powerful, particularly when pitched against an outdated, corporate approach. But lasting success still requires discipline and commitment to ensure that you’re building a brand, rather than simply making a statement. 

“Brand-building solely centered on commercial interests is outdated. Brands must reorient their “why” towards positive societal impact beyond just products.“

—Surabhi Rathi, Strategy Director at BUCK

Surabhi Rathi: At the heart of both these movements, lies a rejection of traditional branding as a manipulative tool for consumerism. It reflects deep skepticism towards branding’s roots in exploitative capitalist practices. But, they also serve as a reminder that brands hold immense cultural influence and power to shape societal values. 

And with that, we have a responsibility. 

Brand-building solely centered on commercial interests is outdated. Brands must reorient their “why” towards positive societal impact beyond just products. Clear ethical stances, environmental accountability, aligning with consumer values for the greater good – these are prerequisites, not options. Ultimately, branding should further human values, nurturing collective identities that joyfully unite us.

In essence, these movements advocate for an ethical redefining of branding’s very purpose. Brands must become purpose-driven catalysts for positive change, not vessels of exploitation. This shift is necessary in 2024.

During a time when consumer trust in institutions and corporations is declining, what do you think are necessary methods to adopt for branding agencies to stay relevant in an era where consumers increasingly value authenticity and reject traditional branding tactics?

Veronia Fuerte: To remain relevant as consumer trust wanes, branding agencies might emphasize transparency, authenticity, and direct engagement. This involves helping brands to align their actions with their messages, use user-generated content effectively, and engage in real conversations with their audience. It’s about empowering brands to embrace their uniqueness and connect on a human level.

“Storytelling with purpose is no longer just a nice thing to have. It’s the foundation of the branding landscape now.”

—Radim Malinic, Founder & Creative Director at Brand Nu Studio

Radim Malinic: I’m sure many agencies have been wrestling with ideas for how to help clients identify and communicate their genuine values, mission, and story. Storytelling with purpose is no longer just a nice thing to have. It’s the foundation of the branding landscape now. Move beyond traditional branding narratives and focus on storytelling with purpose. Help clients craft narratives that resonate with consumers on a deeper level by addressing social, environmental, or cultural issues that align with their values.

Max Ottignon: While the tactics may need to evolve, the basic foundations of brand strategy remain the same. At its simplest, our job is to frame products, services and organizations in ways that get them noticed, remembered and, eventually, chosen by a given audience. That means finding a place in the world, and in culture, that feels authentic to that brand and resonant to that audience. And showing up in a way that demonstrates a deep understanding of the community you’re aiming to connect with. Whereas yesterday that might have been a sports sponsorship, today it might be a Twitch activation or Roblox partnership. 

With the rise of social movements, such as conscious consumerism and sustainability advocacy, how do you envision the role of branding evolving to meet the changing expectations and values of consumers? What do you think will be essential for brands to effectively communicate to resonate with their target audience in this landscape?

Veronia Fuerte: As consumer values shift towards conscious consumerism and sustainability, branding must evolve to meet these expectations. This means going beyond selling products to embodying the values of societal change and sustainability. Effective communication and demonstrating a genuine commitment to these values will be crucial for resonating with today’s consumers.

“As consumer values shift towards conscious consumerism and sustainability, branding must evolve to meet these expectations.”

—Veronica Fuerte, Founder & Creative Directress of Hey Studio

James Greenfield: I’m not convinced consumers are giving traditional branding the cold shoulder. Look at the stats: Gen-Zers in the US are splashing their cash on fashion like it’s going out of style. Sure, there’s plenty of talk about sustainability and conscious consumerism, but take a stroll through any mall or supermarket and you’ll see a different story playing out.

Despite the rise of online shopping and influencer culture, the big players are still churning out the same old stuff they have been for decades. Sure, the marketing spiel might have changed, especially on social media, but the products themselves? Not so much. Ask any group of people about their favorite brands and I bet you won’t hear anything groundbreaking.

Now, don’t get me wrong—there’s plenty of buzz around products that feel a bit more off the beaten track, but often, it’s just the packaging that’s different. Take Tesla, for example. They’re all about innovation, but when you strip away the hype and the power source, they’re still pretty conservative in their design and branding.

Then there’s Apple. Their marketing might pop up in unexpected places, but there’s nothing particularly groundbreaking about an Apple Store. Yet the iPhone is what the younger generation is clamoring for.

With the internet ready to pounce on any brand that steps out of line, companies have to tread carefully and really get to know their customers. Because at the end of the day, it’s not just about how a brand looks—it’s about meeting your customers where they are, whether that’s online or in person.

Radim Malinic: Brands must be transparent about their actions and be willing to be held accountable for their impact on people and the planet. Transparency will become a cornerstone of branding in this era. Consumers increasingly demand access to information about a brand’s practices, including its environmental impact, labour conditions, and social responsibility initiatives. New startups and brands often spring up to act as the antidote to the bad practices of the juggernauts of the past. Doing things right is much harder and more costly than old methods. To convince consumers who often feel a blind devotion to legacy brands is often a task of its own. We have our work cut out for us, that’s for sure.

“Don’t fake it. …We’ve probably seen the last of a mayonnaise claiming its purpose is to reduce food waste (Hellmann’s) or a co-working space purporting to ‘elevate the world’s consciousness’ (WeWork).”

—Max Ottignon, Co-Founder of Ragged Edge

Max Ottignon: Don’t fake it. 

After years of brands jumping on inauthentic purpose bandwagons, there’s been a shift towards a more straightforward approach. Perhaps in response to people having to be more careful in their spending, brands have re-focussed on what their customers really want. Not what they’d like them to want. For some, that’s making sustainability a priority. But that focus has to be backed up by action and commitment at a business level. 

I think we’ve probably seen the last of a mayonnaise claiming its purpose is to reduce food waste (Hellmann’s) or a co-working space purporting to ‘elevate the world’s consciousness’ (WeWork). The trick, as always, is in understanding what matters to your customers, and how you’re in a unique position to offer it. But if you’re tempted to fake it, don’t.

Established in 2000, OFFF has become the largest exhibition and meeting point for contemporary visual creativity, uniting the worldwide network of design and creative professionals to foster connections among innovative talents globally in an effort to share insights, collaborate, and unite.

This year, the festival emphasizes nurturing new talent through “The Next Us,” a platform enabling Barcelona’s design students to showcase their work to OFFF’s global audience.

Learn more information about OFFF Barcelona, happening now (April 4 – 6).

The post Five Brand Leaders on the State of Branding and What’s Next appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Located within the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, Poland, Tauron Lab stands out as a state-of-the-art new media laboratory in Europe. Offering groundbreaking audiovisual technologies, Tauron Lab provides a unique platform for artists and scientists alike to explore creativity in an immersive environment.

Operated by the Soundscape Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the urban sound environment through research and education, Tauron Lab serves as a nexus where culture, art, and technology intersect. Creative agency Meteora, located in Kraków, was tasked with developing the brand identity for this experimental audiovisual lab — no small feat bringing sound experimentation to visual representation.

Since its official opening in September 2023, Tauron Lab has been a hub of creative activity. The multidimensional space hosts a diverse array of initiatives tailored to cater to various audiences. At the heart of its offerings is Tonarium, a futuristic sound tool that facilitates experimentation with audio. 

The lab also showcases various audiovisual technologies, events showcasing cutting-edge technologies, artistic residencies focusing on innovation, workshops for both kids and adults, and installations highlighting experimental prototypes.

One of Tauron Lab’s key features is its artistic residencies, which provide opportunities for artists to delve into cutting-edge technologies such as three-dimensional sound systems and spatialization methods. These residencies aim to foster experimentation and innovation in artistic expression.

To visually communicate these initiatives, the Soundscape team collaborated with Meteora on crafting a comprehensive identity system incorporating typography, geometric shapes, and dynamic animations, each tailored to reflect the nature of the lab’s diverse events. The goal was to create a transparent identity that enhances, rather than overshadows, the content of each event.

Tauron Lab aims to be more than just a laboratory; rather, it is a dynamic space where creativity knows no bounds and the fusion of art and technology opens new realms of possibility.

The post The Future of Sound: Tauron Lab’s Art-Tech Fusion appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Whether we realize it or not, everyone has a connection to cursive. For me, at least, my cursive story began in fourth grade. It was part of the curriculum, and we spent one class every day learning how to write in cursive.

At the time, I didn’t understand it; it was a class I dreaded because, like math, I didn’t understand the point. Now, as an adult who’s made a hobby out of calligraphy, my workbook from elementary school with dashed, traceable letters is a visual ingrained in my memory. But at ten years old, with computers becoming increasingly portable, my classmates and I didn’t understand the concept. We rolled our eyes as we moved through learning the alphabet, wondering why we couldn’t just go to our computer class.

By the time we got to the letter “x,” all motivation had been lost. Our teachers continuously told us about the importance of cursive–that it was not only a more mature way to write, but it would enable us to read historical papers and letters from our ancestors one day. As a class, we collectively groaned.

Eventually, the classroom began to phase cursive out, likely seen as a waste of resources and funds. With the rise in technology, educators found, with their limited time, that teaching students technology outweighed the importance of the curly-cue letters. In 2010, the Common Core standards, also known as established benchmarks for reading and math, became more widely adopted, and they no longer required states to teach cursive, leaving the decision up to individual states and districts. With this shift in the standards, 45 states chose not to teach cursive, leaving hundreds of thousands of students without the skillset.

“Writing in cursive or in script is part of history, and it feels like a weird thing to just say, ‘this isn’t important anymore,” shares Adam Vicarel, Principal and Creative Director of Vicarel Studios. “It’s like saying, yeah, the War of 1812 happened a long time ago, so let’s just stop talking about it.”

He continues, “Everything is informed by the past, and the best way to take action is to be informed by what happened before you. To stop practicing cursive or learning cursive is strange.” Vicarel feels it’s an extreme oversight to think that no one cares about it. 

(© Vicarel Studios)

Kelsey Voltz-Poremba, assistant professor of occupational therapy at the University of Pittsburgh, told BBC that children can learn and replicate cursive more easily. “When handwriting is more autonomous for a child, it allows them to put more cognitive energy towards more advanced visual-motor skills and have better learning outcomes,” she told the publication. Cursive has proven to have a range of benefits for students. Even beyond advancing their visual-motor skills, learning cursive has been demonstrated to help children with dyslexia. According to PBS, “For those with dyslexia, cursive handwriting can be an integral part of becoming a more successful student.” 

As a sign of progress, in 2014, a bill in Tennessee required that cursive be a mandatory subject in grades two through four. Then, in 2019, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Virginia, Florida, and North Carolina followed suit and required similar measures. 

Most recently, California and New Hampshire have reintroduced the mandatory teaching of cursive. According to the LA Times, “Even before the new law took effect on January 1 [2024], cursive was a California learning goal in grades three and four, but the state and school districts had not enforced its teaching or tested to see whether students had mastered it. The law states that handwriting instruction for grades one to six includes writing ‘in cursive or joined italics in the appropriate grade levels.”

And while some states are introducing mandatory cursive lessons, they are not required to be enforced or funded. Without a Common Core standardization, schools do not have much motivation to enforce the education. Hopefully, other states will follow suit, with California and New Hampshire recently adopting the curriculum. 

For now, though, we’re existing in an interesting space where current designers are creating for people who weren’t taught cursive in school. We’re seeing more and more heritage brands redesign their well-known cursive logos to simple, sans-serif typography. From Eddie Bauer and Johnson and Johnson, the logos are getting less and less curly. But as brands leave behind the cursive designs, they leave behind the human touch. 

Phil Garnham, Executive Creative Director at Monotype UK, states, “There’s a tactility to cursive, the kind of warmth that is reminiscent of nostalgia. I think there’s a human crafty element to it that is important for brands.” Essentially, cursive has the innate ability to allow brands to showcase a more humanistic side. 

(© Vicarel Studios work for The Wild)

I’m also completely depressed by the kind of sans-serif of digital modernism of the state we’re in. …We’re missing emotive design. That’s why cursive is so appealing to me at the moment. There’s a great opportunity. [Cursive] is almost like a gateway to uncovering new ideas and new potential.”

Phil Garnaham, Monotype

While the humanistic touch in design is vital for consumers (and people) to feel a visceral connection, Vicarel has been asked by brand clients to refrain from using cursive because their target demographic can’t read it. “We’ve done projects where the agency gave us all the creative direction and then specifically said, ‘Don’t explore scripts because GenZ is our target audience, and they can’t read script,'” he notes.

“It’s not only sad to acknowledge that that generation already struggles to read it,” says Vicarel. “High-end fashion brands are moving away from using ornate serifs, and now they’re all sans-serif. It just takes so much character and like life and personality out of whatever it is that you’re creating.”

Garnham agrees, “I’m also completely depressed by the kind of sans-serif of digital modernism of the state we’re in. We’re not seeing any bravery in brand design at all right now. There’s an obsession that you can just take any sans-serif and apply some quirky character or some subtle shift on it and put the same color palettes in. We’re missing emotive design. That’s why cursive is so appealing to me at the moment. There’s a great opportunity. [Cursive] is almost like a gateway to uncovering new ideas and new potential.”

But while some designers and brands are moving away from cursive in fear that future consumers or brand loyalists won’t be able to read their designs, others are leaning in. Vicarel is one of those designers, creating a typeface inspired by a third-grader’s handwriting practice book that he purchased on a visit to Portugal. “There are enough letterforms in the book to create a typeface. We are able to digitize all of the letters very easily, so, quite literally, the process would be scanning it in. It’s possible that we can take the primary structure of all the letters and almost leave them as is,” he notes. “We will probably make certain adjustments on some letters, but in particular, the accent stroke because it will have to be the same on every single character to be sure that they meet together nicely.”

Now that California and New Hampshire require students to be taught cursive, the design pendulum will hopefully swing back in the opposite direction. If younger generations can confidently read script typefaces, designers and brands won’t be afraid to use them. 

The design world is cyclical, but never before have we seen a cycle so obvious in typography. It’s fascinating to break down the importance of typographical education, especially if it’s in the form of teaching children how to write. The cognitive benefits are there, but so are the humanistic, emotive design benefits. Technology is essential, yes, but there’s nothing quite as dynamic as the human touch. 

The post The Curious Case of Cursive appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Founded in 1972 on the Upper West Side, H&H Bagels has grown from a local favorite to a cultural institution cherished by New Yorkers. With plans to launch numerous new franchised and company-owned locations across the country, the challenge was clear: modernize the brand while staying true to its New York roots and appealing to a broader demographic.

As H&H Bagels prepares for a nationwide expansion, it has turned to the expertise of High Tide, a renowned New York City-based creative studio specializing in brand identity. High Tide is no stranger to building NYC fast-casual/dining brands, known for its work with Dig Inn, Sweet Chick, Mexicue, and many others. The goal: extend a warm invitation to people across America to indulge in the authentic taste of a New York City bagel.

We saw it as a huge responsibility to bring an iconic local institution to everyone in a way that showcases what makes NY culture so special.

Danny Miller, Founder and Creative Director, High Tide

For High Tide, the opportunity to reimagine H&H Bagels held personal significance. “This project brought back memories from my childhood of stopping by H&H on my way to Central Park,” explains High Tide’s Founder and Creative Director, Danny Miller. “We saw it as a huge responsibility to bring an iconic local institution to everyone in a way that showcases what makes NY culture so special.”

The transformation began with a new visual identity, encompassing everything from the website and packaging to signage and interior design elements for each physical location. The logo, featuring clean custom lettering set against a redesigned version of the original seal, strikes a balance between modernity and homage to the past.

Typography, photography, and color were carefully curated to convey a sense of accessibility and premium quality. A mix of serif, sans serif, and script typefaces adds depth and character, while vibrant pops of color inject energy and excitement into the brand’s visual language.

Jay Rushin, CEO at H&H Bagels, acknowledges the significance of this evolution: “As we embark on a new chapter with our national expansion, enhancing our visual identity was essential to delivering an elevated experience for our customers.” Miller adds, “Wherever someone experiences H&H, the brand should stand out – welcoming others to feel the excitement of eating a classic NYC bagel.”

With High Tide’s expertise, H&H Bagels is poised to captivate taste buds and hearts across the country, all while preserving the essence of a beloved New York institution.

The post H&H Bagel’s New Identity by High Tide Sparks Nationwide Craving appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Though partnering with young ballers like Bellingham, Adidas has recently been looking to the past for their slate of new releases. There’s nothing subtle about the brand tapping into the power of nostalgia within sports design, and a recent leak shows that Adidas is plotting to unveil a logo of a silhouetted Bellingham not unlike the quite literally iconic Michael Jordan Jumpman logo from Nike.

This news has already elicited a litany of polarized hot takes, so I sought a few more from trusted sports design correspondent Todd Radom. As a prolific sports designer and branding expert, Radom’s hot takes are more than just hot: they’re credible. I threw a few questions his way about this logo news, and he was happy to offer some insider insights.

“You come at the king, you best not miss.”

Is Adidas creating their own version of a famous logo from their direct competitor, a design diss track? How is this sort of thing typically received in the sports design world?

“You come at the king; you best not miss.” There’s no missing the connection and the brash statement here. It’s hard to quantify the global impact of the Jumpman logo, which is now 36 years old.

I’m not sure I’d equate this to a “diss track,” but I would say that the messaging here is unmistakable. Sports fans (and, in this case, sneakerheads and streetwear fans) will know what’s happening here, which is essentially a glomming onto long-established brand equity. The sports design world will likely split into two groups: Here in America, many might well view this as a copycat exercise, more or less, while the rest of the world may well chalk it up to football being the global sport that it is, regardless of the phenomena that Jordan, the NBA, and the Bulls provided more than a generation ago.

Visually speaking, what do you think of this (reported) Jude Bellingham silhouette as a logo? For me, it’s not as compelling or active as the shape of Michael Jordan dunking.

Agreed! A static image cannot compete with the otherworldly silhouette of an airborne Jordan. Can you believe that he could fly like that? How aspirational. Tack on all those years of accrued equity, and this new logo pales in comparison in many ways. Any of us can raise our arms in victory, but few, if any, of us can be like Mike.

Any of us can raise our arms in victory, but few, if any of us can be like Mike.

Adidas is leaning heavily on reviving old designs and products right now (bringing back Predators cleats is at the top of the list). What are your thoughts on appealing to nostalgia and relying on reboots (no pun intended) instead of being more forward-thinking and innovative and creating entirely new designs?

I say it all the time: we live in unsettled times. Nostalgia is like a big heaping bowl of mashed potatoes— it makes us feel good. It reminds us of better and simpler times (even if they weren’t, shhh!) And when it comes to sports, it can remind us of past glory, uncomplicated and easily received. All that said, I love a nostalgic approach when appropriate; I’ve built part of my career off of that. But the world doesn’t stop moving, and new consumers and enthusiasts deserve stuff that reflects their own worldview and sensibilities. Besides, everything that’s new now will be considered “retro” in 20 years or so.

The world doesn’t stop moving, and new consumers and enthusiasts deserve stuff that reflects their own worldview and sensibilities.

The post Adidas is Brewing Up a Version of Nike’s MJ “Jumpman” Logo and We Have Thoughts appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

As someone blissfully lost in the magic of minutiae at the cost of the big picture, here are a few highlights from the cache of covers that have been published or announced this month:

• Eliot Weinberger thrives in the experimental, defying expectation in various literary contortions and distortions. And thus his new book—“not a translation of individual poems, but a fictional autobiography of Tu Fu derived and adapted from the thoughts, images and allusions in the poetry”—was a delightfully straightforward fit with the stylings of Oliver Munday.
• For a novel that explores identity, Janet Hansen’s cover for Ask Me Again no doubt distills the essence of Clare Sestanovich’s prose. But tear it off the binding and it could work as an LP cover. Blow it up and it’s a poster. Throw it in a frame and hang it in an exhibition of your choice. With a few stark ingredients and an entrancing palette, Hansen’s alchemy is magnetic.
• And finally: When you look at Jamie Keenan’s cover for You Glow in the Dark, you will wonder: Did he really do it?! Well, in what had to be a mountain of utterly maddening work, yep, he really did.

The post 15 of the Best Book Covers of the Month appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

The west-coast-based brand strategy and interactive studio People People is committed to helping companies across the Northwest and beyond discover and tell their stories — and have been doing so for over 20 years.

The brief from Thorntail was clear: create a visual identity as light, energetic, and uplifting as the beverage itself. People People’s solution? An abstract illustration of a thorntail hummingbird, complemented by a script typeface and tones of teal influenced by the Blue Weber agave plant.

Thorntail defies categorization—it’s not quite a seltzer or tequila, but something entirely new. This presented both a challenge and an opportunity. Rather than following the usual tropes of the market, People People sought to break away from the norm and communicate the product’s uniqueness.

The packaging needed to feel fresh, vibrant, and invigorating, mirroring the attributes of the beverage. Inspired by the Blue Weber agave plant, the brand’s light and dark teal blues evoke a brightness that reflects Thorntail’s refreshing taste. Maintaining color consistency across all packaging was a strategic move to bolster brand recognition, a departure from the common practice of changing backgrounds per flavor.

Drawing inspiration from Thorntail’s namesake—the thorntail hummingbird—People People created an abstract illustration of the bird, symbolizing upward flight for an uplifting feel. A script typeface inspired by the hummingbird’s graceful movements adds a touch of elegance to the brand’s visual identity.

‘Hard Agave’ or ‘Fermented Hard Agave’ is prominently displayed alongside the logo and product name to intrigue consumers. With limited packaging space for detailed information, Thorntail’s website serves as a hub for in-depth education, featuring a playful infographic detailing the production journey of hard agave from farm to can.

People People’s creative approach ensures that Thorntail Hard Agave stands out on the shelves and resonates with consumers seeking a unique and refreshing experience. In a market saturated with choices, Thorntail’s brand identity soars above the rest as a beacon of originality.

The post From Hummingbirds to Hard Agave: Crafting Thorntail’s Refreshing Brand Identity appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

The Greatest Show on Earth?

When a brand’s value is tethered to its ability to reflect an entire culture in a highly digital landscape fragmented by personalized algorithms, where does that leave typography? 

All over the place. 

Culture writer Kian Bakhtiari mapped out a few societal pinpoints in 2023 for Forbes, citing, “the abundance of information creates a poverty of attention. Finite time makes attention the most valuable commodity in the world. Some of the world’s biggest companies like Google, Meta, and TikTok trade in attention, not products or services.”

In recent years, documentaries like Netflix’s The Social Dilemma echo this, tracing how tech monsters design their platforms to keep us engaged in this loop, selling our attention to advertisers. 

As we hitch our energy to social media, we ignore our addiction to it and other looming dangers like fossil fuels and artificial ignorance. Typographic feats in 2024 promise to soothe our vulnerability to the impacts of our dependencies. But will type prove to be more of a spectacle or antidote? 

While our existence on this planet is mired in fog, the line for the greatest show on earth is queuing up: type in the age of Artificial Intelligence. As Rudy Sanchez reported from last year’s Adobe MAX conference, “If there remained lingering doubts that we’ve entered the age of A.I.-assisted design, Adobe’s MAX conference erased them.”

Designers will turn to type escapism. Typography will be the balm in an increasingly irritated society.

Letterforms will be more acrobatic—performing stunts, magic acts, and high-flying feats. Step right up; we are ruinously unprepared for the circus of type.

BOLD STRIDES, BOLDER TYPE: Activism & Social Justice

Connecting to a new generation means brands have to engage in more meaningful ways than simply offering a product or service. More conceptual forms of relevancy that consider community, social issues, belonging, and hyper-relevant content are emerging. Type is one supple mechanism to this end. Another? Design criticism.

The design arm of the creative agency Mother brought activism and social justice together in one inflatable reality called The Bliss Sofa. It’s a floating Swiss-Army-inspired sofa that converts into a life raft, complete with a paddle and emergency lights. With cushions upholstered in the same orange fabric used to make life jackets and an optional ottoman that doubles as storage, the piece is a cheeky critique of climate change oblivion and will come in handy when the glaciers melt. Mother aims to sell the piece and donate some of the proceeds to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

The Bliss Sofa exploration is in direct conversation with Mother Design’s rebrand of Brooklyn Org, which strives to bring a new voice to modern philanthropy. 

According to Design Director Kozue Yamada, “As we explored, we looked at a lot of different condensed typefaces for the wordmark. We were inspired by aspects of PP Formula but ultimately wanted to create something much more condensed, adding rectangular counters and ink traps to reflect the nuances of Brooklyn blocks and streets.”

With the inspiration supplied by Brooklyn’s dense city blocks, the team selected Community Gothic as the voice of the Organization. For Yamada, “We wanted to use a typeface which was born in America, specifically in Brooklyn. Community Gothic was made by Frere-Jones Type, who are based in Brooklyn – a few blocks away from us!”

Yamada also studied other typefaces in the social activism space for inspiration, like Vocal Type’s Martin, citing, “Brooklyn Org has a bold vision and big goals, so the wordmark needed to reflect that. We wanted the logo to feel big, substantial – like a place where people can come together. We wanted to distance them from the tropes of philanthropy branding and create something vibrant and new.”

Typefaces tied to social activism are emphatic, human, and designed for rally cries and anthems. It’s a tradition established by Angel Bracho’s Victory of 1945, printed in celebration of the Allied victory in World War II, and Emory Douglas’ graphic work for the Black Panthers as seen in his Free Huey posters. Today, this legacy of social activism continues in the culture and education sectors, with typography choices even more reflective of local culture.

Examples: Community Gothic by Frere-Jones Type (left), Alt Riviera by ALT.TF (top right); T1 Korium by T1 Foundry (middle); Resist Mono by Groteskly Yours Studio (bottom right).

A SPIN AROUND THE OLD BLOCK:
Neo Displays

Neo Displays are proliferating, particularly when modernizing long-standing institutions with precious heritages.

The image to the left was created in Midjourney with the prompt, “A spin around the old block Neo displays.”

Marked by a new spin on typography that pays homage to the neon lights and signs of yesterday’s entertainment districts, Neo Displays perform an intense balancing act between legacy and future impact.

Led by Senior Creative Director Jane Boynton and Associate Creative Director Melissa Chavez, the recently renewed identity for New York Botanical Gardens (NYBG) by Wolff Olins is evidence of this consideration, with a custom wordmark that is a confident, bold, and impactful embodiment of the organization’s call to action. “The idea behind the wordmark and typeface came from our desire to pay homage typographically to the city of New York, given NYBG has firmly been rooted in the Bronx for 132 years,” they explain, continuing, “New York City is like a candy store for typography, so it’s hard to know where to begin. The International Typeface Corporation (ITC) came up often in our research phase, which is no surprise given its prominence in the city. As did typographers and designers like Tony DiSpigna, Ed Benguiat, Tom Carnase, and, of course, Herb Lubalin. We knew that we wanted the logo to celebrate our sense of place in New York City and the Bronx, as well as crafting forms that alluded to nature. We also decided on a bolder weight for the forms that speak both to the confidence and directness of being a New Yorker and as a reference to nature because when nature is at its best and thriving, it is lush, rich, and full of form.”

The team drew upon NYBG’s existing equity of advocacy, which is as rich as the gardens whose pathways provided the direct forms of the supporting graphic language. The new identity amplifies the institution’s heritage with a new unifying confidence. Boynton, Chavez, and their team were deeply engaged with the gardens, noting, “This immersion was essential to the work, as it underscored that NYBG is not just a beautiful garden, but also a scientific laboratory, a policy-influencing research institution, and a community anchor. A new look for NYBG couldn’t just be beautiful or organic. It also had to convey the weight of the institution, the rigor and precision of its scientific pursuits, and the accessibility of its various community outreach programs. This confluence of ideas is most clearly reflected in the forms of the wordmark.”

To complete the wholly unmistakable logo, set in black, the team built a colorful world around it, expounding, “Supporting typefaces GT Super and Martian Mono provide both an elegance and scientific precision that allow for flexibility in communications. The color palette itself is inspired by the breadth of plants, trees, fungi, algae and even the Bronx River that runs through the Garden, and the map graphics reinterpret an essential piece of the Garden in a new and unexpected way, emphasizing the entirety of its 250 acres.” Ultimately, this invites the magnitude of the NYBG’s many purposes under one inviting banner that is warm, direct, and with a hint of attitude.  

Similarly, Pentagram created a new identity for the Shakespeare Theater Company that expresses the ongoing relevance of Shakespeare while enhancing the contemporary spin that the theater brings to the Bard’s timeless stories. For instance, it frequently presents Shakespeare’s classic texts with a fresh angle, highlighting topics such as diversity, inclusivity, and tolerance while reflecting on universal themes including love, power, greed, life, and death.

Pentagram partner Marina Willer proposed a creative expression centered around the “interplay between a broad range of dimensions,” including classic and contemporary, artist and audience, stage and digital, entertaining and learning, intimate and collective, real and unreal – as a way of “reimagining stories from the past for audiences of the future.”

Examples: Cairo’s Film My Design by Maram Al Refaei (left); VT Fly by Jose Manuel Vega (top right); Team GB Paris 2024 by Thisaway and typographer Lewis McGuffie (middle and bottom right).

ARTIFICIAL HYPE:
A.I. Generated Type

Humankind is prompting Large Language Models (LLMs) and A.I. image generators to produce texts, images, and videos. Designers are also harnessing A.I., creating a space for the technology in established processes.

The image to the left was created in Adobe Firefly.

A.I. gives designers the ability to output letterforms quickly, while generating new imagined futures. Yet the natural eye does not easily distinguish between A.I.-generated media and truth. Enter the slippery slope, as generated images have immense value when they are so close to reality.

Challenging this interplay of type, form, and culture is Vernacular, an independent publisher run by Italian-Colombian graphic and type designer Andrea A. Trabucco Campos and Uruguayan graphic designer Martin Azambuja. In the sold-out first run of Artificial Typography, the established designers explore A-Z letterforms imagined by A.I. through the lens of 52 artists throughout art history.

In an interview by Steven Heller, the pair states, “There was a major breakthrough in 2015 with automated image captioning. As the name suggests, this study allows describing the content of an image in words. After that, it was natural to play the other way around and see what image would appear depending on the word selection.”

Prompting A.I. with ‘Letter R in The Equatorial Jungle, a painting by Henri Rousseau,’ emits a dazzling array of jungle fantasy Rs, with all the post-impressionist trimmings of the artist’s hand. Or ‘Letter B by Louise Bourgeois, crochet’ produces a row of bulbous, handknit Bs.

In the early stages of A.I., designers are primarily exploring text-to-image models, shifting their role slightly from creator to curator. 

&Walsh enlisted the A.I. platform DALL-E in their recent rebrand of Isodope, a nonprofit striving to teach the benefits of nuclear energy as a clean, sustainable energy source in a climate-crisis world. Since Isodope’s classroom is virtual across Gen Z platforms like TikTok, &Walsh strategically met technology with technology. Using DALL-E enabled the design team to create visual potentials, and the outcomes also led to new possible directions. Ultimately, the collaboration arrived in a new dimension, literally. The bold, forward motion of the wordmark and glitchy glow of the supporting icons paired with a dimensional grid bring an imagined future of galactic learning.

Jessica Walsh told It’s Nice That, “There will always be a place for designers and traditional craft to help shape the A.I. outputs and push it to realms even further than we could have imagined. However, there will be the option of spending less time on tedious tasks and more time on pushing the creative, the concept or the product.”

The big question is, will General Artificial Intelligence (GIA) ever allow machines to understand and contribute to the world without us? A.I. remains largely exploratory for now, but once it begins to create more compelling stories without any prompt, stay vigilant. Designers must stay ahead of automated intelligence and decide how to integrate it with their work.

A sampling of A.I. Tools:

• DALL-E is a text-to-image prompt that generates images.
• Alfont is an A.I. powered type generator.
• Runway has a suite of imaging and motion tools.
• Cavalry brings procedural and node-based design into 2D (previously only possible in expensive 3D software).
• Adobe Firefly offers a host of generative tools for designers across the Creative Cloud (and many more on the horizon).
• Monotype has launched a new A.I. font-pairing tool.

CONTORTIONISM:
Letterform Abstraction

The movement of illegible display typography has been ramping up for a few years. It will continue to do so with new technologies, though its origins predate humans altogether. In 2017 and 2018, archaeologists uncovered evidence in South African caves of Homo naledi, an early human ancestor (which lived about 335,000 to 236,000 years ago), who intentionally buried their dead holding writing tools and made crosshatch engravings  in cave walls that predate earliest known pictorial rock engravings. 

Hieroglyphics (c. 3200 BC–AD 400) advanced this ancient practice into a formal language that combined logographic, syllabic, and alphabetic elements, with more than 100 distinct characters. 

Graffiti dawned in the 1970s with abstract letterforms, combining anonymity with original expression—the latter eventually canceling out the primary as viewers became more familiar with a particular writer’s style. Brands today are gunning for this more proprietary and signature approach to letterforms.

Wolff Olins used abstraction and motion to create a post-pandemic identity for Seoul’s Leeum Museum of Art, with convergence at its heart. The logo, designed to move, reads as an entity rather than a word, partly because it’s reminiscent of the building’s architecture. But look closer, and the forms begin to emerge: L-E-E-U-M. The interaction it inspires across several museum touchpoints is like what’s happening around graffiti in your neighborhood, inviting a closer look.  

Graffiti is hyper-abstraction at its best, giving abandoned and forgotten spaces a sense of ownership. Designers will continue to mine graffiti not only for its wild forms but also for its originality and distinct letterforms. The more our eyes learn to read abstract type, the more we will see this approach realized in logos, campaigns, and branded content.

Past Examples: (Top series) Lance Wyman, symbol for the Metro of Mexico City, as seen in Graphis Annual 69|70, edited by Walter Herdeg, The Graphis Press, Zurich, 1969; (Bottom series) Subscription to Mischief: Graffiti Zines of the 1990s exhibition at Letterform Archive, featuring: Greg Lamarche/Sp.One (@gregbfb), original lettering for the answer key in Skills issue 4, 1993; John Langdon (@6ambigram9), original art for the Philadelphia T-Shirt Museum, 1988; Handstyle master Leonard “Jade” Liu.

Present Examples: (top) Channel 4 (bespoke/in-house type); (bottom two images) Nike Pixo by Fernando Curcio drew inspiration from “pichação” and graffiti, which have long been integral to the urban landscapes of major cities and Nike’s visual world.

SIDESHOW SENSATIONS:
Type Oddities & Flamboyance

3D & Inflatable Lettering

Inflatables in design have become popularized through many moments in history. Felix the Cat appeared as a giant float in the first Macy’s Day Parade in 1924. Andy Warhol’s 1966 Silver Clouds floated in and around his factory.

Seventies conceptual art couldn’t get enough—from Antfarm’s “Clean Air Pod” to Yutaka Murata, Pavillon du groupe Fuji, Osaka (below). And topping the list are the notebook-perfected bubble letters of the 1980s. 

There’s an inherent escapism in inflatable/3D lettering because it transports us to our happy place. It’s youthful, absurd, and playful. It’s soft, comforting, and cartoonish. It’s a style perfected by type design legend Ed Benguait. Responsible for some 600 typefaces, including his namesake Benguiat, he created classics like Bookman and Souvenir, not to mention his heavy-hitting iconic logos for Esquire, The New York Times, and more recently, Stranger Things. And if this last one seems hauntingly familiar, that’s because acclaimed horror author Stephen King used Benguiat’s self-titled font for many of his novel covers. 

We have a lot going on in our world, and fonts with volume and mass meet the moment with a play on absurdity and innocence. Expect this style to pop up in music venue posters, streetwear, and edgier campaigns.

Past Examples: “WNBC-TV News 4 New York Designs for Promotion” mechanical, Ed Benguiat; Benguiat Bravado Black 10, Photo-Lettering’s 1967 Alphabet Yearbook, New York, 1967; “Fat Stuff” in hand-lettered Benguiat Charisma.

Present Examples: Wonka (not pictured); Nordstrom Rack (not pictured); Good Girl (top left);⁠ Nike Campaign (Flip the Game) (top right); Alright Studio: Luaka Bop Website (middle); WIM, HK (bottom left); RTS Cambridge Convention by Kiln (bottom right).

Polished Glitch

This nod to bringing textural noise to letterforms gets a modification with contemporary tools that bring a luster to grungy 90s graphics, as seen in the work of David Carson and the legendary Art Chantry’s work in the 80-90s Seattle music scene. Chantry famously quipped, “Grunge isn’t even a style: it’s a marketing term coined by Sub Pop’s Bruce Pavitt to sell punk music.”

We can trace Chantry’s exuberant work and what Chermayeff & Geismar and Robert Brownjohn did for the 1962 album cover Vibrations to 2023’s Spotify Wrapped graphics and a plethora of other glitchy cues surfacing in font design. 

Examples: Territory by REY (Reinaldo Camejo) (top left and top right); Disrupt by REY (Reinaldo Camejo), guided by Martin Lorenz (middle right); Domino Mono by Sun Young Oh (bottom left); Powerplay poster by Jude Gardner-Rolfe (bottom right).

Type Rebirths

No other font family has endured through the ages quite like Gothic lettering. The neo–Gothic alphabet emerged from the Fraktur typeface, which was prevalent in Germany until the beginning of the twentieth century. Combining stable forms with unexpected hand flourishes, this ancient style continues to find relevance today. It’s remarkable to watch this old-world classic find a multitude of contemporary iterations, giving a personal touch and gravitas to digital fonts. We are seeing new forms of ornamentation rendered not by hand but by machine, making way for newer ultra-gothic fonts in editorial typography and logo design lettering.

You can see this evolution in a continuation of The Vienna Succesion’s creative glory, on display in Letterform Archive’s latest book, which reproduces all 14 issues of arguably the first modern graphic design magazine. More than a rich sourcebook of early 20th-century graphic trends, Die Fläche (“The Surface” in English) shows the lasting impact of this movement, proving that riotous color and flamboyant forms can—with a new twist—work beyond posters, endpapers, bookmarks, and playing cards. 

In both cases, heritage typefaces reappear through the filter of type treatments that celebrate flatness, expressive geometry, and stylized lettering.

Examples: Fayte by That That Creative (top left); Grundtvig Typeface by REY (Reinaldo Camejo), guided by Leon Romero (specimen and inspiration on right); Rumble Kill by Invasi Studio (bottom).

Type’s expansion in the year ahead will be spectacular, with creative letterers embracing the elasticity of our current societal drivers: gender, demographics, and spirituality. With each of us in our bubbles of adaptive algorithms and varying social concerns, type must perform its greatest act yet: appeal to disparate individuals under one strategic banner.

Type is no longer about simple communication. Now, letterforms are chasing new soul-stirring ends that calm, enchant, thrill, humor, and mesmerize us.

A brand’s longevity requires future-proofing through inclusivity and storytelling, and type must encapsulate similar fluidity. Because we are increasingly a multidimensional and complex society, our letterforms are evolving into malleable crystalline forms through A.I. and other technologies that allow letters to quickly hop in and out of prompted scenarios. While Herman Miller is back in its Helvetica Era, other brands and institutions are embracing the new era.

Typography must be increasingly pliable, proprietary, astonishing, and marvelous. We’re all gathered under its big tent, seeking a bliss point that electrifies us. With a fuse lit by A.I., type is skyrocketing out of a cannon into the unknown, obliged to be distinct yet encompassing in one magnificent stroke.

The post The 2024 Typography Report: A Circus of Type appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

While the games and drama therein were, of course, the most important aspects of AFCON and the Asian Cup, the various kits sported by the countries participating in each were a close second. Seeing what sorts of kits each national team rolls out for these major tournaments is always a delight, with some in the past even transcending sportswear and making a splash in the greater fashion landscape.

So what of the kits that debuted in AFCON and the Asian Cup this year? I’ve rounded up a few of my favorites below.

AFCON

Mali Away

As a proud maximalist, I’m predisposed to gravitate toward flamboyant and bold kit designs that don’t play it safe. The Mali Away jersey is, without a doubt, the splashiest of the AFCON bunch, and I’m not mad at it one bit!

Nigeria Home

The Nigerian Super Eagles have done it again with yet another stellar kit. Never shy of graphic patterns and textures, the Nigerian Home kit sticks to that trend and then some.

Tanzania Home

I enjoy the retro, classic flair to the Tanzania Home jersey, featuring a bulky yellow collar that reminds me of my first-ever soccer jersey as a kid in the ’90s. The subtle pattern in the blue fabric modernizes the otherwise vintage feel.

Algeria Home

The Algeria Home kit is simple yet striking, with three jagged teal stripes down the side. The asymmetrical stripes elicit movement and speed, but it doesn’t feel like the design is trying too hard, either.

Ivory Coast Home

I’m a sucker for Creamsicle orange, so I can’t help but put the Ivory Coast Home kit on my list. Puma is rightfully letting the color do the heavy lifting here, accenting it simply with crisp white trim and numbers.

Guinea-Bissau Home, Away, Third, and Fourth Kits

The entire kit line-up for Guinea-Bissau deserves some love! The designs act as a cohesive collection, though each is distinctly different. The geometric patterns on each at once allude to woven tapestry aesthetics and early-generation computer graphics.

AFC Asian Cup

China Away

The electric teal of China’s Away kit might be too reminiscent of toothpaste for some, but I’m here for it. Subtle polka-dots speckle the jersey, and the red-orange of the accents is an unexpected color pairing that pays off.

Jordan Away

It’s all about the sleeves for me when it comes to Jordan’s Away jersey. The rest is pretty pedestrian, but I like making a bold choice with one section of an otherwise traditional red kit.

Australia Home

Classic yet vibrant, Australia’s Home kit makes my list for the subtle dual-toned yellow pattern in the jersey and the always-charming kangaroo and emu coat of arms.

India Home

I’m a fan of this soothing blue hue of India’s Home kit, embellished with a subtle animal-print-like pattern for some visual intrigue. The red stitching is also a nice detail, which pops nicely in contrast to the blue.

South Korea Away

The South Korea Away kit is one of the most polarizing kits of both tournaments, but I support any jersey that starts a conversation. The abstract markings and color palette remind me of the carpeting at old movie theaters, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing! In a world where derivative and cookie-cutter designs are all too common, it’s refreshing to see a kit that takes a big swing. Making contact with the ball is beside the point.

The post The Best Kits from the African Cup of Nations and Asian Cup appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

In 2023, Monotype predicted maximalism, comic book-inspired styles, and textured 3D letterforms, to name a few. But what should we expect in 2024? Curated by Monotype Type Designers Jordan Bell and Damien Collot, this year’s report identifies ten trends in type and brand design set to shape the broader cultural zeitgeist. “In this, our fourth Annual Type Trends Report, we found a movement away from the trend of cuddly, squishy, empathetic fonts that many brands and creatives embraced after the alienation and stress of the pandemic,” said Bell. “This year, in a time that can feel nostalgic for the digital simplicity of the pre-smartphone, pre-AI world, we see designers returning to the heritage and comfort of more traditional serif fonts, and also finding new creative inspiration in ’90s and early ’00s scenes like grunge, jungle, and early rave culture.”

As part of the report, the Monotype team reimagined each of the ten trends as worn vinyl LP covers, thus connecting each type of trend to a specific musical genre. Each vinyl cover was created through Midjourney AI to underscore the tension between our current nostalgia for the old analog world at odds with simultaneous immersion in a new AI-infused digital age.

Against a backdrop of break-neck speed innovation and social change, we found seemingly opposing concepts being combined by designers and influenced by both future possibilities and nostalgia for the past, perhaps heralding a new, more contradictory era of creativity.

Damien Collot

A sneak peek breakdown of the report is below. 

1. EVERYTHINGALLOFTHETIME

As the name of this trend suggests, EVERYTHINGALLOFTHETIME (a reference to comedian Bo Burnham’s song, ‘Welcome to the Internet’) is all about more is more. “EVERYTHINGALLOFTHETIME challenges designers to use all the colors, textures, and typefaces they could reasonably fit in a design,” states the report. Monotype points to cannabis company Ben’s Best BLnz as an example of this trend in action, whose branding uses multiple typefaces from Vocal Type’s Tré Seals with vibrant artworks by black artists Dana Robinson and Pentagram’s Eddie Opara.

2. Whatever

The Whatever trend is born from ’90s nostalgia, encompassing “a spectrum of styles from nihilistic grunge to colorful pixel play,” says the report. “Picture digital gradients, big, bold type, and drop shadows.” Influenced by Gen Z and Millennials coming of age in the twenty-twenties, Whatever acknowledges the resurgence of ‘90s aesthetics permeating industries ranging from fashion to music to design.

3. SYSTM

In contrast to EVERYTHINGALLOFTHETIME, the SYSTM trend is a return to structure, control, and precision. It embodies the concept of Slow Design peddled by Martijn van der Does (the Executive Creative Director of Amsterdam studio, WONDERLAND), which is all about a reconsideration and even a return to traditional principles. “Despite having an engineered feel or approach to designing letters, SYSTM projects feel analog and human-made,” writes Monotype. “Softer forms and thoughtful grid-breaking construction of letterforms enhance the human factor.”

4. De-form

The aptly named De-Form style invites designers to use methods of typographic distortion that have previously been frowned upon. “Maybe we need to break age-old rules to express a deep state of uprising after what we have collectively seen and experienced this year,” writes Monotype.

The rebellion will be typeset!

2024 Monotype Trends Report

5. Flux

Flux goes hand-in-hand with the De-Form trend. It looks fast and dynamic and harkens to movement, whether animated or static forms inspired by motion. Flux often employs AI to create dynamic or interactive movements.

6. Quirk

Quirk pinpoints that sweet spot in branding and visuals where something stands out but still feels comforting and accessible. A slight flourish or a subtle something extra to capture one’s attention is central to Quirk. “This trend is all about finding a balance between comfort and a little bit of chaotic energy,” reads the report, “where subtle quirks wink at you from behind the familiar forms of solid, stable sans serifs.”

7. Counter Attack

Serving as the inverse to Quirk, Counter Attack is all about packing a punch through what isn’t there. The negative space here demands to be seen and celebrated.

The type in this trend is full of charisma and dynamic energy all formed around the hollow shapes at the heart of each letter.

2024 Monotype Trends Report

8. PROFESHINAL

PROFESHINAL harnesses the ability to appear effortless yet carefully considered. Off-handed and quirky, yet balanced with a professional sophistication. “If the world of graphic design strives to produce perfect creations,” explains Monotype, “this trend offers a counterbalance by celebrating perfectly imperfect designs that are proudly and unapologetically authentic.”

9. 100% Natural

100% Natural is a two-fold trend. It nods to brands looking to imbue their look and feel with an element of nature while looking to the quality of the organic and handmade. “This trend sheds light on how our environment inspires us to create and how textures and techniques can convey raw, honest, and playful emotion,” reads the report.

10. Return of the Serif

Look who’s back! After a dominant phase of the streamlined cleanliness of sans-serif styles, serifs appear to be back with a vengeance. Chalk it up to nostalgia or the comfort of tradition, as more and more brands are looking to the delicacy and classic look of serif typefaces to elicit warmth and stand out in a field of minimalistic sans.

The Monotype team curated playlists on Spotify to accompany the report for an added experiential dimension. Sink your teeth into the full Monotype Trends Report for 2024 here!

The post The Monotype 2024 Type Trends Report Has Dropped! appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

In addition to Landekic’s praise, the director of Saltburn, Emerald Fennell, shared an inside scoop about the title card via Twitter/X in conjunction with the film’s release.

Hand drawn? Gilded? Stop motion? This title card pushed all my buttons— and I had to learn more! So, I reached out to the graphic designer and illustrator behind the title card, Katie Buckley, to hear more about the meticulous process that Fennell alluded to in her post. Buckley generously responded to my questions below, illuminating the journey she and her assistant, India Paparestis-Stacey, took to bring the Saltburn title card to life.

(Interview edited for length and clarity.)

Can you describe what process(es) you used to create the beautiful effect of the opening title card? I know illustration, gilding, and stop motion were all involved.

The process for the animation was hand drawn, hand painted, then gilded. I did, however, send Emerald some pencil stop animation of each thorn growth to check she was happy with the feel of it. 

There were over 300 cells for the piece of animation. We needed to check that the gold leaf read as gold because gold is notoriously not great unless it’s real. A lot of time goes into digitally creating the gold sparkle; without that, gold can look very “grey.”

Is this process something you’ve done before, or did you develop it, especially for this project?

Saltburn was my first title card and animation project. I was lucky that Emerald believed in my style enough to let me into the world of the title. So, yes, this was specially developed for this project; I relied on my instinct rather than knowledge.

Emerald asked me to do the Saltburn titles because, I quote, ‘I’d like it to feel like the crazy lady in the attic, scratching at the rafters.’ How could I resist that brief?

Katie Buckley

How did the concept for this title card develop? Did you work closely with Emerald to land on the idea, or was it something you conceived and pitched to her?

Emerald asked me to do the Saltburn titles because, I quote, “I’d like it to feel like the crazy lady in the attic, scratching at the rafters.” How could I resist that brief?

To start with, Emerald had said she didn’t want any animation— just 25 title cards, hand drawn and painted. She had mentioned that she liked the Hammer House of Horror (1980) “feel” to the lettering. 

Emerald had said she would like “Saltburn” to be in a banner; here are the first sketches that we talked about regarding what she wanted:

After seeing the banners, Emerald thought she would like the Saltburn titles animated and asked if I was prepared to do it. I said yes, but I was honest. I hadn’t done animation before, so I would always keep her up to date in case she wanted to go to someone with more experience. I was so lucky that Emerald had complete faith in me because there were moments when I had to take a few huge gulps! (So did she, I’m sure!) There were doubting voices, but I kept saying that none of us knew exactly what Emerald wanted, so let’s buckle up for the ride.

At first, I played with creating a font that Emerald liked. We went through a few different samples of fonts below. The third one is the font that Emerald decided on as soon as she saw it.

[Spoiler alert below]

The whole concept developed quite organically. Emerald had said she wanted the lush green foliage to turn into thorns and be black and threatening. It felt right that the blood red seeped into the black and that the gold was the final creeping vein as the want of riches killed off the whole cast. One of the mood boards had the saying, “Everyone wants to eat the rich because they are so delicious.”

While creating something so time-consuming and meticulous, do you find yourself getting impatient and going a bit mad, or do you relish the lengthy process and enjoy it? and enjoy it?

I felt the pressure of being hunched over tracing, drawing, painting, and gilding for sometimes 15-hour days with very little time. I never felt impatient, but I definitely thought I was going mad. I sent Emerald a photo of my studio one day just to show her that I was the crazy lady in the attic; it was completely covered in gold leaf (it does go everywhere; I still find bits of gold leaf in my garden today), paint, and screwed-up bits of trace and paper.

I can honestly say I have never been so invested in a project.

Katie Buckley

How did it feel once you finally finished the title card? What was it like seeing it in use in the movie?

I can honestly say I have never been so invested in a project. I am so proud of the work my assistant, India, and I did on this. It was thrilling to see the final film and to be part of the coolest film … ever! And to top it all, it’s probably the only film I’ve ever worked on that both my 17-year-old daughter and 82-year-old mother completely loved.

The post Going Mad in the Attic: The Process Behind the ‘Saltburn’ Title Sequence appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Lola Landekic is the editor-in-chief of the wonderful website and critical resource Art of the Title, an online publication dedicated to title sequence design in film, TV, and beyond. I had the joy of interviewing Landekic last year about Art of the Title and title design at large. Now, the always generous Landekic shares her favorite opening titles across TV and film from 2023.

Dead Ringers (TV series)

“[Dead Ringers] features a main title reveal—rather than a full sequence—that appears at the opening of each episode, but it’s done with flair. The typography itself is a beautiful choice: the blood-red typeface with wide open curves and sharp serifs. The title appears differently in each episode, giving a sense of the unexpected, melding with the footage in an often fascinating way. I really appreciated this simple yet effective approach. It’s designed by Randy Balsmeyer of Big Film Design, previously of Balsmeyer & Everett, Inc., who actually designed the titles for the original Dead Ringers film 35 years ago.”

The Killer (film)

“David Fincher loves a title sequence, and this one was clearly part of the vision from day one. The sharp, slick slideshow of weapons being prepared and deadly actions taken fits in neatly with Fincher’s standard aesthetic and sets up the world of the titular killer.”

Poor Things (film)

“I loved the opening and closing titles for Poor Things—and the chapter headings throughout the film—done in a hand-lettering that immediately seemed to me a beautiful ode to Pablo Ferro’s long-limbed inky style from films like Men in Black, The Addams Family, and Stop Making Sense. The design is by Vasilis Marmatakis, who also created the fantastic posters for the film.”

May December (film)

“May December features elegant, gentle opening titles with typography that’s large yet light, a hollow all-caps sans serif in a pale color overlaid with footage. I was delighted to see it was designed by Todd Haynes’ regular titles collaborator, the activist, artist, and designer Marlene McCarty, who was also joined by designer Teddy Blanks.”

Infinity Pool (film)

“I’m obviously a fan of the Cronenberg clan, so I had to check out his son Brandon’s third feature film, Infinity Pool, which has a vibrant, colorful opener of various incarnations of typefaces and styles. The title logo is fun because it has a sense of symmetry and reflection, which echoes the film’s themes of death, rebirth, and the eternal return. It was designed by Aleksander Walijewski with music by Tim Hecker.”

Leave the World Behind (film)

“I enjoyed this title sequence because it was so unexpected and because it’s an obvious nod to titles of the past, specifically those designed by Saul Bass for Alfred Hitchcock: the simplicity of Psycho, the spiral abstraction of Vertigo. The imagery in Leave the World Behind‘s titles hints at what’s to come—the scale of the dreadful events, the gravity of the impending situation—but doesn’t give too much away. The film’s narrative arc reminded me very much of Hitchcock’s The Birds—what initially seems to be a harmless getaway for the well-to-do turns into a mysterious, apocalyptic nightmare—so the stylistic nod and connection feels apt. Antenna Creative designed the sequence with music by Mac Quayle.”

Saltburn (film)

“I can’t forget Saltburn’s terrific opening titles! A stunning crimson red blackletter typeface with gold embellishments shimmies and shakes, almost mimicking an optical effect, over footage of main character Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) and the opening scene. It’s a grand spot of style— modern meets old money, designed by Katie Buckley with assistance from India Paparestis-Stacey.”

What sort of trends in the opening titles space were prevalent in 2023? 

Landekic: Recent title sequences increasingly embrace the history of the art form. We see this in the nod to Pablo Ferro’s work in the titles to Poor Things, the use of the original Dead Ringers film title designer Randy Balsmeyer for the new series, the collaboration between veteran designer Marlene McCarty and relative newcomer (he’s worked in the field for ten years, so truly not that new) Teddy Blanks for May December. I want to think that’s because the history of title design has come out of the shadows and become more accessible to designers, filmmakers, and fans thanks to sites like Art of the Title and the attention that the art form has gotten over the last decade.

The post Lola Landekic’s Favorite Opening Title Sequences of 2023 appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

Supporting my local coffee shop or brewery by purchasing a hat or t-shirt helps my favorite small businesses get the word out and gives them much-needed revenue. With creative studios getting into the merch game, acquiring exclusive and carefully crafted merchandise has become even more rewarding (especially as a designer). Studios often pour their heart and soul into every aspect of their designs, creating limited-edition merchandise.

Regarding singular design, few can match the creativity and flair often found in studio merch. Whether they specialize in design, branding, or other creative endeavors, agencies and studios often produce merchandise that reflects their artistic vision outside their client’s creative briefs. Studio merch is aesthetically pleasing and holds a level of individuality that sets it apart.

It’s time to round out the best we’ve seen this year and give you some ideas on last-minute holiday gifts for your designer friend or yourself.

HEY STUDIO

CENTER

CO.POLICY

HIGH TIDE

GANDER

DAZZLE SUPPLY

FISK

OMSE.CO

ssstudio

SUPER OKAY

The post Ten Design Studios Creating Unique Merch appeared first on PRINT Magazine.

The New York City-based product designer helms Nikolas Bentel Studio. Bentel is one noteworthy figure within a cohort of thought-provoking young designers keen on subverting mundanity and thumbing their noses at the status quo. Yuliya Veligurskaya of Studiocult is another (she and Bentel are friends), along with clever up-cycler Nicole Mclaughlin of Carhartt bikini fame. Having previously covered Bentel’s viral Pasta Handbag, I was eager to learn more about his uniquely quirky perspective as a designer. Our recent conversation is below.

(This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.)

What organizing principles are at the core of your design process?

Quite a few different things at play create these goofy ideas— and there is a commentary within the mass group of these random-ass objects that come together. One is thinking about the objects that we currently have around us. As an individual, as one person who is not a corporation, as someone who has very little ability to change the status quo just because you’re a single human being, what are the ways and what are the tools and facilities that you can use to rethink these mundane, everyday objects? Whether the corporate emblem of a North Face jacket or a large company like Barilla, it’s about rethinking these mundane objects. 

The other thing is thinking about how you even make something. Like how do you get to making a physical object? What’s even possible?

What’s the origin of that mindset? Have you always viewed the world in this subversive way where you question the things around you that others view as inherent? 

I grew up in New York and went to Waldorf School, which was very tactile and hands-on. I attended a Montessori school before that, so thinking about the world through objects was a big part of my upbringing. My parents are architects, so that plays quite a bit into the stuff I do, too.

I have a twin sister who is a food designer who makes a lot of things with her hands. Then there’s my brother, who’s the creative director at MSCHF, and he does crazy things as well. We’re all thinking about the world in a physical sense. Storytellers tell stories through words, a poet tells stories through a poem, and my way of storytelling is through objects. 

Perhaps there are new ways of thinking about these objects that surround us, and in thinking about them, can we redesign our day-to-day lives to be a little bit more original? A little bit more forgiving? A little bit more functional or non-functional?

Nik Bentel

Growing up, you have all of these things around you, and I think the main crux of all this work is questioning and thinking critically about those things. Like, Why does a crayon actually look like a crayon? Is it the techniques used to manufacture it? Is it how they’re supposed to sit in the box? Perhaps there are new ways of thinking about these objects that surround us, and in thinking about them, can we redesign our day-to-day lives to be a little bit more original? A little bit more forgiving? A little bit more functional or non-functional? The doodle crayons we designed changed how a crayon functions, and hopefully, that will change the user’s hand into drawing something totally original and unique. That’s sprinkled through every single project.

Is there a particular project that especially exemplifies your perspective as a designer? 

I appreciate many of them, but some of the drawing tools I’ve done with Areaware—a product company that I license designs to, like the doodle crayons and the chalk toys—are emblematic of what I’m attempting to do, which is rethinking an object in a beautiful way and changing our worldview. So, even though the crayons are just about drawing, I’m rethinking how drawing tools can be used. By changing the shape of a drawing tool from a crayon stick to something else, you can create unique drawings that no one’s ever made before. If you hand a doodle crayon to a little kid who doesn’t have any preconceptions of the world, they’ll think about drawing in a totally different way than a kid who’s handed crayon sticks that are straight and force them to draw straight lines. I think those little moments are very powerful, and hopefully, these moments are duplicated throughout the other projects.

The loopy chair is also beautiful because it’s thinking about manufacturing and how to make something and then rethinking an everyday object into something usable and unique. It looks rendered; it’s so weird.

What’s your ideation process typically like? Where do your ideas come from? 

It’s a little chaotic, but it’s good chaos. The ideating process happens six to ten months before any project launches, and I have a team of four here, so it’s a group endeavor. I do most of it, but we have a collective group effort of using what we call the “project gauntlet.” We pile as many ideas as possible into this project gauntlet, and each must pass through it to make it worth our while. We ask: Can we make it? Is this even possible? Is it culturally relevant? Does this resonate with a larger audience? Is it feasible? Can we do this in the span of six months? And if not, is it something that we do differently? There’s a list of things that we go through to make sure it’s a project that fits our standards.

You release nearly one project per month. Do you find the pressure of meeting this quota to be stressful? Motivating? Exciting? All of the above?  

In the current climate of storytelling, specifically how vapid stuff is on social media, it’s important to tell many stories at once. Also, it’s about the collective group of objects; looking at one object is fun, but looking at the larger group of objects is very important. So we need to produce this number of objects.

Since the studio is very young, we need to be very aggressive about telling everyone, this is what we do, this is what we do, over and over again in a variety of ways. I honestly hope we slow down, but for now, it’s really fun to have an idea, try to make it work, and then move on to the next thing. 

I went to architecture school and graduated two years ago, but architects tell their stories very slowly. If you design a building, it takes 10 to 15 years to build, if that even happens. That timeline is long for me, and I don’t vibe with that. I love this timeframe; I can put pen to paper very quickly.

I wouldn’t be doing this if we weren’t having a good time.

Nik Bentel

ou’ve harnessed the power of social media, creating unique promotional materials to heighten your work. From what I can tell, you and your team are having fun doing those photoshoots. What’s that side of running your business been like for you? 

That’s the thing: I wouldn’t be doing this if we weren’t having a good time. I’d be at an architecture firm somewhere. It’s really fun to put all the pieces together. It’s also extremely fun to talk with the people buying things. It’s the sweetest feeling when someone’s willing to part ways with their hard-earned money to get something you made that you were like, Oh, I hope people resonate with this … and then they do! That’s the nicest feeling ever. It’s like, Wow, all this hard work that I put in, people appreciate and understand it.

The post Nik Bentel Flips the Status Quo with His Thought-Provoking Designs appeared first on PRINT Magazine.