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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/sep/07/london-design-biennale-review-utopia  
Sci-fi socialism and Soviet snowmobiles: the best of the London Design Biennale  

Its presentation may seem hurried and chaotic, but the inaugural edition of this design gala brings eye-opening visions of utopia from all corners of the globe

A battered orange pickup truck stands on the stately stone terrace of London's Somerset House, parked askew like a getaway car hastily abandoned. Behind it stretches a shanty village of shawarma-sellers and juice-squeezers, backgammon players and shisha smokers, along with a barber sharpening his cutthroat razor with alarming enthusiasm.

Related: Bohemians, Bauhaus and bionauts: the utopian dreams that became architectural nightmares

Related: Sweet artist: the Willy Wonka of lost Syria

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https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/sep/07/melbourne-australia-first-skyscraper-ici-orica-house  
Melbourne's bold leap upwards: the inside story of Australia's first skyscraper  

ICI (now Orica) House helped Melbourne throw off its Victorian dowdiness and become a modern city. Gideon Haigh tells the forgotten story of its creation

In a land boasting more skyscrapers per capita than any other country, Australians today would be pardoned for missing their first, a quarter the height of what's now the tallest. Yet no building has exerted such influence on Australian cityscapes as Orica House on Melbourne's Eastern Hill its everyday inconspicuousness attests to the ubiquity of the form it pioneered.

Stand closer to what was originally ICI House and the view changes. “I tell people I'm showing round that this was the iPhone of Australian architecture,” says Tim Leslie, a studio director at Bates Smart McCutcheon (BSM), which not only designed the building but, in a form of architectural ancestor worship, have since made it their headquarters. “It was so different to everything that had gone before.”

I tell people this was the iPhone of Australian architecture

The building swayed slightly. In the fish tank on the executive floor … the water lapped gently from side to side

Not only can you see out both sides of Orica House, but the views are … well, they're to die for

Related: Story of cities #17: Canberra's vision of the ideal city gets mired in 'mediocrity'

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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/5-11-september-2016/supple-studio-gives-d-r-w-interlocking-d-identity/  
Supple Studio gives D.R.A.W interlocking “D” identity  

Supple Studio has designed an identity system for D.R.A.W Recruitment using an interlocking “D' device and the strapline “The Art of the Perfect Fit”.

The new company was formed from the merger of Drummond Read Recruitment and Art//Work and specialises in sourcing talent from the fine arts, antiques and luxury markets.

Supple creative director Jamie Ellul, who was invited to tender, says: “The client had already spotted that their existing company names formed the acronym D.R.A.W; it felt like a gift of a name with a genuine back story.

“But we wanted to avoid the obvious solution of drawing things or sketching, so we took the angle of people being ‘drawn together' which led to ‘the perfect fit'.”

An interlocking D monogram was also created and Ellul says he “worked with the client to choose a range of materials that got across D.R.A.W.'s diverse client base and candidates from classic to contemporary.”

The main points of interaction for service users are the website and jobs board. Ellul, who also worked on these, says: “We've kept the design very classic using black and white throughout, with the only ping of colour being the monogram logos.

We were conscious of the fact it's a very discerning audience, so a neutral classic approach seemed to make sense. The typeface we've used is Value by Colophon, which lends a little quirkiness to the design, but still feels in keeping with the classic feel.”

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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/5-11-september-2016/moves-changes-industry-news-3/  
Moves & changes industry news  

People

Rebecca Kirrane has joined Decibel Digital as a UX/UI designer, moving from commerce consultancy, Salmon.

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Bentley has appointed John Paul Gregory to lead its exterior design division. Gregory's first production car is likely to be the new Bentley Continental GT.

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Manchester-based studio Code Computerlove has announced the appointment of Amy Robinson as customer experience consultant. The role will see Robinson help bolster the studio's content, acquisition and conversion teams.

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CloudTag has appointed Peter Griffith as chief creative officer to oversee the design, aesthetics and brand messaging of Cloudtag products. Griffith was formerly head of mobile phones design at Microsoft.

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Consultancies

Jaywing has announced its acquisition of Leeds-based consultancy, Bloom. The consultancy hopes to grow the development and distribution of its data science-led products.

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A new consultancy has been launched after the founder of Sumo Design, Jim Richardson, closed the business to focus on a new start-up. The creative team behind Sumo Sarah Tempest and Michael Sutton have launched their own consultancy in Newcastle, called Altogether.

Contact aimee.mclaughlin@centaurmedia.com if there have been any moves and changes in your consultancy.

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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/5-11-september-2016/gordons-gin-reveals-new-packaging-design/  
Gordon's gin reveals new packaging design  

Design Bridge and Diageo have worked together on the new packaging design for Gordon's gin, almost 15 years after the consultancy previously redesigned the gin brand's bottle.

Design Bridge's brief was to respond to the huge boom in interest in gin over the last few years, and “reassert Gordon's position as the top selling gin brand”, according to chief creative officer at Design Bridge, Graham Shearsby.

“We saw it as an opportunity to guide the packaging onto the next part of its journey,” says Shearsby. “It's always been quite a functional bottle, part of what we tried to do was bring more life to it.”

Taller, slimmer bottle

The new bottle is slightly slimmer and taller than previously, while the label has been applied to the D-shaped curved side of the bottle instead of the flat side like before.

“It was to get a bit more movement across the front label,” says Shearsby. “The bottle was a little bit too flat on the front, so this way it projects itself and will stand out on the shelf.”

Inspired by a trip to the brand's archives, which revealed an old advertising campaign with the tagline “the heart of a good cocktail”, along with heart-shaped labels from 1920s bottles, the heart symbol has become the focal point of the new design.

Hand drawn wordmark

The glass bottle itself has a heart shape with “botanical flourishes” embossed onto it, encircling the words “Estd. London 1769”.

Meanwhile, the Gordon's wordmark on the label has been redrawn by hand, and the brand's original boar logo has been made more visible, moving from the bottom to the front of the bottle.

The new design has also been introduced to Gordon's collection of flavoured gins, sloe, elderflower and cucumber, and to Gordon's Export gin. The newly designed packaging will roll out globally this month.

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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/5-11-september-2016/ragged-edge-refreshes-deliciously-ella-branding/  
Ragged Edge refreshes Deliciously Ella branding  

Ragged Edge has redesigned the visual identity for food blogger Ella Mills, commonly known as Deliciously Ella.

The rebrand includes a new design system and updated logo shared with health food restaurant Mae Deli, co-founded by Mills and her husband as well as the packaging for the blogger's first retail product, Deliciously Ella's Energy Balls.

“Reinforce personal connection with her followers”

Based on Mills' own signature, the logo features a hand drawn typeface and a “sunburst” shape that seeks to “reinforce her personal connection with her followers”, according to Ragged Edge.

The consultancy chose a hand drawn typeface Naive Line Sans for headlines and the monospaced Elementa Regular for body copy. Ragged Edge cofounder Max Ottignon says: “Used together, these feel approachable, warm and human.”

“Natural, simple and honest”

Meanwhile, the packaging for the energy balls has been designed to reflect Mills' three core values: “natural, simple and honest”. It combines bright colours designed to make it stand out on the shelf compared to other similar products and comes in a matte texture.

Ottignon says: “Much of Ella's popularity stems from her open and honest relationship with her followers. Maintaining that level of trust as her brand grows into new areas was crucial.”

“Our strategy set out to build on her core values and create a beautifully crafted design, with substance and weight.”

The Deliciously Ella Energy Balls launched at Whole Foods this month and will also be rolled out to selected supermarkets.

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https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/5-11-september-2016/pearlfisher-creates-visual-identity-new-liberating-chinese-tampon-brand/  
This new tampon brand hopes to empower women in China  

Consultancy Pearlfisher has created the visual identity and packaging for a new tampon brand which looks to empower women in China.

Fémme is a new product from Chinese company Yoai, which aims to increase the presence of and education about tampons in China, and change a “patronising” tone around tampons to associations with “confidence and positivity”.

2% of Chinese women use tampons

Recent research found that only 2% of women in China use tampons, with the majority citing the reason as inexperience with the product.

The new brand aims to shift shake conservative, traditional associations with feminine hygiene care in China, says Pearlfisher creative director Natalie Chung, through a “stylish and discreet” design.

Chinese characters used in branding

The logo is composed of a Chinese character symbolising womanhood encased with a circle, within a circle, all created in a “bold” red to symbolise menstruation.

A simple, sans-serif wordmark has been used, which aims to “elevate the product from basic pharmacy to high-end premium”, says Chung.

The packaging also aims to be “elegant” through embossing, the use of a foil logo and card inserts of line-drawn female forms which replicate Chinese characters.

Pastel colour code

Packs use a pastel colour scheme of blue, pink and green to indicate different product sizes, and there is educational information included on the back which aims to “dispel cultural misconceptions” and teach women how to use tampons.

Victoria Li at Yoai says the new brand identity is “based on a modern interpretation of Chinese values” rather than something “overtly westernised”, and hopes the product will help to “liberate” and offer more choice to women in China.

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