JOC is a wine range produced by Jordi Oliver Conti from vines selected for their rarity, geographical location and limited production. JOC’s identity, developed by Barcelona based art director and graphic designer Francesc Moret, is founded on the three elemental characteristics of wine; tani, acid and sweet with a personal, monogrammatic resolution.

This a very simple idea but really well executed. The consistent line weight, roundel and reflection of curves through each character feel modernistic, iconic and an appropriate monogrammatic representation of personal pride. Its triality and geometric construction is an interesting and smart distillation of the elemental properties of wine while its over-print treatment across the business cards introduces a regional and localised craft aesthetic. Together these add a bit more depth to the simplicity of its form. The mono-line weight and structured geometry is juxtaposed alongside a fine and loose hand-rendered illustrative floral label that captures an artisan approach and creates a striking contrast between the organic and the manufactured.

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Quarterly Co. describes itself as ‘a new way to connect with the people you follow and find interesting’ and is an on-line subscription based service that delivers, on a quarterly basis, curated products selected by influential bloggers, designers and artists. Each package is built around a unique concept or story reflective of the philosophies of each contributor providing the subscriber with a tangible link to the people they follow in the digital world. Contributors include, among others, Amanda Hesser & Merrill Stubbs, Josh Rubin & Evan Orensten (from Cool Hunting) and Tina Roth Eisenberg (from Swissmiss). Quarterly’s visual identity, created by web, app and brand design studio Oak (who also developed the service), is an interesting combination of a utilitarian postal aesthetic, retro illustrative details, badge and san serif logo-type.

“The postal service offers a rich visual history. There are common themes honoring couriers, the airmail service, the pony express, and others. We chose a style that would allow us to blend in with contemporary startups while honoring the heritage the postal service offers. We chose to honor the package as the iconic twine-bound box. The perspective on the box creates a unique silhouette.”

- Taken from the Oak website

“Package size and shape is different for nearly every shipment. We designed flexible elements such as tape and stamps that can adorn a variety of packages. We specified color and illustration style but the brand remains malleable. The linear style has a sense of nostalgia, can be used to illustrate and letter any number of things, and reproduces well on cardboard and as stamps. The illustrations on the packaging salute about a dozen pop culture references (which Seinfeld character resides in apartment 5E?).”

- Taken from the Oak website

Rather than attempting to distill a fairly detailed proposition into a single identity, Oak have built a broad and engaging experience that resolves the themes of craft, delivery and quality through a lovely mix of identity design, illustration and a tactile material and print combination.

Based around an elemental, monochromatic logo-mark, constructed from a three dimensional parcel, geometric ribbon, heavy border and string tie, the visual identity manages to balance detail and simplicity, positive and negative space and a retro playfulness. Its internal line weights have a contemporary and underlying technological consistency that is also reflected through a logo-type fused with a couple of interesting quirks across the R and E that make it a little more unconventional and craft-like.

The packaging, through the utilisation of uncoated material textures, graphic design and sticker, tape and stamped print treatments, really enhances the service experience and captures the passion and enthusiasm Quarterly has for unique, well designed products and the creativity of its contributors. The depth and illustrative detailing of the box tape is a real highlight that confidently juxtaposes the simplicity of the visual identity through an interesting, on-trend union of type styles, line weights and iconography bound together under a postal theme and set against the unbleached brown of the substrate. The stickers add further texture, sense of personalised quality and a contemporary red highlight that lifts the predominantly black and white colour palette.

The result is both practical, retrospective and engaging, suitably enhancing and reflecting the positive experience of receiving mailed products, building brand enthusiasm and effortlessly communicates the concept of craft and delivery.

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“The website follows basic commercial patterns. Tactile effects and styles were used in the interface to introduce some of the warmth seen in the packaging.” - Taken from the Oak website

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Onsagers is an Oslo based consultancy that specialises in the protection of intellectual property through patents, trademarks, design and law. Since its establishment in 1945 Onsagers has grown, aided by merger with Defensor in 1997, to become one of Norway’s leading IPR firms. Its new identity, developed by brand and packaging design agency Uniform earlier this year, is a simple but bold combination of a mono-line weight logo-type, icons and a striking, authoritative, white, black and bright yellow colour palette.

“The company has extensive expertise in intellectual property. An old and very outdated profile needed renewal. Uniform has provided new brand platform, visual strategy and implementation of a new profile on all surfaces. Counsellors at Onsagers are known to be accessible, trustworthy, productive and assertive. Yellow and black has always been the company color, and this was an important guideline for the new profile. With the new profile, you want to stand out from other patent offices and businesses in legal area.”

- Taken from designbasen.no (translated by Google)

I have a soft spot for stencilled logo-types and this is a pretty solid example. Constructed from a superellispe, line breaks, large curves, mono-spacing and recurring geometry, each letter-form has been resolved with a coherency and consistent line weight that appears technical, practical and utilitarian. The combination of rounded terminals and an all lowercase format introduce an accessible and democratic quality with a slightly taller x-height that adds a subtle authoritative edge. The strong diagonal line that moves through the stationary alongside a secondary sans serif type choice juxtaposes the curves of the logo-type and keeps the visual identity looking sharp, formal and functional. Unfortunately while the icons are appropriately technical and share a similar (but slightly inconsistently executed) mono-line weight of the logo-type, they could have done with a more of a  proprietary style that either built on the identity or appropriated the austerity of legal documents. The black and white colour palette delivers an official aesthetic alongside the industrial, hazard-like yellow that functions well to ‘highlight’ key information and visualises a strong sense of clarity, focus and purpose.

The result is a smart fusion of legal formality and individual personality with the accessibility, reliability and practicalities expected from a contemporary technology and ideas lead business.

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Design studio Artentiko has recently published images of their latest visual identity project commissioned by Wrocław based architectural studio Ideo Architekci. Based around a modular and dynamic grid based framework, modernistic typeface and a bright industrial colour palette, Artentiko’s solution manages to capture the fundamental aspect of architectural planning and a consistent but expansive approach.

“The idea behind the logo is ‘maximum of flexibility’ & adjustable logo size and shape based on the ‘Cross Grid’ system. The basic logo shape expands on different media. The logo becomes a living form, filling out the space & adjusting itself to the ID area. The ‘Cross Grid’ system gives also a great possibility to create a ‘text fields’ inside the logo ID structure. It might be used for various purposes within ID or any other promotional materials. On the basis of the new flexible logo system, we have designed all necessary corporate materials plus extra elements such as tape, marking spray & yellow markers. The most characteristic element of the new identity is the design of business cards. They’re made of 3mm transparent material in which the refracting light creates interesting logo reflections depending on the angle of looking at their edges.”

- Taken from the Artentiko website

Constructed from simple geometry and a floor plan-like aesthetic, the expanding, modular and grid based execution of this identity communicates a very strategic and pragmatic approach. The reference points are light and small, laid out with plenty of negative that provides a solid and open foundation for more elements (I could imagine handwritten notes looking pretty nice). A simple well rendered san serif typographic choice delivers a familiar Swiss style modernism which, through its lowercase typesetting offers a non-hierarchical depth that neatly references classic and democratic Bauhaus design principles and fits really well within the structure of the grid. The colour palette avoids the monochromatic play of light and shadow (a reference to three dimensional space common to architectural identities) in favour of an industrial and creative fusion of bright yellow and cool grey that feels positive and energetic.

Its execution across the collaterals is austere but practical and makes the most of the identity’s expanding nature, fitting each application perfectly with subtle variety between each piece. The business cards introduce a material that is reflective of the elemental aesthetic of glass which features heavily in contemporary structural design and compliments the warming sun-yellow and the steel qualities of the grey type.

The idea is simple in its design and straightforward in its application but incredibly communicative, it delivers the necessary impact and a smart a conceptual resolution of pragmatism, practicality, functionality and a sense of creativity achieved through a solid foundation.

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Radiate Sound is an Auckland based recording and engineering studio that delivers a range of post production and composition services for the television, radio and on-line markets. The studio’s identity, created by freelance designer Bradley Rogerson (with digital work developed by Supply), juxtaposes type size, weight and detail, animation and sound to create a dynamic visual identity.

There is a lovely contrast and triality of weight between the bold R, light type and diamond details that really capture the three basic audio frequencies of low, mid and high. Its geometric, monogrammatic and radial construction is bold and technical, appropriately reflecting the qualities of an audio speaker but also a professional and high quality approach. These elements have been given a subtle craft-like twist through a combination of rounded terminals, a humanist typeface and a stamp-like aesthetic that appear personal and accessible. Each of these has been really well executed and balanced throughout the mark with plenty of space around the individual letter-forms and between the monogram and the typographic resolution of the container.

The colour palette, made up of three key colours (mirroring the triality of the identity), is warm with a slightly retro edge, a mint green highlight introduces a sense of creativity and a contemporary finish. The website builds on the circular qualities of the logo with a resonating animation and audio detail that delivers a nice piece of multi-sensor branding that really ties the visual identity to the audio service.

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