kaffe culture

At the end of last year we were working on an unusual project for Swedish retailer 7-Eleven, which is just coming to fruition now so we thought we'd share it here...

The brief was to create a coffee thermo-mug, co-branded Shell and 7-Eleven, which would meet practical considerations (spill-proof, fits a car cup holder, insulated etc.), while being desirable to Scandinavian consumers.

While in the UK thermo-mugs are just starting to catch on (for example Starbucks' version), in Scandinavia many people have and use them, but the available models tend to be lacking in the style department.

So, we designed a premium-yet-playful mug that tells a story about the role coffee plays in the consumer's daily life (from the morning commute to refuelling later in the afternoon), hence the personal "my mug" name.

We were then asked to create the launch campaign material, which flowed on naturally from the mug design, picking up on key elements and using them on loyalty cards, posters and more. So next time you're in Sweden and feeling thirsty...

retail therapy

Nik, our creative director, contributed this piece for the 'Inspired' column in the latest issue of Design Week...

The most important thing about inspiration is to never go looking for it. It has a habit of finding you. But if I'm in need of a fix, I go shopping.

One of my earliest memories is from when I was about four years old, riding in the back of my mum's trolley in Asda back up North. I was in awe of this vast warehouse filled with shapes, colours, pictures and typefaces. I'd be dragged around Blackburn town centre on a Saturday to the food hall in BHS, in the days when its logo was a retro bold, grotesque affair (which remains on show outside the Wood Green branch in north London even now).

To this day, I find supermarkets fascinating, inspirational places - though now I'm just as a t home in Liberty as I am in Lidl. They let me indulge my passion for good (and bad) typography, and offer interesting ideas.

And it's not just the shelves that groan with inspiration. The shops themselves are increasingly becoming works of retail art - visit Anthropologie on London's Regent Street and see for yourself.

Best of all, you never know what you'll find in store, but some kind of inspiration is always available to take home - budget permitting - in a rather fetching carrier bag.

cold calling

Our new business team has been spending quite a bit of time in Scandinavia of late - Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Helsinki... Well, if we thought we were having a cold winter here in the UK, it's even colder and snowier elsewhere. Here are a few pictures Anna took in Helsinki the other week. It does looks beautiful, but most of us are more than happy to appreciate the winter wonderland from the cosy confines of the studio!

cheese and crackers

We weren't sure how to react to an article in this morning's Metro about LowLow cheese being sculpted into the shape of celebrities - Cheryl Cole, Dita Von Cheese (ahem) and Barack Obama. Bizarre, but certainly blogworthy!