wonderlandwpa

goodbye nostalgia, hello über-nostalgia

2012-01-23T09:52:00.001Z

I've been reading that nostalgia is the key to marketing in a recession (writes Peter): see the design blog of Gloucester agency Alias and the Marketing Society's debate.

From past experience I've noticed that our love for nostalgia does always seem to increase in a recession (this being my fourth).

However, it is ironic that to give the nostalgic experience any life and authenticity these days requires the talent and dedication of extremely skillful designers, artists, film makers and marketeers (and arguably requires more effort than is needed than to create something new and contemporary).

The current nostalgic decade of choice has to be the roaring '20s. And now that artists, musicians and film makers have access to such powerful digital technology, any nostalgia-based creations can be digitally enhanced to make a sort of über-nostalgia that goes beyond the realms of the pastiche.

A few examples of über-nostalgia:

FILM: The extraordinarily successful film 'The Artist' is a tribute to silent movies so faithful that it remains 'silent' throughout. Capturing that old movie feel required ultra modern movie technology, which was then projected onto purpose built and smaller flat screens, as found back in the 1920's.

Has the adorable Uggie from The Artist walked straight out of the 1920's HMV logo?

MUSIC: Take a listen to C. W. Stoneking but with your eyes closed for the first few minutes. Doesn't it sound like he's a black blues hero straight out of Mississippi in the Depression? But no, C.W. is a 30-year old Australian living in Bristol!

PACKAGING: Hendrick's Gin is a beautifully constructed pastiche of the "flapper's tipple of choice". Has this been stolen straight out of the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising in London?

1920's Gordon's Gin (with medicinal serving suggestion!) vs. 2011 Hendrick's Gin

our favourite shops {anywhere}

2012-01-18T12:03:00.002Z

Although shopping is kind of off our agenda for January, we've shared our favourite London shops here before and thought in the spirit of New Year's inspiration we'd throw it open to shops anywhere at all. So here are our picks...

From top:

Daikanyama, Tokyo "interesting boutiques beautifully designed and great for people watching"

Topshop, London

Merci, Paris "whereas Colette is too cool for school, this is a concept store that is just really lovely to spend time in"

Independent cookware shops "whoever would have thought you could buy a pair of 'onion glasses' - ingenious

Shrewsbury Antiques Market "a treasure trove of stuff that you just can't find anywhere"

Selfridges, London "after being to New York, Paris, Rome and countless other places, I really think this is the best shop in the world"

J R Raine & Son, Middleton-in-Teesdale "a tiny warren of a DIY shop which sells everything Homebase offers, except in smaller amounts and cheaper"

Paul Smith "nuf said"

The Marvelous Moustachin

2011-11-09T14:59:00.004Z

One of our designers, Sach, has manned up and is taking part in Movember. Sponsor him here, and laugh marvel at his moustache here:

issue 8 of the looking glass out now!

2011-09-05T17:52:00.004+01:00

award for the most creative use of structure goes to...

2011-07-28T17:04:00.003+01:00

Spotted by Nik in Harvey Nichols Food Market

our favourite websites

2011-06-29T11:39:00.000+01:00

Next in our occasional series where we share a few of our favourite things...
From top: Snippet & Ink; The Sartorialist; Design*Sponge; Garance Doré; Friends of Type; grain edit; The Cool Hunter; ShareSomeCandy; Etsy; Made in England; Butterflies and Wheels; BBC; The Daily Mash; spiked; Harry's Place; MoneySavingExpert, Spotify.

issue 7 of the looking glass out now!

2011-06-09T11:48:00.005+01:00

our favourite artists/designers/illustrators

2011-05-23T11:25:00.001+01:00

The latest in our occasional series where we share a few of our favourite things...

dead famous

2011-05-16T10:42:00.004+01:00

Big excitement in the studio last Thursday when our senior designer Jessica was plastered across page 3 of the Evening Standard... after spending the night in a haunted coffin to try and win a trip to New York. In a feat of endurance and bravery she lasted the night, won the trip, and made us all proud! Click here to read all about it.

our favourite food/drink packaging

2011-05-05T14:51:00.000+01:00

The latest in our occasional series where we share a few of our favourite things...

badges of colour

2011-04-19T09:49:00.000+01:00

I love finding out about new artists, especially when they are local to me (writes Amy)...

On a chilly Sunday morning a few weeks ago I was having a wander around Muswell Hill with my boyf... I needed a quick retail fix so left Matt outside to entertain himself. When I met back up with him he was taking photos of the floor – I thought he’d gone slightly mad but when I looked down I saw a blanket of colour & pattern. On closer look there were loads of tiny little pictures that had all been created on top of discarded old chewing gum...

It sounds pretty disgusting but these little 'badges' of colour were amazing, packed with loads of detail! Thinking about it, I had often seen a guy lying on the floor with a paint brush in hand (as you do) and wondered what he was up to… well, now I know!

As soon as I'd spotted these pieces of art it was impossible to not keep looking down at the floor - there are hundreds around the streets of Muswell Hill, but apparently they appear all over London so keep your eyes peeled!

The artist is Ben Wilson and you can find out a little more about what he does by visiting this BBC report.

bass notes

2011-04-07T09:43:00.000+01:00

Kemistry Gallery in Shoreditch was recently showing an exhibition of Saul Bass movie posters, and a few weeks ago we shut the studio early to go and take a look (writes Jess)...

Story board for the shower scene in Psycho which he is actually rumoured to have directed!

Anatomy of a Murder - my pick of the show.

His film titles are incredibly simple - which is the beauty of all Bass' work and why even now he is revered as one of the all time greats of graphic design. His work is very obviously the inspiration for modern day credits such as "Catch Me If You Can".

The exhibition is now closed, but it's worthwhile having a look on YouTube for more of his film titles, they're exactly like his posters, bought to life through really simple animation... beautiful.

drawing fashion

2011-03-24T09:30:00.000Z

A couple of weekends ago I went to the Design Museum, London (writes Peter) to see The Brit Insurance Design Awards, billed as "the Oscars of the design world". I wish. Unfortunately, I soon found myself overwhelmed by the mess of projects, exhibits and unclassifiable stuff I couldn't understand or relate to. Nothing like as exciting as the 2009 show.

Luckily on the floor below was an exhibition of fashion drawings which made the trip worth the effort.

The exhibits and exhibition are small but the scope is as vast as it is fascinating, featuring a whistle stop tour through haute couture fashion from the 1920's onwards. And all seen through the eyes of some amazingly talented fashion illustrators.

Some captured a 'look' in a few gestural brush strokes...

Mats Gustafson, “Red Dress”, Yohji Yamamoto 1999

Others with painstaking filigree detail in watercolors...

George Lepape, Vogue cover 1919

While others adapted contemporary pop art techniques to show off 60's pop art fashion...

Antonio, New York Times Magazine 1967

Glamorous, inspirational and absorbing. Plus not one pixel of computer-generated images on display.

hot off the {apple} press

2011-03-07T11:44:00.003Z

Here's a sneak peek at some of our latest work in Scandinavia. Quite literally hot off the press and into Stockholm's coolest bars, Gravendal cider's new design rolls out in Sweden over the next few months. Check our main site for the full Gravendal story soon.

range architecture - the blueprint for brand success

2011-03-03T16:56:00.007Z

Just as great buildings need good foundations and a clear structure, brand and product architectures are no different in how they should be approached (writes Lawrence, MD).

Brands have a life span. For many it's short, but others flourish and generate meaningful income. Consumers’ relationships with brands also have a life span, driven by generational changes or more quickly by changes in habits, taste and lifestyle.

For brand owners, reacting to these changes can be a challenge, and this often results in brand and product portfolios becoming bloated and poorly focused with little differentiation. Ironically, it's often easier to add another product to a brand's range than it is to change or delist an existing product. This is partly due to brand owners hedging their bets, and partly due to a production-led management strategy. Consequently, these bloated portfolios are more likely to confuse consumers and cause them to lose engagement with the brand they once cherished. And they become expensive to support.

The answer to this set of problems lies in range architecture
A range architecture review should begin at the point that will effect the best commercial outcome, which means exploring the brand's connection to the company's business and product strategy.

Range architecture should always refer back to commercial priorities, meaning fewer distractions from the softer science of tactical qualitative research, good guesses or an over reaction to market changes.

Of course, many businesses have extended their brands’ product portfolios over recent years. Good brands are powerful assets and consequently are seen by their owners as having the capability to accommodate more products, beyond those they might be recognised for. But this needs to be carefully managed.

Examples of good and not so good
In health and beauty, for example, Johnson’s has managed to retain brand integrity across its entire portfolio as it moved from its core offer of baby care through to women's face and body care. Branding maintains its authority across the portfolio whilst the use of colour, graphics and message hierarchy effortlessly enables the brand to reach across the categories.

However, I find Nivea much more difficult to deal with. Anti-wrinkle, firming creams, firm and natural body lotions, Nivea Visage, Nivea Soft, Nivea Pure, Nivea Sun through to Nivea Men... between them creating a plethora of range names and sub brands that makes it difficult to decipher what I am being offered and how I should find what I actually need.

And there are many more examples. Biscuits, for instance, are becoming ever more diverse, and Fox’s does a good job of presenting its variety of biscuits by using design to reflect the different styles of each one.

And whilst Old El Paso in the Mexican wraps category does a terrific job on consistency and stand out on shelf, I’m left wondering what’s inside the boxes and the wrappers!

Getting the range architecture right ensures that the platform is there for branding, design and message to be used to convey product or brand differentiation to optimum effect. Get it right and you’re away. Get it wrong and even a small range can create confusion.

like a moth to a flame

2011-03-01T09:39:00.000Z

I’ve just realised that I have a burgeoning obsession that has crept up on me over the last few years and is reaching a bit of a peak (writes Bess).

Like a moth to a flame, I’ve become very attracted to light. From an innocuous and widespread start - a string of fairy lights that didn’t come down after Christmas one year - this has grown to a pretty serious 20m rope light strand currently framing the whole of the biggest wall in my flat, star lights strung across a fireplace grate, plain lights in a glass vase by the window (nice reflection when its dark outside). I often actively miss the oversized paper shades we had in my last flat; they were Ikea’s cheapest offer (since discontinued I think) but were absolutely huge and glowed like a full moon.

But my flat only has so many plug sockets, so I’ve taken to admiring light sources from afar. Most recently this has included the string of lights covering the entire windows of a local pub (so enticing!), the bulbs jauntily crisscrossing the street at Exmouth Market, the magical set of Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella, lights in other people’s living rooms, spied from the street, and Chinese lanterns spotted floating into the starlit sky on New Year’s Eve.

And now I’ve started finding out about light installation artists (see above, Nathan Coley, Stefan Brüggemann & Bruce Munro), and sourcing sign makers. My dream is to have a word or phrase (as yet undecided) spelt out in bright white lights on my wall, and there’s plenty of inspiration around. I just need to save up a lot of money and find another plug socket… and try not to think about the resulting electricity bill.

boxed fascism

2011-02-24T16:24:00.001Z

By Robin

In November the British Medical Association renewed their call for a ban on printed cigarette packaging. This prompted me to reminisce over the cigarette advertising from my youth, the amazingly emotive posters of both the Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut brands. Despite the restrictions of the time, these ads remained stunning works of abstract art modern advertisers and artists will never again achieve.

In 1998 a phased ban on cigarette advertising began, ending in a total ban in 2003. Before the 2005 general election the Labour party manifesto promised a ban on smoking in all public places that serve food only. After the general election an outright smoking ban was implemented - never trust a politician...

Pubs are now closing at a rate of 39 a week. A World Health Organisation study into the effects of passive smoking found that the risk of a non smoker getting lung cancer after being exposed to smoke is - in their words - "a statistically insignificant 0.01%". The ban has been seen by many as an assault on their civil liberties and freedom to decide for themselves if smoking is worth the risk and extortionate taxes demanded for the habit.

The BMA's moves to ban printed cigarette packaging comes after a report into Ireland's ban on all point of sale advertising. The report states that "there were no short-term significant changes in prevalence among youths or adults", clearly stating that the Irish ban has had little effect on cigarette sales. Despite this contradiction the BMA and powerful anti-smoking lobbyists are pushing ahead with their demands. Judging by the history of cigarette advertising they are very likely to achieve their goals.

This, to me, is a tragedy. I have many friends working for design companies, proofing and mockup houses who rely on tobacco companies for their livelihood. This ban would overnight rob them of their jobs and security, and rob our industry of skills, crafts and disciplines we should all be proud of. This is not just an ill conceived attack on our liberties, but an attack on an industry already at its knees through no fault of its own.

It almost makes me want to take up smoking, almost...

isotype

2011-02-14T12:09:00.000Z

During November of last year I attended an exhibition of the work of Gerd Arntz (writes Martin). Coming from a sign making background, I have a fascination with pictograms and how to condense information down to a quickly understandable visual.

During my time at university I looked into a system of pictograms created in the 1920s by social scientist Otto Neurath and graphic designer Gerd Arntz, called the Isotype system.

Neurath and Arntz set out to create a universally understandable visual language that could convey the information of an unwieldy amount of text, to accompany (less) written text.

4,000 signs were created, and were used for symbolising data from industry, demographics, politics and economy, either on charts or as info graphics. All of the icons sit together visually as they follow guidelines to keep the collection standardised. This means they can be altered to symbolise more specific subjects - for example the symbol for man can easily be customised to show that he works as a baker by overlaying the symbol for a loaf of bread.

Today the legacy of such ventures is evident in everyday life. From road signs to the little boys’ room symbol, such things are universal and we all have no doubt as to what they are. Although this makes sense, from a design point of view it is more interesting to see established pictogram norms broken. Something that has always stuck with me is the - now defunct - identity for the Royal Armouries Museum, which included figures from history pointing the way.

These pictograms not only did the job of standard pictograms but also took influence from the museum itself and helped to define a recognisable identity.

our favourite holiday destinations

2011-02-10T11:23:00.010Z

With winter starting to drag, thoughts can't help but turn to getting away from it all, so it seems like a good time to post the latest in our "favourite things" series...

inspiring toys

2011-02-08T11:32:00.008Z

Last week I read about a sculpture by Lorenzo Quinn titled ‘Vroom Vroom’, placed outside the Dorchester Hotel, and it really caught my attention, so I jumped on the tube that very evening and headed down to Park Lane to see it in the flesh (writes Sachin).

I was amazed by the 13ft high sculpture of a child’s hand pushing a vintage Fiat 500, placed between the central reservations before a set of traffic lights, to catch the attention of passing drivers. Artist Lorenzo Quinn created the sculpture to symbolise a part of his independence, freedom and personal growth.

Seeing it sparked great memories in my mind of my childhood and my desire to one day own a yellow Lamborghini Diablo with its magnificent scissor doors and sharp edges.

When I was young I always had a toy car in my pocket, and played with it wherever and whenever I possibly could. I remember making a racket, humming the sound of a car engine. I would drive my car on the carpet and up the stair rail, scratching off the paintwork. I'd create buildings, garages, ramps and tunnels using old cardboard boxes, plastic containers and toilet roll tubes.

The best trick of all was when I used to smuggle my cars into the bathroom, wrapped in my towel, hidden away from my mum. I would play with them around the tub and at the bottom, imagining I was driving deep under the ocean. I had to smuggle them in because my mum used to go crazy at all the scratches I made in the tub, and boy did I get a telling off every time!

I also remember collecting vouchers from the back of cereal boxes, magazines and the Shell petrol station, gradually getting enough to buy a new car to add to my huge collection.

I remember the excitement of getting my cars home, getting the screwdriver out the tool box and unscrewing the car from the stand it came attached to in the box, then taking them for a spin. I had a finger duster made from a piece of dust cloth and I used to polish my cars just like my dad did, keeping the collectable ones in pristine condition.

My favourite car of all time was - and still is - the yellow Lamborghini Diablo. I had the amazing Bburago model that felt and looked like the really thing. It was my most precious toy, beautifully crafted with realistic detail, from the texture of the seats, the look of the dials, the engine, the metal body kit and best of all a steering wheel that worked! You could put your finger through the window and steer the car along.

Back then, I always dreamt of owning my very own, and the dream still lives on...

periodic type

2011-02-04T10:44:00.006Z

I can still remember that 'light bulb' moment, in my school boy days, when the Chemistry teacher revealed the "Period Table of Elements" (writes Peter).

Ping! Now I understood why metal rusted and plastic didn't. That Krypton really existed. And Copper, Silver and Gold all looked shiny because they were related.

As it turned out chemicals never featured much in my working life. But typefaces did and became an obsession.

Sadly, I started to notice how over the past few years my interest in typefaces has blurred. I've changed from highly opinionated to confused when it comes to choice. Maybe too much time spent with default browser fonts combined with less and less work in printed graphics? (I've not smelt printing ink for ages.)

I'd come to accept my 'typeface compass' had broken. Like computer music loops, own brand cereal packs and reasonably priced cars - they'd all started to sound and look the same. Maybe time for an overdue 'light bulb' moment?

Queue my discovery of the truly remarkable, absorbing, fascinating and unbelievably clever "Periodic Table of Typefaces".

Ping! Now I rediscovered why Helvetica is a truly elemental typeface. And why Gotham and Trajan are unlikely to react well together. Or why Baskerville, Garamond or Caslon are worth considering for typesetting novels or reference books.

However, I have noticed that there's one highly explosive, dangerous, and volatile typeface which hasn't made the table. I'm pleased. Bye bye Comic Sans !

typographic travels #01

2011-02-01T10:37:00.005Z

The first in an occasion series from Nik. As a well seasoned traveller and total type obsessive, Nik takes shots of any typographic inspiration he encounters along the way. Nik says "I like the good, the bad and - more often than not - the ugly! The worst typography can sometimes be the most beautiful". We've persuaded him to share some of the photos he's captured on his travels for both work and pleasure...

#1: Fazer, Helsinki, Finland

Just a giant, beautiful slab of almost brutal Russian-esque typography with a weird art-nouveau twist. Check out the beautiful 'A' and that bonkers 'R'. Love it!

marrakech

2011-01-17T16:36:00.008Z

I'm about as spiritual as a sock (writes Jessica), but on my first night, sitting at a rooftop cafe overlooking Jema Al Fina listening to the call to prayer I certainly felt something stir inside. Mind you that could well have been something to do with the amount of food my friend and I had eaten earlier. There were so many amazing market stalls selling colourful dried fruits, nuts and aromatic spices you could bottle the smell of Marrakech and sell it.

We spent the first part of our holiday exploring the narrow winding streets the locals call the souks. You can buy everything from your own authentic tagine to sequin-embellished sunglasses. After exhausting our shopping budget we set off on a real adventure - a two day drive to the Sahara desert. I can't do the desert justice by describing it but the photo at the end can give you some idea of how remote it really was. I travelled with two local guides and my friend Hanna and the four of us drank Moroccan tea and watched the sun rise over the sand. We were only away from the office for a week but it felt like we'd had the trip of a lifetime in those seven days. Incredible.

(that's Hanna walking up the sand dune in the last picture)

happy new year resolutions

2011-01-06T17:37:00.004Z

It's 2011, so that means some of us are making resolutions to either give up, do more or change something in our lives. Chris Streger came up with the ide of the 'To Resolve Project', a challenge to illustrators and designers to create an iPhone wallpaper featuring their New Year's resolution. The results are some of the best looking resolutions I've seen, and although I'm not normally very good at sticking to my resolutions, I will keep checking Chris's blog to see what others are (rather beautifully) resolving to do.

all we want for christmas...

2010-12-14T17:53:00.009Z

pie cases

2010-12-08T10:19:00.005Z

Although they've been available in the shops for quite a few weeks, now seems like an appropriate time to share these mince pie packs that make nice use of the festive design we created for Planet Organic to use across a whole range of packaging and point of sale.

the x factor

2010-11-23T15:57:00.006Z

There was a bit of a buzz in the studio on Monday morning, after one of our clients - Aerobility, who we've talked about before here - featured on Sunday evening's X Factor. Click here to watch the clip on Aerobility's blog.

post secret

2010-11-19T14:13:00.009Z

Last night I went to the RCA's annual Secret Postcard exhibition. I've heard of it before, but never been, and really enjoyed it. The thing is that a whole load of artists - from famous ones to students - are given a standard issue blank postcard to do what they like with/on, then the cards are sold anonymously for £45 each, and only once you've bought it do you find out who the artist behind it is. You can find out more here. And here are some of my favourites (I seem to go for the prettier ones, but there really is something for everyone there)...

Bess

cake porn

2010-11-17T11:00:00.005Z

A top tip from Nik for next time you're out and about in Soho. Swing by Brewer Street and treat yourself to something sweet from Cox Cookies & Cakes. It's a new "bakery" by the shoe designer Patrick Cox. "When I first heard he was doing it, I just thought he'd be jumping on the cupcake bandwagon, but when I stumbled across the shop, I was pleasantly surprised. Imagine a black, neon sex shop staffed by preposterously handsome young men in studded leather aprons selling nothing more than innocent little cakes and the like. It's quite amazing, and just shows you don't have to be girly to do sweet..."

sweet charity

2010-10-18T11:38:00.007+01:00

Would you visit your bank manager for a loan wearing a tracksuit? (writes Julia)

Its probably an outdated question given that nobody even has a bank manager these days (and banks aren't handling out loans that easily either)! However, the relevance of the question refers to a conundrum facing a client of ours recently. They are a small, ambitious, driven and extremely needy charity. Through a timely set of circumstances, we offered our services pro bono to develop their identity and presence. This was largely in response to the usual charity objectives: to increase membership, sponsorship and awareness in a very busy and competitive market.

In much of our other work with a diverse range of corporate and FMCG clients, we help develop brands with similar objectives in mind. However, never in my experience with these clients have I heard concern in the form of the question I was asked by the charity's CEO:

"Now we look so great, will we be perceived as less needy and therefore not achieve our objectives?"

Slightly taken aback - after month of hard work to get to this point - I thought that maybe he was right. After all he is the CEO of the charity and has a lot more experience in the industry than we could ever claim. Had we overlooked a fundamental aspect of the challenge of working with a charity?

But, after some thought, I decided that we were absolutely right in our approach. Charity or not, there can only be a positive outcome from a brand being assured of its place in the market. Possession of a clear set of values, a distinctive personality and a unique and relevant position can only be a positive. And presenting this in a consistent manner across all touchpoints with consumers can surely only build awareness?

Anyone investing money or time in an organisation - charitable or not - could only be reassured by the fact that these resources aren't being wasted on inconsistent sales material, recreating the wheel every time a quarterly newsletter has to be sent out.

Creating a brand model, templates and guidelines that offer consistency yet allow flexibility for creative interpretation is the key - every time. After all, why do businessmen wear suits to meetings, and why did women wear short skirts to visit the bank manager (in the old days)? Because it was the template for success.

So, having been reassured of all this, was our charity client rewarded with a positive result? Launched at the 2010 Farnborough Air Show, it's too early for quantitative results, but the new identity has brought fresh energy to the team of volunteers running the charity, a consistent look and feel across web, print and all other media, and an increased drive to get out there and spread the word. Their Air Show stand was one of the most-visited, and the team are still following up on all the leads received, a much greater percentage of which seem to be leading somewhere than in previous years.

However, I can't say it's all down to the fresh look, after all the CEO was wearing a suit and that must have said something for them too.

spotted in Stockholm

2010-10-12T14:07:00.007+01:00

Our eagle-eyed Creative Director Nik often comes back from business trips with news of new products and designs to share with the studio. His latest dispatch concerned Unilever's Swedish Flora packs. Says Nik: "Very odd... looks like something your Gran might have in her bathroom. That said, I bizarrely quite like it!"

our favourite colour combinations

2010-10-06T15:03:00.007+01:00

Seeing as our last post was about colour, we'll follow it with the next in our series of favourite things. These are a few of our favourite ...colour combinations!

(clockwise from top: nautical blue and white stripes; grey with dusky pink/peachy orange; charcoal grey and neon yellow; blue and amber; really bright acid orange with either shocking pink or an electric aqua; the dark blue vs. orange bit just above a sunset; black with bright pinging colours like magenta, yellow, cyan, luminous greens etc.; cement grey and white; sky blue and chocolate brown; pink, red and orange)

flying colours

2010-09-29T16:29:00.009+01:00

I've always wondered what would have happened if Paul Rand had chosen a different colour for his famous IBM logo (writes Peter). Maybe a bright orange, a lush green or a rich purple?

Or was 'corporate blue' already the default back in the late 1950s? {Must re-watch Mad Men to find out}

IBM even gained the nickname 'The Big Blue', and for as long as I can recall blue has been the safe colour of choice for corporations.

Move on 50 years from the design of IBM's logo, and surely the web has started to dilute corporate blue? No expensive multi-coloured inks to mix and print, plus access to may 1,000s of web safe colours - major corporates must be a riot of colour on the web?

Well, this chart from colourlovers.com suggests not - or at least not yet.

Skype, Twitter, AOL, PayPal, RealPlayer, WordPress, LinkedIn - all major brands born out of the web. And their corporate colour of choice? Paul Rand would be proud.

namestorming

2010-09-27T11:47:00.006+01:00

We're increasingly being asked by clients to generate names for new brands or ranges. Having been through the process a few times recently, we've found that many heads really are better than one, so everyone in the studio gets involved in the first stages. Here are a few pictures from one of our latest 'namestorming' sessions...

launch pad

2010-09-24T09:56:00.008+01:00

Over the past year or so, we've been putting together 'launch books' whenever a project is completed. They're printed as A5 booklets, and now make quite a good collection, with each one showcasing a different brand issue or brief. We do have some spares, so if any readers would like to receive one relevant to them, email info@wonderlandwpa.com or leave a comment.

how being too nice put paid to the banks

2010-09-21T12:09:00.013+01:00

I used to have a mortgage with Abbey (writes Lawrence). They were brilliant - easy to read statements, I could talk to them on the phone quickly, even visit a branch where someone would be happy to sit me down in an office, give me a coffee and answer any questions. I even took a credit card out with them because they were so efficient and easy to deal with.

Then came the crunch. And a name change from Abbey to the less convincing Santander coincided with a greater change, not just for Abbey but for all the banks and insurance companies.

Prior to the crunch the high street banks had become rather good at talking to people. They were approachable, generally easy to deal with, and were more than happy to sell you anything from investments to insurance.

This nice and easy approach stemmed from changes in the early nineties. I remember working with NatWest (who'd recently changed from from the stiffer National Westminster Bank), as they embarked on a programme to move the perception of the bank away from a corporate institution towards a more customer-friendly business.

The bank tore down the steel bars and thick glass separating cashiers from customers. They were replaced with comfy sofas, open plan areas with discreet screening and plenty of pot plants. Simple, friendly illustrations adorned the covers of its in-branch booklets and window displays. The NatWest logo and its complementary typefaces became rounder and softer to reflect its newfound love of the customer.

And the other banks followed suit. Adverts for banks became the ones you didn't mind watching and plain English was enforced on every piece of written communication to make sure real people could understand.

Marketers who trained in FMCG environments started to infiltrate financial services. Banks became nice places to visit, to the extent that coffee shops were given concessions in branches. And at that point, it had gone too far. Banks forgot what they were about - there to deal with important aspects of people's lives. Essentially they lost their authority and with it their integrity.

So perhaps what started at NatWest all those years ago contributed to the downfall of the high street banks. They had become too easy, too nice and too friendly, handing out cash like they'd hand out a café latte. It become the norm.

But when everything changed, all those lessons in approachability were forgotten overnight, and banks went from "couldn't do more for you" to "we don't want to talk to you".

Which takes me back to my Santander situation. When I recently sold my house and needed a new mortgage my experience with Santander was tortuous. I gave them all the information they asked for but they kept asking for more. No-one with authority would speak to me, no mortgage offer was forthcoming. So I gave up. And when I tried to notify them of even the simplest of administrative tasks - a change of address - another long-winded battle ensued.

So while it's understandable that banks have pulled in the reins, they need to strike a balance between being discerning and being plain unhelpful, lacking in the most basic forms of common sense.

Perhaps all the advertising and design agencies working with banks - or indeed hoping to work with them - could think about how they can help their clients become customer-focussed and approachable again, without losing their integrity.

lighten up

2010-09-10T15:58:00.010+01:00

Some of our latest Swedish work - for retail giant Axfood - is being rolled out this/next week. We've designed the packaging and instore communications for a new range of low energy lightbulbs. Ever heard of a lumen? Well, it's what the light output of these bulbs is measured in (rather than watts) so a big part of the challenge was to educate the consumer and take any confusion out of the equation. The bulbs are both energy and money saving in the long run, so pretty good all round!

And here they are in situ...

crayfish and cloudberries

2010-09-08T14:45:00.012+01:00

Last Friday we held our August Final Friday (well, September First Friday really) at the studio. The theme was Sweden, and our International Client Director Anna did a great job of teaching us a few choice Swedish phrases, enlightening us with some surprising facts about the country, and most importantly introducing us to an array of traditional Swedish food and drink (please ignore the Kettle Chips that crept into a couple of the pictures)...

is the logo dead?

2010-09-03T10:39:00.025+01:00

A logo is broadly defined as a graphic mark or emblem used by organisations to promote and gain recognition. In the good old days they sat proudly on corporate letterheads, plastered as big as possible on packaging, hung enticingly above shop fronts and featured prominently in advertising. Designers slaved religiously on logo bibles explaining in minute detail how the logo should be used and what you could (or more often couldn't) do with it.

The logo was the ultimate expression of a company's beliefs, personality and values, feverishly protected and consistently applied. Could this art form that can be traced back over 4,000 years be nearing extinction?

There's been much talk in the design press and blogs in the last few months predicting the death of the logo as we know it. Indeed some experts claim that the logo is nothing more than "an old fashioned approach to identifying products and services" and "a waste of time, money and effort." What is the role of a logo in today's branded world and have we really reached a point where the logo has become so commonplace that there's not much to be gained by having one?

why is the logo under threat?

Brand blindness is a term that's gaining currency online. Apparently the average person is subjected to over 30,000 commercial messages every day, most of them visual. Because of this, today's consumers are adept at quickly editing the information passed before them, looking for recognition in the sea of the unfamiliar. Is there any point crafting a new logo when anything 'new' is mostly ignored? If brand blindness becomes an epidemic, how does any brand stand out?

The digital environment has had profound influence on logo design development. Previously, the black and white fax was the ultimate logo test. Today it's ensuring your logo works on an ever changing palette of platforms and devices, whether it's on your company's website or as a Facebook icon. May logos just don't work on screen because they weren't designed to be seen on screen - many brands are now racing to solve this problem.

Digital also provides a tempting platform to bring the logo to life - make it move, wink, shimmer - desperately (and often inappropriately) trying to 'modernise' the mark and make it more relevant to today's social networking audience.

The most profound shift in logo design was undoubtedly when organisations and companies became brands. This seismic change saw a shift from a company's product or service to a focus on emotion; Apple no longer sell computers, they market a lifestyle. This shift has led to a flurry of complicated 'touchy-feely' logos that try to capture the desired emotion but often just lack clear focus.

Look at the new Kraft Foods corporate logo, a desperate example of this trend. Emotions are blurred and difficult to grasp concepts that need a bigger canvas than a single logo can provide. Logos function best when they simply and memorably explain who you are (Apple) or what you do (FedEx). Try to load too much meaning in your logo at your peril.

The public (and the press) love to hate logos too. £400,000 for the London 2012 logos? Waste of money! Especially when you can buy a ready-made logo online for $50 or less. The value of what a good logo can bring (and the skill and expertise required to create it) is slowly but surely being eroded.

the new logo

Some brave pioneers are challenging the traditional understanding of what a logo is and how it should be used. No weighty corporate manuals for these guys. Instead, a logo is created in the traditional sense, but then colour, texture, application, size, weight, orientation are all exploited to provide not just one logo but a multitude of variations and possibilities for any and every application.

The London 2012 logo was an early adopter of this approach. The initial reaction to the logo was one of near universal derision. Look beyond the jagged shapes and you'll see a clever way to use the logo to hold many different feelings, meanings and subjects without compromising the immediate impact and recognition of those sharp, pointy numbers.

The recent redesign of AOL takes this principles several steps further. Those much hated BA tail fins from the 80s were perhaps the first example of new logo thinking. Why have one logo when you can have (literally) hundreds?

Or why have any logo at all? Burnley, a small town in Lancashire famous only for electing a BNP member onto the council, recently rebranded itself to present the town in a new light. Any expected small town logo design is thrown out of the window, replaced by a squiggly, swirling, scribbly animation - visit burnley.co.uk to see it in full effect. It's not a logo, it's something entirely brave and new - a living identity perhaps? Whether it's appropriate for a town like Burnley remains to be seen.

future-brand

One of the biggest threats to the logo is the so-called 'brand world'. This is a hot phrase recently coined to describe the visual and verbal noise that surrounds a brand. The thinking goes that a brand world can create a rich tapestry of colours, images, sounds, textures and typography across any medium to engage the audience emotionally whilst being unique and recognised as identifying a brand or organisation. So identifiable in fact, the role of the logo could be about to be redundant.

Think of O2 and you will inevitably picture bubbles, shades of blue and perhaps even hear that nice man with the very reassuring and friendly voice. The actual O2 logo, whilst simple and effective, is actually pretty forgettable - it's the brand world that is memorable.

Deli Garage is a food brand in Germany that treats the packaging for its products as a brand world. There is no big logo, no typical food cues; instead a collection of products unified by strong colour, illustration, typography and physical structure that create a unique and effective packaged brand world. It's an intriguing idea, and one that potentially offers consumers a much deeper and more rewarding experience than the standard big logo approach.

rest in peace

So is the logo dead? Does the pressure from digital platforms, meaningless metaphors and public outrage sound the death knell for identity? Is the brand world approach really the brave new world?

Undoubtedly the traditional role of the logo is facing many challenged. By being pushed to communicate more and more it has actually become meaningless. On the flipside, the brand world is really nothing new, but the strength of a coherent and relevant brand experience is only just starting to be realised. One is not a replacement for the other - a logo can never tell the full story of your brand. Similarly a brand world can't ever be trademarked.

in remembrance

Let the logo do what it does best - simply say who you are or what you do. Leave it to the brand world to immerse and engage your audience. Don't get the two mixed up but make sure they work together.

In today's connected world, the bigger the palette your brand owns, the greater its reach and flexibility across the ever growing number of touchpoints. Consistency is old news. Coherency is the new visual currency.

form vs. function

2010-08-31T10:02:00.012+01:00

form

{via TheCoolist}

Is this the world's most jaw-dropping car? The 1948 Buick Streamliner (by Norman E. Timbs) was found in the LA desert in 2002 and restored by Dave Crouse at Custom Auto, who spent 2 years bringing the car back to life.

How beautiful is this car? And what a strangely compelling paradox...

Who wouldn't want to drive it along Highway 101 with the stereo on full blast? But think again - perhaps this car's a piece of junk. After all, it's completely inadequate at providing even the most basic function of a real life car. Imagine that journey on Highway 101. It starts to rain - where's the roof? You need to take a suitcase - where's the boot? Passengers? Hope they're small. Let's not even think about parking. Highway 101? Not in this car.

function

For those of us who live in crowded, polluted cities the G-Wiz must be the perfect vehicle. Small (very), electric, easy to park, quiet, it even has a roof. But as a car it looks repellant. I couldn't bring myself to touch it let alone drive it.

If design is about matching form and function, which is more important? Maybe good design is no more than the sum of the best compromises.

Peter

our favourite {London} shops

2010-08-25T11:58:00.010+01:00

official: wonderlandWPA is a nice company

2010-08-05T09:19:00.003+01:00

MyType, an online application that asks users to answer questions to determine their personality, raised some eyebrows when it released results from its recent survey.

Hidden in the results was the scientific fact that "iPad owners, or people that want an iPad, are selfish, scoring low on measures of kindness and altruism. They value power and achievement much more than others." So in other words, iPad owners are pretty horrible people.

Armed with this (highly debatable) research, we did a straw poll around the studio to find out who wanted an iPad, and even worse, whether any of these cold blooded individuals actually intended to buy one.

After the results were counted and verified, we were all able to breathe a sigh of collective relief. Well, apart from the 10% of us that, as it turns out, are pretty selfish individuals.

So we're officially a 90% thoroughly nice and not-very-selfish-at-all company, which might be another reason for you to get in touch with us... unless you're planning to email us from your iPad.

Source: Guardian

lunch break

2010-07-20T09:41:00.008+01:00

One of our newest clients is Planet Organic - the UK's largest certified organic supermarket. We've been working on the branding for their new Food To Go range of salads, sandwiches and bakery foods, which are launching imminently under the name "Filling Station".

Planet Organic caters for all sorts of dietary needs, from dairy, wheat & gluten free, to vegetarian and vegan, to nutritious superfoods, and our packaging clearly highlights the dietary benefits of the range.

We used a combination of typographic and graphic elements for an upbeat, urban feel that adds a confident and relaxed dimension to the existing Planet Organic branding. Watch this space for further applications of the design onto bags, napkins and more, as well as an extension into other foods later this year.

life in the big smoke...

2010-07-19T12:09:00.009+01:00

... from the point of view of our placement - and recent design graduate - Luke (read more from him at his blog The Public Service).

{click to enlarge}

our favourite words

2010-07-14T10:38:00.004+01:00

We've each been thinking about a few of our favourite things, and are going to share them on the blog in a bit of a "getting to know you" series. First up - and easing into it gently - a selection of our favourite words...

pilot episode

2010-07-07T09:32:00.004+01:00

As part of our work with the British Disabled Flying Association (see last post), Peter and Julia went to see the team at Lasham Airfield the other week. Looks like it beats our meeting room hands down!

high fliers

2010-06-25T14:25:00.006+01:00

We have recently been working with the BDFA (British Disabled Flying Association) on their identity, logo and website. While the latter is still a work in progress, the brand new logo and identity can be seen below and read about from their point of view in the new issue of their magazine (click here to download the Chief Executive's article).

mamma mia

2010-06-24T09:30:00.006+01:00

Goodfella's pizza have got in on the World Cup act with these beautifully illustrated packs building on the recent redesign. Beautifully done maybe, but it's definitely blatantly cashing in without any real football association. Perhaps they could have made the pepperoni slices hexagonal?

target practice

2010-06-21T11:40:00.004+01:00

Another World Cup spot, this one is slightly less savoury than the others we've shown, but 'a work of marketing genius' says Nik!

salad days

2010-06-18T16:58:00.005+01:00

As seen on the internet... seems incongruous but we guess this would come into play if/when more traditional match fare (pizza, crisps, beer) started to feel too unhealthy!

three lions

2010-06-10T15:15:00.003+01:00

Nik spotted this ad in Metro this week. Ok it's not packaging, but a worthy entrant to our World Cup Competition nonetheless, cashing in on the excitement brewing before this weekend's kick-off.

"Sadly, whether England would fare any better with these three 'lions' on their chests we'll never know" (says a pessimistic Nik)

dough balls

2010-05-26T14:55:00.005+01:00

Our third entry for the crazy world cup packaging competition - as seen by Lawrence - really is a case of hopping on the bandwagon. But might just be worth it if only for the bargain promotional price.

ceci n'est pas un football

2010-05-21T10:00:00.003+01:00

Lawrence spotted these lettuces in his local Co-op. Apparently he couldn't resist giving one a kick about, at which point it fell to pieces and he was escorted off the premises by the Store Manager. But he did manage to get a photo before the carnage!

crazy world cup competition

2010-05-20T14:10:00.005+01:00

With the World Cup around the corner, all manner of weird and wonderful visual tricks, linguistic puns and international flavours are being launched by manufacturers in a desperate attempt to cash in.

We're holding a wonderland World Cup competition to find the best (and worst) examples of World Cup-themed products and packaging around. So if anyone reading comes across a winner, please do send in pictures to info@wonderlandwpa.com.

Kicking things off (so to speak) are these patriotic rolls that Nik found in M&S...

from Paris with love

2010-05-06T14:54:00.004+01:00

Our senior designer Jess is taking on a sort of capital city tour this year - starting with New York in February, via Paris the weekend before last, and ending up in Berlin next weekend! Glamorous eh? She's written about her trip to Paris for the Carnaby Brown blog. Read the full account here.

the best taste under the sun

2010-05-04T11:48:00.008+01:00

Last year we stumbled across Southern Alps at a health food shop while replenishing our muesli supplies for the Colourmakers House kitchen. We were immediately taken with this growing Kent-based company that started life in 2001 as homemade fruit snacks and muesli for entrepreneur Lotte Garner's family. Studio consensus was that it was the best-tasting granola we'd eaten in a long time - not to mention its ethical and sustainability credentials. But we also thought that the brand's identity and packaging wasn't living up to all this.

So we got in touch with Lotte and it turned out that retailers and customers were thinking the same thing. People also found the large number of muesli and granola variants really confusing (bit of a problem for a brand hoping to grow).

Fast-forward six months and the newly designed and streamlined muesli and granola range is shipping to retailers this week, along with a new positioning, tag line, brand identity, website, sales presenters and newsletters.

So how did we get here? Our starting point was simple - Southern Alps' unique Slow Dried Fruit process. They use the very best fresh fruit, dried with warm air and nothing else to retain maximum flavour, nutrition and goodness. Sugar and preservatives are never used, and the resulting fruit really does have the best taste under the sun!

We also took inspiration for the brand's personality from Lotte herself. She's one of the most unforgettably quirky, seriously intelligent and unapologetically passionate people we've come across. And because this is a brand packed with meaning and provenance, we had to tell some of its great stories, so the back of pack features little anecdotes. Take the Slow-Dried Pineapple for instance, which is produced by farming groups in Southern Uganda. The pineapple is grown in naturally fertile soils, picked when fully ripe and then dried immediately to capture its wonderful natural sweetness. The solar drying method used minimises the impact on the environment and by drying the pineapple in Uganda, just 1kg of dried pineapple is shipped for every 15kg of fresh pineapple harvested, reducing the environmental impact of its transportation.

Now for the burning question: is the new design working? Well, there's been a phenomenal response from the trade - every single retailer has been very positive about the new look and the brand has got listings in Ireland for the first time. We'll keep you posted on how the story develops, and will share our work on the rest of the Southern Alps range as and when it happens.

things to do in london when...

2010-04-27T14:38:00.004+01:00

We've just put together a guide to some of our favourite things to do and places to see in London, for a Swedish client who is visiting the city. Click here to view or download a copy (download recommended for a better quality viewing experience).

battle of the sexes

2010-04-23T09:24:00.014+01:00

In our modern, getting-close-to-equality world, are the lines between products for women and products or men becoming blurred? And, if that is the case, should we insist on shakily redrawing them?

While there are - of course - products that really are distinct to a particular sex (think Tampax and King of Shaves), many are just positioned one way or the other, through packaging, marketing or both. We've been looking at the roles of each of these, and have picked out some examples that might help us cross what can be a bit of a minefield.

gorgeous pink

You'd think that by now, we'd have all grasped that turning a product pink, lowering its calorie content and calling it gorgeous won't give it automatic appeal to women, but is likely to patronise and alienate many of them. However, the recent launch of Chicago Town's Gorgeous Pizza, and the very existence of pink power tools, goes to show that the message hasn't got through. Yes, there's a time and a place for pink, but that's not always and everywhere. For products that have been mindfully designed for - and marketed to - women, taking their lifestyles into consideration, look at HP's new Tord Boontje-designed laptop (OK it's floral, but no pink in sight and, being limited edition, it has that aspirational factor. Or car manufacturers like Ford who've made curvy, simple interiors that speak to women's sense of form whilst retaining all function.

extreme sport

Similarly, it seems to be an accepted wisdom that if you whack 'Extreme' or 'Sport' on a product, men will be instantly drawn to its masculine vibe. This is particularly rampant in the personal care category - where there's still a need for some macho reassurance - and has swiftly become something of a cliché (one that Dove has moved away from with the new Men+Care range). Also choosing to bypass that self-conscious machismo, look at how Pot Noodle, Yorkie and McCoy's have stamped their successful 'men only' positionings with their wholeheartedly masculine - yet humorous - campaigns.

for him. for her. for them.

Sometimes it's right to target one gender or the other, but at other times it's just the easy way out, and it can backfire (e.g. Aero's struggles to win back the male consumers they alienated a couple of years ago with their very female-targeted advertising campaign).

Bearing in mind the fact that women are more likely to buy 'male' products than men are to buy anything 'female', it makes sense to keep the product unisex, the packaging lightly masculine, and the promotion appealing all round. OK it's simplistic, but take that classic beer companies' conundrum - a successful 'women's beer'. Could they open up their existing products more to women just by tweaking their exclusive-to-men advertising campaigns? Speculation aside, what it comes down to is that it's no good deciding on gender-based design/marketing for the sake of it. As ever, those involved should first and foremost focus on the actual consumer - be it male or female. Stay in touch with your consumers and their needs, and the rest will follow.

We've talked the gender talk, but can we walk the walk (so to speak)? We'd like to share a couple of our own projects and explain how we've tackled the issues.

carnaby brown

Launching in the UK in March, Carnaby Brown is a new lightly sparkling fruit wine that is - resolutely - for girls. This is a case where it's the product (original and rosé variants, 5.5% abv) that decides the positioning, but we haven't gone near the aforementioned 'gorgeous pink' look. Our design does justice to the product - elegant and stylish - and avoids being overly girly. We like to think that a man wouldn't feel embarrassed picking up a bottle of Carnaby for his girlfriend!

jinxWe've talked about Jinx before, but it's really worth another look in this context. Jinx launched last year as a new Swedish RTD made with real fruit. Whereas in the UK (male orientated brand WKD excepted) these drinks are generally produced with women in mind, in Sweden both men and women enjoy them. So our designs maintain a fruity party spirit while successfully appealing to both sexes- a notoriously tricky feat in the alcohol category.

löfbergs lila

In many minds, there are foods and drinks that have a natural gender-bias (so beer/crisps are for men and chocolate/wine are for women). But some products completely transcend gender, and coffee is one of those. Coffee is a unifier - with its consumers often tending towards the zealous. We kept that in mind when designing these new packs, which focus on the coffee experience with designs that are inclusive to all coffee lovers whether male or female.

absolutely fabulous

2010-04-22T09:40:00.009+01:00

On Tuesday of this week, I was lucky enough to get to spend the day away from the studio by the river in sunny Chiswick. I'd been invited to be part of the judging panel for this year's packaging entries to the FAB (Food & Beverage) awards. I've always been a bit of a FAB fan - they often give credit to great work that somehow goes unnoticed in other design awards - so I was chuffed to bits to be part of the panel.

Shaun Bowen from B&B was heading up our panel and keeping us in check - urging us to vote for the work that had a real idea and real spark of creative brilliance. So together with Rob Hall of Davies Hall, Kellie Chapple from Ziggurat and Anna Perchal, the Creative Director for Fortnum & Mason (what a job!), we set about reviewing the 150+ entries over the course of a morning. Work was categorised by sector, so there were big clusters in groups like 'savoury' or 'alcoholic drinks' and we awarded each piece a mark from 1 (go straight to the bottom of the class) to 9 (oh-my-god I wish I'd done that). The whole process was conducted under the watchful gaze of Neeraj and Abbey from FAB.

Work was either submitted in physical form (great because you could pick up each entry, read the story on the back of pack and feel the quality of the finishing) or simply as images on a screen (some blurry, some too small, some just not doing the work justice). Because of this we couldn't view each awards sector as a whole, only in two sets, which was unfortunate but unavoidable. [Top tip if you're thinking of entering next year - send the real thing!]

I was expecting it to be a fairly easy and straightforward process, but it was actually quite difficult. Sure, there was some work that really stood out (either as being simply a work of pure genius or for the exact opposite reason), but the stuff left in the middle was much more difficult to judge. We awarded marks individually based solely on our own opinions and feelings about the work, and once we were all done we escaped into the sun for lunch whilst the votes were tallied up. Lunch was fantastic, if rather large, and after a couple of glasses of wine we were all well lubricated and ready for the next stage of the judging process.

Once the votes were collated, a median score for each sector was given under Shaun's watchful eye. Anything above the median stayed in for the next judging stage, anything below was escorted straight back to the nearest Tesco never to be seen by us again. If any of the judges felt especially passionately about any of the work that didn't make the grade, we were allowed to make a case for its return, but after reviewing the shortlist we all felt the right work was in the right place.

In a way, the shortlisted work did seem a little predictable to me. Yes, it was mostly fantastic and beautiful work, and yes, I had voted highly for the majority of it, but where were the big, mainstream FMCG examples? Where was the stuff you see on the shelves of Tesco in Newcastle, not just behind the counter of the posh deli in Fulham? I'm being a little blunt, and perhaps this split in the 'good' and 'bad' is inevitable, but it did raise a few questions in my head about the criteria by which we judge 'good' design - questions I think I'll tackle in another blog post later.

We then looked at each sector of work in detail to judge which - if any - of the examples was worthy of a nomination (the equivalent of being 'in the book'). Some work did fall down at the first hurdle, and I think from our initial shortlist we probably chopped out another 50% of the entries. This stage caused quite a lot of - sometime heated, the wine doing its job - debate amongst us judges, with some of us feeling especially strongly about certain pieces of work.

Nominations noted, we went on to judge if any of the nominations was worthy of a FAB award. Some sectors succeeded (a bottle of champagne was opened upon the award of the first FAB!), others didn't, and again the process caused quite a lot of passionate talk amongst us judges!

Finally, from the FABs that were awarded we were tasked with awarding a FABulous award for the best in show (if we felt any of the winners make the grade). One winner really stood head and shoulders above the others, and I think all the judges were green with envy at the sheer brilliance and simplicity of the design. So this part of the day was actually pretty straightforward and totally unanimous. We had our FABulous!

After a hard day's judging, and feeling quite chuffed with our decisions, we retired to the bar to reflect on the day. Do I feel the right work made it through? Mostly. Did I learn anything from the day? Definitely. Can I reveal the winners? Absolutely not - I'm sworn to secrecy! The FAB awards ceremony takes place on May 24th, and the results will be posted on the FAB website shortly afterwards. Have a look and see if you think we made the right decisions...

Nik, Creative Director

coffee break

2010-04-21T09:30:00.008+01:00

We've recently completed a big project redesigning the full range of packaging for our Swedish client Löfbergs Lila, one of the biggest coffee roasters in the Nordic region. Using the proposition 'Extraordinary Expertise', we married the professionalism and passion of family-owned brand, and communicated its unique and distinctive personality.

The resulting packs see the humble coffee cup transformed with flamboyant decorations which hold the values of the brand and increase variant differentiation across the range. The back of pack is also used to communicate 'Extraordinary Expertise' with an eclectic collection of coffee stories, tips and images from the Löfbergs Lila archive.

carnaby girl

2010-04-19T10:23:00.006+01:00

The Carnaby Brown website is starting to look pretty content-rich now, here's a post from their news section that we must share, if only for the glowing review of our designer Jessica!

welcome back!

2010-04-15T17:32:00.010+01:00

Two weeks ago our lovely Studio Manager Amy came back from maternity leave, and has quickly settled back in to keeping everything shipshape upstairs, making sure all the jobs go through the studio effectively. She says it feels like she was never away, and we're all thrilled to have her back!

girls' night out

2010-04-12T17:19:00.006+01:00

For the past few months we've been working on a very exciting new brand called Carnaby Brown - a brand new sparkling fruit wine created by entrepreneur Aisling Young and designed by our studio (led by Jessica, our appropriately girly senior designer). With the drink's launch now underway (using various initiatives from social networking to on-trade promotions) we want to use our blog to capture the brand's progress and some of its marketing, so to get things going may we introduce you to Carnaby Brown...

Twelve months ago Aisling (an experienced drinks marketer) identified a gap in the market for a drink that would celebrate the unique relationships between women, and the importance they place on friendship and sharing experiences. She asked us to help her created a new brand aimed at women, and - excited by the opportunity to develop a new brand and indeed a new category - we agreed to a long-term commercial partnership.

Since then, our team has been involved in all aspects of the brand's development. We work with lots of different brands, but never in a way that gives us such brutal insight into every element from conception to launch. This included both the usual stuff - identifying variants and bottle shapes, agreeing brand propositions, consumer insights and research - and the more unusual issues such as the manufacturing process, distribution agreements and the use of social and guerilla marketing. Oh, and lots of tasting, of course!

Carnaby Brown is a 5.5% abv, deliciously fruity and refreshing drink, that's rounded off with a gentle sparkle. It's directly inspired by the women it has been created for: twenty-somethings who want an ideal drink to get things going - whether getting ready for a night out with friends, meeting up after work or having a relaxed afternoon drink at the weekend. Made to an exclusive recipe in White and Rosé variants, it's a unique and sophisticated blend of perry, white and muscat grapes with the sessionability of premium beer or cider and -served in an elegant 75cl Bordeaux-style bottle - the sociability of wine too.

Our pack design balances a retro/heritage look with feminine elegance, evoking the best and most stylish of London. It captures the essence of a girls' night while steering clear of the market default of overtly girly pink floral designs.

As well as the product and design, another differentiator for the brand is its innovative advocacy marketing programme, working with social media and regional brand ambassadors who have been recruited based on their suitability as 'Carnaby Girls', and who personally spread the word about Carnaby Brown. Bearing in mind how girls love to gossip, what could be better than a bit of word of mouth?!

So now you're familiar with Carnaby Brown, we'll be keeping you posted on its progress... just watch this space!

happy easter!

2010-04-01T16:39:00.009+01:00

from bergen with love (and rain)

2010-04-01T10:00:00.001+01:00

It may be all rainy and wintery here in the UK, but take heart - Bergen in Norway has a whopping 275 days of rain a year. This historic city was Anna's destination the other week, and judging by this picture she sent us in between meetings, it is quite another world (look at how the forest is eerily coming out of the mist in the background)!

top typographic tips #2

2010-03-26T16:35:00.004Z

A short lesson in letters and letterforms...

{Click to enlarge}

cure all

2010-03-23T11:59:00.003Z

The second 'amazing egg tip' has been unveiled - how to cure your egg to make it last forever (assuming that you paint it so well you want to keep it forever, which remains to be seen!)

{Click to enlarge}

top typographic tips #1

2010-03-22T14:29:00.006Z

The first in an occasional series of educational typographic tips from our Creative Director (usually to be found by the kitchen sink to be read while the kettle is boiling!)

{Click to enlarge}

euro + organic = nil points

2010-03-19T09:29:00.004Z

I was intrigued when I heard there was to be a new European standard logo to label organic products. I was even more intrigued when I found out the logo would be decided through a Europe-wide design competition (open to design students and recent graduates only). Unfortunately, I discovered all this long after the entry deadline (and 3442 entries), and after the likes of typo-god Erik Spiekermann had judged the results and the winner had been selected.

So imagine my disappointment when I unearthed the winning entry. It's not that it's a bad idea - putting the stars from the European flag into a leaf shape makes sense and forms a simple, easily understood symbol. It's just the execution of the mark I'm totally let down by! For one, I'm not even sure it's a leaf. Second, why the dodgy perspective? Surely a simple flat and graphic design would have been more successful? And please don't get me started on that badly drawn 'stem' of the leaf shooting out from the star. I'd be tempted to give douze points for the simple idea, but I'm afraid it's nil points for the crafting.

Interestingly, there's a page on Facebook where a lot of the shortlisted entries in the competition can be seen. As you'd expect, there's a lot of shockers in there, but also some real gems - see what you think...

Create the new EU Organic Logo!

Nik, Creative Director

how to...

2010-03-18T15:02:00.003Z

As part of our Amazing Easter Egg Painting Competition (see below), we've received some guidance in the preparation of aforementioned eggs! Starting with the basics - How To Hollow Out Your Egg (click to enlarge).

going to work on an egg

2010-03-17T15:00:00.004Z

For this year's Easter celebrations we're holding 'The Amazing Wonderland Paint An Easter Egg Competition', which is being heavily publicised in the studio with the following springy and typographically-lovely posters. Tune in soonish for the - no doubt amazing - competition entries...

elevenses

2010-03-11T15:05:00.007Z

This week, we've found ourselves surrounded by boxes of biscuits and sneakily-opened half-eaten packets on every surface. This is thanks to the recent launches of two of our projects for Jacob Fruitfield Group in Ireland.

The first is Jacobs4kids - a brand new range of four different children's biscuits, each with individual identities designed around the theme of 'kids' fun and adventure'. The strong and interactive packaging is designed to appeal to kids while reassuring parents with the all natural ingredients.

The second is the redesign of one of Ireland's most iconic biscuit ranges - a 'bonkers family' made up of Kimberley, Mikado and Coconut Creams. Our challenge was to bring the 100-year-old range up to date without losing any of its quirkiness. The mallowy typography is set on individual backgrounds that highlight the personality of each member - the feminine Mikado, playful Coconut Creams and more masculine Kimberley.

New and old alike, both ranges have certainly won some fans in these parts, now if only they were available in our local Tesco!

which came first?

2010-03-10T14:31:00.025Z

For the past seven months, one of our designers, Sach, has been keeping us all updated on the progress of his chickens - from painstakingly building a chicken coop by hand, to bringing the new additions home, to the news we'd all been waiting for which came last week - the laying of an egg! Here's the story so far...

Coop in Progress - To build the coop from scratch took 4 weekends' work DAY and NIGHT, 16 trips to B&Q, 67 metres of wood, 100 screws, 2 tubes of glue, two tubs of paint, 2 rolls of mesh and 4 plasters for minor injuries.

04.08.09 - After a visit to the local farm to pick chickens that had been chased by a farmer wielding a fishing net, the chickens moved in to their new home.

Completion Date - The coop was FINALLY finished and Sach was feeling incredibly proud of his handiwork.

Chicken Feed - The chickens happily munching away, having gone crazy at the sight of food!

04.03.09 - Seven months to the day after the moved in, the first egg is laid! WHOOPEEE!

letter to the editor

2010-03-08T10:28:00.003Z

Our MD Lawrence picked up on a recent article in Design Week on provenance and how brands are capitalising on their product's origins, and sent in a letter to the magazine that sees the issue in a slightly different light. His missive was published in last week's issue - you can see it online here if you're a Design Week subscriber, otherwise here's a clipping (click to enlarge)...

ping pong

2010-03-04T15:31:00.009Z

The studio was eerily quiet at lunchtime today. Word had got round that there was some free ping pong going down at our local food hall/shopping centre/train station/quick link to Paris - St. Pancras. It turned out to be something of a performance piece organised by artistic collaboration Search Party (find out more about them here). But for Julia and her loyal supporters (colleagues and passers-by alike) it was a sporting endeavour and a hugely successful one at that. She thrashed 'Search Party' 12-6! Take a look at the evidence...

kaffe culture

2010-02-15T15:59:00.011Z

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

2010-02-12T09:41:00.006Z

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

2010-02-11T09:35:00.008Z

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

2010-02-01T14:06:00.004Z

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!

bringing home the bacon

2010-01-27T11:20:00.005Z

A proud moment for wonderland, as our new identity and packaging for Kerry Foods' heartland brand Denny has just launched in Ireland.

The Denny range includes sausages, bacon, sliced cooked hams and savoury pies, and the big idea across all of these was about 'Making Simple Food Special', communicated through the 'Taste of Home' message. We used a flagpole brand identity that anchors the brand, and a twinkle of sunlight through the D of Denny which draws the eye to the brand name and offers great strength on shelf. The product is shot naturally in a real home setting.

Our Creative Director Nik explains, "Any heartland brand needs a strong idea and a clear product architecture. ''Taste of Home' is the idea that has been brought to life in a warm and natural style on pack. The identity has been strengthened to create a simple yet strong icon for the brand giving consistency across the ranges and maximising standout on shelf."

trust in us

2010-01-12T14:28:00.021Z

In our latest newsletter, we explored the value of brand action in these times of mistrust. We've examined five categories we think are particularly interesting for the current market, and have looked at how they establish and maintain consumer trust.

These proactive brands anticipate social changes, prepare, understand consumers' needs and provide for them, rather than begging to join the party after consumers have had to ask for what they want. In doing so these brands earn respect and maintain a trust that truly runs deep.

clean brands

were originally championed by premium and organic foods such as Daylesford Organic, and body and pharmaceutical products like Ren, and are often distinguished visually by translucent white and clear packaging with colourful pastel accents. Consumer trust in clean brands is based on transparency: product sourcing, production and manufacture, fair trade policies, organic credentials and environmental awareness are all unblemished and open to public scrutiny. These brands become most volatile when trying to conceal something they do.

keywords: fair trade, untainted, organic, free-from, untouched, transparent, pure

do brands are actively earning consumer trust and respect through the activities they do. They might be giving back to the community, providing particularly worthy services or promoting causes beyond their own remit through experiences like Innocent's Village Fête, or the recently launched RockCorps by Orange. Their promotion of charitable, community activities turns brand ambassadors into brand

activists as they invest in doing rather than just saying.

keywords: involve, give back, participation, action, community, engagement, provide

inherited brands are trustworthy because they've been passed from generation to generation. Their brand status has less to do with branding and everything to do with how people come to know about the product. Inherited brands need little marketing and often draw simply on nostalgic value when they do. Even more than other categories, inherited brands such as Heinz, Lyle's Golden Syrup or even British Airways are the 'brands your grandmother recommends', and trust is lost usually through re-designs and brand re-positionings that disregard their past and alienate existing loyal customers.

keywords: heritage, authentic, local, &Sons, classic, original

useful brands make your life better, easier and exist as invisible daily staples in our lives. Trustworthy for their sheer utility and seamless integration in our world, brands like Google, Oyster, IKEA, meat producers, banks and other financial institutions are usually only noticed as brands when they cause problems or stop working properly. In other words, if we notice these brands, they've done something wrong.

Useful products and services should focus on their inherent utility and avoid letting expansion and marketing expose these invisible brands to potential mistrust.

keywords: utility, customer, services, staple, lifeline, daily

innovation brands change as quickly as the times, evolving, ducking and diving to make sure they're always ahead of the curve. These brands become known for change, innovation, creativity and style. Innovation brands like Apple, Nokia, Topshop and Audi take revoltionary change seriously, and they do it on a regular basis. The brand doesn't change, but products do. Every season provides an opportunity to re-establish trust, and their greatest risk is in not delivering enough change. Every product launch becomes an event, consumers become fans, and their leaders become icons.

keywords: evolution, season, innovation, leader, trendsetter

closed for maintenance

2009-10-14T10:29:00.005+01:00

Today was the last day of Antony Gormley's One & Other on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. So, a fitting - if tardy - time to show off our very own art installation. Our artwork manager Robin Munden had his one hour of fame on the plinth back in August, and we all went along to support him. Here he is in character as a builder - inspired!

stockholm calling

2009-08-25T14:35:00.003+01:00

Sweden is well known for its great design and sense of aesthetic. We’re lucky to be regular visitors, working with Spendrups, Löfbergs Lila and Brämhults to name but three. When we’re Stockholm bound, we always try and make time to have a nose about to see what’s new, what catches our eye and what inspires us. Here are some of our favourite finds, showcasing the Swedish love of colour, type, illustration and above all, simplicity, alongside some of our own work (click for larger images)…

1 & 11 Saltå Kvarn; an organic food brand with a wonderful colour palette and naïve illustration style; 2 Renée Voltaire, another organic brand, with great quirky typography. The brand has just launched a range of feminine care products (3); 4 more simple and eye-catching illustration on these ricecakes from Friggs; 5 we designed these cute little coffees for Löfbergs Lila this year.

6 this tray sums up Swedish design for us, found in the Design Torget shop (a mecca for all things Scandinavian) at Arlanda airport; 7 ‘tea-chic’ by Friggs with more crazy but beautiful type; 8 more of our work for Löfbergs Lila; these emotional espresso packs were produced in 2006; 9 meet Pee (or‘Kiss’ in Swedish), part of a pair of brilliant toys to help young kids with toilet training; 10 we spotted these simple, bright and engaging own-label packs in ICA; 12 we designed Sweden’s no.1 water brand, Loka; and Gravendal (13), a cider with street-cred for brewers Spendrups

hello and welcome

2009-08-22T15:44:00.008+01:00

Our new girl in the office this month is Anna Brolin, who has joined us from Design Bridge as International Client Director. Back from her summer holidays in Sweden, Anna will now be taking responsibility for developing our presence in Scandinavia, where our current clients include Löfbergs Lila, Kobbs Tea, Spendrups and Brämhults.

the genuine article

2009-08-18T13:31:00.021+01:00

Are consumers losing trust in the authenticity of packaging claims?

Desire for authenticity has been one of the key drivers behind design aesthetics for the last few years. Authenticity in a world of superficial branding promised a richer, more meaningful and responsible choice of product. Packaging designs, in particular, have emphasised such aspects as heritage, ethics and provenance or any combination of these in an attempt to promote the authentic stories behind their brands - sadly, in a rather predictable way.

But claims of organic and heritage originals have now lost some of their previous appeal as consumers have grown more savvy about the truth and value behind them. Put simply, they don't always reflect the point of a brand anyway! Brands that have trodden this path look bland at best and contrived at worst - just so that they can fit with a consumer trend - and in so doing raise huge questions of credibility.

Our recently launched redesign of Brecon Carreg bottled water wanted to find a refreshing, relevant way of communicating the brand's Welsh provenance of outdoor refreshment. The pack shape and design are focussed on the unique geography of the Brecon landscape whilst bright, impactful graphics move away from the dull greens and blues among illustrated mountains so characteristic of bottled waters.

Standard, authentic pack shapes, colours and stories are beginning to lighten up and reflect a desire, particularly among younger consumers, for fun and escapism. Consider Jinx. An exciting new brand just launching into the Swedish alcopop market, Jinx does something very different from the rest of the category: it contains raw organic fruit juices. But instead of drawing inspiration from the organic market or emphasising its natural juice credentials, our designs picked up on the pleasures of its taste and sociability. Worthy organic, natural hues gave way to pure energy and enjoyment - a perfect fit with the core audience and a direct reflection of their clubbing habitat. It's a brand confident enough in its authenticity to focus on raw pleasure.

For younger markets, authenticity and honesty are the norm, but synthetic and GM foods aren't necessarily seen as scary or dangerous either. If brands tell the right story in a modern way and offer both fun and escapism, they don't need to see authenticity as the Holy Grail - although it might be a genuine claim. The question we should be asking is not just how to make brand experiences more authentic, but how to make them more interesting and enjoyable.

bp birthday

2009-07-10T13:30:00.002+01:00

BP is an amazing 100 years old this year, and to celebrate this momentous birthday the company published a commemorative volume last month. The book - written/edited by BP's Centenary Project team and designed/produced by us - tells BP's unique company history using images from a vast archive of over 259,000 photos and ephemera.

According to our director Peter Walker, "at times it felt like we were producing a storyboard for a feature documentary. The hardest part was editing down a selection from so many captivating images." The book has multinational distribution through BP's global organisation.

inspired

2009-06-04T13:17:00.029+01:00

The theme for May's Final Friday get together last week was inspiration. We all shared something/someone we find inspiring. The results were pretty diverse, some more obvious than others (Wallpaper* is self-explanatory, but Moonwalker?!?). Here's a run down, with links for more information below..

Studio aka You Can Find Inspiration In Everything, by Paul Smith
Up The Boo Aye, Shooting Pookakies, by Mike Harding Wallpaper*
Shai Agassi in Wired Magazine Vogue Dan Eldon
Design*Sponge Time Out London

the low down

2009-05-06T13:09:00.008+01:00

A couple of weeks ago, Ireland's second largest cheese brand, the lower fat Kerry LowLow, made its first foray into the UK market, with packaging designed by use here at wonderlandWPA.

Our MD Lawrence explains the challenge thus, "Kerry LowLow cheese performs brilliantly in terms of taste and meltability for a lower fat cheese. However, the low fat cheese sector doesn't exactly have a great reputation when it comes to delivering on natural cheese taste. As a brand name, Kerry LowLow certainly does the job of putting the consumer in the lower fat zone, so the packaging has to work incredibly hard to exude its genuine great taste and naturalness.

"At last the category will have a genuine brand whose core proposition is about lower fat with all the taste of a real cheddar, which consumers can feel good about. The packaging has set out to position itself in this single minded way."

design with meaning

2009-04-28T13:03:00.002+01:00

The topic for this month's Final Friday (an informal company get together on the last Friday of each month) was "design with meaning". This philosophy is at the centre of all our work, and as a way of exploring it we each brought in an example of a company or brand that we personally felt embodied design with/without meaning and shared it with everyone else. Here's a run down of who chose what and why (as a generally positive bunch, most or our examples are "with meaning" apart from the last two shown below)...

party spirit

2009-04-22T12:55:00.002+01:00

We have been working on the branding and packaging for Swedish family-owned brewery Spendrups' latest launch into the RTD (ready-to-drink) market, JINX. It is the first RTD made with real fruit juice to be launched in Scandinavia, offering a more natural and honest fruit-flavoured alcoholic drink.

Our Account Director Julia says, "In Sweden RTDs are drunk by men and women alike, and achieving the balance of natural fruit and party cues as well as creating a design with appeal to both sexes were the key challenges."

The label demonstrates a "perfect blend of fashion, fruit and party, whilst offering the widely recognized and assuring cues of spirits brands".

We also enlisted everyone's help in coming up with a suitable name, with the ultimate winner, JINX, alluding to the mystery and surprise of a night out partying with friends!

value vs. good value

2009-04-15T00:35:00.002+01:00

Shrinking consumer bank balances are driving a new value aesthetic across every retailer

As Tesco, Boots and other high street FMCG retailers in the UK & Ireland try to take on Lidl and Aldi, ultra-value product lines are appearing at even lower prices than the standard house brand versions. Standardised packaging, un-inventive primary colours and pound store prices are luring consumers hungry for cheaper options and exploring new territory in the value market.

beans means value which would you choose?

But even in these tough times, do consumers really just want the cheapest products they can find? And if this is the case, are they buying own-brand simply because it's the cheapest option? Where does design come in? Surely consumers can still see and touch - they are not solely motivated by their wallets as a means to decide what branded - or non-branded - products to buy. Brands spent the last decade educating consumers in the visual codes of premium, organic, authentic and health; surely consumers haven't forgotten...?

During the good times, the bigger brands encountered very little threat. Pack updates were often gratuitous rather than incisive. During recessionary times, brands are put under the spotlight. Those that ignore the issues facing their consumer base risk alienating them. If people feel that the big brands are indifferent to their situation and don't do anything to stand out and be different, they will inevitably consider cheaper alternatives.

And why not? If brands can't be bothered to define what makes them different and be able to say it - clearly and succinctly - then value brands become fair play. And those brands that can't be bothered and then focus on price to hide their shortcomings risk losing their consumer base for good.

In recessionary times, showing concern about price and acting responsibly is a value in itself. But lazy discounting is not enough. Brands also need to polish their foundations, be confident about their proposition and be single-minded about communicating it! The new recession brief is to find a meaningful link between price and the main benefit of your brand - be it functional or emotional.

EasiSingles gave consumers a meaningful link, and with it enough reason to buy this brand over own-label equivalents or its big-brand competitors who appear to have given up the ghost! EasiSingles is an Irish brand of individually wrapped slices of cheese perfect for melting over toasties and burgers, and part of a relatively static category.

With a pricepoint slightly higher than own-brand value, we helped take EasiSingles from being a rather nondescript functional player with a lack-lustre message to one which embraced its single-minded, good-value benefit: meltability of the highest order.

Our 'meltable' pack design helped take EasiSingles from a declining brand losing 12% of sales year on year to a positive sales uplift of over 30%. And this was achieved initially without advertising. In tough times, without the luxury of big advertising budgets, packaging and branding have to work even harder. More bang for your buck, or more melt for your cheese in the case of EasiSingles.

Good brand design means you can demonstrate good value, rather than just cheapest value, and in the process establish long-lasting emotional loyalties to new and existing consumers.

legally branded

2009-04-13T00:29:00.002+01:00

In February we created an identity for the new Government legal regulator LSB, having picked up the brief last October. We created an authoritative marque, respectful of legal traditions whilst giving LSB a modern and distinctive edge.

Designer Catherine Barnett, who also designed the identity of the UK communications regulator Ofcom, explained, "Regulation plays an important part in our lives, meaning these organisations need an approachable and public face. Brand identity is vital to how regulators communicate successfully with consumers, businesses and stakeholders."

all change!

2009-04-12T01:31:00.002+01:00

We welcomed Amy Smith at the start of April as our new Account Manager. She'll be working closely with Julia. As Amy S joins, trusty Amy M is leaving us - thankfully only temporarily though, as she's off on maternity leave. Good luck Amy and see you at Christmas! Whilst Amy M is away, Anna Chipperfield (who was studio manager at JKR) will be stepping in to hold the fort. So, some new faces, some with the same name as the 'old' faces. This could get confusing...

pure soya

2009-04-08T00:24:00.002+01:00

The Pure brand has made an interesting strategic change to capitalize upon the benefits and growing popularity of soya. The dairy free spread has always had a soya variant in its range. But new packaging presents the brand as a soya brand and aims to leverage the soya proposition in spreads and cheese slices. Whatever next?

irish biscuits

2009-04-02T19:58:00.002+01:00

Our new packaging design for Jacob's creams in Ireland has just hit the shelves. People had forgotten just how special creams biscuits are. So we ensured the biscuits were given iconic status to make consumers stop, look and remember just how much they fancied a cream biscuit with a nice cuppa...

denny delicious

2009-03-14T17:48:00.002Z

Ireland's favourite chilled meats brand has launched a range of subtly flavoured sausages. And they really are very good sausages. So, we felt they needed a name to describe how they tasted. That's the Delicious part. The food shots were captured by Diana Miller to give some real sizzle and taste.

a pack design that really looks good enough to eat!

pepsi challenge

2008-11-17T11:44:00.002Z

Remember the Pepsi Challenge back in the 1980's? Well, we've been given a new opportunity to pick our favourite, as Coca-Cola and Pepsi have both recently undergone redesigns. While Coca-Cola has taken a nostalgic view, looking to its heritage for a pared down, classic design, Pepsi has taken a riskier step towards the future with an - also simple - evolving icon. Whether Pepsi's more radical design will find a place in consumers' hearts remains to be seen and, in true Challenge tradition, opinion in our studio is divided over which is the tastiest.

fresh faces

2008-11-03T18:01:00.002Z

At wonderlandWPA our team is ever expanding, and we'd like to take a moment to introduce our two newbies, Robin Munden and Leo Young. Brought in to head up the production & artwork side of things, Robin's experience includes five years at Lewis Moberly. Leo has joined us from Seachange, diving straight into the midst of our design team. Hello boys!

sprung a leek

2008-10-30T10:38:00.002Z

A bit of trumpet-blowing on our part... Our busy summer (now just a distant memory) included pitching against five other agencies to rebrand Welsh mineral water brand Brecon Carreg. If you haven't heard of it yet, it's the UK's 11th largest water brand and we're hoping to help it climb those rankings when our new, improved design comes out next spring. Our MD Lawrence sees it as "an exciting opportunity for us to develop a design with real meaning for Brecon Carreg, and put some fresh air between it and the rest of the category". You heard it here first.