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Creative round-up March 2022

March has been a busy month for Ingenious Design and there’s been plenty of marketing, branding and design news to keep up with too! Here’s the Ingenious team’s selection of items and happenings that have caught their eye over the last few weeks…

Nike 3D Tokyo billboard

A huge billboard in Tokyo’s Shinjuku area saw an eye-catching 3D activation running from 21 to 27 March to coincide with Nike Air Max Day on 26 March. An instantly recognisable orange Nike sneaker box burst open to reveal various Air Max styles in multiple colourways, as well as hinting at the inspiration behind each shoe. 

At the end of the sequence, a cat’s paw swipes at the box, a reference to the infamous calico cat Nya who resides at Cross Shinjuku Vision, a new landmark installation in the city. The first three floors are event spaces and the top floor is equipped with the latest 4K image quality, LEDs and speakers. Since July 2021, Nya the cat interacts with the organisation advertising in the space. It’s certainly a great spot to get seen, with nearby Shinjuku subway station being one of the busiest in the world!

PepsiCo Nitro Pepsi ‘silent’ launch

PepsiCo have gone down the less is more route to launch their new Nitro Pepsi cola featuring Tik-Tok star and celebrity influencer, Khaby Lame, who is known for not talking but instead for his facial expressions and signature hand gestures. Created by artist David LaChapelle, the adverts feature Lame demonstrating how to pour and enjoy the new cola which, according to Pepsi Chief Marketing Officer Todd Kaplan, ‘is such an incredible cola experience, words can’t even describe how smooth it is’. 

As Lame explains ‘so much of my content is about showing, not telling, and that’s exactly what I did with Nitro Pepsi’ so we can conclude he is obviously the perfect man for the job!

Hermes becomes Evri

The parcel delivery company Hermes has changed its name to Evri and had a major makeover, including brand new logo design which uses ever-changing type permutations. Created by design studio Superunion and type foundry Monotype, the focus is on emphasising the diversity and multiplicity of the UK communities which interact with the brand and its couriers. 

The new name Evri is a phonetic spelling of ‘every’ which in turn led to the creative response, partnering with Monotype to create the chameleonic logo. The type foundry created a tool called ‘variable font intelligence’ which made it easy for Evri’s teams to randomise fonts in each of the logo letters for different uses and making possible 194,481 different logo iterations! The idea is for each default character to appear stylistically unique across Evri’s communications and for each delivery van in the 5000-strong fleet to have its own design, representing and reflecting the UK’s diversity and variety. One thing remains the same however, the brand has stuck with its signature blue colour!

Preparation H rebrand

Having had Bowel Cancer UK as a client for many years, Ingenious understands the challenge of taking a serious subject and turning it into something easily accepted by the many, using clever visuals and fun. New branding work by global design consultancy Elmwood does just this for leading haemorrhoids treatment brand, Preparation H. 

Around since the 1920’s, the updated brand aims to tackle stigma around ‘butt health’ by creating a series of light-hearted, shareable illustrations animations and images that attempt to normalise the conversation. Rejecting ‘cold’ medical terminology, the messaging includes words such as keister, rump and derriere and captions like ‘Your butt is behind you no matter what’ to create a light-hearted tone built on humour and ‘quirky and retro’ typographic choices to make the topic more accessible. 

Design Council asks public to help with train stations of the future

The Design Council and Network Rail are rolling out the next part of a plan to redesign the nation’s railway stations by inviting the public to experience proposed designs in virtual reality. People will be asked to take an active part in a comprehensive programme that will lead to the redesign and upgrading of many of the UK’s approximately 2000 small and medium stations. 

The first phase of the ExploreStation project began last year and included a RIBA International design competition to create design principles for local stations which was won by 7N Architects. Using 7N’s initial designs, this second phase will encourage the public to get involved at various locations across the UK in May, using virtual reality experiences to visualise and test the new stations. The core idea is for stations to become community hubs rather than places people just pass through, and designs will follow a modular approach, using a kit of parts, easily replicable and working in different places and configurations ‘tailored to the identity and needs of each community’ explains Edward Hobson, director of place for the Design Council. 

To find out more, explore the proposals and provide feedback go to https://explorestation.commonplace.is 

Book – The Shining: A Visual and Cultural Haunting

Manchester-based designer Craig Oldham has created this homage to Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror classic, with design referencing the film’s iconic imagery. Due for publication by Rough Trade later this year, the nearly 400-page tome is designed in the style of the mysterious manuscript that protagonist, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is seen working on in the film. 

The project is the second in Oldham’s publishing venture, Epiphany Editions, which attempts to recreate and build on fictional books that appear in films as props. The book pays homage to the film’s visual language, replicating the style of Jack’s manuscript, the patterned carpets of Overlook Hotel where the action takes place, various artworks on the walls, room 237’s key fob, Jack’s burgundy cord jacket and his son’s knitted Apollo 11 jumper. The text is printed on loose-leaf yellow paper, almost identical to the paper used by Jack for his manuscript with a font identical to that of the typewriter used by Jack in the film. 

Probing the film’s underlying themes and long-lasting impact, the book will be a must for all Shining fans!

V&A exhibition – Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear

A new exhibition at London’s V&A is one where the design is as eye-catching and thought-provoking as its content. Both elements work together to make the viewer an active participant in a journey through gender, identity and adornment. Jayden Ali, of architecture and design practice JA Projects, who designed the exhibition, says ‘We wanted people to feel like they were part of the show’ and according to co-curators, Claire Wilcox and Rosalind McKever, ‘Rather than a linear or definitive history, this is a journey across time and gender’. 

The amazing show is as much about the ways in which designers, tailors, artists and their clients and sitters have constructed and performed masculinity as it is about the evolution of menswear over the centuries and the visitor feels more like they are stepping onto stages than being presented objects. 

On until 6 November 2022. 

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