In 2022 designers stepped as much as assist folks in Ukraine, studios sought B-Corp standing and the design of the Elizabeth Line was lastly revealed.
Because the warfare in Ukraine approaches its 300th day, having spanned most of 2022, two options how designers in Ukraine have been supporting their nation and elevating consciousness had been of continued curiosity to Design Week readers.
The primary was from Kyiv-based Katerina Korlevtseva sharing her personal expertise and the actions of designers in Ukraine. She urged that silence was not attainable, and shared posters created by fellow Ukrainian designers. She added that probably the most helpful messages “should not with doves and requires peace however calls to make donations”.
The second article highlighted extra tasks by designers who’ve been creating motivational materials, communications designed to combat misinformation in addition to work calling to worldwide purchasers to cease working with Russia. Some tasks, designer Iliya Pavlov stated, had been “too lovely for what’s going on”.
Given the lengthy anticipate Crossrail, or the Elizabeth Line, because it was renamed to coincide with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, it’s unsurprising that designers had been eager to learn the story behind its design.
The brand new line, which TfL claimed as “one of the crucial complicated digital railways on this planet”, options 42km of latest tunnels, 7 million tonnes of excavated materials and got here in three and a half years late at a complete price of round £19 billion.
We regarded on the “distinct character” of its stations designed by completely different architects, and their new options similar to platform edge screens and newly designed seating. The trains themselves function interconnected carriages, multi-use areas and “clever lighting and temperature management”, with interiors by Barber & Osgerby and a brand new seating moquette by Wallace Sewell.
A sequence of notable public artworks had been unveiled too, from artists similar to Yayoi Kusama and Conrad Shawcross.
For the broader branding of the brand new line its typeface is Johnston100, Monotype’s modification to the one utilized by TfL for over a century, and its color palette includes Elizabeth Line Purple, TfL Blue and White, then Legible London Blue and magenta.
Initially of Satisfaction month – and celebrating the 50th anniversary of UK Satisfaction – we regarded into the historical past of the rainbow Satisfaction flag and its many permutations because it was first designed within the late Seventies.
Homosexual artist and drag performer Gilbert Baker got here up with the design in 1978 when prompted by LGBT campaigner Harvey Milk to create a brand new image for the homosexual neighborhood. Baker stated of using a rainbow, “to me, it was the one factor that would actually specific our variety, magnificence and our pleasure.” Every of the colors of the flag had particular meanings, however the modified rainbow we recognise within the flag at present happened after difficulties sourcing a few of its vibrant colors for mass manufacturing.
We then checked out how the image has grown and tailored by means of time, with new variations modified to recognise trans and intersex communities and other people dwelling with HIV/AIDS.
Lately there have been many examples of merchandise and branding designed to have a good time Satisfaction, however there’s additionally a rising subject of “rainbow washing”, which has seen manufacturers profit from associating themselves with LGBTQ communities with out giving something significant again.
As a part of our in-house design crew sequence, we spoke to a designer from the LEGO crew to learn the way its units are designed – in addition to the recruitment course of, the way in which groups are structured and the way the design transient differs for merchandise designed for various ages.
Luis Gómez, a Columbian product designer at LEGO gave perception into the method, which does truly contain quite a lot of constructing issues from large bins of LEGO bricks, a lot “like a child taking part in at house”. However he additionally compares the method to “sculpting with bricks” and explains that the “complexity” of the tasks implies that usually one designer is accountable for every set.
Different glimpses backstage reveal that the HQ incorporates a library of each single LEGO brick in existence, groups go on group journeys for location-specific inspiration, and that each native youngsters and robots take a look at the brand new units.
In February we reported on the Tremendous Bowl half-time present designed by Es Devlin for a line-up of Dr Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent and Kendrick Lemar.
To accommodate so many alternative stars Devlin segmented the set right into a sequence of buildings that got here collectively as a “composite Compton Avenue”, referencing the house to West Coast rap. After a gathering with Dr Dre, who Devlin stories was significantly drawn to her set up items, over her earlier set designs and was “excited about approaching the Tremendous Bowl undertaking as narrative artwork set up in addition to celebratory efficiency,” she stated.
The buildings had been conceived of as extra like lit museum piece, with every holding a specific significance to the artists, and every utilized in alternative ways through the 14-minute efficiency. Snoop Dogg started on the roof of a Compton home styled a bungalow generally discovered within the South LA space and Eminem began his efficiency in a “courtroom” earlier than busting his method out.
“Veteran” Tremendous Bowl manufacturing designer Bruce Rogers made it attainable for the set “to look inside eight minutes and disappear inside six minutes – an immense problem requiring navy precision and crew choreography,” Devlin stated.
In January, we checked out how retail designers are mixing inside and interactive design to create participating model experiences.
In Berlin, guests to the M&M retailer can create a digital model of themselves made up of particular person M&M sweets. Different options impressed by the town embrace a road artwork show drawing on the East Aspect Gallery, a recreation of an M-Bahn carriage breaking out of a wall, and interactive “clubbing pods”. Landor & Fitch senior 3D designer Ashley Randolph stated: “We tried to get as suave as we might within the retailer”.
Lavazza’s first retailer outdoors of Italy hoped to bridge British and Italian espresso tradition, explains Mirko Cerami of Ralph Appelbaum Associates. The design took on bean cues: a cafeteria by architect Carlo Ratti is formed like a espresso bean and makes use of espresso as a cloth, whereas the shop additionally contains a chandelier of 700 beans. Interactive components embrace an AR recreation the place Londoners might hunt for digital espresso cups hidden throughout the town, and an immersive tasting space which tasks tasting notes onto the ceiling.
In the meantime, Samsung KX, sought to make the model ethos “enjoyable and tangible”, defined Samsung head of premium retail Andrea Ferrara-Forbes. Within the house, designed with Brinkworth, guests can browse merchandise, check out new tech or attend workshops.
Ten years on from the London 2012 Olympics, we spoke to Wolff Olins about an identification which drew a lot criticism on the time of launch.
Whereas it was all the time going to be a second the place the studio was within the highlight, as world CEO Sairah Ashman advised us, “Inside half an hour, [the studio’s] web site crashed. It was simply the beginning of a backlash so excessive that a few of its designers needed to be rehoused”.
A decade on, Wolff Olins now describes the colorful, jagged brand as “daring, spirited and dissonant, reflecting London’s trendy, city edge”. The identification as a complete eschewed London’s apparent iconography in favour of trying to interact with a younger crowd and showcase accessibility – to mirror what senior designer Patrick Cox referred to as “my lovely, disobedient London.”
Ashman additionally recollects the distinctive technique of designing an Olympics identification – working in secret beforehand, solely rising for meals, and never having the ability to “seize a microphone” within the chaotic aftermath both.
Nonetheless, regardless of all of the furore, Ashman provides that purchasers usually “need an Olympics” and numerous designers joined the studio on the again of the work.
In August, we spoke to among the rising variety of design studios changing into B Corps about what the certification means for design.
B Corp standing is awarded to for-profit companies which are assembly “excessive requirements of verified efficiency, accountability and transparency on elements from worker advantages and charitable giving to provide chain practices and enter supplies”. The certification’s emphasis on sustainability, variety and wellbeing is aligned with altering attitudes inside the design business, however its course of is difficult, with most candidates failing the B Impression Evaluation take a look at the primary time round.
Good and Critical founder Tom Tapper referred to as the evaluation “eye-opening” however commented that the certification is beneficial in filtering businesses that “are genuinely dedicated to creating optimistic change, from those who show performative objective”.
Kingdom and Sparrow discovered the method helped it to use extra formal insurance policies for its crew, and We Made That discovered the framework helped deliver hard-to-define points into focus. How&How additionally reported that the B Corp certification was a optimistic for potential staff in addition to purchasers.
Nonetheless, the method is less complicated for youthful studios with progressively minded purchasers. As Tapper provides, “Irrespective of what number of charity tasks an company does, in the event that they’re nonetheless working for damaging purchasers (like oil), they’re making the world a worse place.”
