Eurostar Group receives a rebrand from DesignStudio

24/03/2023

Comprising a new logo, symbol, colour palette, photography, illustration and sonic branding, the new identity brings both companies together under the Eurostar name, which was chosen “due to its powerful equity and global recognition”.

The new branding will launch in full by the end of 2023, and hopes to put a modern face on the Eurostar Group while respecting the heritage of its two brands. “A key part of the success of our partnership was to work closely with Eurostar and Thalys stakeholders to capture the essence of each brand’s near 30-year heritage, whilst evolving them into the future,” says Julien Queyrane, DesignStudio creative director.

The ‘spark’ is intended to be used across the full brand experience – from train livery and across stations, to digital platforms including website, apps, social media and TVCs. The new identity also modernises the Eurostar and Thalys colours, featuring a punchy blue and deep navy, and six secondary colours.

Koto juices up the branding for checkout platform Bolt

17/03/2023

Founded in 2014, checkout platform Bolt offers one-click payments for over 300 retailers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in a time of ever-increasing convenience, the company has raised millions of dollars in investment, taking it to the level of a ‘decacorn’ – that’s a startup with a value of $10b+, for readers outside the world of venture capital.

The tech company brought Koto in to overhaul its visual identity and create something that could grab attention in a competitive landscape of “somewhat bland sans-serif wordmarks”, according to Koto creative director Arthur Foliard.

“There was a huge and unprecedented opportunity to stand out from the crowd and to bring more personality into a pretty expected space,” he tells CR. “There’s a reason behind it. Most of these brands want to look secure, but you don’t need to be bland to feel trustworthy. By prioritising feeling safe they all feel the same.”

Even the tail of the @ sign includes a spiky edge, thanks to a bespoke typeface by PangramPangram. In total, says Foliard, there’s 15 electrified glyphs, chosen as the characters users would see most often.

Center Parcs Europe’s rebrand goes back to nature

14/03/2023

The green bird and blue type that were the focal point of the holiday brand’s previous identity have been replaced with a softer colour palette and a tree-shaped symbol that DesignStudio says harks back to the company’s mission of reconnecting guests with nature.

Center Parcs Europe – which doesn’t include Center Parcs UK – has 29 holiday destinations across mainland Europe, including Parcs in the Netherlands, France, Germany and Belgium. They offer cottages to stay in as well as a range of  family-focused activities all on site. DesignStudio’s new identity will be rolled out across all of these, with different ‘totems’ used to show the various options at each – for example, a wave for swimming pools, or a pair of palm leaves for the Market Dome, where guests can shop and buy food.

DesignStudio has introduced new typeface Bagoss – made by Displaay Type Foundry – which was chosen for its circular joints and organic terminals, and certainly adds more of a welcoming feel to the branding. Although the focus is on nature, the colour system embraces a nuanced palette, ranging from leafy green and a caramel brown, through to a more vibrant pink and deep blue.

Illustrations by Fuchsia MacAree and photography also helps emphasise this connection with the great outdoors, with shots of tall forests, golden sunsets and misty hills suggesting an enticing experience.

Thix hair loss brand

07/03/2023

Hair loss is big business these days. Given that around 80% of men and 50% of women will experience it in their lives, it’s hardly surprising that the market for products and supplements is booming – to the tune of an estimated $23.6 million globally.

The brand’s visual identity is rooted in the fact that it is “backed by science, not magic”, according to Otherway, the studio behind the new branding. The process began with choosing the brand name itself, which is a combination of the words ‘thick’ and ‘fix’.

Thix’s all-caps wordmark is designed to be unapologetically simple, creating a trusted stamp of authority across what can be a confusing industry for the consumer to navigate.

The rest of the identity is inspired by retro health and beauty packaging from the 70s and 80s, featuring two bold typefaces and a single colour palette of fresh green, referencing the product range’s mint and eucalyptus scent.

Packaging That Balances An Organic And Luxurious Aesthetic

03/03/2023

Plantheque is a skincare brand working to preserve nature’s resources and primarily uses recycled or fully recyclable materials. The brand’s packaging is thoughtfully sleek, implementing a down-to-earth aesthetic that feels as organic as it does luxurious. The soft, natural color palette paired with mindful typography makes up a truly wonderful packaging system.

We created a bouquet of green nuances, a small forest grove, a meadow, where all the products and packaging form a verity, exciting and decorative in the bathroom cabinet and visually interesting in pictures. We placed the fantastic unique ingredient list as decoration on the front to be transparent with the ingredients to create curiosity and connect to the benefits. The name Plantheque was developed to match the concept together with descriptive names of the products setting an inspiring, easy to remember tonality completing the design expression. 

The Skin Guru Sleep Mask, The Turn Back Time Serum, etc. A symbol to complement the Plantheque logo was created for small formats as a small piece of jewelry. It is animated to bring it to life in social media and web.

Tallo’s Label Features A Juicy Typography System

24/02/2023

Based in Argentina, Tallo is a cold juice brand focused on creating an environment that balances a sense of humor with a healthy mindset. The brand’s packaging is designed by Mauricio Gallegos and PAZ MIAMOR, with a rounded typography system at the core of the design. There’s a clear fruit influence behind the design, and while the typography takes a maximalist approach, the layout is simple, creating a balanced, cultivated design.

The colours of these juices are vibrant and pastel at the same time, so we chose to use a free colour palette to create a fun environment with many possibilities and combinations. In addition to a bold geometric display logo, small line illustrations are also used in the label to represent fruits and vegetables, referencing kids’ drawings, especially Feli and Juani.

New Packaging For German Wine Brand Blue Nun

17/02/2023

For German wine brand Blue Nun’s 100th anniversary, Pentagram partner Paula Scher created a new packaging system that redefines the brand’s Blue Nun mascot. 

The oversized, blushing nun takes over the outer box and is also featured on the wine labels. The skinny, delicate typeface allows the new character to become the lead element, leaning into a visual approach. The first iteration of the new bottle design features a “100” that appears on the labels but will be removed after the anniversary celebration. 

The original label image depicted 18th century nuns picking grapes in a vineyard, but for the anniversary, the design team wanted to capture the lively, indulgent spirit of the Roaring Twenties decade that birthed the brand, so they opted to give the nun a complete makeover. The new label features a saucy, glamorous portrait of a blushing nun inspired by the French 20th century designer and Art Deco artist Erté. 

Hong Kong food destination Basehall

14/02/2023

Since opening in 2020, Basehall has become a hotspot for hungry Hong Kong residents and visitors. So much so that parent company, HongKongLand Properties, recently unveiled a second, larger site in the same building which brings together 13 independent food and drink concepts.

To coincide with its opening, London-based studio Otherway was tasked with rethinking what an East Asian food hall could look like and positioning Basehall as a cultural destination.

The new branding is inspired by Hong Kong’s visual history, featuring a dynamic logo that nods to the city’s ubiquitous street signs and is described by Otherway’s founder.

The design language is built on a grid system which visualises the various layers coming together to create a tapestry, with each restaurant given a unique identity that pays homage to a signature dish or the owners themselves.

Otherway commissioned five illustrators to bring all the individual identities to life. “We wanted to create an area where every vendor had an equal chance of standing out compared to more established food brands. From 60-year-old roast goose shops, to brand new Michelin starred experiences,” says the studio.

otherway.com