Eurostar Group receives a rebrand from DesignStudio

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

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

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.

New Packaging For German Wine Brand Blue Nun

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

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

Director Daniel Kwan releases a kid book with A24

After breaking into the world of book publishing several years ago, film production company A24 is expanding its focus to younger audiences. Earlier this year, it released its first children’s book project – a reprint of Star Child by Claire A Nivola, which, in a clever ploy, was quoted in another A24 enterprise, Mike Mills’ 2021 film, C’mon C’mon.

One of Kwan’s new books is called I’ll Get to the Bottom of This, beautifully illustrated by Sean Lewis. The story follows a dog detective investigating a car pile-up that leaves all of the characters (also dogs, which may explain the traffic accident) trapped in a tunnel. While everyone tries to work together to find a way out, the detective is more preoccupied with finding someone to blame.

The investigations take an even more obscure turn as his line of questioning extends to the main suspect’s organs, before he’s challenged to think beyond himself by a higher cosmic power.

Logo Design

I had the pleasant to digital draw up this logo design. Fox & Holly have rebranded all there handmade crafts under one logo rather than multiple different logo creating a stronger identity.

New look for Wok to Walk

Wok to Walk began life in 2004 as a tiny restaurant in Amsterdam, inspired by the founders’ travels around Asia. Fast forward to today, and it’s a global food brand with over 100 sites in 20 countries.

Inspired by this ancient form of cooking, the new logo features a wok with a lightning bolt in the middle, which doubles as a signature W. Building on the dynamic mark, Without created a suite of patterns that sit across uniforms, takeaway bags and typographic posters.

A refreshed colour palette introduces new gradients inspired by the cinematography of Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai. Meanwhile, a new photography style and art direction seek to translate the colours, flavours and emotion of Chinese street food, instead of falling back on tired clichés.

The brand’s renewed emphasis on copywriting also focuses on food quality, seasonal recipes and ingredients, rather than price or meal deals. In this vein, the chefs – who attend circus school as part of their training – have been renamed as Woksmiths to highlight their cooking credentials.

Jamie Oliver’s pasta brand

Otherway was enlisted to create the design identity for Pasta Dreams – a partnership between TV chef Jamie Oliver and Taster, a company comprised of food sub-brands which are all focused entirely on home delivery.

According to Otherway, the aim was to step away from what people might traditionally associate with Italian food, with an emphasis on retro design details.

The playful identity comes to life in a set of animations. Blobs of olive oil float through the air, and in the Pasta Dreams logotype, they rise up to form the counters in the letters A and R.

The psychedelic imagery carries through to the packaging, which highlights the “shapes, swirls, and splashes” people come across when cooking pasta and features a warm palette of peach, orange and brown.

The Pasta Dreams design concept seeks to appeal to younger customers rather than Oliver’s “traditional audience demographic”, yet there was an important balance to strike between unexpected and on-brand.

Zero waste supermarket Good Club as Dizzie

As Good Club has grown and its ambitions have changed, the team commissioned Nice and Serious to find a look and feel that was more upbeat and eye-catching, and the updated visuals are certainly hard to ignore. A bold primary colour palette of pink and red gives the brand a sense of fun and friendliness, while secondary colours, such as blue, purple and yellow, add extra vibrancy to packaging and imagery.

This palette is accompanied by an array of endearing illustrations by artist Anthony Orozco that include silhouettes of refillable food items on pot labels, and a cast of playful brand mascots composed of the pots themselves. Encouraging potential and existing customers to utilise Dizzie’s refill options – a core part of the company’s mission and a bigger focus this time around – was one of the main objectives for Nice and Serious.

Speaking of the challenge, the agency’s creative director, Peter Larkin, says, “We wanted to elevate the experience out of the eco-clichés, and onto the shelves of everyday customers across the UK…. From the simplified product illustrations through to the Dizzie ‘whoosh’ and brand mascot, we created an identity full of movement and character.”

Finally, to reinforce the idea that refills can be fun, rewarding, and hassle-free, the agency developed an upbeat tone of voice to reflect this: “For the tone of voice, we set out to conjure up those little joyful moments that are totally unique to the refill experience,” explains Larkin. “So whilst being familiar (and sometimes frank) was important, it also meant using words to surprise and satisfy. Our motto was to channel ‘written ASMR’.”