Bread Line Design

I was recently asked to create a pair of  websites for author Susie Cornfeld to promote her two new books Farewell My Lovely and Catch36. With the goal to drive traffic to the relevant online stores and book samples I kept the sites down to a single page, which also helped keep costs down.

Last month Wired magazine asked me and good friend Simon Maddox to meet with them and take them through the iPhone app design and build process for a January special.  We had a great time there, and have started work on an app for them due in the store in February.  I founded all mobile agency Conjure in the summer and am proud to add Wired as a new client. You can read the full article (and admire my beautiful profile) in the magazine or online at Wired.co.uk . Signed copies available for £299.99.

I’ve been a huge fan of Logopond since its inception, and over the piece great designers have showcased a brilliant array of clever logos. I’ve selected some of my favourites and included them below. Merry Christmas everyone!  

Jimmy Bedford, top dog over at Jack Daniels whiskey distillery died last August. How do I know this? I was greeted to a wall sized photo of the man on a London tube station yesterday afternoon. The three metre high advert features a shot of the deceased along side an emotional message and obligatory shot of the whiskey bottle. It’s perhaps touching his employers  decided to honor him with a slot in their current campaign, but I can’t help feeling such a gesture is laced with more than a touch of cynicism.

Every brand wants an emotional connection with its customer, but surely evangelizing dead employees is a little strong? Dont get me wrong, simply because someone’s dining in the afterlife doesn’t mean they should miss out on lucrative advertising deals. Steve Mcqueen demonstrated this aptly in his Puma ad, and more recently poverty loving Gandhi has attached his name to a £16,000 pen.

No what surprised me about The Jack Daniels latest ad is that it the man featured was neither famous, nor was the advert dressed as that, an advert. Steve’s Ford effort was at least tongue-in-check, and Mont blancs Gandhi fiasco simply a miss placed endorsement.  By comparison Jack Daniels latest effort is insidiously sentimental, delivered with all the subtlty of a 2000lb bomb. I’m praying this ad tactic doesn’t catch on. My Monday morning tube ride can be depressing enough without Jack D’s marketing department pushing dead men and whiskey in my face.

This logo was designed to support the range of books from the Dekaydence series. The background illustration was designed by Jamel Akib who’s artwork is also featured on the books Black Light and Green Fire.

This logo was commissioned by Irish startup Pet Talk, a community and trading hub for all things pet related. I spent most my time sketching, looking for an icon that would support the name, but also work alone.

A recent logo I designed for start-up business Conjure Digital. Specialising in design for mobile web and mobile applications I wanted to get away from the normal web2.0 look, opting instead for a deep purple and arcane typeface to mimic the magic theme that the name suggests.

I designed this for a fitness company specialising in dance based routines. A barre is the rail that runs around a ballets dancers training studio.

This one was designed for a London based literary agency. They work across many creative fields, so I looked to the cave paintings of Lascaux in order to try and marry our civilizations earliest artistic efforts with the agencies creative vision.