We featured work by McCann Health New York before for Mucinex, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, where they encouraged people to stay at home. (Check that out here.)
Now that things are opening up and the message has changed to wearing a mask, it’s great to see the same concept and look and feel applied here as well. That’s the mark of great art direction – it can be reused across multiple communications campaigns, while still being recognisable.
Great work!
For our first ever post in our Alumni Series we’re featuring Kirsten Townsend. She is an award winning Creative Director and Graphic Designer specializing in Brand Identity and Design Communication, based in Venice Beach, CA.
Having started her career in South Africa, working on brands such as Microsoft, Sasol, Telkom, First National Bank and ELLE Decoration, Kirsten went on to win a number of national and international creative awards, and now finds herself living in Los Angeles. She has experience working in the Advertising Industry, Brand & Design Industry as well as Publishing and Editorial Design.
Kirsten founded Fabrica Creative Consultancy in 2016, since leaving a full-time job as Creative Director. She now consults for agencies and private clients as a Designer and Brand Consultant. When she’s not perfecting commercial design work, Kirsten can be found designing a collection of bespoke rugs and art pieces as part of her design & art portfolio.
Since her student days, Kirsten has been recognised with a number of awards including:
2020 Grand Jury, New York Festivals Advertising Awards 2018 Exhibition, Cape Town, South Africa 2017 Exhibition, Vienna Design Week, Austria | Exhibition Le BHV Marais, Paris 2016 Bronze Loerie Award | Craft Loerie Award | 1 of 100 Beautiful Things, South Africa 2014 Grand Prix Loerie Award | Bronze Loerie Award | Bronze Loerie Award | 8th Best Designer in South Africa 2013 Silver Loerie Award 2012 Clio Award Shortlist | One Show Design Shortlist | Bronze Loerie Award | Bronze Loerie Award 2011 Gold Loerie Award 2010 Loerie Shortlist 2009 Student Loerie Shortlist | Student Loerie Shortlist
To see more of her work, you can visit her website here.
It’s so difficult to show something like autism in a visual way. That’s what makes this campaign by Ruf Lanz for Autism for Switzerland so special. They used Russian dolls to show how it can feel to be affected by autism. Very clever!
What do you do if you’ve planned a new brand and product launch and then a global pandemic comes along and wipes out any chance you had of people interacting with your work?
You do what TBWA London and Hun Wine did. Using instantly recognisable art direction and some clever copy, they created this great campaign that deals directly with lockdown. Perfect.
This chocolate packaging by Studio Segal for Rocco chocolate uses illustration and colour to create a real stand out look. It’s always important to see how non-Western design is considered and how it plays out and seeing how they do things in Iran is an important way for all of us to keep our minds open. The more influences you have and the further you look – the better your work can be!
Great work Studio Segal – we love it!
Sandford Orchards is a cider producer in Devon, England who were looking to expand their footprint into the rest of the UK. Their old design was lacking the modern, contemporary feel that they were looking for to take their business to the next level.
They turned to Kingdom & Sparrow for their new packaging, which is more graphic, simplified and entirely modern. They’ve repositioned the brand in the perfect middle ground between ‘cheap’ mass-produced ciders at the bottom end and expensive craft ciders at the top end.
What a great example of how design can totally reinvigorate a brand. Lovely!
40FT Brewery in London is a craft brewer that began in two shipping crates, each with a length of 20 feet. Hence, their name – 40FT.
They created a limited edition IPA during lockdown and they wanted to use the idea of social distancing as inspiration, hence the name of their new beer – 06FT. With some amazing design by NorthSouth (inspired by black and yellow ‘warning’ tape) we get this beautifully put together package.
We’re sure it tastes just as good as it looks!
It’s been fascinating to see how brands and businesses are responding to social distancing and the COVID crisis. And for an enormous festival like Tomorrowland (which takes place in countries across the world), the current world we are facing makes for a very difficult environment in which to do business. Right now, you literally cannot get thousands of people into one place for a festival.
But you can take it online!
This work by Dogstudio is just amazing. They created an entire online island where people can buy tickets, log on and visit different stages. Amazing!
You can see more detail about it in the video below.
Toothpaste comes in a tube, right? Because that’s what has always happened. But the problem with toothpaste tubes is that they’re non-recyclable and pretty inefficient if you think about it.
Enter Tatabi Studio, with their IKI toothpaste product concept. It comes in a refillable pump pack and is made from recycled plastic. Of course – it looks incredible too. Somehow, we’d much rather have one of these on our bathroom shelf than a scrunched up toothpaste tube!
Jean Claude Nsabimana, an honours graduate from our 2019 class has just been featured in The Photographic Museum of Humanity!
There’s nothing we love more at The Academy than seeing our students (and alumni!) go on to do great things and we must admit that this news will keep a smile on our faces all day long.
You can learn more about his achievement on The Photographic Museum of Humanity’s website here.
Well done JC!
The Official Stellenbosch Academy Blog 