Paul Rand was an American graphic designer, best known for his corporate logo designs, including the logos for IBM, UPS, Enron, as well as his NeXT work for Steve Jobs. He was one of the originators of the Swiss Style of graphic design and we’ve long read about his working methods and approach. He almost single-handedly convinced businesses that design was an effective tool, so when Paul Rand spoke, people listened.

We just came across this three part interview with the man, and thought we’d show you them in one place so that every one can watch the genius. Put your feet up and enjoy.

Keep reading…

Hello 2012! We’ve hit the ground running this new year and are very excited by the projects we’ve got coming up. We’ve got plenty of exciting things in the pipeline and, as always, lots of lovely things to share with you. Which brings me nicely onto the latest post in our Five Things series. A mixed bag as always, we’ve got some great student work, some brilliant filmmaking, a lovely bit of branding, something music-related and some foodie stuff. Hopefully something to keep everyone happy.

Without further ado, click below to check out what’s been catching our beady little eyes recently.

Keep reading…

We realised recently that it’s been AGES since we last posted a Five Things. For the uninitiated, it’s a regular series in our blog in which we share five interesting, creative things that we’ve spotted on the world wide internet over the course of the last week or so. It’s always a mixed bag, and this post in no different. Jelly hand grenades, flying dogs, sitting on Hercules’ face and festive booze are just a few of the things you can expect to see this time round. Take two minutes out of your day, put your feet up and have a look at what we’ve found for you.

Keep reading…

Glug London is an event for people from the creative industries to come together, have a few drinks and hear talks from some of the most creative designers and studios around. Each event has seen a steady growth with bigger names talking, bigger venues selling out and more people scrambling to get tickets. Needless to say, they’ve been busy. With this in mind, we thought it was time to catch up with founders Ian Hambleton and Nick Clement to have a chat about the event and see what they’ve got in the pipeline.

Keep reading…

Seeing the logo you designed emblazoned down the side of a 747? The commemorative stamps you designed becoming collectors items? Garnering every award going whilst picking up a host of new clients along the way? These are the kind of things most designers would eat their own MacBook to have acheived. Johnson Banks are an agency that has ticked the above, and much more, off their to-do list. Virgin Atlantic, The Royal Mail, The BFI, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Yell.com, More Th>n and countless other companies, government organisations, universities and charities have been queueing up for re-brands and design work from them. At the helm of the operation is Michael Johnson. Amazing designer, guitar obsessive, brilliant writer, regular contributor to Creative Review & Design Week and very down to earth, nice guy.

His excellent Thought For The Week Blog is also a must read for anyone with a passing interest in what happens behind the scenes in one of the UKs most respected agencies. Michael kindly agreed to take time out answer our Ten Questions.

Keep reading…

It’s Friday, it’s sunny and it’s time once again to let you know about Five Things we’ve seen this week which we like. Encompassing a number of areas including advertising, design, second hand shops, passport stamps, jelly and toys, there’s sure to be something for everyone.

Keep reading…

Once again we’re back with Five Things. Our regular selection of interesting bits and pieces we’ve come across over the course of the last week. We have another mixed bag of creative stuff for your perusal (as well as a shameless bit of self promotion…). Enjoy.

Keep reading…

Shoreditch based design and branding agency SomeOne are passionate about what they do. A quick nose around their brand new (pardon the pun) website is proof that they actually care deeply about their work. ‘Launching, re-launching and protecting brands’ is at the heart of their work and they’ve been doing plenty of it. Along with sterling work for Sky Sports, O2, Betfair and New Look, SomeOne have re-created the iconic crest for The Royal Opera House, designed the sports pictograms for the London 2012 Olympics and most recently, created new branding for Eurostar. A huge project which covered practilcally everything including the advertising, print work, pictograms, moving image, a new typeface, signage – even a series of 3D sculptures!

Suffice to say, they know what they’re doing. Simon Manchipp is the creative director and co-founder of SomeOne – he was generous enough to take the time out to get involved in our Ten Questions series.

Keep reading…

Being the kind, sharing types we are, we thought it was only right to shine the spotlight on a few other design blogs out there. We regularly stumble across new blogs and thought it would be an idea to share some of the best ones with you. We’ve catagorised them by discipline but most of them tend to cover a wide range of topics so you’re bound to find something of interest. By no means a defintive list, the sites we’ve listed below should at the very least be a good starting point. Get bookmarking!

Keep reading…

Five Things is back, the first installment in the series this year takes a look at some of the creative goodness we’ve seen over the last week. Covering film, photography, advertising, printing and erm… eggs, there’s sure to be something for everyone. Dive in and check out what we’ve been looking at.

Keep reading…

Last night saw the momentous occassion of the first Mat Dolphin studio outing of the year. The destination was the headquarters of London advertising agency JWT to hear a talk entitled ‘To Go on a Journey, You Need Strong Legs…’ by Simon Sankarayya, the art director better known in design circles as Sanky.

Keep reading…

What do a series of murals on the walls of Philadelphia, an iPhone App, a coffin, Gareth Pughs Spring Summer 2011 collection, Boris bikes and a barn in Suffolk have in common?

They’re just a few of the nominees featured in the prestigious Brit Insurance Designs of the Year Awards. The nominations, which were announced this week, are taken from seven areas which cover broad range of design disciplines. The categories are architecture, fashion, furniture, interactive, product, transport and, the one we’re most interested in, graphics. The selection is an eclectic affair and will be displayed at an exhibition at the Design Museum from February 16th. The aim of the exhibition is to promote the finest design the world has produced over the last year and eventually crown one of the shortlisted nominees ‘Designer of the Year’. Previous winners include Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett, industrial designer Yves Béhar and London student Min-Kyu Choi, the creator of the folding plug.

Keep reading…

Today Gap have announced on their Facebook Page that they’re considering the idea of ‘crowd sourcing’ logo ideas as a result of the backlash their new logo design has received this week.

In a response to their move which could be pure genius or naive, we decided to write an open letter to Gap which we posted on the page as a response.

Keep reading…

It’s that time again… Five creative and inspiring things that we’ve seen this week. Ready…steady….GO!

Keep reading…

Here we go, five more creative and inspiring things that have been spotted around the internet over the last week. Without further ado, here they are…

Keep reading…

Last week the D&AD hosted their yearly awards ceremony at The Roundhouse in London.

Forty-two Yellow Pencils were awarded to work that set new standards in creative excellence, along with five Black Pencil’s – the creative industry’s most elusive prize, only awarded for truly outstanding and groundbreaking work. Of the five Black Pencil’s handed out the final one went to D&AD perennial award winner, Apple, for its website Apple.com. This prize was the only Black Pencil that received a lacklustre response from the audience, prompting only a small ripple of applause.

Keep reading…

It’s that time again ladies and gentlemen. Continue reading for an end of the week look at five interesting things that have caught my eye this week.

Keep reading…

Did the title give it away? The second installment in the series of five interesting things that have caught my eye this week.

Keep reading…

I was interested to see the latest Dixons ads from M&C Saatchi on my tube journey home the other day. The blatant dig at some of our high streets best-loved department stores is nothing if not controversial. The confrontational tone, transparent publicity-bating and admission that you might find better service (if not value) elsewhere may not be to everyone’s taste, (unsurprisingly) but they certainly inspired some debate here at Mat Dolphin towers.

Keep reading…