This is a selection of identities that I have designed over the years. Since most were not fleshed out to create a full brand suite for the organisations involved, I thought it best to group them together here rather than having each on its own page.
1. Model A Interactive: This identity was designed for a SoHo New York based website design company. The company mission was to provide custom designed websites to clients at affordable pricing (when compared to standard large studio rates), with ‘design for the people’ being the unofficial tagline. The identity draws on Constructivist design (the old Soviet style) as well as the Bauhaus school in Europe to create a logotype that is unique and speaks to its audience of custom yet accessible quality. Each letterform is custom drawn to emphasise the nature of the product, with the overlays adding a contemporary, interactive look and feel to the traditional bauhaus style. I designed the identity while working with MSDS.
2. Rose’s Bouquets: This is an identity I created for an Indiana-based florist company specialising in floral arrangements and bouquets for weddings. The company had outgrown its old identity and its founder approached me to create an new one, with the brief that it should feel contemporary without alienating their existing customer base. The logomark plays on the company name, itself stemming from the owners name (Trista Rose Millar) and it was immediately apparent that it was the best fit for the company in the first round of design concepts. The owner was drawn to its simplicity and understated elegance, and to how the arc of the rose icon leads the eye to the logotype. The logotype utilises Mrs Eaves to reinforce the ‘weddings-only’ aspect of the business, while also being an appropriate choice for a florist’s. The identity was recently released and has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from new and old customers alike.
3. NYU — SPSP Political Psychology Pre-Conference 2010: NYU Doctoral Students approached me to design an identity (and accompanying website) for a conference that they are organising, to be held in Las Vegas in January 2010. Their pre-conference is to be held alongside the prestigious Society of Political and Social Psychology Conference. A number of such pre-conferences are usually on offer to prospective attendees, leading to the challenge to present the event as being both interesting and well organised. I designed an identity based on the letterforms for Political Psychology (PP), re-drawn to represent speech marks, so alluding to the purpose of the day. The speech marks were then placed within a stylised ‘C’ representing the forum aspect to the day. The typeface is Pill Gothic, a contemporary typeface that speaks to the new ideas and forward looking mandate of the pre-conference. The color palette is bold and unusual for an academic conference such as this, but has proved quite successful, and registration was fully taken up. The identity was updated for the 2011 conference, and can be seen on the current version of the site, and on the project page.
4. Stone Street Tavern: This is an identity I created for Stone Street Tavern, a bar on Stone St in New York’s financial district. The street is one of the original cobbled streets of Manhattan, and the bar itself is housed in a building which has stood for over 300 years. Its roots are as a storehouse and trading venue for merchants who would sail into the ports around the tip of Manhattan. For the bars identity I decided that the bar should take ownership over its legacy, and that of the street (especially since there are many other competing bars on the street) by incorporating a more historic look and feel. The bar itself is known to be high-end both in entertainment and in its food. This was conveyed in the sophisticated typography, with the wave-like motifs emphasising both the maritime history of the financial district and the quality of the bars offering.
5. Zigolinis NYC: This identity was designed for a new bar on Pearl Street in New York’s financial district. The bar owners wanted to incorporate ‘NYC’ into the name as they envisaged both franchising the bar to other cities, as well as making it a tourist destination (and thus they would become part of the touristy NYC collectible merchandise). The bar itself however was not at all touristy, being quite sophisticated and high-end. A specialty mixologist created the bars signature drinks, and their chef created a unique menu that was different to most other bars in the area. The owners saw it as being in the vein of those old-time European members clubs and wanted to portray it as such. With all this in mind, I created an identity that was contemporary and memorable, adding the tagline eat, drink, gather to sum up the atmosphere of the bar. The muted colors alluded to the ‘cool’ factor in the bar, and also provided a springboard for extended branding and merchandise.
6. The New Age Expressionists: The New Age Expressionists are a local art group (of which I was a member) who required an identity as part of their end of year exhibition advertising. The groups membership is quite varied, ranging from young to old and with many differing styles and abilities within. In order to put across the spirit of this group, I used a contemporary typeface and styling but, with a classic flower coming from the type, alluding both to the older membership and to their favourite painting subject!
7. George’s Court: This is an identity I did while working on the George’s Court brochure at Xmi. An identity was required for the building, and to be used as manifestations on the glass frontage of the building. This identity very simply combines the G and C from the buildings’ name to form a single neat unit, alluding to the superb design of the building itself, while having enough presence to be easily seen on its glass windows and doors
8. Whitewater Shopping Centre: The Whitewater Shopping Centre is the largest shopping centre in Ireland outside Dublin. As part of its marketing strategy, Whitewater Developments asked Xmi to design an identity for use in and around the centre, as well as in its advertising. Situated in Newbridge Co. Kildare on the banks of the River Liffey, this design utilises a graphic treatment of a lily sitting on the water formed by the type. A cool colour treatment and crisp typography combine to give a fresh and contemporary feel. This is a concept identity and was not used as the final design.
9. Edward Square: Edward Holdings are a Galway based property development company and are well known for their unique and well designed buildings. They required a re-design of their existing identity, which was outdated and poorly executed. A new corporate typeface (Bliss) was chosen to reflect the nature of their business. The colours were chosen to reflect the high end and luxurious nature of their buildings and, to cement their status as one of Irelands top property developers. I designed this while at Xmi.
10. Dublin Port Tunnel: The Dublin Port Tunnel is the largest infrastructural development ever undertaken in Ireland, and one of the largest in Europe in previous decades. Its purpose was to take trucks and heavy vehicles away from the city centre by providing a direct link from the port to the main arterial motorway in Dublin, cutting such a journey to 6 minutes from the 45 it would previously take. For the identity I chose to utilise the iconic entrance to the tunnel, and showed at a glance how much faster the journey would be with the addition of the ‘speed stripes’. The typeface was Futura, chosen for its geometric and rounded forms, as well as for its contemporary feel (at the time), something which was important to convey.
11. 6 Suffolk Street: This identity was designed while at Xmi for Clarendon Properties newest office development, 6 Suffolk Street. The development was in the heart of Dublin city and comprised 23 serviced offices. It was aimed at professionals who needed an ‘office’ in the city centre for the few times a week when they might be in the city. There were a number of different options for clients in terms of office size, a fact on which I decided to base the logo design. 23 blocks come together, at once showing the types of units available and how they work together, in the office name. The typeface was DIN, chosen for its geometric form to complement the logomark.
12. The UCD Law Society: The UCD (University College Dublin) Law Society has been in existance for over 95 years. During its 93rd session, I was asked to re-brand the Law Society in an effort to attract more members. We decided to separate the Society into two sides – the formal UCD Law Society for its official functions and, financial and legal correspondence, and ‘Lawsoc’ for debates and events. The identity shows the Society as young and dynamic, but in a way which doesn’t come across as idiotic, a trap many other student societies fall into.