NB Studio

Spotted
18 June
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We love Wallpaper* at NB. As aspirational lifestyle magazines go, it’s up there with the best. So you can imagine how excited we were to see NB work featured in not just June’s edition, but July’s too. Our Post-war Plastics poster for Vitsoe evokes a bit of mid-century class in a photo shoot about gadgets, and the doyenne of graphic design Margaret Calvert is photographed in her home office in front of our London’s Kerning poster. Both these posters are amongst our most asked-after pieces, so we’ve decided to make them available to purchase through our website.

More details to come soon, but if you’d like to tell us you’re interested, please email shop@nbstudio.co.uk.

Winning
6th June 
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Our Five Big Names in Type poster won the Design Week Award in the poster category at the ceremony on Tuesday night. 

The posters, which were created for The Typographic Circle to promote a chaired debate between five well-known typographers, features the names of the five typographers, set by each typographer in a typeface of their design and available in five shades of GF smith colourplan. 

The judges said: ‘Did the job of a poster wittily, effectively and cleverly. There was humour and warmth in the type which can be taken from using the first names of the designer in conjunction with their type and feeling as though you are on a first-name basis with them.’ 

We said: Thanks!

Great minds, big issues, one room
3 June
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Originally launched as an award to recognise and reward ‘creativity for social good’ the D&AD White Pencil initiative has expanded into a series of talks and events.

We were approached to create the identity and promotional materials for the largest event to date; The White Pencil Conference. What became quickly apparent was that this would be a new breed of conference – in fact, it wouldn’t be a conference at all. With a prominent emphasis on dialogue and debate, a diverse line up of speakers and an innovative structure the event will aim for  participation and discussion – tangible outcomes as opposed to catchy sound bites.

With a clear idea of the D&AD vision for the event and the aware of the venue (The Royal Institution of Great Britain), together with writer Nick Asbury we decided to position the event as a ‘laboratory’ – a place of experimentation and collaboration as opposed to a conference.

Sourcing anatomical rubber brains from a supplier in Germany and a host of laboratory supplies, we worked with photographer Sara Morris to capture the brains working together in a series of images.

Our design extends across the usual range of event materials as well as a 30sec ident (above) and a range of short videos which will be seen on the day.

Buy tickets here.

After Hours…
15 May
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Alan and I travelled through the rain across London (OK - it’s round the corner) last night to Jerwood Space to see After Hours, an exhibition of personal work by graphic designers.

I’ve often found designers personal work to be mechanisms for creating award entries but this scepticism was soon destroyed by the sheer wealth of beautiful ideas on display. True passions shone through and I soon realised there are no rules around what constitutes ‘personal projects’, it just doesn’t matter.

The NB vote for things that make you go WOW! goes to Phil Carter, whose sculptural figures conjured up echoes of Picasso, Alan Fletcher and Alexander Girard - not a bad thing by any measure.

Hats off to the organisers who have succeeded in gathering together a thought-provoking body of work around a great theme. 

Perhaps we can persuade them to include NB in ‘After Hours Two’.

I urge you to pay a visit, if nothing else you’ll come away with a burning desire to create something ‘personal’ yourself.

Nick

Distance Learning
7 May 2013
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We always find it useful to spend time away from the studio, meeting new people and making new friends. It can give you a fresh perspective on studio life and offers an opportunity to see what makes other organisations tick and bring some of those insights back with us.

Last week we travelled to Yekaterinburg in Russia. It’s an extraordinary place, particularly as five months of snow had just melted and everything had temporarily turned a dusty brown. We were there to work on a new branding project (we can’t say more than that) and to collaborate with Russian and Swedish designers and developers. We soaked up the atmosphere, witnessing great intelligence, wit, enthusiasm and energy and in doing so we learnt so much, so quickly. It was an invaluable chance to put ourselves in the client’s shoes and to get a close, first hand understanding of our customer. Whilst language was a barrier at times, it was wonderful to see how a great idea can transcend languages and cultures. It helped that we had a great translator (Спасибо Yvgeny!)

Scrums, Syncs and Stand-ups are the modus operandi but despite advances in e-conferencing technology, there really is no substitute for a good old fashioned face-to-face meeting. So, catch a train, plane or bus – but just get there and absorb.

Heavy Metal
30 April
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To celebrate the launch of a new typeface, FS Emeric, Fontsmith asked 11 leading design studios from around the globe to create a limited edition poster. 

Charged with using the typeface’s Heavy weight, we decided to name some of our favourite heavy metal bands - eleven to be precise, a nod to the volume knobs on Spinal Tap’s famous amplifiers.

Fontsmith are giving away one randomly selected poster when two or more weights of the FS Emeric typeface are purchased (while stocks last).

Images borrowed from the fontsmith blog here (thanks!)

The Future of Type
30 April
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Last week Alan was asked by Design Week about the future of typography:

‘Don’t worry about the future of type. 99.99% of the populace doesn’t. Type, language, #hashtags, symbols - they are always going to be evolving and that is great - it adds a lovely texture to our lives. There is no need to get bogged down in the big questions or small details - progress doesn’t happen when you stand still. Now, as creative director of NB Studio and Chairman of The Typographic Circle I would like this set in Akzidenz-Grotesk kerned -20. Please look out for widows, orphans, rivers etc…’

You can see the other answers here.

On The Lookout
17 April
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We’re on the lookout for a special someone to join NB for four months from June to September this year. You’ll be working as part of the Account Management team on exciting and diverse projects.

This contract would suit a new graduate thinking about a career in Account Management, or someone keen to be a part of the running of a highly creative design studio.  

If you’re a confident, organised and a team player, send your CV to:

apply@nbstudio.co.uk

The View from Millennium Bridge
16 April
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The area around our studio has changed massively since we first moved here in 2006; The Tate Modern, London Bridge Station and Borough Market have all developed significantly in the last 6 – 7 years. This is evident in the short stop-motion video that we’ve put together. It’s compiled of photos taken by Alan from the same point on Millennium Bridge on his daily commute, the first one was taken back in September 2008 and the most recent one was earlier this month. We love how the Shard shoots up. You can see some other NB videos (commissioned and self initiated) here.

Big Bold & Simple
28 March 2013
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I’ve been really fortunate in the past to have judged many awards including D&AD, Design Week, Canadian Art directors, Scottish Design Awards and recently the Creative Review Annual – it is always an interesting experience. Don’t let anyone convince you that judging is easy – there’s a sea of work, it’s confusing and tiring on the eye. However my recent stint with CR got me thinking about some of the bleeding obvious things that we forget when presenting work.

I’m always shocked when I see presentation boards by well-known and experienced design individuals and companies that are confusing and fragmented – when the stories they are trying to tell are not clear. After all, when there’s so much on show, what stands out is the bold and simple – it makes you pick the work up instantly – and picking it up means it’s more likely to be selected by judges.

I’ve also been doing some lecturing and teaching on a couple of different design courses too, and to a certain extent I noticed the same thing – bold and confident always stands out. Often students start presenting their work to me by apologising for the work – they’ve only been working on it for a week etc. I know how tempting it is to do this from personal experience, but when on the receiving end I’ve always found it puts the audience on the back foot.

You’ve got to believe in the work you present - whether you are doing it in person or on boards for competitions. I’ve found that explaining the journey you’ve been on to produce the work - the story of how you got there – is a great way to engage with an audience and makes the presentation feel open and collaborative, a conversation not a lecture. 

Last night I was at the Tom Gauld talk for the Typographic Circle, I thought his storytelling, presentation and work illustrated perfectly how powerful simplicity can be.

Alan