The time of the month… Design studios

This time of the month our designer and newest recruit Anna tells us about some of the design studios she’s been drooling over lately.

1. Maddison Graphic – Norwich, UK

Maddison Graphic is a design studio based in Norwich, working mainly in print. I love how their work has an almost lo-fi, slightly retro aesthetic; it also feels very British. The projects are presented in a really clean and simple way – with loads of white space, and no explanatory text – letting the designs speak for themselves.

 

2. Paul Belford – London, UK

Belford’s Islington studio works predominantly across branding and communication. Looking at their work you often think ‘I wish I’d thought of that’ – really clever ideas brought to life with serious design skills. They’re multi-award winning and it’s easy to see why. I absolutely love the ‘From Babies With Love’ branding project. As a big fan of stationery and vintage ephemera, this is really appeals to me. The main identity features a post-mark, which is built on with this cute set of characters created with a naive, collaged aesthetic.

 

3. Blok – Toronto, Canada

Blok studio’s work properly makes me drool. They’ve worked on some fantastic projects across various disciplines including identity, packaging, digital, editorial and exhibitions. They’ve got a GREAT eye for colour – I’m absolutely loving this fresh combination that they used on theWomen’s Creative Collective project.

 

4. Studio Dumbar – Rotterdam, Netherlands

Rob and I heard Studio Dumbar’s Creative Director Liza Enebeis give a brilliant talk at last year’s Design MCR festival – she was great – so inspiring. One of the most interesting projects she spoke about was the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, where a custom code was created from the ‘AS’ that transforms music into dynamic patterns – very cool. Technology-led design is fascinating; it appeals to my inner geek.

 

5. Heydays – Oslo, Norway

I find it hard not to get full on design buzz looking at Heydays’s website. I admire everything they do – not only the brilliant client work – but also the way it’s presented on their website – clean, simple, spacious, with beautiful typography, minimal digital mockups, and cute animations. OutSCANDIng.