Redefining Convenience
Graphic Design USA's Weekly Design Briefing
Happy Friday! This is the October 4-8, 2021 edition of Graphic Design USA Weekly Design Briefing - this week’s round up of our most popular design stories from GDUSA magazine. If you like it and want more in your inbox, consider subscribing.
Family-owned convenience retail chain Kum & Go unveils a refreshed identity and a new ad campaign that hopes to redefine the on-the-go category and connect with a wider audience. Launching alongside a new menu, the brand’s refresh, led by global branding agency BrandOpus, aims to match the retailer’s evolved approach to food through a bold and contemporary aesthetic. Kum & Go has always positioned itself as a welcoming hotspot for gas, groceries, and for communities to connect. The recharged identity celebrates the broader idea of “empowered choice.” The ad campaign, titled “So Delicious It’s Distracting,” aims to introduce both Kum & Go’s overhauled menu and its new positioning. The irreverent 15-second ad plays on the idea that once you’ve tried the new menu, its flavors will drive you to distraction. Details of the wider rebrand and campaign include a new tagline – “A Fresh Perspective” – encapsulating new food choices, a new attitude and even e-charging stations. The ellipse and connecting line within the logo have inspired a world of patterns and illustrations including “The Ampersandersons” characters, who echo the brand’s joyful spirit. The white and red color palette have been retained, but have also evolved to include orange, green, and blue. Type is “punchy and bold” and the photography is sharp and clean to bring out taste appeal and real ingredients. Paul Taylor, Chief Creative Officer and Founding Partner, BrandOpus, commented, “Our task was to wrap up Kum & Go’s new philosophy and approach to food in one strong narrative, bringing it to life through contemporary and timeless visual experience. The 360-degree revamp brings a whole new meaning to convenience.” Founded in 1959 by Bill Krause and Tony Gentle, Kum & Go operates more than 400 stores in 11 U.S. states. Creative credits at BrandOpus go to Paul Taylor, CCO; Jack Rogers, Senior Motion Lead; Seona Bell, Agency Producer; Matt Egan, Design Director; Sarah O’Connor, Design Lead; Nick Houghton, Art Director; Rafi Stone, Copywriter; Molly Rowan-Hamilton, Strategy Director; Daniel Wegrzyn, Comms Director; Angela Hunter, Client Manager; Alice Waterman, Client Director; and Myles Dewbrey and Adam Bentley, Production Artists.
Tré Seals is a Washington DC-based designer best known for his type foundry Vocal Type, where he designs fonts inspired by protest movements throughout history. Now he is making his debut as a book designer with SPIKE, a visual celebration of Spike Lee’s life and career to date and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of his films. The deluxe hardcover book, to be published by Chronicle Chroma in November, is the first career-spanning monograph on the acclaimed filmmaker. Spike Lee opened his archive, providing an inside look at his work and creative process. Taking readers film by film, the book is packed with hundreds of stills, revealing on-set photos, and personal photographs, as well as extensive quotes and captions. Seals created several custom fonts for the book inspired by Radio Raheem’s iconic LOVE/HATE brass knuckles from Do the Right Thing.
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As the global creative economy continues to expand and develop niche employment opportunities within it, future generations of artists and designers are working to find new ways to break into it. Located in Winter Park FL, Full Sail University supplies its students with the knowledge and applicable tools to establish their career path within the global creative economy. The university offers degree programs that span across various aspects of numerous creative fields in the creative economy. The degree programs include those in the focus areas of entertainment, media, arts, and emerging technologies, which experiences a great deal of intersectionality that closely resembles real-world careers.
Full Sail University offers many art specific degree programs including:
- The Computer Animation Bachelor’s provides students with the focused knowledge and understanding of 3-D modeling and digital animation needed to qualify for entry-level industry positions as scene builders, character artists, motion animators and more.
- In the Digital Arts & Design Bachelor’s, students gain a deep understanding of the digital production needed to qualify for positions as graphic designers, digital-media authors, video editors and so much more.
- Through gaining mastery of 3-D modeling, materials and textures, engine integration, and animation students of the Game Art Bachelor’s have the unique skills needed to stand out in a hiring pool for positions as prop artists, environment artists, character artists, and animators.
- Full Sail’s Graphic Design Bachelor’s equips its students with the technical proficiency, creative development, critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills that contribute to lifelong learning and access to entry-level positions. Notable entry-level positions include graphic designers, media designers, web designers, digital-image processors, and art directors.
- The Media Design MFA gives students an understanding of design research, psychological and motivational theories, ethics of design, media design elements, and technology applications to enhance their ability to solve complex design problems in academic, entertainment, and corporate environments.
In addition to the wide range of degree program offerings, these are five identified factors that give Full Sail University students an advantage when seeking out positions in the global creative economy:
Graduate successes – Students who graduate from Full Sail’s School of Art & Design are making waves in the creative world. They are contributing to Oscar-nominated and winning films, engaging in campaigns for positive change, contributing to The Game Awards-nominated and winning titles, founding organizations, helping to develop new talent, and more.
Standout educators – The educators at Full Sail are required to have a degree and a minimum of four years of relevant industry experience, with many still working in the industry they teach. The educators at Full Sail can bring their real-world experiences to the classroom to provide students with applicable examples of concepts being learned in the classroom.
Project-based education – Full Sail’s curriculum combines elements of creativity, art, business skills, life skills, technical prowess, and academic achievement. The program advisory committee (PAC) reviews curriculum of the degree programs semi-annually to help determine what assignments to offer to make sure students are prepared to work in the creative economy upon graduation.
Career development opportunities – The robust Career Development department at Full Sail aids students as they work to broaden their professional network. With a mission of helping students and alumni on the road to their desires career paths, the department dedicates its resources to getting both students and graduates in contact with industry professionals in their field of interest.
Cutting-edge technology – Full Sail’s 210+ acre campus hosts a great deal of technology available to students. In addition to what is offered on campus, included in tuition, students receive a laptop filled with industry standard hardware and software. The program called Project LaunchBoxTM is designed to give students exactly what they need when it comes to building and creating their portfolio. Each Project LaunchBoxTM is customized to meet the varying hardware and software needs of students in their chosen degree program. The Full Sail specific program is updated regularly, to make sure students are staying on pace with the changing industry trends and demands.
Full Sail University is passionate about educating the next generation of leaders to contribute to the creative economy. Through the relevant, project-based education, Full Sail and its students are fueling creative careers globally.
In line with their enthusiasm for design history, design studio Order embarked on a once-in-a-lifetime project to re-create the brand identity for the revival of Brooklyn’s Gage & Tollner – an historic 19th-century oyster and chop house that served Brooklyn for 125 years before closing its doors in 2004. The identity has been applied to everything the restaurant needed, from menus to matchbooks.
When Gage & Tollner reopened in Summer 2021, guests were welcomed into a time machine, transporting them back to the 19th century. Order delved into the restaurant’s archives, dutifully preserved by the Brooklyn Historical Society and surfaced by G&T partner St. John Frizell.
“At risk of sounding cliché, Gage & Tollner was one of those projects where you have to ‘let the building do the work’ and get graphic design out of the way. The interior of the space is breathtaking, and the last thing we wanted to do was distract diners with a logo and menus that felt too modern or out of place,” said Hamish Smyth, Partner, Order. “For us, that meant diving deep into research, and working with local type designer Jesse Ragan to update and redraw the original G&T logo used in the late 19th century, set in the popular Victorian era typeface, Art Gothic. Think Paris Metro vibes. It’s weird and wonky but, not surprisingly, feels right at home in the ornate Victorian era interior.”
For further reading…
How A Logo, Designed 17 Years Ago, Is Having A Second Life by Dominick Alessandro