We at Derive love good branding often beligerently so but thats another court case. This work from Brooklyn based boutique studio apartment one really excells. The surreal victorian etchings used to create a versatile brand language is quite endearing and leaves one with an insatiable curiosity to rummage through every aspect of the brand collateral. Great work that should leave one feeling fueled for design on a Monday morning! Aller!

June sees the launch of A Magazineofrandom published by FN Design run by Shiekha Wafa Hasher Al Maktoum. This is a refreshing lo-fi zine which explores the creative mindset of Dubai in a frank and seemingly spontaneous fashion. We caught up with FN Designs to get some inside info:

What,s the concept behind AMOR?

We wanted to keep the magazine as random as possible. as much as we’d say there’s no structure. there is a structure there somewhere. but majority of it is just about the people we know of in Dubai. We’re letting the concept grow on it’s on and hopefully people will warm up to it in the future.
Where can people pick it up?

At shelter , thejamjar , traffic , cuadro and empty quarter.

What kind of people are you looking to get involved in AMOR?

Creative people who live and work out of Dubai. Irrespective of their national background.

With most of the people involved being Dubai based, do you plan to expand the contributors internationally or keep the focus purely on Dubai’s Creative community?

Nope. contributions are going to be only Dubai based. we see this magazine as something a visitor might pick up and take back with them when they leave UAE. there’s so much random obscure talent here, and some really interesting stories to tell. So we’re keeping it homegrown.

We love the unstitched, removeable format whats the thinking behind that?

Mainly that was for cost cutting purposes lol. but we also figured we’d go ahed and mess with every rule of publishing out there and see what we can come up with.
So whats the Frequency Kenneth? (How often can we expect it.)

4 times a year ( so i guess that’s once every 3 months)

These posters from Mash Creative are typographically sublime. Playful, vibrant and thoroughly engaging. We like!

www.mashcreative.co.uk

Back in January of 1995 I was a lucid green design student in Southampton trudging my way across East park to the central lecture theater where the legendary Gert Dumbar was giving a lecture entitled ‘Hard Work and Chocolate’, the premiss of which was that Gert encouraged the pushing the boundaries of design in his interns and designers  by tempting them with chocolaty treats. Interesting concept and clearly one which works well. After opening Studio Dumbar in 1977 the work produced has always exceeded the world’s expectation of what graphic design is and how it behaves in our environments. Discecting type to provoke a deeper reaction and always toying with the boundaries of legibility Studio Dumbar can be seen as one of the most progressive Dutch graphic design entities since De Stijl. So we’ve sourced out some of the print work of the last couple of years to revitalise the creative enthusiasms of those of you who are growing weary of making that logo bigger. Its a beautiful thing we do…never give up! Aller!

www.studiodumbar.com

We absolutely love these leaflets designed by Bilingual Welsh design outfit ‘Kutchi Bok’ for Academi (The Welsh National Literature Promotional Agency and Society for Authors.) The bold geometric letter forms set in lucid bright hues stand out sharply against the black. Great to see some progressive design work coming out of Wales.

www.kutchibok.co.uk

Some excellent packaging design from English integrated agency ‘Ilovedust’. We love the bold playful approach bursting with intricate detail. One can almost taste the product. Great work.

www.ilovedust.com

We really like this system created by British agency Marque. The bold lucid solution uses a neat typographic structure combined with provocative imagery. A distinct and fresh solution for Istanbul’s most innovative contemporary Art Gallery.

www.marquecreative.com

www.galerist.com.tr

A witty little piece. Pentagram’s catalogue designed by Angus Hyland for Ballpoint; an exhibition which he also curated that was held at Pentagram’s London office. Such an endearing approach taking us back to school days scrawling over everything we shouldn’t.

We’re really liking the work from the church. This East london agency clearly have passion for creating something unique. Check out the two magazines that they publish Huck and LWLies …aller!

www.thechurchoflondon.com