2020 was a grim year in so many ways, but it also saw some awesome creative work, much of which was recognised in the Design Week Awards 2020. So I though I would kick Department of Opinions back into life with a few posts showing some of my favourites from their finalists...
One of the most eagerly anticipated bookmarks in my design events calendar is the announcement of the winners of the Best Awards - the New Zealand design industry oscars. (more…)
I read a great article in Design Week this week, bemoaning the fact that jargon and bullshit are getting in the way of people understanding and valuing design. It reminded me of our own mantra, on the homepage of our website...We don't hide behind industry jargon... we create design. That works. (more…)
Yep...it's that time again...the HighTide festival is returning to Walthamstow and we have created a new series of promotional banners for the perimeter fence (more…)
The Mall Walthamstow are in the process of planning some very exciting developments for the future - for the shopping centre itself and the surrounding area and local community. To celebrate that fact, they commissioned us to create a timeline installation for a wall just inside the main entrance. (more…)
A couple of weeks ago I found myself reading yet another article (this time in the New Statesman) bemoaning the death of the high street. Once again, the finger of blame was pointed at competition from the online superretailers, the challenge from budget firms such as Aldi, Lidl and Primark, economic uncertainty brought about by…
One of the first jobs that I worked on after moving from Auckland to London in 2010 was to design the identity, signage and environmental graphics for the now defunct Kentish Canteen. (more…)
OK...so England didn't make the finals, and football didn't come home after all, but one consolation for us at Simon Inc was finally seeing our designs for Bobby beer on the shelves and on the bar during the World Cup. (more…)
Although this was created way back in 2006 I couldn't resist reposting this gorgeous installation at Warsaw’s National Gallery of Art. Painted by Leon Tarasewicz. Found on the always fascinating and inspiring Colossal blog (more…)
I recently came across this book – Happy City – by Charles Montgomery, which is a really insightful look at how to turn our cities into vibrant, exciting, enjoyable, rewarding places to live (more…)
Although a full new wayfinding system was not included in our brief, as part of the Mall environmental branding project (piloting in The Mall Luton) that we mentioned in a previous post, we had to design a new range of statutory symbols and directional icons for use on signage at entrances, escalators and toilet facilities. (more…)
Capital Foundation is an organisation set up to raise corporate funding for Auckland City Mission - a charity working with homeless people in Auckland NZ. The typical donation that they handle starts at $150,000 upwards. They approached Simon Inc with a brief to design a gift for their donors. The gift was to say “thank…
Following a really positive public response to our construction hoarding designs for The Mall Walthamstow, they asked us to extend that graphic treatment to help them in their campaign to support Waltham Forest's bid for "Borough of Culture" (more…)
As a realtively recent fifty-something, I am old enough to remember the bad old days of the UK in the late 70s and early 80s, a time of football hooliganism, race riots and bin-collection strikes. (more…)
Pleased to see our latest environmental branding project for The Mall in Luton was launched. The brand new toilet and baby changing and feeding area was opened by Reality TV star Billy Faiers, featuring environmental graphics by Simon Inc Ltd. (more…)
I couldn’t resist taking some shots from the Simon Inc floating studios this morning, of the early sunshine burning through the mist looking across at Kew Gardens. (more…)
Here’s an article I wrote for the September issue of London Business Matters magazine about the role that environmental branding can play in turning new developments into communities rather than soulless groups of disconnected buildings. It is an undeniable truth that the current development boom in London is changing, not only the visual cityscape…
