Challenge
The International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFD) holds a series of diverse events in many unique spaces across the city. With over a hundred writers and dozens of events, there is something for everyone to discover. The festival’s goal is to enrich lives, provoke new thoughts and broaden experiences through literature.

Approach
A new look was required for the festival branding and 2019 campaign. We worked together with ILFD to create a new visual language that was constructed around the concept of challenging literature. We had real fun producing this festival campaign which featured a series of readers lost in their book.

For this fun project, we made a series of oversized books and mini books in various shapes and sizes. Each book was designed to fit into a specific format, such as a tall book for the tall flags and a very long landscape book for a billboard. The resulting photographs and films formed a unique language for the festival.

The new logo we created, was designed referencing the hippocampus, a mythical sea-creature who carried Poseidon’s chariot across the sea and land. Dublin’s hippocampus can be seen on Grattan Bridge over the River Liffey as ornate lamps on the cast-iron bridge. The hooves of the logo were replaced with quotation marks to signify the literature. The new branding appeared on t-shirts, totes, bookmarks and postcards.

Services
Branding, design for print, advertising, signage, merchandise.

Value
The 2019 festival was described as ‘boasting a stunning array of top international literary talent’ and ‘the country’s most successful and easily the best annual literary event’, attracting readers of all ages.

Collaborators
Mischief making by John Waid
Film and photography by Ros Kavanagh

Challenge
Drinks Ireland is the representative organisation for alcoholic drinks manufacturers and suppliers in Ireland. They wanted to create a new brand that connects the whiskey distilleries around Ireland and develop awareness both nationally and internationally. Ireland is the home of whiskey and in the 19th century Ireland was the global powerhouse of whiskey production. But this all fell apart in the 20th century and by 1980 there were only two working distilleries left on the island of Ireland.

Solution
Together with Drinks Ireland and the Irish Whiskey Association, we created an adaptable brand identity that can be used for multiple audiences and contexts.

Irish Whiskey 360° is a connected circle of Ireland’s much-loved distilleries. In three hundred and sixty degrees it encompasses Irish Whiskey distillery experiences, the Irish Whiskey process, the people and the pace of life across this much loved Irish industry. Irish Whiskey 360° – One shared spirit. Many unique characters.

The brand, film and dynamic identity system were specifically designed for both Irish and international markets. Inspired by traditional iconography, Irish rain, poetry and people this is a system created to grow and adapt with the whiskey industry.

www.irishwhiskey360.com

Services
Branding, naming, copywriting, film, photography, website.

Value
“Drinks Ireland – Irish Whiskey Association worked with Red&Grey to develop a new brand and platform for Irish whiskey tourism. The result was IrishWhiskey360°, a dynamic and exciting proposition which responded brilliantly to the brief and the wishes and hopes of our members. We found the team at Red&Grey to be responsive, creative and most importantly, ambitious. They bought into our ambition and made it their own, and they delivered on that shared ambition with a brilliant concept and design that we believe will help promote Irish whiskey tourism in Ireland and around the world.”

William Lavelle
Drinks Ireland, Irish Whiskey Association

Collaborators
Photography: Matthew Thompson
Typography: Bobby Tannam
Copywriting: Gai Griffin

Challenge
They help start-ups scale from zero to category-defining multi-billion dollar businesses across 3 continents. Based in London and Antwerp, they are early-stage seed investors in exciting global projects. They have successfully transformed companies such as Deliveroo, Showpad and Gram Games. They required a rebrand to help them to attract the next generation of brilliant entrepreneurs and exceptional founders.

Approach
We worked together with Hummingbird’s team to discover their brand essence. They value emotional intelligence as much as data, growing internal culture as much as growing revenue, and forming strong, personal bonds with founders. They are adventurous, persistent and curious.

We developed their new branding to give the organisation a more contemporary, innovative and professional feel. Inspired by nature, the brand identity is based around the speed and agility of the hummingbird. We used abstract shapes such as triangles to represent birds and circles to symbolise nectar.

To bring this dynamic brand identity to life, we worked with animator, Alex Dobbin, to create motion graphics for the website home page. Photographer, Matthew Thompson, also took portraits each team member at Hummingbird’s London office. We designed their website which features custom photography, vector illustrations and motion graphics. The website also features an investor portal so users can view the latest and best new ideas from around the world. The site can be viewed at www.hummingbird.vc.

Services
Branding, design for online, website, animation.

Value
Hummingbird is now in the top 100 early-stage venture capital investors in Europe in 2020. Hummingbird Ventures focuses on building the tech companies of tomorrow by empowering exceptional entrepreneurs with swift access to essential advice, radical candour, funding and organizational design expertise. 80% of their investments have gone to early-stage companies.

Collaborators
Typography by Bobby Tannam
Photography by Matthew Thompson
Animation by Alex Dobbin

Challenge
Business to Arts builds creative partnerships between arts and business; so that the creativity and acumen of both communities develop quality cultural experiences and world-class collaborations in Ireland. ‘Creative Journeys’ is a two-year public art program that brings together Business to Arts, Dublin Airport and the National College of Art and Design (NCAD). Creative Journeys is part of a wider programme to help Dublin Airport provide an experience that is engaging and memorable, but also one that also creates a unique sense of place.

Approach
The installation entitled ‘NCAD Illuminated’ was designed by Red&Grey and Matthew Thompson. Over the last five years, they have captured, curated and communicated the working practices and outputs of NCAD students across a diverse range of creative disciplines. The arduous process of editing, distilling and pairing thousands of photographs was undertaken to truly capture the essence of Ireland’s leading art and design college inside the gates of Dublin Airport. The series of colourful vignettes presented of past and present students and their work subtly reference the visual narrative of Harry Clarke, famous NCAD alumni and stained glass artist. This large scale installation is located at Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport.

Services
Design of space, art direction, production

Value
“It was a delight to work with Red&Grey as part of the Creative Journeys programme at Dublin Airport, in partnership with NCAD. When approached to develop a different manifestation of previous work for a large passenger-facing space in Dublin Airport, their approach was highly creative, intelligent and focused on ensuring the artwork presented a clear story to the audience. It would be a pleasure to have the opportunity to work with Red&Grey on any future projects.”

Eileen Hanratty, Business to Arts

Collaborators
Photography: Matthew Thompson

Challenge
Tourism is a critical component of the West of Ireland’s economy. The region faced a major challenge with international tourism numbers and its share of holiday visits to Ireland dropping significantly over the period 2007-2010 – performance which was exacerbated by the impact of the global financial crisis and Ireland’s challenging economic circumstances at the time. Urgent action was required.

Solution
We created a brand and awareness that attracted national and international visitors to the area. For the Wild Atlantic Way to be a success, we need each community along the route to take ownership of their own part of project whilst remaining part of the overall vision. Our goal was allow space to integrate their ideas, stories, pride, culture and personality into the brand identity.

Approach
This project involved several partners and communities working together to promote tourism. We collaborated with the strategy team, and clarified the brand story which focused people, places and stories. We designed a flexible logo that represented the road, the land, the sea and the wildness of the region. The colour palette was inspired by nature. The graphic language includes stone textures, topographic lines and weather symbols. The photography is broken into macro, mezzo and micro shots to show the scale of the region. The idea behind this kit of parts is to create a consistent texture to the identity while allowing freedom for the tone of voice and visual to change depending on the author and their use for it. It is a living identity, one that has the ability to adapt and change with culture, people, nature and the West coast of Ireland.

List of services
Brand strategy, branding, logo design, brand identity guidelines, brochure design, advertising, brand development.

Value
In the two years since its creation, Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way has become a well established brand, won numerous awards and generated significant international awareness; targets that would take most other international tourism products years to achieve. The 9 coastal counties on the route from Donegal to Cork provided 3.6 million international bed-nights, worth €1.9 billion to the Irish economy.

Collaborators
Photography: Sean & Yvette
Strategy: Place Matters

Challenge
Swim Ireland are united in their love of the water. They exist to encourage participation, develop excellence and regulate the sport of swimming. Their ‘Learn to Swim’ campaign is aimed at kids seeking fun and adventure. It also educates parents on the value, pools safety standards and support.

Approach
We created a series of tonal voices, images, icons, illustrations and stories that could address the needs of each audience. Characters, mascots and patterns were also designed and illustrated to suit various levels of swimming adventure. The volume and intensity of these elements could be turned up or down depending on the context and audience.

We also designed a mini swim passport for kids to map their learning journey. The booklet features an adventure story that follows the progress of their swimming journey. Each adventure is enriched with various landscapes, mascots, tricksters and nemesis. The hero of the story, however, always remains the kid. Their goal, learn to swim.

Services
Branding, graphic design for print and art direction.

Value
“With so many competing learn to swim programmes in the market using quite clichéd imagery (sharks or dolphins abound), we wanted to create a visual identity for this programme that would firstly be genuinely appealing to the young learners but also convey the higher standard of approach to parents and to the swimming pools who would be employing the programme.

We turned to Red&Grey to lead this creative effort and were delighted with the results. They managed to create a truly distinctive look and feel for the programme which saw a whole parallel adventure for children to follow while they learned to swim and several distinctive characters and mascots that children love. All through the process, they were insightful and patient collaborators who were a pleasure to work with.”

Owen McNamee, Swim Ireland

Collaborators
Illustration by Fuchsia Macaree

Challenge
The G7 is an international intergovernmental economic organization consisting of the seven IMF – advanced economies in the world. In 2017 the conference was held in Turin and organised by the Italian G7 Presidency. The event is dedicated to global challenges, such as climate change. Our task was to document the digital economy conference.

Approach
Prior to attending the G7 Italia conference, we interviewed key members of the Italian Digital Transformation team. This enabled us to develop foundational content and an aesthetic approach.

Solution
During the conference, we worked together with the G7 team at three workshops (Big Data, the Future of Work and AI). The workshops helped us frame and form the final conference document.

“Sharing knowledge and insights along with inspired experimentation with concrete targets remains the core of the conversation that the G7 countries need to continue.”
Diego Piacentini, G7 Italia 2017

We designed a book with featured a series of beautiful documentary-style photographs taken by Matthew Thompson at the event in Turin. We print managed the production and delivery of the conference report which were printed in The Netherlands. The cover featured a mounted whiteboard with the title text finished in a black gloss foil. We also created a conference summary generated by an AI program.

Services
Workshop, design for print, copywriting, art direction & print management.

Value
“Great to work with the design team on the G7 Italia project. They were professional at every stage of the project from start to finish. Very happy with the final report featuring great photography and a beautiful design. Their approach was fresh, clear and creative.”
Diego Piacentini, G7 Italia 2017

Collaborators
Photography: Matthew Thompson
Strategy: Thomas Ermacora, Paul Hughes

Challenge
The National College of Art and Design is Ireland’s leading and oldest art institution, offering a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Each year we work together with the art and design college helping them attract and recruit new students who will apply to upcoming courses.

Approach
The prospectus showcases NCAD as an energetic institution that encourages you to apply creative thinking, ask critical questions, practice inventive making, understand new methodologies, dream, seek the unknown and look for what is beautiful in the world.

The tone of the book is colourful and free like the college itself. It also features a fun series of colourful illustrations drawn from the fabric of the institution itself by Irish illustrator, John Slade. The prospectus also is filled with beautiful photographs taken by Matthew Thompson over a series of years over campus.

The prospectus design was also applied across the college recruitment campaign and promotional materials such as social media, posters, t-shirts, tote bags, advertising and presentations.

Services
Design for print, art direction, photography, prospectus, social media, merchandise, event stands.

Value
Our work for NCAD was selected into the 100 Archive, a living archive of the best design in Ireland.

“I have worked with Red&Grey over the last three years on the student recruitment campaigns for the National College of Art & Design (NCAD). In this capacity, they have re-thought and re-designed the college prospectus and a range of other promotional material. I have found they are insightful in their understanding of the context and goals of each project, they are collaborative in their approach and the work is consistent of a very high standard. I highly recommend them as a design agency.”

Cathy McCartney,
National College of Art & Design

Collaborators
Illustration by John Slade
Photography by Matthew Thompson

Challenge
The process of producing quality hand-dyed yarns is never rushed, but rather slowly developed to be highly desirable, inspiring and harmonious. Made with love by knitters, the luxury wool sells internationally in London, Paris and New York. We need to create branding and packaging that captured the essence of the brand.

Approach
We visited their workshop in Cavan and worked together with the owners to create their new branding. We clarified their vision and highlighted what was unique about their story. Small is good, individual is good.

Olann inspiration is taken from their surroundings in rural Ireland. Our creative approach was also inspired by this beautiful rich landscape and their colourful wool dyeing process.

We collaborated with illustrator, Tom Abbiss Smith, to create a series of digital collages inspired by nature and the yarn making process. Photographer Matthew Thompson also filmed a short film at their studio in Cavan. The film can be viewed here.

Together these elements created a dynamic brand identity built around the needs of the client that was flexible and contemporary. We produced a range of packaging labels, a promotional booklet and marketing materials.

Services
Branding, packaging, design for print, animation.

Value
“As a startup, we needed a design company to capture and visualise our brand’s DNA. Red&Grey not only brought a fresh re-design to our company but also helped reorient how we can best communicate our brand to others. Their process is collaborative and user-driven in nature. They delivered a professional service within the agreed budget and timeframe. They were outstanding in their creative delivery and went well beyond our initial brief and expectations.”

Jess Kavanagh, Olann

The business made it through to Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur final in 2018, placed second runner up. Olann exports 99% of their hand-dyed yarns around the world and has grown to its’ staff of seven employees. They are in the process of moving to a new larger studio to help with the demand.

Collaborators
Illustration by Tom Abbiss Smith
Film and photography by Matthew Thompson

Challenge
As the world market leader, Stamicarbon design, license and develop Urea plants for the fertilizer industry. Also, they apply their expertise, knowledge and experience for many solutions, technologies and processes. For this project, Stamicarbon required help aligning their overall company vision and clarity with their product range. Consistency was required across their branding and their communication needed to less complex.

Solution
We worked together with design strategist, Paul Hughes, on finding the organisation’s brand essence. We held a series of brand workshops to help the company clarify its’ values, purpose, products and mission. “Pioneering to make the world a better place by enabling it to feed itself” was the key message from the workshop.

Approach
After the brand workshop, we focused on the human and technical of the business (the people and the industry). We commissioned custom photography capturing the company experience which showed the scale of the operations in Europe, Asia and Africa. An important part of the brand identity was the product names, which needed to reflect the essence of Stamicarbon. We created a new product and services naming and labelling system which help clarified everything, making it easier for customers.

Services
Strategy, branding, photography, product naming, product system, art direction.

Value
“Working with Red&Grey is always a pleasure. They are one of the most professional teams I have worked with. They combine strategic and profound thinking with the power of design. They see things from a holistic point of view and are able to capture this in simplistic yet powerful designs and brand identities. What is most telling about them, is that they really worked with me in redefining our company’s new brand strategy.”
Rutger Bonsel,
Stamicarbon

Collaborators
Strategy by Paul Hughes
Photography by Matthew Thompson

Challenge
Each city entering the competition are given 44 questions to answer by the WDC committee. Our brief was to develop a theme/strategy, collate all content and produce a coherent bid document. We worked together on the submission with Dublin City Architects, Emma Curley Architects, Henrietta McKervey, Dr Linda King, Areaman Productions, and Gregory Dunn.

Approach
Dublin’s bid comprised of research, writing and design that focused on answering four questions: Why Dublin? Why Design? Why Now? Why PIVOT? The document included a vision for the future, an Irish design timeline and design essays.

The submission included a series of short films documenting conversations between designers. The conversations also featured throughout the bid book. We interviewed 25 designers in Dublin and started with the question, ‘If Dublin was a blank canvas, what would you draw on it?’.

The 416-page bid document had 30 different covers designed by a variety of creative Dubliners. We also included a selection of photographs, illustrations, projects and stories kindly submitted from the creative community. The website featured a blog which had contributors from around the world, www.pivotdublin.com.

View the bid book here
View the bid film here

Services
Branding, design for print, art direction, website, print management, exhibition stands, film, animation, signage, merchandise.

Value
Dublin’s bid was shortlisted to the final three from over fifty entries around the world.

Red&Grey was awarded a Special Outstanding Contribution to Design in Ireland award by the Institute of Designers in Ireland for our work with Dublin City Council on their World Design Capital submission for 2014, PIVOT Dublin. A special edition of the book was presented to Queen of England while on her visit to Dublin.

Collaborators
Research & writing by Emma Curley Architects
Research & writing by Dr Linda King
Copy by Henrietta McKervey
Film by Areaman
Photography by Gregory Dunn
Photography by Matthew Thompson

Challenge
Supported by the Vatican, the Laudato Si’ Challenge is a multi-year initiative convening of the best ideas through a rigorous and tested process. The goal is to support the development of high impact social businesses offering ways to address critical problems of our time.

Solution
Nature, Mankind and Liturgy together form the central theme of the Challenge’s brand identity system we created. These have been drawn in many forms including a circle, square and cross, lines of longitude and latitude, colours, vignettes, statistics and photographs that balance the organic and the man-made. Along with the logotype, designed to always be a part of a paragraph of text, this sophisticated system gives us the opportunity to adapt over time and place.

Approach
As a way of documenting the launch of the first year of the Challenge a limited-edition book was produced. The theme of the book was ‘The Social Economy’ which included essays, stories, presentations and nine interviews with each of the companies involved. Each interview was accompanied by an illustration drawn to tell their unique story. The book showcases the full adaptability of the identity in a dynamic and cohesive series of designs. All beautifully printed in Luxembourg using four spot colours and bound in a hardback linen cover.

Services
Branding, design for print, copywriting, art direction, illustration & print management.

Value
“Red&Grey is an outstanding micro-global agency. I have worked with them on a number of international projects, where their professional approach, refreshing design, & practical solutions have taken our projects to the next level. Professional, highly creative, & a pleasure to work with.”
Paul Hughes, Strategist

Collaborators
Copy by Jenny Barchfield
Edited by Thomas Ermacora
Strategy by Thomas Ermacora, Paul Hughes
Illustration by Barry Falls
Photography by Brian Leahy

Challenge
They invest millions annually into research projects and new companies forming from the university postgraduate programmes. Their goal is to address the world’s leading challenges. OSI brings financial and human capital that enables Oxford University’s world-class science to go to market, and thrive.

Approach
At the beginning of the project, we clarified their brand’s key message – a history of success, a tradition of ideas, investing in legacy, leading practice opportunities, trusted discoveries advanced and collective research potential.

The brand identity system for OSI was formed around controlled experiments and an aperture that can be adjusted to show the vastness and details of the world through various lenses. The completed visual language is an adaptable system that can be used across multiple platforms and contexts.

To reflect the ever-changing nature of innovation we worked with a typographer, Bobby Tannam, to create a custom font that contains a variety of different version of each letter. The bespoke typeface was designed to reflect the scientific edge of Oxford University’s science elite.

We also commissioned photographer, Matthew Thompson, to take a series of portraits capturing the innovators and their workplaces. We also captured a beautiful series of dawn and dusk photographs at the university. These images feature across their website we designed which includes their full portfolio of spinout companies.

Services
Branding, art direction, website.

Value
OSI continues to grow and is now powered by some of the world’s leading organisations such as Google and Huawei. They’ve raised more than £600M from a diverse group of over 70 shareholders, brought together by a commitment to build thriving science and technology companies from Oxford University.

Website: oxfordsciencesinnovation.com

Collaborators
Typography: Bobby Tannam
Photography: Matthew Thompson
Web development by Loughlin McSweeney

Challenge
The National College of Art and Design is Ireland’s oldest art institution, offering a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. As part of their 2019 Graduate Show, the college held a series of events that gave visitors of all ages an opportunity to find out more about the wide range of work that goes on in NCAD during the year. The programme of events included talks and workshops which were free and open to the public.

Approach
Our approach for the graduate exhibition was formed by creating an adaptable visual system that gave colour, shape and typographic weight to each art and design faculty. Each college faculty was represented with a shape and colour to show individuality and consistency.

We designed and produced directional signage which was placed around the campus. The signage was made from simple cost-effective materials. At the college entrance on Thomas Street, we built a custom made wooden structure which displayed information panels. These panels welcomed visitors and had a map showing where the department’s show was located on the campus.

We also designed a series of exhibition catalogues for each faculty. Each catalogue cover was unique to show for consistency and change.

Services
Design of space, design for print, signage, exhibition, catalogue.

Value
Selected for the 100 Archive, an archive of one hundred best Irish graphic design projects each year.

“I have worked with Red&Grey over the last three years on the student recruitment campaigns for the National College of Art & Design (NCAD). In this capacity, they have re-thought and re-designed the college prospectus and a range of other promotional material. I have found they are insightful in their understanding of the context and goals of each project, they are collaborative in their approach and the work is consistent of a very high standard. I highly recommend them as a design agency.”

Cathy McCartney,
National College of Art & Design

Collaborators
Construction by Phillip Murray

Challenge
Frontline required a rebrand, an update, a fresh look for a continuously evolving and fast-growing industry. With a team of entrepreneurs based in Dublin, London and San Francisco, they have built many businesses in many ways. As a venture fund, they’ve helped tens of founders and CEOs. They add value when founders need it most – at company defining moments.

Approach
Following our brand strategy workshop, we focused on Frontline’s personal approach, financial experience and technical/industry knowledge.

The main aspects of new brand identity were built around human and technical typographic play. A glyph system was formed from aspects of Frontline’s techniques with various combinations used to explain different processes. These glyphs were then used to form a new logotype and display typeface to give a more digital feel. A second typeface was created with brush and ink.

Overlaying these two typefaces created a new emergent quality. Along with the typographic systems, a grid system based on controlled environments was also designed to showcase the acceleration of exceptional founders. We photographed team members to create unique triptych portraits that featured three images of each person listening, considering and responding.

Together these items formed an adaptable brand identity that aligns Frontline’s visual aesthetic with their dynamic team and growing portfolio of companies.

Services
Branding, brand strategy, design for print, art direction, website.

Value
“It was through working with Red&Grey that we were able to uncover all of these elements of our brand and tie something visual to them. We very quickly realised that much of what we do as venture capitalists are bridge the human and the technical – offering our founders both money and support, capital and experience.”
Kim Pham, Frontline

Read the full article by Frontline’s Kim Pham on the rebranding process here.

Collaborators
Strategy: Paul Hughes
Photography: Matthew Thompson

Challenge
Ibec is the largest business lobby group and the largest lobbying organisation in Ireland. It represents businesses of all sizes spanning every sector of the economy, together employing 70% of the private sector workforce in Ireland. Today Ireland is once again one of Europe’s fastest-growing economy. Commentators who dismissed the Tiger years as Icarus flying too high have had to revise their understanding and acknowledge the depth and substance of the Irish business model.

The Irish model has been evolving over the last eighty years. In practical terms, it is a program of economic, educational, political, cultural, social and taxation policies. Our task was to create a way of promoting the evolution of the Irish economy today using substance, statistics and stories. We needed to be transparent about our past and clear about our key messages for the future.

Approach
Working together with Ibec, we designed this corporate report which included essential numbers, timelines, infographics and case studies. We also built a series of perspex sculptural statistics. We collaborated with a model marker to create these three-dimensional models of the bar charts and stats. The models were made of clear perspex to reflect transparency of the report. They were also exhibited at both the launches in the Washington DC and Dublin. We also print managed the project for Ibec.

Services
Design for print, art direction.

Value
This Ibec campaign tells the story of the Irish business model, how it has developed and what it looks like today. The need for this campaign has arisen from misconceptions about the structure and nature of the Irish business model both domestically and internationally. The aim is to use the narrative to inform business and other stakeholders.

Collaborators
Photography by Ros Kavanagh
Copy by David Timmons
Model making by Eric Murphy