As you follow the circle from coast to coast, you’ll discover how people, place, and pace are reflected in the distinctive flavour of each locality. And you’ll get to know the many very different characters that make up the Irish whiskey family.

Delighted to create the new branding with Drinks Ireland and the Irish Whiskey Association.
www.irishwhiskey360.com

Photography: Matthew Thompson
Typography: Bobby Tannam

Entitled ‘NCAD Illuminated’, we designed this large scale installation with photographer, Matthew Thompson. Over the last five years at NCAD, we have captured, curated and communicated the creative practices and outputs of the students.

We selected photographs that captured the essence of the creative journey in the college. The images were displayed in a series of colourful vignettes inspired by Harry Clarke, a famous NCAD alumni and stained glass artist.

Photography: Matthew Thompson

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. During the conference, we worked together with the G7 team at 3 workshops (Big Data, the Future of Work and AI).

The workshops helped us frame and form the final conference document. The final book was finished with a series of beautiful documentary-style photographs. We also created a conference summary generated by an AI program.

Photography: Matthew Thompson
Strategy: Thomas Ermacora, Paul Hughes

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
Strategy, branding, logo, templates, brand identity guidelines, brochure covers, adverts, 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.

Photography: Sean & Yvette
Strategy: Place Matters

Described as ‘boasting a stunning array of top international literary talent’ and ‘the country’s most successful and easily the best annual literary event’, the festival attracts readers of all ages.

For the 2109 festival, we designed a new logo inspired by hippocampus lamps that appear on a Dublin bridge. We had fun producing this year’s festival campaign which featured a series of readers lost in their book.

Photography: Ros Kavanagh

We created their new branding to give them a more contemporary, innovative and professional feel. Also we produced their website with custom photography, illustration and motion graphics.

www.hummingbird.vc

The prospectus showcases NCAD as a 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, free and houses a series of illustrations drawn from the fabric of the institution itself.

Illustration: John Slade
Photography: Matthew Thompson

We worked together to create their new branding. First we clarified their vision and highlighted what was unique about their story. We took inspiration from the landscape and the wool dyeing process. We produced the packaging, marketing materials which included custom illustrations, photography and film.

Each city entering the competition are given forty four questions to answer by the WDC committee. Our brief was to develop a theme/strategy, collate all content and produce a coherent bid document around the forty four set questions.

Our bid comprised of research, writing and design that focused on; Why Dublin? Why Now? Why PIVOT?

Included in the document was a vision for the future, an Irish design timeline and essay, ‘Irish Design: History, Context & Possibilities’, three conversation films, ‘Place, Well-Being & Systems’ (each filmed in a different home. The films were included on a USB ‘house’ key as well as being transcribed to be used as punctuation throughout the book) and a dialogue film that moved across 25 Dubliners and started with the question, ‘If Dublin was a blank canvas, what would you draw on it?’. For the cover we asked thirty different creative Dubliners to design thirty different covers.

We also included a selection of photographs, illustrations, projects and stories kindly submitted from the creative community.

Research/Writing: Emma Curley Architects
Film: Areaman
Photography: Gregory Dunn
Photography: Matthew Thompson

A limited-edition book was created based on the theme, ‘The Social Economy’.  It included essays, stories, presentations and company interviews. Each interview was accompanied by an illustration drawn to tell their story.

The book showcases the full adaptability of the identity in a dynamic and cohesive series of designs. All beautifully printed in four spot colours and bound in a hardback linen cover.

Illustration: Barry Falls
Strategy: Thomas Ermacora, Paul Hughes

Directional signage was placed across the campus using simple materials, printed colour pages and purpose built wooden structures. A series of books were also produced that allowed for both consistency of form and a change of graphic.

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.

Illustration: Fuchsia Macaree

The main aspects of the identity are 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 the Frontline logotype(s) and display typeface. A second typeface was created with brush and ink. Overlaying these two typefaces creates 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. Added to this was a photoshoot were we created triptych portraits through questioning and conversation. Each person was asked to listen, consider and respond.

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

Website: frontline.vc

Photography: Matthew Thompson
Strategy: Adaptive Cultures

Our task was to create a way of promoting the evolution of our economy today using substance, statistics and stories. We needed to be transparent about our past and clear about our key messages for the future.

Alongside the essential numbers, timelines and case studies we designed and built a series of perspex sculptural statistics. Each sculpture represented key substantial moments in the evolution of the Irish Model. Of course, being perspex models, they are also transparent.

Photography: Ros Kavanagh
Copywriting: David Timmons
Maker: Eric Murphy