Sonofthepear

Women's Super League

Last month we saw the launch of the rebrand of the Women's Super League (WSL). Announced with a video highlighting the women's game as a movement, it's clear that the next step for women's football is all about growth. There's been a rapid rise over the last few years of women's football and the Euros in 2022 helped with a huge part of that.

The concept behind the rebrand revolves around the motion of players on the pitch, and the introduction of bright and vibrant colours is a sign of modern times within the design industry. I look at this and can see the inspiration for the whole of football. The colours are similar to the ones used by the men's Premier League, where they use a bright and vibrant colour palette as well with oranges, pinks and purples, but also greens and yellows. The typography of bold and italic is reminiscent of Tottenham Hotspur's recent rebrand as well.

London's Air Ambulance

The Making of Harry Potter

Had a visit to Warner Bros studios a few weeks ago for my sister's birthday as she's a huge Harry Potter fan. As for myself, I'm not a big fan but I do like the films, I haven't had the patience to read the books.

One thing you have to say is that the Making of Harry Potter is something special. You do not realise the fine details that went into practically everything to make the films. From everything big such as the Hogwarts Express down to the tiniest detail of sweet packaging. I particularly enjoyed the graphic packaging and printed media of the Daily Prophet and the creative style of these. Each bit of graphic is different in its own way but all so very unique to the wizarding world. The seriousness of the newspapers, Hogwarts letters to the craziness and fun of the Weasley's & Weasley's shop and, the in-between of the Quibbler.

Football Fixture Release

Over the past two weeks, we have seen the fixture announcement for the upcoming football season. This is an interesting time for me as it's a chance to see what creative routes football clubs have chosen to use for the next season.

Looking through all 92 clubs, the majority have opted for a very similar look and feel at the heart of their creative. Photography. Letting the photography do the work and the graphics being added to the negative space. With it being fixtures it's all about the club as a whole so we're seeing a lot of stadium photography. For the full list of schedules, teams have gone for showing stands from the pitch as if you're sitting in your seat. Others have teased by showing one stand or like Watford FC just the top of their main stand. Exeter City have gone for a hybrid of photography and a gradient blur behind their fixtures which blends with the grass.

As well as showing the full schedule teams have opted for key dates supporting graphics to show off the first five games, last 5 games or even derby matches. AFC Wimbledon and Plymouth Argyle have chosen to use different stadium shots throughout, whereas Bolton Wanderers have gone with a continuous image of their stadium which works well. Liverpool however, have chosen to show key features of their opponent's stadiums in the corner.

A big thank you to everyone at Wilko, Homebase and The Range. It's been a pleasure working with you all for the past 7/8 months.

Liverpool FC

The 24/25 football season has been a special one for Liverpool FC, who have become English champions. As most of their supporters have enjoyed watching their team, I, as a neutral, have enjoyed what their creative department has produced.

Liverpool have got their whole club identity spot on this season. Using their own custom typeface, which is complemented by bold and vibrant imagery. Their whole visual identity this year has evolved around using photography in the best way possible. To celebrate a player's stats, they make the player the focal point and the text is secondary, no need for cutouts or lighting treatments or any other brand assets.

Anthony Burrill

Going back to talk about one of my favourite pieces of work, which even inspired a university project of mine. Anthony Burrill's 'Work Hard & Be Nice To People'. A piece that has stood the test of time and is some simple but effective advice.

It's funny to think that this piece of work was the first Burrill produced from a letterpress print works he stumbled across in East Sussex. The same workshop that he used to produce so many of his works. For me, I loved the print side of working, making something using screen printing or a letterpress has a different feeling compared to creating using a computer. A physical piece always gives you that feeling of "I've made this" and a sense of pride over it.

Burrill's work inspired my final project, where I recorded random conversations on public transport and created typographical posters from them. Using screen printing rather than letterpress and experimenting with photography over the top, as well as bright colours similar to Burrill. I've always loved clean typographic work, and this is where it started.

Guinness

A couple of weeks ago I got to visit Dublin and the Guinness Storehouse. An absolute must in my opinion for anyone visiting Dublin.

Whilst I was there, I was in my element checking out all of the old advertisements and marketing material used. The way they have used the iconic white and black look of the drink has produced some of their best campaigns. However, one campaign I loved seeing was something very different, the work of John Gilroy.

Gilroy's first campaign showed people completing impressive accomplishments, such as carrying a girder and was complemented by text saying "Guinness for strength". The inspiration for Gilroy's designs was that he understood the audience. An audience that was in a rush and didn't have time to stop and take in a lot of visual information. Getting to the point with bright and bold colours was the way forward for Gilroy, and it worked.

Milton Keynes Dons FC

MK Dons are one of the most controversial football clubs in the world. The club was "formed" in 2004 after Wimbledon FC was relocated to the town, despite widespread criticism from the football world. Since then, the club has used a variation of the same logo until now.

After undergoing new ownership, the club decided to refresh their club identity. As an identity, I think it fits into the new norm of football design. With the rise of circular logos, it's not a surprise they have gone down this route. The reasoning, however, being down to Milton Keynes' "iconic roundabouts" seems a little tongue in cheek though. I like the way this has been put together, a very clean design and including the red dot and MK chalice is a good nod to their old logo, and can work well as good assets throughout the branding.

Robin Yayla

Incredible work from Illustrator Robin Yayla. I've seen a lot of work before using buildings and real-life scenes mixed with other bits of media to create something vastly unique. However, Robin's illustrations add a new dynamic to the mixed-media world. Bringing humour to the unlikely of places such as, the Burj Khalifa acting as Sylvester Stallone's machine gun.

A personal favourite of mine is the surfer on the side of a building curved in the shape of a wave. I guess it's more like surfs up thank stocks up. I love the creativity around these and the illustration aspect of comic books, cartoon animation style works for these as well to hit home the comedic style and mixed media avenue.

Heinz

I've spoken about Heinz before and here I am talking about them again. They have one of my favourite marketing departments, and they just make their advertising work.

Their appeal to the masses through relatability to everyday life is just great to see and helps create that customer connection. Being the go-to brand for many food products, through the years they've worked hard to perfect their "It has to be Heinz" slogan. In the past when someone wanted tomato ketchup or one of their ranges of soup, they would say "It has to be Heinz." which has been a great advertisement for the company.

British Airways

Adidas by Ad Professor

I came across this advertisement created for Adidas on LinkedIn by Ad Professor. This was a quick coffee break project but the way it has been made is great for a brand like Adidas. The famous logo of the 3 stripes as obstacles alongside the most common excuses made by people when it comes to exercising. The tagline heading brings the whole thing together, "Climb over any obstacle" emphasising excuses as obstacles. I love how creativity comes from anywhere even a coffee break can spur the creative juices.

Mert Cobanov

I've managed to resist the hypnotic nature of these pieces by Mert to be able to appreciate how wonderful this work is. Being able to create a piece of work that looks like a checkerboard or spiral using elements part of the image is something next level. Satisfying to look at and with the clean edges whilst nothing being out of place as well. Some great work from Mert who was inspired by work created by MrUgleh.

Amazon Prime

Hyundai Motorsport

The North Face