Category: Graphic Design

Pub chain Young’s is slammed for swapping traditional signs for ‘bland corporate graphic design’

Posted on 07/01/2023

A major pub chain has been criticized for replacing its traditional signs with ‘bland corporate graphic design’ that ‘leaves them resembling them assets in a branding exercise’.

Young’s, which operates nearly 220 pubs in London and the south of England, has swapped pictorial signs for illustrations based around the first letter of each pub’s name.

For example, the Rose and Crown in Wimbledon Village in south-west London, which previously bore an image of Henry Tudor – the victor of the Wars of the Roses – now has a design based around the letter R.

Similarly, the nearby Alexandra in Wimbledon town center has seen its sign switch from a painting of the Danish princess after which it was named to a white ‘A’ on a blue background.

The Rose and Crown in Wimbledon village, with its new sign on the left and the old one on the right. Dating back to the 17th century, the former coaching inn – positioned on the edge of Wimbledon Common – was first leased by Young’s in 1832. The Victorian poet Algernon Swinburne was one famous regular

The Lamb is a small Victorian pub in Bloomsbury has also been fitted with a new sign.

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What graphic design will look like in 2023?

Posted on 07/01/2023

As part of our series on design in 2023, Fraser Muggeridge offers his take on what he wants graphic design to look like this year.

What graphic design will look like in 2023?

There will be a huge gap between what I want the graphic design to look like, and what it will actually look like in the coming year. Rather than focusing purely on aesthetics, I would like to see improvements in how content is supplied, questioning the design process itself, with clear responsibility for every aspect from those with specific training and knowledge acquisition.

Print is permanent and so editorial graphic designers need to be responsible not only for the design, but also for copy editing and proofreading so as to ensure that all the words, punctuation and spaces are in the right place and in the right order. It’s a difficult task that nonetheless comes with all the advantages of being in control. However, we need to know what we are doing, be deliberate, and assume responsibility for our actions. Micro and macro details are as important as the big idea, that can, at times, suffocate the work. Reading, questioning, knowing, and upholding standards is what’s needed

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Graphic Design Freelancer (Hospitality) – Pedestrian Jobs

Posted on 06/01/2023

Want to work with some of Sydney East’s most iconic venues?

We are looking for a freelancer to create digital and print designs for our Sydney hospitality group based in the Eastern Suburbs. The designs will be used to promote our in-venue activations including special days (ie Mother’s Day, Sporting Events, NYE etc) as well as bigger quarterly campaigns promoting different aspects of the venues.

The right person will be:

  • Confident working with different branding and how to translate it into various activations
  • Comfortable with both print and digital design
  • Has a fast turnaround time (around 3-4 days max per design would be ideal for simple promotions, longer for more complex designs)
  • Experience working with hospitality brands is a bonus

The gigs:

  • We will be offering up to 20 hours of work per week which may vary depending on how many promotions we have coming up
  • The rate we are looking for is around $60 per hour, which is negotiable for the right candidate
  • We are hoping to find someone who can bring fun, fresh and quirky designs to help translate our concepts into awesome artwork!

Please include examples of your work, preferably from hospitality clients (eg venue posters, social

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Meet the local graphic designer behind the Flyers’ ‘Throwback Thursday’ posters

Posted on 06/01/2023

Jan. 4—Growing up in Chester County, Joshua Ash had a Drake’s Cake advertisement on his wall. It was a picture of the 1988 Flyers holding boxes of cakes and “clowning around.” At the time, the 13-year-old Flyers fan liked that it deviated from the typical serious team photo.

“It was different,” Ash said. “They’re tough on the ice, but here they are, letting their hair down and just being silly.”

Now 48 years old and a professional graphic designer, Ash is designing posters that may be hanging on a young Flyers fan’s wall. It’s a journey that’s come full circle, an idea that’s fascinating and surreal to Ash.

Ash has always doodled and sketched. In school, he was the kid who filled the margins of his notebooks. He “wasn’t an athletic kid by any stretch,” he said, but he loved all the Philadelphia teams. However, the Flyers had a special place in his heart.

Ash’s father, Richard, was a big hockey fan in the ’70s and ’80s, and the television usually was tuned to Flyers games. Bobby Clarke’s face and Gene Hart’s voice were familiar sights and sounds. Ash fell in love with the organization himself in the late ’80s.

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