Neville Brody recently unveiled Vortext a unique piece of work for Converse and their Off Canvas Project which formed part of the first Beijing design week.

Off Canvas was the brand’s inspiring street-level exhibition of typography in areas of Beijing that have a strong connection with China’s thriving creative subcultures such as 751, Dashilar, Wudaoying Hutong, Da Wei Lang Ying Hutong and Gulou East Street. The project pulled together five other typographic talents from both Europe and China; Benny Luk, Ying Yonghui, Nod Young, Neils Shoe Meulman and Ben Eine to each create site specific installations in their chosen media.

Brody’s Vortext piece was installed at 751 D-Park part of the iconic 798 Art Centre in North East Beijing. Vortext has grown out of Brody’s Antimatter font produced for Fuse 20, his magazine publication dedicated to experimental typography, being published later this year by Taschen – you can find out more about the book here.

During Beijing design week Brody also gave a talk at CAFA (China Central Academy of Fine Arts) in partnership with the British Council’s Smart Talk series and joined a Financial Times and Baccarat discussion panel at Capital M.

Images in this story are copyright of Jonathan Leijonhuvud you can find out more about his work here

To find out more about the Off Canvas Project and respective artists follow the links below:

For Converse’s Off Canvas Project click here

For Benny Luk click here

For Nod Young click here

For Neils Shoe Meulman click here

For Ben Eine click here
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Neville Brody has designed the front cover of the forthcoming V&A Magazine dedicated to its new Postmodernism exhibition. Editor in Chief Thomas Phongsathorn commented “Neville Brody is a designer whose extraordinary body of work has significantly informed my idea of what a magazine should be – and the power of a great cover. The cover that Neville has created for us encapsulates the spirit, dynamism and energy of the V&A’s Postmodernism exhibition, but succeeds in being what Postmodern design, famously,
rarely is – beautiful, balanced and appropriate.”

On his front cover and the postmodernist movement in general Brody notes “For me, Post Modernism felt like a kind of facade built to cover over the cracks of a divided world, a surface of plucked effects and stylistic devices emptied of meaning, an extrusion of hollow traces and flat outlines forcing 2D into apparent depth. I was never a Post Modernist, rather a Modernist exploring humanist lines of enquiry in the collapsing world behind a wall of decoration.” The issue also includes an insightful article on the movement by acclaimed academic and cultural commentator Michael Bracewell

The Magazine is due to land on the doormats of V&A magazine subscribers this coming Friday 7th of October and on the shelves of magazine stores from Monday 10th October 2011.
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Research Studios are delighted to announce their collaboration with The London Library on the development of their identity and marketing collateral. Having won a four way credentials pitch earlier in the year, the team has been hard at work evolving this iconic institutions’ visual language and campaign specific materials. We will be showcasing more from the project as it rolls out over the next couple of months so please check back from more details.

The London Library, founded in 1841, is the UK’s leading literary institution. A hidden gem in the heart of St James (London), it has more than one million books and periodicals in over 50 languages, the collection includes works from the 16th century to the latest publications. Membership is open to everyone and recently featured in Esquires top 50 things ‘no man should be without’. If you are curious to find out more about The London Library please check their current website here.
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Research Studios has just completed the branding and initial roll-out collateral for The China Art Foundation, a cultural organisation connecting western and Chinese arts and cultural institutions, artists and general public through events, publications, films and summits.

The foundations aims to “Help to make sure that the interest in contemporary Chinese art has a sustainable future: Help the west to understand the rich history and contemporary cultural life of China; Help China to understand western art and culture, historical and contemporary” and whose advisory board includes representation from Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, National Art Gallery (Singapore), Yale University Art Gallery, Central Academy of Fine Arts (Beijing), Musee National d’Art Moderne – Centre Pompidou (Paris), British Museum.

The China Art Foundation has hosted two summits in both Britain and China with attendance from major western and Chinese museum directors, produced two publications (Contemporary Art in Asia edited by Melissa Chiu and Benjamin Genocchio and Total Modernity and the Avant-Garde in Twentieth Century Chinese Art by Gao Minglu) commissioned a full length documentary and recently hosted two China Art Foundation Talks in America (Yale and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). The Foundation’s trustees include, Pearl Lam, Susan Hayden, Gao Minglu, Sydney Picasso and Philip Dodd.

Research Studios has worked alongside the Foundation Trustees to develop an identity that captured the strands of core activity and the sense of connectivity between east and west. The secondary language to the identity has also been developed and applied to the foundation’s first pieces of collateral show here in poster and leaflet format as well as rolled out on a micro blog site.

You can out more about the China Art Foundation here
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The Research Studios’ 2011 calendar has gone to print and should be delivered to our clients, contacts and friends between now and the New Year.

The theme for the calendar was inspired by the idea of typographic distortion: taking a Research Studios’ typeface and morphing it into something else through further design or a hands-on process. In many ways, it reflects our naturally inquisitive approach and habit of thinking about things differently; pushing boundaries and using ordinary elements to create something extraordinary.

For those of you who can’t wait, there are a couple of months to sample here!! We will post the full calendar on the blog in January and, as with last year’s, (if you don’t think you will get one and want to), we’ll be posting give-away details then too.

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Research Studios are pleased to offer a sneak preview of the 3rd edition of biannual art and fashion book Twin which we recently designed and laid out working alongside Creative Director Becky Smith.

The spirit of the third issue is ambition: “We asked Immodesty Blaize, Sloane Crosley, Simon Rich and Kristin Hersh to consider the meaning of female ambition, mega-model Dree Hemingway takes a ride in Simone Rocha’s winter collection, musician Alison Mosshart reveals the secrets of life on the road, set designer and artist Gary Card sculpts an irresistible gang of bijoux-loving sloths, grande dame of fashion photography June Newton discusses life after Helmut, and Gia Coppola – the granddaughter of Francis Ford and niece of Sofia who’s next in line for Coppola fame – shoots an exclusive photo diary.”

You can find out more about Twin, previous editions of the book and keep up to-date with the latest from their world here

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Research Studios and Neville Brody are delighted to announce that we are working on another issue of Arena Homme + with Editor-In-Chief Jo-Ann Furniss, the AH+ Editorial Team and a fantastic bunch of super talented and internationally renowned contributors. We are deep into the final stages of design and layout of this Winter/Spring 10/11 issue 34 which is due to hit the shelves later in the month. We will be posting more on this story here as soon as we can.

Remix explores the ideas of remixing, reinventing and recycling into a series of concerts, talks, film screenings and aftershows to be held at Kings Place London from Thursday 14th October to Saturday 16th October. The festival brings together the London Sinfonietta, who specialise in cutting-edge contemporary music, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, who perform music from the Baroque up to the 20th century in a historically informed style. Both ensembles will be bringing some of the finest musical remixes from the Baroque to now to the events.

You can download more about Remix here and can purchase tickets from Kings Place or telephone the box office on 020 7520 1490.

Research Studios are delighted to have worked with the two ensembles for this project the central focus of which is a poster/brochure and online banner ads. –

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Research Studios are excited to be working on the next edition of art and fashion bi-annual TWIN. The team has been collaborating closely with Editorial and Creative Director Becky Smith on layout and design of the forthcoming edition, which blends high-end fashion photography with art, culture and feminist features.

You can find out more about TWIN from their blog here and we will post more on the story when the book hits the shelves of all good magazine and art book retailers later this year.
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Re-brand announcement card

Singposium flyer

Schools Prom flyer

National Festival flyer

Brand announcement card; Schools Prom flyer; National Festival flyer

Business cards

National Festival programme

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