A burek is a traditional baked pastry with a thin, flaky crust filled potato, cheese, or meat, often served with a yogurt drink called ayran. Holy Burek was founded to “reintroduce the beloved Balkan burek to a new generation.” With the help of a lively, witty branding system from Zagreb-based Studio Hrvatin, it’s established an international presence, with locations in Croatia, France, the US, and the UAE. Art direction and illustration by Iva Hrvatin.

Austin Clarke was one of Ireland’s leading writers. Though he wrote novels, plays, and memoirs and was a cofounder of Belfast’s Lyric Theatre, he’s best known for poems that employ complex patterns of assonance and half rhyme, techniques he drew from his deep knowledge of classical Irish language poetry. An Post issued this stamp to mark the fiftieth anniversary of his death in 1974. Designed by David Pakenham at So Studio using Ballinger Mono; first day cover (not shown) also features An Post Sans, the Irish post office’s proprietary typeface.

Matre is a new Oslo-based furniture company that “creates products to be loved and to last for generations.” They reissue Norwegian design classics and provide a platform for emerging design talent. Branding and website by Bielke&Yang using Pressio and FKT Echo Condensed. Photography and video by BOW.

Umbel is a Detroit-based acoustics studio that “approaches acoustics through the lens of shape,” creating acoustically superior spaces by intelligent deployment of the structure’s own materials and elements. The mark is formed entirely of typographic elements and can be typed at a keyboard; slashes and backslashes represent sound waves. Logo and branding by Signal Type Foundry, featuring Signal’s own Reckham and Ballinger Mono typefaces. Website designed and coded by Post Studio.

An e-book cover for a short murder mystery from bestselling author Ian Rankin, designed for Amazon Books by Jack Smyth using Pressio №23 and №34.

A guide to the life, times, and work of William Butler Yeats, Ireland’s national poet, published on the centenary of his Nobel Prize. and the changing Ireland he lived through. Designed for New Island Books by Jack Smyth using Mortise Medium and Bold.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) is an agency of the Irish Department of Transport, established in 2005 to make Irish roads safer. Its remit includes driver testing and licensing, the development and enforcement of driver regulations and vehicle standards, research, education, outreach, and advocacy. Its website, developed by BBDO Dublin, hosts a huge array of information, downloadable and online forms for the use of commercial drivers, hauliers, and the general driving public, all consistently designed for easy accessibility.

Ballinger is used throughout.

A series of stamps issued by An Post to celebrate great Irish woman athletes, including the new world lightweight boxing champion Katie Taylor. Designed by Unthink. Samples photographed by Johnny Savage.

Poster for a club night at Displace Studios, an audio and video production company based in Dublin's North inner city.

Dunk Murphy is a prolific Dublin-based composer, producer, and IDM musician who records and performs as Sunken Foal (as well as Minced Oath, Press Charges, and as a member of Ambulance and The Natural History Museum). A former graphic designer, he creates all his own sleeves. These are for Ketones, Kimberley Mikado, Fry’s Cream, and Florida Crystals, a four-EP series he wrote, produced, and performed in late May and early April of 2020 and released on his own Countersunk record label. The music draws on Murphy's deep knowledge of both algorithmic and generative systems as well as traditional instrumentation, and might best be described by his own liner notes:

Another rural promise is coming
Someone should search outdoors for relief
Ancient machine discovers extra word
Guide rhythm is above echo range
Welcome stranger sure to journey to source
Enough circuits built for pleasure already
Angel removes feather shield
The ocean floor was once a mirror
Reindeer couldn’t stomach warm sugar

Five Points is a friendly neighbourhood café in Harold’s Cross, overlooking a busy South Dublin junction known locally as the Five Points.

From Conor & David:

Our challenge was to create an instantly memorable brand that would reflect the care and attention brought to food and coffee in Five Points, and which would live naturally online, in print and in application on the physical space. The outcome of our process is a refined palette of elements: limiting colour to blue and white, applied in stripes, illustrations and wall paint, a refined type treatment with a utilitarian application, and decorative elements including dingbat treatments by Max Phillips. We wanted a iconic treatment that could easily adopt found items, including crockery, workwear and uniforms. The ubiquity of blue and white striped apparel allows the team to wear Five Points easily, allowing them to make their own choices, which reflect the informal attitude and outlook.

Website for Wove, a Dublin-based strategy and design consultancy. Illustrations by Johnny Kelly. The typography employs several weights of Ballinger and Ballinger Mono.

Branding and promotion for the 2021 edition of Ireland’s premier literary event, the International Literature Festival Dublin. As in 2020, website and branding are by Red&Gray, and photography is by Ros Kavanagh.

Website for In the Company of Huskies, a Dublin-based advertising, digital, and brand strategy agency. Tenon by Signal is used in several weights from Light to Bold. It’s paired with all-caps Nein Extrabold (Extraset) for display.

Branding and website for David Shepard, a San Francisco-based executive coach. Boyle Design Group from Dublin brought together the sans-serif Tenon (Signal) and the roman Bookmania (Mark Simonson Studio) for the design.

Portfolio website for Distinctive Repetition, a small Dublin-based design office focussed on cultural and publishing clients in Ireland and abroad.

Ark Life was an online exhibition and auction organized by Dublin-based Pallas Projects to benefit both artists and eco-focused groups including TreeSisters, Friends of the Earth, and Extinction Rebellion Ireland.

The centerpiece of the event was a commissioned work by Irish artist Celina Muldoon celebrating biodiversity through banners, totems, and wearable sculptures created in public workshops, culminating in a celebratory parade (postponed due to the COVID pandemic) performed to a new score by composer Paul Murnaghan.

The typography uses Auger Mono as the main typeface. Stanley is used for body copy.

The Best of Us, mounted during the depths of the Covid pandemic when no indoor exhibitions were possible, displayed the commended projects from over 600 submissions to the 2020 Institute for Creative Advertising and Design Awards on digital bus shelter kiosks throughout the city of Dublin, provided by JCDecaux. A companion print supplement was published by The Business Post, and a selection of projects were projected onto the façade of the historic General Post Office by Algorithm. Design and direction by Jenny Leahy of ICAD and Rossi McAuley of Distinctive Repetition.

Promotional asset for an all-day live musical improvisation by Dunk Murphy, a Dublin-based composer, musician, producer, and designer who records and performs as Sunken Foal, Minced Oath, Press Charges, and as a member of Ambulance and The Natural History Museum.

All-caps Ballinger Black for a billboard/out-of-home advertising campaign for Smithwicks Ale. Designed at Boys+Girls by Patrick Horan under the direction of Head of Design Barry Smith. Photographer: Martin Wonnacott.