Three long life friends with the one dream, to open their own pub.

Based around the concept of friendship and unity, Grandson interpreted the Celtic circular symbol for friendship, to create a “Grecian, Wildean eternal circle of pint drinking” motif for the brand identity.

Lydian, with its humanist calligraphic characteristics, is used as a nod to uncial lettershapes and tied in with the Gaelic premise’s name. There was also a challenge around the name itself “Mo Chara” and it not being interpreted as an Irish tourist bar. We wanted this to have its own modern identity with a nod to the past.

We worked with the Mo Chara team to ensure all the original features of the facade and entire were given the shine they deserved, highlighting rather than covering over. The brand colour red being a nod to the oxide red brick colour used on facade synonymous with Dundalk and its famous brewery heritage.

Illustration by Stephanie Connolly.
Photography by Sapient Media.
Signwriting by Wonders & Signs.

International architecture practice van Dijk Architects have been operating for over 20 years.

Grandson were tasked with modernising their brand identity, while staying true to an original hand-drawn illustration element of their original branding.

Based off the previous illustrative brand identity, we modernised and re-imagined the VDA brand, creating a modular and contemporary logomark and bespoke illustration, reflecting the various architectural sectors they work within, using form and shape in a modular and adaptable way.

The logomark is also representative of architectural forms and building blocks, which can be adapted, stacked, switched and built upon.

The new identity uses a reductive colour palette, featuring G.F Smith’s Lockwood Green paper stock. Aeonik by Co Type Foundry is used throughout.

Unglu-d is the home of gluten free in Ireland. We created a loose and playful identity for Unglu-d that allowed it to become a community for people who can come together to share, reclaim, expand and challenge ideas and experiences around coeliac disease.

Unglu-d as a brand has an empathetic, upbeat and conversational tone of voice. It needed a personality and a philosophy that could connect people in an era where everybody is informed and connected. The branding reflected this concept by showcasing it’s friendly, holistic and expressive personality through loose illustration and engaging copywriting.

Brigid Teevan is a relationship and sexuality educator. She works with the parents, as well as educating children on relationships and their sexual health.

It was important for Brigid Teevan when we did this rebrand to have an importance on being inclusive to all people, sizes, ethnicities and genders. With this, we created a welcoming and friendly identity that could showcase educational illustrations that are visually engaging for children, as well as expressive illustrations that are used as a personal style to the brand, to create a moment of pause between the informative and inject some personality into something that is educational for children.

Avril Flynn is a midwife and childbirth educator, who specialises in antenatal care and progressive new therapies.

Starting out with her own business, she needed an identity and web presence which represented not only her work, but also her personality. This was achieved by creating a brand which centred around the image and voice of Avril herself, through the use of engaging, authentic illustration and copywriting at the heart of all communications.

Turas is an addiction counselling service and charitable organisation based in Ireland.

We were tasked with breathing new life into a tired brand, with no clear consistency in its message. To do this, we simplified the language which they used, making a statement and informative pieces more emotive, engaging and contemporary. This new succinct language then influenced the creation of a suite a conceptual illustrations to sit harmoniously alongside when needed.

The all-lowercase logo is based on Calibre. It’s paired with Karla as the brand typeface.

Brand identity and website for The Magnet, a creative event management agency putting attendee experience at the heart of everything they create.

The typographic approach to this identity was inspired by the golden era of advertising, with strong, cleverly written copy at the centre of its visual output. The typography pairs Clearface Gothic (1910) for the logo with Recoleta (2018) for all copy.

Throughout the printed stationery and ephemera we used a white ink on duplexed Popset Blue Violet with Flame Orange.

Identity and promotional booklet to accompany the launch of the Pinstripe Punk Tailoring experience, an exclusive service allowing customers to create truly unique garments. Focused on producing premium and exclusive pieces, all garments are ordered, cut, sewn and finished using the highest quality materials.

The two-color booklet, thread sown with copper stitching has a clear foil deboss on the three panel cover which also acts as housing device for additional images and inserts.

See also an earlier design for Pinstripe Punk from 2015.

Cover with the title in scattered words from Jean-Luc.

We See Things They’ll Never See chronicles the glorious first season of Vinny Perth’s reign as the manager of Dundalk FC.

This comprehensive 304 page publication recounts every detail of the 2019 campaign, as ‘The Lilywhites’ retained the league title, as well as going agonisingly close to completing an unprecedented sweep of all five domestic trophies.

Table of contents ft. Akzidenz-Grotesk Extended; “Back to Business” in all-caps Compacta.

Text page combining ITC Garamond and Garamond Premier. The page on the right has a pull quote set in GT America.

“Last Action Heroes” uses Knockout, “Sealed with a Kiss” is set in Windsor Elongated.

Folding poster guide and promotional material for the second year of Louth Science Festival, a programme offering a host of free creative, innovative and inspiring events for both schools and the general public, across all five branch libraries in Louth.

Building on the playful, modular brand developed the previous inaugural year, we maintained the core elements of the identity and used the same two spot florescent colours for consistency, allowing the folding mechanism of the poster to adapt in order to accommodate the increased number of events and details.

Brand refresh implemented across a variety of print and promotional material for Hench, a Belfast-based state of the art training and recovery facility.

Hench deliver world-class coaching focused on the individual to optimise performance, health, wellbeing and recovery. To better reflect the level, and variety, of services on offer, we worked together to develop a variety of material which included corporate, benefit and pricing brochures, annual folders, training diaries, review cards, gift cards and stationery.

MFred is used for headings, paired with Neue Helvetica and Source Code.

See also the previous post about the Hench identity and website from 2018.

Brand identity for McArdle Doyle, a Dundalk-based engineering practice offering concept-to-completion design and project management services to the retail, petroleum, commercial, industrial and residential sectors.

The basis of the developed identity originated from an early concept of ‘Understanding & Defining Space’, the idea of visualising and planning for large, complex spaces, such as the petroleum sector, the companies main area of expertise. This concept was carried through the identity with the inclusion of blocks of colour and staggered imagery, which are representational of spatially viewing an area from above.

Taking Back The Throne tells the story of one of the most successful seasons in Dundalk Football Club’s long and proud history. In 2018, in his final campaign in charge of the Lilywhites, Stephen Kenny’s wonderful group of players swept all before them, winning their fourth SSE Airtricity League title in five years before going on to win the double with victory over Cork City in the FAI Cup final at the Aviva Stadium.

Headlines are set in Akzidenz-Grotesk Extended, body text uses Freight Text and Founders Grotesk is used for captions.

The book is available from Dundalk Sport.

Curated by Creative Spark and Grandson, Put It On was an evening of discussions and performances intended to provide insights into the creative process of representing sound.

The event saw an eclectic line up of panellists and performers including Brian Cross B+, Niall “Hi Tone” McCormack, John Byrne (Quare Groove), Frank B (Sias), Jinx Lennon and TPM.

All content is set in different styles of Knockout.

Hench is a state of the art, members-only athletic performance and recovery facility based in Belfast. The aim of Hench is “to give our athletes access to the tools, knowledge and support available to professional athletes competing at the highest level on the world stage.” Their mission is to change member’s lives by empowering them to become the strongest version of themselves. We designed an identity to showcase this with a logo (using Alte Haas Grotesk), a website – built by Dave Haughton – and with videos by Joel McBride.

McGahon Architects are an award-winning, design-led architectural practice based in Dundalk Co. Louth, which has been in operation for three generations.

We were tasked with designing a new visual identity which reflects the approach and ethos of the practice. Based on a shift in the practice naming from McGahon to M–A, we designed a robust logo marque to represent this, along with a sleek logotype conveying simplicity, proportion and elegance. The print application focused on using a range of paper stocks that were reflective of the mass and solidity of building materials, using debossed and embossed foil blocking on a range of applications.

PC Repair Centre is a long run family business based in Dundalk. For years, they have been the ‘go to’ people for everything IT and computer support related.

As the company has evolved, reflecting the change in a dynamic and constantly developing industry, they required a re-branding (as Dash) and creation of an innovative and relevant design to reflect their offering of a full and highly informed service to a wide range of problems, no matter how big or small.

Arcadian Field is an intimate festival experience nestled at the foot of the Cooley Mountains on the breath-taking grounds of Bellurgan Park. We gather at this unique setting to celebrate life with music, art and other creative forms.

Grandson created a concept for this music/arts festival, along with a brand identity and a range of hand-drawn graphic elements that relate to the pastoral theme and the natural assets onsite. This branding was applied to a minimalist colour palette, paired with Max Esnée's Savate throughout. See more pictures on grandson.ie.

In 2014 Grandson were tasked with designing Champ10ns — a book commemorating the Dundalk FC league winning season.

We were approached by the same editorial team of local Dundalk journalist Gavin McLaughlin and eminent sports photographer Ciarán Culligan to work on this year's 2015 version of the book.

The Double is a 280-page book telling the story of Dundalk FC’s historic year that ended with being crowned SSE Airtricity League champions, FAI Cup winners, Leinster Senior Cup winners and President’s Cup winners.

Brand identity and logo development for a Dundalk based mens fashion clothier: Pinstripe Punk.

The concept for us was to stay away from the clichéd imagery and typography associated with “Punk” music and the culture. Instead we looked at creating something that was strong, iconic and a nod to Northern Soul / Mod / Terrace Culture.

We then created a set of utilitarian, modular print elements that could be customised and adapted to be used throughout the shopping year.

Printed by Plus Print on 540gsm Offset, duplexed, using two spot colors – metallic chrome and navy. All elements have have chrome gilded edging.