Social Sounds returns on bank holiday Good Friday at Belfast’s Ulster Sports Club, featuring Conor Schmtz, Reger, and Sophie. The poster features Animo by Heavyweight.

Lux is a nightclub based in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter.

Alias Harbour has been used for the logotype since 2018.

Tetto is a restaurant and bar at the Bullitt Hotel in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is self-described as “a bright, modern, design-led rooftop restaurant and bar showcasing fresh local seafood with an Italian accent alongside sourdough pizza and imaginative aperitivo inspired cocktails”.

The design was created by Rachel Cunning who mentions vintage Italian travel and motorsport posters as the source of inspiration for her identity design. The logo was created with Kiosk by Nguyen Gobber, while Plaak by 205TF and Bull-5 Mono by David Einwaller were used for copy text. On the fourth image, the bottom line of a menu is set in a yet unidentiefied serif.

Templemore Baths is one of Belfast’s heritage gems: the only Victorian baths building in Ireland that survives in its original form, with its original swimming pool and slipper baths.

This important amenity has been used by the community in east Belfast for over 100 years. Following a multi-million pound project, it has been sympathetically restored and interpreted for people to continue to enjoy today.

Our interpretation focuses on telling the story of the baths through the people and place surrounding it, giving voice to the memories of those who once bathed, swam and worked there.

We delved into the history of Templemore, compiling comprehensive research that explored the context for establishing the Victorian bath and the industrial development of the city. This lead to our in-depth Interpretation Plan which supported a NLHF funding bid.

We developed a bespoke visual language that was sympathetic to, and enhanced, the architectural qualities of the space. Our visual language helps to interpret the building’s former functions, with a design that draws inspiration from the original Ticket Office, Slipper Baths and Minor Pool with a contemporary slant to appeal to today’s audiences.

We used signage and materials left in the space to create a visual language that would act as if you stepped back into time — but also learn a bit about the space and history as you did it. This resulted in a mix of beautiful typefaces: working hard to represent the story that spanned decades.

Work Sans was used extensively in the newer areas of the exhibition space and within the ticket office, slipper baths and more heritage areas, copy sits in Work Sans to inform.

Overall, the heritage space is a multi-faceted visitor experience at the heart of the newly-revitalised Templemore Baths. It brings the history and the community who used and looked after the baths to life, through sympathetic and engaging interpretation.

Perched on a craggy outcrop at the mouth of Belfast Lough, Grey Point Fort helped to protect the city’s strategically important harbour from attack during two world wars. Now a popular stop on the North Down Coastal Path in Northern Ireland, walkers and cyclists pass by knowing little of the Fort’s stories; of how its searchlights kept watch and how the fort was once an integral part of the local community of Helen’s Bay.

We developed an outdoor interpretation scheme to tell of Grey Point’s hidden history: the origins of the fort, its impact on local life, life during war time and the ecology of the fort’s surroundings.

By revealing the heritage of this important site the local community and visitors alike can gain greater understanding and appreciation the fort’s significance as a publicly accessible asset. For locals in particular, its story is part of their story.

Interpretation is presented on high-pressure laminate graphic panels mounted to lectern and totem signs located at key points around the site. Panels are weather-proof and vandal-resistant and will retain their graphic integrity despite the coastal location.

Alongside amazing heritage images, the typographic design needed to have impact, reflect the character of the site and be highly legible. We assembled headlines from scanned letterpress printed type, bleeding text off panel edges to lend the words a sense of urgency. In contrast, body copy was typeset using FS Me, so it was as accessible as possible. FS Me was designed specifically to improve legibility for people with learning disabilities. The font was researched and developed by Fontsmith with – and endorsed by – Mencap, the UK’s leading charity and voice for those with learning disabilities.

The searchlight emplacements needed protection. We designed interpretive screens engineered from weathering steel – one a conceptual piece incorporating an eye motif to continue the fort’s legacy and another typographic, presenting technical aspects of the searchlight that was once housed within. These were developed and manufactured in consultation with a steel fabricator who advised on technical parameters.

The metal door features text in AG Book Stencil.

On the panels, FS Me is paired with Rufina Stencil and Bureau Grot.

Hill Street Hatch was –

a pop-up space that offers a creative partnership for entrepreneurs in the Belfast hospitality scene who are looking to test and launch new concepts and ideas.

The identity was created by Crown Creative using Mr Banks by Andrei Robu.

Contemporary European dining in the heart of the bustling, cobbled streets of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter.

Belfast's Hill Street, a vibrant area full of bars, restaurants, and creative studios, was once a cultural hub for makers and craftsmen. The Grade B building was suitably named ‘Waterman House’ to reflect the River Farset that once flowed perpendicular to Hill Street; a transport waterway that allowed produce and equipment to reach the narrow, winding streets.

This layered history of the area, combined with a no-frill attitude and a classic European fare ignited a subtle, contemporary branding direction for Crown Creative. A nod to both the building’s name and the movement of water was implemented through organic, custom detailing in the form of the Waterman’s signature W in the wordmark (based on FS Siena) and a colour splash of blue. A combination of FS Siena and Monotype Baskerville is used in the menus and drinks list to reflect the minimalistic, fine dining interiors created by chef and owner Niall McKenna and his team.

Through an amalgamation of these concepts, Crown has achieved an understated yet confident branding package that suitably reflects the long-standing, upmarket milieu Niall has constructed over the course of his long career.

The new website for digital product developers Dawson Andrews of Belfast, Northern Ireland was designed by Elliot Jay Stocks. It makes use of the typefaces Tome Sans and Helfa, both by Delve Withrington at Delve Fonts.

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.

TG Praktikal in use on a vinyl release by electronic music duo Bicep. From Studio Degrau’s project page:

Atlas is the new 12″ vinyl single from Bicep. Using catharsis as the motor of memories and embodied experiences, this single is part of a bigger communication strategy that ranges from packaging to live set performances.

Led by sculptural moments that are created by freezing gestures from the human body while reacting to techno, this vinyl is part of a monumental set with fluorescent colors.

All The Best is a 1983 compilation album of earlier singles and EPs from Northern Irish punk band, Stiff Little Fingers. The cover is a photo of a letterpress forme composed in hand-set Univers. The photo has presumably been flipped to be right-reading.

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.

The Berliner is a pub in Belfast’s city centre. The name is derived from the newspaper size – slightly larger than a tabloid, smaller than a broadsheet.

Alias Harbour is used for the logotype.

“The Northern Ireland Human Rights Festival is a unique collaboration by a range of civil society organisations interested in the protection and promotion of human rights at home and abroad. For over five years the Northern Ireland Human Rights Festival has seen a diverse range of organisations working in partnership to develop an annual programme of events which celebrates human rights both locally and internationally.” – description from The NIHRF website

The clean and friendly design is making use of JAF Bernina Sans’s wide range of weights and widths – great to see that the typeface is not only used for the identity but also for the continuous text on their wide range of promotional materials.

“An alternative guide to Belfast featuring locations that celebrate some of the best independent businesses within the city, Two Digs designed a map that takes you off the tourist trail and into the heart of the city. Printed using a Pantone orange neon ink on 170GSM uncoated paper, it stands out for its unique colour and texture. Coupled with JAF Bernino Sans Condensed by Just Another Foundry, this guide is one to hold onto.”
– project description from Two Digs Studio website

http://redbonnyrum.com/