brandopus

With over 500 million registered users, Twitter is one of the ten most visited websites on the Internet and can influence people worldwide.

This couldn't be truer for Twinings. It all began with a tweet from One Direction's Niall... "love your work! Your Lemon and Ginger is great! Drink about 3 or 4 cups before stage." Niall, has 11 million Twitter followers worldwide so you can imagine the impact this has had for Twinings.

The brief from Twinings was to create something personalised, quirky and fun whilst being a keepsake for Niall. And for me, being a big fan of any boy band at all, this couldn't be more of a dream brief to work on! The idea was that it would be a bonus for Niall to receive packs of his favourite cup of tea... after all, we want those vocals to be at their best whilst on stage! We worked with the current Lemon and Ginger packs, which we at BrandOpus re-designed as part of the Infusions relaunch in 2012, making it feel like a limited edition pack especially made for Niall himself.

Tweaking the illustrations on pack and also working into the copy made it feel more personalised, we even managed to get a few song titles in there too: "Naturally caffeine free... that's what makes you beautiful".

Speaking about the custom made tea, Niall said: "Thanks very much @TwiningsTeaUK! love the ole Lemon and Ginger tea! Love the boxes aswell haha." He then photographed this and shared the picture via Twitter.  To date, over 52,000 people have retweeted Niall's references to Twinings, and over 65,000 people have 'favorited' his posts.  

Since Twinings first interaction with Niall in April, they have seen their Twitter followers increase from 11,326 followers 18th April 2013 to 18,626 followers 13th May 2013, which is pretty amazing.

This just shows what how powerful social networking sites can be and how a brand's packaging can interact with an audience in a fun and engaging way whilst broadening Twinings social reach.

It's 2:30, they're an hour and a half late... that gives me 15 minutes (of fame perhaps? Bad joke...). Am I nervous or did my lunch just have too much garlic in it? Charlotte's excited, Charlotte's ALWAYS excited. Offset path, extrude, chop it out - use Penumbra Flare, people love Penumbra Flare. Why the hell did I iron a check shirt... that's the point of check isn't it, no ironing? What if they're wearing make-up, you know like guy make-up - how can I take anyone like that seriously?!

They've arrived... so that's what tailors are for. Ok, like the director said, poker face, if they want it lavender with rainbow gradient comic sans that's what they get. I can hear the silly music those shows have, new age/progressive salon - someone makes that music, someone has that job... What?! They're having lunch now... when am I going to design this thing? I mean it's one thing for TV to simplify and mis-represent the process but some work HAS to get done surely!!! Calm down - serenity now, serenity now. What's good? Well the cutter is simple, they have shown up and they're not as bigger idiots as the show makes them out to be, poor guys - people are going to hate them for no reason.

How heavy must that camera be? They're struggling, get a name guys... come on, 'Bitter Twisted' perfect for flavoured ale! Ok, style it up... Oh, hang on, yes! I can get a little idea in there - imagine it, to get an idea into a design on The Apprentice!!!

It's done, beautiful... I... actually this is good! Unbelievable. Sorry? What's that? We're not allowed that name...

Our new brand generation and design for maple syrup Buckwud has just been shortlisted for a prestigious Design Week award. It has been quite a hit with judging panels, with six accolades to date, including a gold Design Effectiveness award. With that in mind, we wanted to celebrate with a closer look behind the creation process of this new, and very exciting brand, and spoke to Caroline Gates, lead designer on Buckwud, to get her take on how the project developed, from brief to shelf.

What was the focus of the client brief?

CG: We were briefed to create a new maple syrup brand and packaging that would stand out on shelf and communicate the authenticity and purity of the product.

How do you approach a new brand creation project, and how does it feel to be given a blank canvas to work on?

CG: Obviously it's very exciting! With a brief so wide, my first approach is to find out as much as possible about the product: information and knowledge helps my creative process. I delved into the history, culture and traditions surrounding maple syrup, researching until the 'quirks' behind the product were revealed.

Working in this way helps us to understand and know a product in and out and beyond the category cues, and to discover the unique traits that will help to differentiate the new brand from all the others on shelf.

What did the research reveal?

CG: We started at the beginning researching the history and process of making maple syrup. It was exciting to find a wealth of myths and legends surrounding the origins of maple syrup as well as stories of how the syrup was made centuries ago, and that the process is still pretty similar today. This seemed the perfect way to convey that this product was special and trustworthy. 

We wanted the brand to be fun and quirky but informative and educational. I had never realised that Maple Syrup was a Native Canadian product and wanted to share this discovery.

What are the little images on the pack?

CG: We researched the various languages and cultures of the 'First Peoples' and using pictograms were able to create a new visual language to illustrate the products past. Pictograms are one of the oldest forms of art and semiotics, some native american pictographs date back to 3000 years ago and are a wonderful insight in to how people lived in these times. 

Many of the icons used in the Buckwud language are authentic symbols that have been found through out North America.

And where did the name come from?

CG: The name was also derived from the Native Canadian culture, 'Sinzibuckwud' was the description for maple syrup meaning drawn from wood, so we broke this down to create a fun, catchy and memorable name.

Why do you think Buckwud has been such a success so far?

CG: Because it is noticeable on shelf, it is so different from everything else in the category, and above all, it's fun!

On my adventures through the internet I recently discovered the Ghostsigns Project, a collaborative national effort to photograph, research and archive the remaining examples of hand painted wall advertising in the UK and Ireland. 

Ghostsigns are the typically faded remains of advertising that was once painted by hand onto the brickwork of buildings. They can be found in cities, towns and villages across the country advertising many different products and services, some still familiar, some now sadly defunct. 

Although it is possible to find Ghostsigns in France, Belgium and the USA, the UK and Ireland have the strongest heritage in this field of advertising. An interesting mark of economic and cultural baring is the list of countries that still embrace hand painted signs to advertise wares, especially prevalent in India, Mexico and across Africa.

London is a great place for spotting these signs, and although many examples were sadly lost during The Blitz, traces of paint are still visible on many brick buildings across the capital. The key to finding them is paying attention to the buildings you pass and looking up as they are often high up on the walls, which is why I imagine a lot of Ghostsigns go unnoticed as most Londoners tend to keep their heads down when hurrying along the pavement.

Businesses of all types and sizes once used hand painted advertising to publicise themselves. These included smaller local companies who may have had a sign painted on their premises, all the way up to big brands such as Gillette and Hovis who paid for signs across the country. There are also many examples of signs that have outlived the company or product being advertising, or even examples of long-lost brand mascots, such as Little Miss Barber who appears on painted advertisements for Barber's, Orantips and our very own client, Twinings.

Twinings started using the advertising character 'Little Miss Barber' in the mid twentieth century. The curious tea enthusiast appeared in ghost signs in the West Midlands, UK building audience interest. But besides these photos there seems to be no record of this energetic tea promoter. The mystery of this lost character continues...

Dicsover some Ghostsigns for yourself: have a root around the archive here  

Walthamstow. E17.

When you think of Walthamstow what do you think of? For me Walthamstow has always been synonymous with 'going down the dogs' after the old Walthamstow Dog Racing Track, or for music fans of my generation it might conjure up thoughts of the artwork for Blur's iconic 'Parklife' album featuring photos of the band at Walthamstow Stadium, or (more impressively) as the birthplace one of the greatest British pop groups of their time; East 17 (later renamed E17 after the actual Walthamstow postcode). Or perhaps, maybe that's just me!

However, the last thing Walthamstow is likely to strike you as is as the birthplace of a cultural, artistic design revolution. But that's exactly what it is. Sort of.

I was lucky enough to pay a visit to The William Morris Gallery this weekend, based in the heart of E17. The Gallery is set in a beautiful grade II listed Georgian house (realistically more of a mansion), built in the 1740s and set in Lloyd Park, Walthamstow. The house was Morris's family home from 1848 to 1856 and is the only public gallery devoted to William Morris. The Gallery is like a beacon of beauty amid the local kebab shops and asphalt backdrop of East London. It's about as unexpected as finding Downton Abbey down the back of the sofa. 

I went to the William Morris Gallery with the sole intention of seeing David Bailey's new 'East End Faces' photographic exhibition. Bailey's iconic photographs of 1960s London. However, the visit turned out to be so much more than I had expected it to be. And actually turned out to be one of the most inspirational galleries I've ever been to. As an added bonus, weekend visits allow free parking at the close-by Walthamstow Assembly Hall a beautiful but imposing art deco building that wouldn't look entirely out of place as the backdrop to a Nazi war movie.

As far back as I can remember (i.e my GCSE Art Class 1995) the name William Morris has always been associated with the British Arts & Craft Movement. Essentially, he was just the guy who made those pretty patterns you find in Liberty of London and who made the odd bit of wooden furniture. How wrong could I have been? Having been fully immersed in his history and absorbed by his work I now come to realise that he is one of the most important artist-designers of his age. As we at BrandOpus should well know following our Christmas party trip to the Tate Britain: Morris was an important part of the brotherhood who revolutionised art in the Victorian era, the Pre-Raphaelites (along with Holman Hunt, Millais and Rossetti). 

Screenprinted on the wall of the entrance to the exhibition is a quote from when William Morris died aged 62 in 1896. His doctor promptly proclaimed the cause of death: "The disease is simply being William Morris, and having done more work than 10 men." The doctor was hardly joking. The quote became clear once I'd had a good look around the gallery, where I discovered that he was not just a artist-designer, but that amongst other things he was a best selling poet and author, who not only wrote beautiful verse but designed the typeface to write it in, developed the print process to print them with and beautified all the books he published under the publishing house he founded, Kellmscott Press.

Morris was also a hugely talented furniture designer who simplified all of his designs in defiance of the opulent style of his era, taking influence from a simpler time before him. As a result of the popularity of his work, Morris founded his business Morris & Co. and set up a small but profitable shop at 449 Oxford street (which currently houses an equally profitable Phones 4U shop). Regularly suppling textiles and furniture for the crown, including the now famous St. James Damask for George V's silk coronation throne. The recognisable textiles of William Morris' Morris & Co. were one of the first global brands.

He pioneered the creation of new dyes for his textiles and championed the advancement of weaving, wooden block printing and stained glass window art.

As if this weren't already enough, Morris was an active Socialist campaigner for the poor, whom he felt lived in the best circumstances to appreciate his simple, well made furniture but were the least likely to be able to afford to buy it. On top of this he created a organisation to save old and dilapidated buildings in the City of London: The Society of Antiquaries of London, which is still working to preserve the cultural heritage of London's most historic sites to this day.

In addition, William Morris is without question one of the most quoted artists of all time. None of his quotes is more widely recited than, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

Everything contained in the gallery complies with aspects of his strongly held beliefs: everything is either useful or beautiful, and most often both. And what's more, entry is totally free. Who can question free inspiration?

Craftsman, Artist, Socialist, Designer, Typographer, Poet, Author, Businessman, Conservationist and most of all, British: Morris truly was the Duncan Bannatyne of his age. In short, and in the words of East 17 "everybody in the house of love."

William Morris Gallery, Lloyd Park, Forest Road, Walthamstow, London, E17 4PP. Wednesday to Sunday, 10am-5pm. Free entry

David Bailey's 'East End Faces'  Until 26 May 2013. Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am - 5pm; Free

http://www.wmgallery.org.uk/