The Edit: five new projects including Circula by Fiction

Each and every day, we're lucky to discover dozens of interesting and inspiring projects from around the world. From global identities and campaigns to side projects and independently published books, The Edit is home to five of them; every two weeks.

Circula is an expense management app based around intelligent automation and straightforward user journeys. They have a simple ambition “to make people’s lives easier by saving them the only irreversible value in the universe – time”. Sofia and Berlin-based agency Fiction was invited to design Circula’s identity in line with the app’s launch. According to Fiction’s personality slider test, Circula see themselves as one-part mass-appeal, one-part rebel. This informed the direction of the identity – rich pastel colours, sporadic geometric forms and to-the-point messaging referring to the app’s time-saving benefits. The introduction of the curvy and highly-legible Sharp Grotesk as the primary typeface gives Circula an inviting and familiar presence, completing a clear and direct visual language.

Status Machine is an online technician that helps to find the cause of visual bugs on WordPress websites, as well as offering SEO, content quality and security services. Monozygote, a design studio in Montreal founded by twin brothers Israel and Micael L’Italien, developed Status Machine’s visual identity. To capture the analytic nature of their work, the studio created a system around the plus and minus symbols. The plus is used to define a functioning or repaired system, while the minus represents issues or warnings. The symbolism and typography are accompanied by a vibrant colour chart, designed to go hand-in-hand with positive or negative alert messages.

In the summer of 2018, Fuzzco was invited by former client and friend Halle Tecco to co-found a consumer and content company that helps people get pregnant. They jumped at the opportunity and after months of research, Natalist was born. The company is positioned as an authority with heart. Their product packaging is designed to be as simple as possible in order to give mothers a better understanding of their pregnancy, resulting in a positive and empowering experience.

Pier 70 is a 35-acre former shipyard in San Francisco Bay that’s set to reopen as a living and working neighbourhood in 2022. It used to be one of the most prominent industrial centres in America – a hub for shipbuilding innovation since the late 19th century. But, as the shipbuilding industry waned, activity at the pier ceased completely in the 1970s. Alongside the development of the $120 million project, London-based design consultancy DNCO was commissioned to create a meaningful brand and graphic language to help bring the people of San Francisco back to the area. The shipyard’s revitalisation means that most of its iconic buildings are being restored. This includes ‘Building 15’ and its 50-foot-high steel frame, which has been transformed into a gateway at the entrance of the new pier. This piece of repurposed architecture was the inspiration for Pier 70’s logo and bold, industrial graphic language.

ATM PIZZA is an after-hours fast food spot located in the bustling centre of Monterrey, Mexico. Its visual identity, designed by local studio Shift, is a homage to the 80s typography seen on neon signs and the practicality of the city’s cash machines. They looked at VHS tapes and cassettes for colour and typography inspiration, as well as the retro branding of companies like Atari and Xerox. However, in order to not feel like a pastiche, the boldness is contrasted with lots of white, open space, adding a contemporary layer to an otherwise zany identity system.