Campbell Hay collaborate with The Art of Ping Pong on a series of dynamic, typographic tables

London-based brand consultancy Campbell Hay has teamed up with The Art of Ping Pong, a British table tennis initiative that celebrates the sport and raises money for good causes at the same time. Initiated for London’s Islington Square, the result of the collaboration is eight unique tables, directed under the theme of ‘opposing states.’

In discussion with Design Lead Wai Ming Ng, he remarks that the chosen theme came to mind very naturally, recalling the conversations had within the studio about the fact an opponent is unavoidable in ping pong, as well as the notion of expressing signature moves. “It just made sense,” Ng tells us, “and the idea of opposing states then could be applied to broader themes related to the game and it opened up possibilities for the creative,” diving head-first into research concerning specific moves, and actions that can counter them.

Seeking to abstractly express these ideas of opposition, movement and action, Ng explains how the peculiar form of the ping pong table became a beautiful blank canvas to work upon, recalling the lack of creative restrictions granted to them in the design process. “This gave us a lot of freedom to really explore and push the designs as far as we wanted,” he explains, “it was a really fun and exciting project to work on.”

Going all out, the end result is a vibrantly chaotic and energetic aesthetic, driven by Colophon Foundry’s Coign, a typeface with such variability that any desired or required text could easily be accommodated by shifting the weight, width and height. This flexibility is further explored through the use of AR, however, as Ng explains, their design process first began static – pushing the playfulness of the work to the point where it was only logical to introduce a digital side.

“It was an easy translation to make from static design to animation,” he explains, having visualised the motion of the ping pong ball whilst originally drafting the static graphics. “When starting the various animations it was a matter of replaying those animations in my head and drawing them out step by step.”

Campbell Hay

The Art of Ping Pong