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Poppy Thaxter
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High Tide devise a dynamic, future-forward brand world for Airsign’s ‘Tools for Modern Living’


High Tide devise a dynamic, future-forward brand world for Airsign’s ‘Tools for Modern Living’
High Tide devise a dynamic, future-forward brand world for Airsign’s ‘Tools for Modern Living’

Airsign’s goal is to create products for the home that are simple, beautiful and affordable. Created by Guerra Office, an industrial office located in New York, their range of appliances offers better design, powerful engineering and respect for the environment at the same time. Their first product, the HEPA vacuum, is an overdue make-over of the vacuum cleaner; boasting high performance, the model is well-designed and sustainably crafted.Working in collaboration with Guerra Office, Brooklyn-based creative studio High Tide built an identity and brand world for Airsign underpinned by four key values: simplicity, sustainability, innovation and empathy. The collaboration was smooth and productive, owing in part to Joey Guerra’s industrial design background. Keen to remain authentic and avoid any millennial tropes, the resulting identity is influenced by his own sources of inspiration when conceptualising and realising the brand itself.

Amongst those were Italian automotive design examples. “For the wordmark, we were referencing a lot of European motorsport typography,” High Tide’s Creative Director Danny Miller tells us, “as well as more classic luxury motor brands such as Porsche and Ducatti,” he adds. The confidence of these inspirations is partly delivered through a vibrant yet mature colour palette that sees energetic blues, oranges and yellows balanced with mossy greens and sleek jet-black. 

High Tide devise a dynamic, future-forward brand world for Airsign’s ‘Tools for Modern Living’
High Tide devise a dynamic, future-forward brand world for Airsign’s ‘Tools for Modern Living’

Aiming for a bold and futuristic simplicity inspired by 1980’s futurism, the brand’s AIR symbol comprises of simple geometric shapes – the slanted ‘A’ of which is a nod to forward motion. “It was very much meant to reflect and complement the design of the vacuum cleaner itself,” Miller explains, “sleek, minimal, and modern – a perfect product for the modern home.”

Rather than select one or two typefaces, High Tide opted for a wide range of styles from the Söhne type family, created by New Zealand-based type foundry Klim. Selected for its variety of weights and widths, the family was a versatile choice. “The condensed version stood out to us as a great fit for bold, graphic headlines, and the unique take on a mono helped add to the technical feel of the brand,” Miller explains. Thanks to the cohesive nature of the family, there was plenty of flexibility in its applications across the brand’s many touchpoints. 

To bring a balance of warmth and moments of calm to the identity, High Tide looked to Japanese lifestyle and minimalism. Rooted in zen buddhism, minimalism is dedicated to only owning objects that are essential to day-to-day life and can seamlessly harmonise with their surroundings. Miller, inspired by this ethos, explains that “we wanted to imbue some of that minimalist thinking into the identity to create breathing room to pair with the more expressive moments.”

Graphic Design

High Tide

Typography

Custom Wordmark
Söhne by Klim Type Foundry

Photography

Charlie Schuck

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