The Edit: five projects including Banda’s striking and poignant vanishing campaign for Chornobyl

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Poppy Thaxter
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The Edit: five projects including Banda’s striking and poignant vanishing campaign for Chornobyl

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.

The Edit: five projects including Banda’s striking and poignant vanishing campaign for Chornobyl
The Edit: five projects including Banda’s striking and poignant vanishing campaign for Chornobyl

Whilst the images we associate with Chornobyl’s ‘Exclusion Zones’ are those of dangerous ghost cities, Ukrainian creative agency Banda are here to highlight that these spaces are very much alive. Whether it’s for the scientific research of nature, or testing the work of robots in a radiation environment, these areas serve a meaningful purpose. Together with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine and the State Agency on Exclusion Zone Management, the agency developed a campaign to draw attention to both the disappearing places of memory and the disappearing danger of the radiation, marked by a ‘vanishing logo.’ Starting from the year 1986, the logo – modelled after Chornobyl’s fourth reactor – changes gradually each year and gradually disappears. The endpoint of the logo’s existence is 2064, when Chornobyl Power Plant will be completely decommissioned. The project serves to highlight that, whilst the direct consequences of the disaster will no longer be visible, they still exist. 

The Edit: five projects including Banda’s striking and poignant vanishing campaign for Chornobyl

Womena have changed their strategy and business model, from accelerating women-led startups, to a feminist media platform that empowers women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. With this came the need for an updated purpose-led identity. Having worked on Womena’s original rebrand, Mohamed Samir returned to collaborate on the new brand strategy and identity that would match their new business model and digital needs. A high-contrast black and white palette ensures that photography and language take centre stage. With an eye-catching new wordmark, paired with a bold typographic direction, the new look communicates the feminine, powerful and story-driven focus of the platform. 

The Edit: five projects including Banda’s striking and poignant vanishing campaign for Chornobyl

BOND’s Finland studio have created a warm, fresh and positive brand identity for Joo, a rental business that aims to challenge industry conventions. Working with property developer and manager, Asuntoyhtymä, the team at BOND channelled the ‘carefree’ ethos of the rental business with a type-led identity, built on the simple, distinctive and memorable brand name: ‘Joo,’ a colloquial expression for yeah or yes. In addition to being either a definite or doubtful response, the word can also convey excitement or compliance, agitation or affirmation. With this in mind, the flexible wordmark incorporates punctuation to communicate the brand’s character. The pared-back identity is verbally driven, embodied in the elegant and modern leading serif typeface and warm colour palette. 

The Edit: five projects including Banda’s striking and poignant vanishing campaign for Chornobyl

D.C.-based designer Noah Mooney presents a passion project that redefines the well-known US sparkling water brand La Croix as an international brand “with visual roots rich in French history and design.” Taking inspiration from the aesthetics of vintage French posters alongside French artists like Yves Klein, Mooney has conjured a speculative response to the question “If I were drinking sparkling water in an open-air café in the French Riviera, what would it look like?” With a playful and flavour-forward colour palette, the look feels both vibrantly contemporary and quintessentially Parisian. VJ Type’s Nord and Klim Type Foundry’s Geograph are implemented as the heading and body typefaces, respectively. Tying the look together is a checked-pattern motif that draws from the geometric structures of the Louvre’s glass panes. 

The Edit: five projects including Banda’s striking and poignant vanishing campaign for Chornobyl

No Requests by Tiffany Calver is a platform for UK Rap without the rules and restrictions of traditional record labels. To compliment and build upon the platform’s core logo, created by art director Manu Pillai, Leeds-based freelance creative Liam Kay built a type-heavy, striking visual language. With a finger on current and contemporary UK music, Kay took a simple red live recording symbol and used it to run through the entire visual language of the brand. The leading typeface, Forma DJR Banner, was elected for its versatility alongside other secondary typefaces. Additionally, the unique flat tail of the ‘Q’ ensures that it sits comfortably alongside Pillai’s existing smiley logo design.