The Edit: five projects including Sthuthi Ramesh’s modular identity for the South Asia Gallery

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 South Asia Gallery, located in Manchester Museum, is the UK’s first permanent gallery that celebrates the experiences and contributions of the South Asian diaspora. Presenting displays from the British Museum alongside Manchester’s best South Asian collections, the landmark project gives visibility to stories and cultures; curating them through an authentic South Asian lens. As part of the visual identity, London-based designer Sthuthi Ramesh teamed up with Universal Thirst to create a bespoke typeface that not only resonates with the diasporic journey from South Asia to Manchester but also supports multilingual characters. She drew from a modular type specimen developed in the 1930s by Gujarati Type Foundry, creating a dual-coloured stencilled typeface that brings the gallery’s story and vision to life without falling back on South Asian design stereotypes. The ingenious typeface supports seven South Asian scripts: Bangla, Devanagari, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Latin, Tamil, and Urdu – all of which are present within the gallery’s wordmark. 

The vegan cheeses of today are unrecognisable compared to their early iterations as tasteless, rubbery chunks. Better yet, vegan cheese brands such as IN+U are created with groundbreaking technology, ensuring their vegetable cheeses are made with high levels of proteins whilst tasting genuinely like cheese. Their branding and packaging, designed by brand strategy and design agency FUNKY captures their progressive, health-forward and mindful focus. The colour palette features pastels to convey a feeling of ‘lightness,’ whilst a zingy bright green catches the eye – chosen to give a sense of the product’s innovation. A series of pleasant character illustrations, clad in lab coats, reinforce the scientific theme of IN+U alongside a subtle grid; serving as a visual metaphor for diets and eating habits.

Having designed the world’s most technologically advanced coffee brewing platform, BrewBird ensures the freshest cup of coffee ground-to-order in the form of compostable pods. In line with the latest development in its offering, global design studio Mucho designed a joyful new identity; echoing the company’s promise of a ‘magical coffee experience.’ The packaging promises exactly that, as bright, beautiful, and one-of-a-kind paint pours represent each of the coffee’s unique flavour profiles. Thanks to Scottish visual artist Craig Black’s renowned ‘acrylic fusion’ technique, paired with Lineto’s smart and understated LL Supreme, the identity unifies artisan craft, taste and technology, and tells BrewBird’s unique story.

Infinix is a fast-growing tech brand with a global presence, serving customers in over 40 countries. As a future-forward company and smartphone manufacturer, they primarily cater to Gen Z, providing them with smart technology to enhance their lives. Working with global brand design studio Mubien, the new tech-focused look bridges the gap between brand and audience with confidence, based on three principles: pure, inclusive, and progressive. Inspired by the company’s logotype, Mubien created Infinix Display; a modern, minimalist and geometric typeface with sharp lines and bold strokes. Furthermore, support for the Cyrillic, Arabic and Thai languages ensures that the typeface aligns with Infinix’s focus on tech and precision whilst speaking to a broad range of markets and cultures.  

Boasting a rich vitamin composition, light fruity flavour and refreshing taste, it’s no surprise that Mizone is loved by many as China’s leading vitamin drink brand. Danone’s subsidiary is a pioneer in the category, positioned as an ‘everyday restoration drink.’ Continuing its legacy for innovation, Mizone launched the world’s first-ever ‘Carbon Smart’ concept bottle – for each Carbon Smart bottle produced, 6g of carbon is recycled. Mizone worked with Scandinavian consumer brand agency Everland and Concept & Product Designer Jonas Lundin when developing the concept and bottle design. The result is simple yet extremely effective, capturing the look of the sky with a gradient. And in doing so, tells the story of Mizone’s fascinating technological accomplishment and commitment to a better environment. Depending on the amount of CO captured, the outlook changes on each bottle.