The Edit: five projects including Studio Chong’s progressive identity system for Blue Bird Mutual

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.

Venture capital firm Blue Bird Mutual have sought to flip the commercial industry on its head, establishing themselves as a mindful investment service that use their profits to invest in socially and cultural-focused initiatives. Turning to creative practice Studio Chong to help embody this progressive mindset, the resulting identity dutifully walks the line between commercial, casual and everyday investors – appealing to the broad financial spectrum through the use of soft hues and inviting typography. The typefaces in question include TypeShop’s TS Gascogne and Kern from Pizza Typefaces, which when combined, successfully convey the financial, old-school expertise of the brand, as well as the forward-thinking figures behind the scenes.

Marked the fasted-growing healthcare brand in Scandinavia in 2020, Källa has been making waves within the industry, offering sustainable, scientifically-led probiotics for bettering one’s gut health. Intending to demystify what gut health actually means, international design studio Kurppa Hosk sought a pragmatic, welcoming, creative look when tackling the brand’s comprehensive identity, from naming and strategy to packaging and visual aesthetic. With the brand’s Scandinavian context founding Kurppa Hosk’s creative process, the studio combined and contrasted slick, stark typographic principles with more candid line-making, resulting in a powerful tension between eccentricity and expertise. This notion is further emboldened through the tactility and hue of the expanded identity, calling upon organic tones and recycled materials to embellish the brand’s printed matter and digital presence.

Nihilo have worked alongside Decibel to establish a sensitive and accessible visual identity for the company, a healthcare brand offering people-first in-home dialysis and kidney care, dedicated to helping those who suffer with the comfort they deserve. Graphically achieved through the intricate use of Dinamo’s Arizona Flare, the resulting identity utilises the variable sans-to-serif typeface alongside a warm colour palette and spacial typographic application to champion the narratives at the centre of the brand. Having archived unfiltered, personal stories, Nihlio have allowed Decibel’s patients to take centre stage, collectively exhibiting the reality of dialysis and kidney care.

São Paulo-based designer Rodrigo Sens has created the sharp visual identity for multi-disciplinary artist Victor Hugo Mattos, known for his contemporary exploration of fashion, jewellery and fine art. Harmonising the refined context of the artist and the expressive nature of his practice, the resulting execution of the brand ranges from elementary, editorial-like typographic know-how to a kaleidoscopic explosion of the latter – led by the notion ‘from the centre to the infinity.’ Laying the pragmatic foundations of the brand is the apt use of Out of the Dark’s ToY as the serifed hero typeface, the exuberant flourishes of which make for striking shapes when applied in complex, repeated patterns, mirroring the eclectic nature of Mattos’ work.

With Milieu Grotesque’s Maison Neue Mono and Dinamo’s Favorit typographically leading the utilitarian graphic system, the striking identity for Spanish furniture brand Woodyman by Sonia Castillo Studio provides the space for combined and contrasted type and imagery to inhabit expressive, supportive and notably, functional roles. This aesthetic and conceptual spectrum allows the brand to highlight the numerous features of Woodyman’s offering, be it the quality of the materials or the story behind them. Supported by a soft, neutral colour palette, the expanded identity system embodies not only the tactile reality of Woodyman’s furniture but also the timelessness of their designs.