RADAR Magazine | #6

INSPIRATION - INSIGHT - IDEAS

Design trends curated by the ever-curious at ECHO Brand Design

Human Touch

EXPLORING WARMTH IN A DIGITAL WORLD

AUTUMN 2015 #6

Creative Director Andrew Capper andy@echobranddesign.co.uk

Marketing Director Nellie Veltman nellie@echobranddesign.co.uk

Contributors Andrew Capper Niall McRiner Danielle Verbeteen Jessica Skinner

Follow us @echobranddesign instagram/echobranddesign www.echobranddesign.com Cover Image: www.flickr.com

Welcome

To Radar

Design trends magazine curated by the ever-curious at ECHO Brand Design.

Human Touch AUTUMN 2015 #6 A

look

at

how

brands

are

reconnecting with consumers in today’s digital world.

www.flickr.com

HUMAN TOUCH

Contents This issue of Radar, ECHO’S Design Trends Magazine, focuses on the mega-trend of The Human Touch, which is impacting all aspects of the branding world. But what does this mean for brand owners, marketers and consumers? How does it affect your brands? How is it manifesting across different categories and at each brand touch point?

We explore three micro-trends and what they mean for you brand inside...

pg 6

pg 8

The Art of Conversation

pg 12

Craft of Authenticity

How brands talk to consumers is vital.

It’s easy to dismiss the desire for visual

We are all now looking for a more

authenticity as a niche one, driven by

human,

with

Brooklyn and East London hipsters with

our brands; we’re seeing many new

their craft beer start-ups or artisan coffee

products

category

roasters. Whilst it was clearly a departure

norms in terms of their tone of voice

from the mainstream at first, it has quickly

and language.

become mainstream itself driven by

two-way

relationship

challenging

the

changing consumer values, particularly of

Hello Category Codes

quality and honesty.

We see challenger brands breaking the norm with conversational branding and

pg 13 Gin Rules the Waves

pack designs.

We take a look at the manufacturing feat of Plymouth Gin bottles, crafted to hint

pg 11

What this means for your brand

back to a time of British authenticity.

We summarise the key take-outs from this micro trend to keep you on top of the

pg 17

competition.

What this means for your brand We summarise the key take-outs from this micro trend to help you deliver on those promises made online at the checkout.

pg 18

Emotional Bonds We’ve embraced the convenience of the digital shopping experience: e-commerce and services have been developed to ensure flexible delivery times and

www.finewineandthecity.blogspot.com

www.thingsiliketoday.com

locations that suit our busy lifestyles.

However, in many cases the opportunities to create rituals: the idiosyncratic, those more human interactions that delight and engage, have been designed out. pg 18 The Changing Role of 3D Branding We look into the opportunity for brands to build deeper, more human connections

www.thedieline.com

www.thecoolector.com

with new distribution models.

- 4 - ISSUE #6

HUMAN TOUCH

The Tech Backlash Cast your mind back to your school science lessons. Remember the theory, ‘ To each and every action is a reaction?’ Well, that’s not just relevant in chemistry and physics; it’s also true of trends.

With new technologies touching almost every aspect of our daily lives, a backlash has emerged. The convenience of the digital world should not eliminate the warmth, values and connections that humans innately desire. Whether conscious or subconscious choice, consumers increasingly connect with brands and products that engage on a personal level. They want more honest, more human brands that talk with greater warmth.

“the convenience of the digital world should not eliminate the warmth, values and connections that humans innately desire”

This connection can be expressed in different ways, from a connection to nature, to the written word, to the past, or simply to other people. In short, they want their brands to connect on a more emotive level. With this comes a sense of control and consumer empowerment. At the end of the day the brands and brand behaviors we surround ourselves with say something about us as individuals.

- 5 - ISSUE #6

It doesn’t matter which sector you operate in, or whether your brand is inherently technological or scientific. Brands will increasingly need to tap into this desire for a counter point to all this technology.

With the increasing complexity of the on-line world, the digital market place and a bombardment of phrases like ‘big data’ and the ‘internet of things’, this drive back to basics means brand, product and packaging will need to embody those values and talk and manifest differently.

Whether that’s the tone of voice a brand uses, the iconography or choice of typeface, brand language through to naming conventions and even material choices.

Human Touch

The Art of n o i t a s Conver How brands talk to consumers is vital. We are all now looking for a more human, two-way relationship with our brands; we’re seeing many new products challenging the category norms in terms of their tone of voice and language.

THE ART OF CONVERSATION

www.designweek.co.uk

www.cafetk.com

www.chipawards.com

www.bidorbuy.co.za.

www.fdin.org.uk

www.spiralcom.co.uk

ION

TELEVIS

dia

s ocial me

www.thedieline.com

PRESS

“In a fractured media world, the consumer conversation through your pack becomes ever more vital�.

Human Touch

- 7 - ISSUE #6

So how do existing brands take a more open and honest approach to what they say and how they say it, whilst staying true to their brand values?

Typically this more human conversation has been the preserve of communications and advertising. In a fractured media world however, where we are constantly drenched by a myriad of messages, the consumer conversation through your pack becomes ever more vital. Making this even more challenging: the closer we get to the physical product, the more focus must be placed on communicating tangible product benefits: performance, heritage, provenance, authentic or functional ingredients, time honoured or high-tech processes.

Consider sectors traditionally built around science, performance and functional delivery, these are particularly challenging to add a more human connection, but benefit from the contrast of a little warmth going a long way if done successfully.

THE ART OF CONVERSATION

Take oral care for example, a category in which

“Hello oral care products have turned the category on its head”.

Very much like Persil’s ‘Dirt is Good’ campaign,

consumers struggle to differentiate by product

it steps above the brightest-whitest arms race

performance (when every product promises

and speaks on an engaging and accessible level

the whitest smile) leading the way for brands to

about what it allows the consumer to do. We

communicate on a more personal level. Hello

can all identify with a brand that speaks simply

oral care products have turned the category on its

and colloquially in such a functional market- a

head by eliminating packaging codes of metallic

refreshing, disruptive edition to an otherwise

substrates and whiter-than-white illustrations of

expected supermarket shelf.

teeth. Gone are lab-coated experts and explanatory science iconography and in their place marks a look and feel, as well as a vocabulary, that redirects the brand’s focus on the product’s emotional delivery.

Human Touch

- 8 - ISSUE #6

THE ART OF CONVERSATION

One-to-One This desire for conversations with consumers can now, perversely, be taken to greater lengths thanks to next generation print, prototyping and digital technologies. Inkjet printing allows customisation like never before. In parallel, with the ability to create limited run and personalised packaging, we now have the technology to collect consumer data that makes this type of consumer engagement relevant. Brands can have a one-to-one dialogue with consumers, make them part of the brand and work as your advocates.

▲ DESERVES LURPAK Using colloquial language and everyday food items, Lurpak’s recent campaigns are both accessible and humerous, helping them to take ownership of cooking in the troublesome spreads category.

www.himumsaiddad.com

▲

The pack can also act as a trigger and, using interactive label technology, segue from a conversation opener on pack to a fully-fledged discussion in the social media space. Cadbury recently connected it’s new range of Dairy Milk extensions using Blippar technology to allow consumers to continue to experience the ‘Joy’ of Cadbury to levels of engagement that would be impossible on pack.

www.lucyedge.com

BEAR CODES Bear confectionary layer up their conversational brand in even the smallest ways. The bar code is renamed ‘bear code’ in honour of the brand, bringing a small

In a quest to make ever more human connections, we will see brands using the smallest messaging as a way of bringing in more emotion, as seen on the Bear Fruit Packs.

smile on discovery. www.bandb-studio.co.uk

Naming

www.bandb-studio.co.uk

“In a quest to make ever more human connections, we will see brands using the smallest messaging as a way of bringing emotion”.

Simplicity and accessibility are increasing trends for how new products, and even variants are named.

This more elementary naming has been pioneered by the likes of Apple, dropping the ‘I’ moniker from its newest smart Watch and Google with ‘Glass’ right through to The Saucy Fish Co, that make a virtue of it’s simplicity.

▲

FMCG has seen naming that tries to capture everything from a sense of place, ingredient provenance, emotion, pseudo-science and even sometimes (unsuccessful) attempts at many of these combined. The result has been cluttered, confused packs with naming unintentionally dominating front of pack, that seems to promise everything, and can only fail to deliver.

REFRESHING WATERCOLOURS Walkers refreshed Sun Bites snack design taps into a consumer connection. The whole design communicates informality, from the watercolour sun device through to the conversational support copy.

www.retailpackagingmag.co.uk

Human Touch

- 9 - ISSUE #6

THE ART OF CONVERSATION

▲ REBELLIOUS TYPE Sweet Rebellion show us how a warm conversation can extend beyond just the literal language used, to the tonality and story telling quality of pack imagery. The use of typography as a graphic image is a powerful trend; here used to skillfully enhance the rebellious and provoking personality of the brand.

www.thedieline.com

“ The use of typography as a graphic image is a powerful trend”

THE ART OF CONVERSATION

In a

nutshell...

So how can you continue to compete with brands that are strengthening their conversation, delivering personalisation and providing a more human touch?

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR Y O U R BRA N D

Here’s our top take outs...

BE BOLD Dare to break category conventions and do things a little differently

BE HUMAN Exploit back of pack & use technology to bring humanity to communications

BE KI ND Consider small language changes to bring a glow of warmth to your brand

BE PLAYF UL Inject personality and playfullness using digital printing and create on-brand print variations

BE CONVERS ATI ONAL

â–˛

Aim to build more human, two-way conversations with your consumers to build stronger brand advocates

UBER GOOD Known for disrupting the otherwise tired taxi category, Uber have been battling to remind customers of their playful side. Uber recently offered customers an ice-cream delivery service at the touch of a button, delivering a one-to-one conversation and www.echobranddesign.co.uk

showing their brighter side.

Human Touch

- 11 - ISSUE #6

Human Touch

It’s easy to dismiss the desire for visual authenticity as a niche one, driven by Brooklyn and East London hipsters with their craft beer start-ups or artisan coffee roasters. Whilst it was clearly a departure from the mainstream at first, it has quickly become mainstream itself driven by changing consumer values, particularly of quality and honesty.

CRAFT OF AUTHENTICITY

“Plymouth’s new look embraces the trend for authenticity”.

This trend visually marks a reinvention of many established codes of branded packaging design. Craft of Authenticity is a response to shifting consumer values, with many consumers no longer wanting to rely on, or trusting, established brands.

Appetites are skewing towards more real, quality and honest products. Products that appear uncomplicated, yet are crafted, maybe even vintage inspired. It’s about products that illustrate trust which ladders back up to create brand love through a human connection.

As a result, we are seeing a trend of mid- and higher-tier mass-market goods shifting their design focus away from overly sleek CGI visuals and contemporary typography. There’s now an increasingly broad menu of aesthetic styles, print and manufacturing techniques, like letterpress and stamping, imperfect glass molding or hand-lettered type to deliver that madeby-hand look for a pre digital-era feel.

www.finewineandthecity.blogspot.com

▲ RAISED FROM THE DEEP The brand’s last update was designed to leverage

The high volume glass bottle is deliberately

the new gin cocktail boom, with its sleek 1920’s

designed with its inner walls imperfect (a technical

deco look and feel, inspiring us to find our inner

challenge in itself with modern glass manufacture)

mixologist. The new look embraces the trend for

to communicate craft and imbue the product with

authenticity with its ‘found bottle’ that looks like it

a handmade feel, harking back to when Britain

could easily have been raised from the deep.

ruled the waves.

Human Touch

- 13 - ISSUE #6

CRAFT OF AUTHENTICITY

www.sostav.ru

▲

www.pixgood.com

SUMPTUOUS CHOCCO Who better to tie up with Mast Brothers to create premium mocha chocolate than artisanal coffee roaster, Stumptown? www.thecoolector.com

www.depanneurbklyn.com

A Lost Craft Whilst manufacturing and printing techniques have become increasingly fast and streamlined, we are seeing a broader range of materials and finishes being used to help give brands an edge and a greater sense of attention to detail and crafted finish.

The Proof’s in the Pudding

www.thedieline.com

“Show us the goods, they say”

Show us the goods they say. How do you use the actual product to help deliver a sense of authenticity? Unusually for muesli, where there’s a tendency for the product to look less and less appealing once through the supply chain and on shelf, Dorset cereals had the product to place front and centre. The die cut box was designed as a frame to hero the quality and artisanal nature of the brand. Supported with rustic board pack and screen print identity, it redefined the benchmark for premium cereals.

Human Touch

- 14 - ISSUE #6

CRAFT OF AUTHENTICITY

“To look like your brand just ‘happened’ requires even greater craft and atention to detail”

Leave the Hard Work to Pack Structure It’s hard with one brand refresh to deliver a more authentic identity, without loosing current consumers in the process or creating a jarring transition. One approach that we’ve seen that allows for more continuity is to let your structural packaging do the heavy lifting when it comes to craft and authenticity, and allow the identity to play other roles. Whether it’s bespoke or a cleverly sourced stock pack, a little rustic-ness, a more classic silhouette or a more artisanal closure, all can bring a sense of familiarity and handmade qualities. Even re-appropriating packaging from another category can bring surprising benefits.

▲

Tie-ups and cross branding

MIXOLOGIST MEMORIES Tanqueray 10’s revised glass structure demonstrates how attention to detail and craft can help to conjure memories of past mixologists and expert cocktail making. The complex, fluted detailing conveys a real sense of craft and hints towards refinement and sharp citrus tastes. Coupled with the wax seal (more of which later) the minimal label’s role is a final flag for the brand and a sign-off flourish.

www.shooos.sk

▲ JOHNNY WALKER Oliver Sweeney shoes gained a level of exposure in excess of their marketing budget with their Johnnie Walker tie-up, whilst Johnnie Walker’s standard Red Label gained from the association of hand crafted brogues.

www.costco.co.uk

One method we’re seeing adopted more frequently to bring an instant sense of craft to a brand is to develop a cross - offering or a tie-up with an individual or brand that embodies those values of attention to detail, hand crafted and real, whilst giving the other brand exposure to a larger audience. It’s been done in ways as low key as an ingredient from an expert, artisanal brand in another sector, to a culture clash of opposing attitudes and iconography with the combined result being greater the sum of the parts. Fashion retailers have been doing it for years, with Topshop & H&M driving the trend to bring the values of the catwalk closer to the high-street through associations with the likes of Kate Moss, Rihanna and Stella McCartney.

▲

To try and reconnect with your consumers, the art is to play to your brand strengths. The strongest brands focus on one key aspect of their brand, whether the process of making either product or packaging, materials or ingredient quality, their people’s skills, brand heritage or provenance. All can be the heart around which to craft visual authenticity.

Ironically to look more like your brand just ‘happened’ requires even greater craft and attention to detail.

BOTANICAL BONDS P&G recently re-released fragrances in their previous, iconic pack in a bid to restore authenticity. The 2-sided rear labels use more crafted, literal crafted botanical style illustrations, and with the Boston shoulder bottle, bring a feeling of authentic apothecary. www.ivillage.com

www.pixgood.com

Human Touch

- 15 - ISSUE #6

CRAFT OF AUTHENTICITY

“evoking a sense of a bygone era”.

www.diageo.com

▲ BREWER’S PROJECT How does one of the world’s largest brewers credibly engage in craft beer? Cleverly, Guinness developed their ‘Brewers Project’ range of beers. Using ‘found’ bottles, that look like they may have been gathering dust in the St. James’s Gate brewery and classic label shapes with monochromatic branding, they evoke a sense of a bygone era and immediately speak of handmade and real.

www.bbc.co.uk

Human Touch

- 16 - ISSUE #6

CRAFT OF AUTHENTICITY

WH AT THIS MEANS F O R

In a

YOU R BRAND

nutshell...

BE TACT I L E

How can you continue to compete with brands that are strengthening their conversation and delivering personalisation and providing a more human touch?

Here’s our top take outs...

Let your pack structure do the work to communicate authenticity in a more tactile way

BE T RAN S PAR E N T Hero your produce- even disinfectant brands can bring a sense of authenticity through visibility of the liquid itself

BE C RAF T E D Celebrate the blemishes on your pack from a mis-aligned print to structural nuances, all can give a hand-crafted feel

BE UN E XP E CT E D Be unexpected in your use of materials and iconography to hint towards an attention to detail and craft

BE DI S R U PT I V E Borrow from other categories and their craft cues and exploit appropriated packaging from other sectors

▲ ARTY CRAFTY We’ve seen modern artisanal cues extending beyond the world of packaging through brands such as Carlsberg working hard to communicate the craft and expertise that goes into brewing the perfect pint. Telling a unique story surrounding their finest ingredients, their recent brand extension sees cosmetics made purely from their usual yeast, hops & barley, no doubt an attempt to borrow from the success of craft beer..

www.carlsberg.com

Human Touch

- 17 - ISSUE #6

Human Touch

We’ve embraced the convenience of the digital shopping experience: e-commerce services have been developed to ensure flexible delivery times and locations that suit our busy lifestyles. New materials, manufacturing techniques and production lines have resulted in cheaper and more efficient products. In many cases the opportunities to create rituals: the idiosyncratic, those more human interactions that delight and engage have been designed out.

EMOTIONAL BONDS

The shopping experience is changing and with it the ability for brands to make an initial emotional bond through the physicality of the pack. Now how often do we actually pick up an item and feel its weight, texture and warmth and interact with it before purchase, but instead simply point and click? Whilst on one hand there’s a need to make the online experience more natural and more rewarding, by focusing on what the digital world can do well, it’s worth considering there’s still almost always a point in the user journey where a tangible product arrives to either deliver on or severe the fledgling relationship started virtually. www.thedieline.com

For a while we have been seeing less focus on the physical objects that consumers receive. Isn’t this dangerous territory for brands: giving less time and importance to the actual product the consumer is going to interact with, perhaps daily, and keep in their home for weeks or months?

It’s therefore even more vital, particularly as the consumer has already built up preconceptions about look, feel and performance, that when we receive our goods all touch points and assets have been designed to enhance, build and deliver these emotional connections.

www.thedieline.com

▲ PRESCRIPTION PACKAGING The Beats Pill is breaking the category rules for portable speaker packaging, with every touch point considering and strengthening the emotional connection with the consumer. Playing on the Pill extentsion of the brand, consumers can enjoy a theatrical un-boxing experience before peeling back a carton blister pack to reveal the

“there’s still almost always a point in the journey where a tangible product arrives to either deliver on or severe the fledgline relationship started virtually”

final product, a ritual that is sure to resonate.

Human Touch

- 19 - ISSUE #6

EMOTIONAL BONDS

consumers can explore the product attributes even more closely.

Particularly with the rise of DTC, ritual is now more important than ever as the consumer explores the product for the first time. A shower gel pack that has a magical, intuitive or controllable dispense will subconsciously delight. One that sounds like a creaky door or breaks your nails to open it will not have consumers returning.

So with the focus now on product interaction, how the brand is physically manifested suddenly becomes key. It is ever more important that DTC brands ensure they craft their tangible rituals to create deeper emotional responses. It’s an exciting time for the possibilities of 3D branding.

Today though, a poorly performing pack and a single underwhelmed consumer are not necessarily the end of the story. Many consumers will vent their frustrations using the social media channels available to them. Does your pack fail, deliver on or exceed consumer expectations of your brand?

The Little Things Not all DTC or 3D product experiences require complex, high investment designs, or big marketing budgets to succeed.

It’s the small details that can make a big difference between disappointment or delight, failure or success on delivering those brand promises.

The Changing Role of 3D Branding The e-commerce world is questioning the role of both 2D and 3D branding. Up until recently packs have been designed primarily for on shelf display where the focus has been on instant standout and communication of a brand’s key purpose, through large graphic areas, with a 3D form mainly driven by a complex supply chain.

If many products are rarely to be sold from a supermarket shelf, what does this mean for the future of branding? 2D brand design opportunities are about to change; a world with more focus on the digital shelf is just around the corner; graphic heirarchy and variant navigation will no longer be the biggest challenges in tomorrow’s packaging world.

3D brand design will be freer to create more rewarding and engaging brand experiences. Packaging in many ways needs greater depth and consideration.

In the comfort of our home environments

There are also stock elements of packaging that we overlook, accepting them as the norm. When a brand treats them differently or adds a little unexpected twist it can be a delight. The lovely fruit smoothie Juices lids have little smiley faces on a glossy water colour effect which makes them suddenly so endearing you feel reluctant to throw them away!

Isn’t this what brands are striving for: packaging or products so beautiful and engaging that you just can’t let go? God is truly in the details.

www.thedieline.com

“brand design opportunities are about to change; a world with more focus on the digital shelf is just around the corner” Human Touch

- 20 - ISSUE #6

EMOTIONAL BONDS

Consumable to Durable With the rise of durable, reusable and refillable solutions, brands must also improve consumer interaction with their products. Refills require more thought and ask more of the consumer. Again, here is an opportunity to frustrate or potentially delight and build those emotional bonds.

If done well it offers an even greater sense of brand ownership to the user. If done badly, consumers wont see the additional interaction as a enjoyable ritual but a more time consuming chore. www.galleryhip.com

Clean Path is a fantastic concept, with a great consumer, environmental and business story. However it feels like a missed opportunity. The dispensers and trigger sprays, the key tools a consumer will retain, are drawn from the same stock parts catalogue as their disposable cousins. Brands like these are creating rituals that require the consumer to fully buy into the process with an increased level of interaction from what they’re used to for the system to work. If usability fails to be engaging or intuitive the consumer may give up.

Surely, in a bid to create new rituals, communicate a new and different approach and perhaps better performance, more attention should have been paid to the elements of the brand retained by the consumer?

On the other hand, Clean the Ocean products deliver on the brand promise of protecting the environment with their beautiful reusable ceramic bottles to be used again as vases in the home. The material ensures it feels more premium and precious, strengthening the emotional bond making it harder to part with and more likely to re purchase.

www.thedieline.com

“with the rise of durable, reusable and refillable solutions, brands must also improve customer interaction�

Human Touch

- 21 - ISSUE #6

www.thedieline.com

EMOTIONAL BONDS

Where’s the Ritual?

If done well, being ‘involved’ in the usage experience can surely only boost a brand’s success. Over the years many beloved rituals, particularly in the confectionary sector, have been designed out; Smarties’ move away from the popping tube faced huge backlash as did KitKat when the foil was swapped for a flow wrap. Some brands know that there are more cost effective ways of packaging their products, but understand consumers rituals are intrinsic to the brand and it’s these little quirky mannerisms that differentiate themselves from the competition.

Terry’s Chocolate orange have retained theirs, still giving permission to playfully smash it to pieces which otherwise would leave consumers annoyed as they struggle to break the pieces off. The brand also tells you that it’s not to be sharedeven though the product format is ideal for sharing. This plays on the consumers desire to keep it to themselves because it’s too good to give away!

Newer brands on the scene such as Bla Bla biscuits create a ritualistic opening experience communicating the playful aspect of the brand. This packaging format and humorous ritual not only ensures the pack can be opened in prime condition, but presents the biscuits to the consumer in the perfect way for sharing.

Both are aspects other brands fail to do as they opt for the cheapest packaging formats.

Has your brand lost a loved ritual or have you explored opportunities to create one? Remember your tangible product is so important. Don’t break the cycle.

www.thingsiliketoday.com

www.echobranddesign.co.uk

▲ NOT AN AFTER THOUGHT www.indulgy.com

After Eight know that people put their empty envelopes back in the box, instead of treating it as a negative and designing out this consumer habit with individually wrapped or sealed chocolates, this “will I get an empty one?” ritual all adds to the sharing, mysterious English etiquette cues

www.pinterest.com

of the brand.

“ Does your product deliver on the digital brand promises?”

Human Touch

- 22 - ISSUE #6

EMOTIONAL BONDS

In a nutshell...

How can you continue to compete with brands that are developing deeper emotional connections, delivering engaging rituals and providing a more human touch?

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR Y O U R BRA N D

Here’s our top takeouts...

BE RELI ABLE Deliver on your digital promises, considering the physical interaction and arrival at home just as much as online

BE WI TTY Focus on areas you may have dismissed or neglected; barcodes can still be on-brand

BE ENGAGI NG Consider how to make your pack too engaging to possible dispose of

BE DI F F ERENT Challenge supply chain- don’t always opt for the typical category format

BE MEMORABLE

▲

First and lasting impressions count- try to put a smile on your consumer’s face

MISSING TYPE Many brands recently shared their warmer, human sides by engaging with the typographic campaign to encourage national blood donation. The campaign saw many famous brands such as Waterstones, British Gas, Cadbury and Google losing their A’s, B’s and O’s in support of missing blood types. A bold and surprising move that will help to build stronger emotional connections with www.twitter.com

many consumers that observed the out-of-character behaviour.

Human Touch

- 23 - ISSUE #6

UNTIL NEXT TIME

WHAT ELSE KEEPS US BUSY? The return of crisp mornings and yellowing leaves means we’re on the verge of the cold season. So how are we keeping warm/busy over the coming month?

1

V&A MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD

2

LITTLE NAN’S COCKTAIL DEN

Most of us at ECHO like to spend our weekends being playful; we plan to peruse the V&A’s childhood sister this season. With more toys than you could poke a puppet at, we’re looking forward to a day of play and nostaglia.

Where better to enjoy a cocktail in the evening than at a venue mascerading as a tea parlour during the day? We’re visiting for chocolate Guiness cake and bottomless teapots of your favourite cocktail, before the end of Sept.

Bethnal Green, Free www.vam.ac.uk/moc

Spitalfields, Free www.littlenans.co.uk

- 24 - ISSUE #6

3

5

THE CANVAS CAFE

4

LIBERTY IN FASHION

With weekly lunchtime yoga sessions, free weekend films and Saturday morning meetings, we’re excited to pop along to London’s first ‘happy cafe’ that looks to brighten every Londoner’s day.

We’re eager to visit this Autumn to celebrate 140 years of Arthur Lasenby Liberty and see some of the brand’s cutting-edge design through the ages, from the iconic floral print to delicate paisley patterns.

Shoreditch, Free www.thecanvascafe.org

Borough, £9 www.ftmlondon.org

DESIGN JUNCTION SHOW

6

SHOREDITCH STREET ART TOUR

Design Junction returns in September to celebrate the best in contemporary design. We’re excited for design masterclasses and Nest’s pop-up clinic to solve all of your interior needs, as well ofcourse as the 200 brands on show.

We all know that Shoreditch has a wealth of street art to explore, but have we ever observed it with an understanding of why and where it came from? We’ll be joining brief tour (over 3 hours!) before the weather turns sour.

Holborn, £10 www.thedesignjunction.co.uk

Shoreditch, Free www.shoreditchstreetarttours.co.uk

- 25 - ISSUE #6

Next time...

In the next issue of Radar we explore the rising trend of luxury and how it is affecting all brand behaviour from small, artisan homeware shops to giant players in the skincare market. What does luxury mean, what does it mean to our consumer, and of course most importantly, what does it mean for your brand?

Until then, we’ll be enjoying the turning season and beginning to cosy-up in the office. Keep an eye on what we’re busy doing on instagram; @echobranddesign.

Keeping up to date on trends is easy; sign up to our publications list today by contacting Nellie Veltman and we’ll be sure to keep you in the loop. What else is on our radar? Take a look at the ECHO website to keep up to date with our thought pieces, provocative blogs and latest versions of Absolem, a written publications that imagines the future wonderlands for brands.

Creative Director Andrew Capper andy@echobranddesign.co.uk

Marketing Director Instagram @echobranddesign

Instagram @echobranddesign

Nellie Veltman nellie@echobranddesign.co.uk

Contributors Andrew Capper Niall McRiner Danielle Verbeteen Jessica Skinner

Follow us Instagram @echobranddesign

@echobranddesign www.echobranddesign.com

echobranddesign.co.uk

- 26 - ISSUE #6

INSPIRATION - INSIGHT - IDEAS

Design trends curated by the ever-curious at ECHO Brand Design

The New Luxury

- 27 - ISSUE #6

ISSUE #7

WE PLAN, DESIGN & IMPLEMENT BRANDS Here at Echo we’re passionate about design that creates Stronger, Broader and Deeper brand experiences, telling connected stories from the digital supermarket shelf through to tangible product experiences.

Want to hear more? Come along to our new offices for a brew and lets ponder the potential future of brands together...