Fresh Picks: Focus Like a Legend and Giant Artwork Obsessions

Erin: Travel Kind

Public transport has always been pretty chaotic, travelling in London at peak times can be panic-inducing enough, even without a pandemic thrown into the mix. To help encourage calmer and more considerate behaviour while travelling, TFL has introduced their campaign called ‘Travel Kind’ – a series of unavoidably bright posters, urging us to be a little kinder whilst using the service.

Illustrated by Toby Triumph, the posters are adorned with dynamic typography and vibrant graphics which can’t be missed. I absolutely love the style of the posters as well as the fact that TFL is promoting more mindful travel. There will be a total of nine posters which will be going up all over the city, and hopefully, it inspires more of us to travel with considerations for others in mind!

Ellen: Focus like a Legend

I’m not a big meditator but I’ve been a Headspace fan for quite a while now. I first heard of it a few years ago when the app’s co-founder and former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe was on a podcast I was listening to. Andy’s voice is the one you hear on a lot of the guided meditations on the app and it’s ridiculously relaxing!

Headspace has had a big year for obvious reasons. People are looking for ways to cope with the mental health effects of the coronavirus pandemic and what better way than some chill-out time listening to some guided meditation.

The app has meditations of different lengths for various things from getting to sleep to running.

The latest update from the company is that they’ve joined forces with John Legend, Headspace’s new so-called Chief Music Officer, to launch Focus music. The aim is to help people be more mindful and productive with a selection of music and artists only available on the app.

They’ll be releasing new music every month and I’m looking forward to seeing which artists they get involved. The first playlist curated by John Legend is from hip-hop artist Madlib. Find out more on the Headspace website.

Katie: Remember this?

It’s certainly no secret that we’re massive fans of Innocent’s marketing here at Vida. I love pretty much all of their campaigns, but especially their recent ‘remember this?’ one.

In their traditional, humorous fashion, Innocent have restarted their advertising by reminding us of some of the things we may have forgotten during the pandemic – like what a hug is, or a meeting, and of course, what smoothies are.

I particularly love the social media aspect of this campaign. Innocent’s social media marketing always involves a lot of engagement with their audience and it never disappoints! This time, they received some complaints about the Americanisms in the billboard so they got their best designers on the case to rectify their mistakes…

Remember this?

This is a billboard. It’s sort of like a TV advert, but a lot heavier and it doesn’t try to sell you compensation.

We’ve put them up all across the land to remind people about some of the things we might have forgotten this year. pic.twitter.com/y1Rw5vJlrl

— innocent drinks (@innocent) September 1, 2020

Jai: Beach towel, advert or work of art?

A group of designers have joined forces to create a range of beach towels for the ice cream giant Magnum. The line of towels measure 10ft in size in order to promote social distancing in style amongst its users, whether it be on holiday or in a local park. There are 3 different towels to choose from, with Karan Singh, David Vanadia, and Quentin Monge each being given the task to design the artwork for a towel.

The artists’ diverse styles are illustrated across the range, with a wide variety of colours, shapes, techniques and use of space incorporated into their respective artwork. At the same time, the central theme of each design is the unmistakable silhouette of a Magnum ice cream. The beautiful towels definitely work as a piece of art alone. The sheer size of these also means they certainly tick the box when it comes to addressing the current pandemic.

Dan: Environmentally-friendly murals

For this month’s fresh pick, I’m going down to Leyton, East London and the fantastic new street-spanning mural project from Camille Walala. Walala’s iconic blocks and striped patterns are seen throughout London and this recent full takeover brings some vibrancy and colour to the neighbourhood.

As well as being vibrant artwork, the project is also environmentally-friendly. The mural uses recycled paint from Forest Recycling Project and a new paint formula which absorbs carbon emissions.

Henry: Brentford FC’s rebrand

Maybe I’m getting predictable, but I just love a good football and design crossover. Following the development of their new club badge in 2017, Brentford FC has continued their visual overhaul, with a new bee-inspired design system.

The visual identity has a new striking colour palette, with an intricate pattern system inspired by the wings of a bee (the clubs’ nickname). Being the brand design nerd I am, the thing I was most impressed with was they’ve designed their own typeface – which feels super sporty, featuring distinctive “Bee Sting” points.