Click on the image to read article in detail, or see Page 17 of Design Week.

Last week when the French were knocked out of the world cup, there was murmuring amongst French intellectuals that the players, many of whom have worked in England, had caught the Anglo-Saxon bug of the cult of the individual. That explained why they were apparently unable to play as a team.

Another area where Anglo-Saxons excel is brands and branding. The French are also-rans in this discipline. Or so I thought until I visited Paris a couple of weeks ago.

So there we were, strolling down the Champs Elysee, en famille, when my eye was caught by some elegant blue neon lettering. ‘200 Ans et plus’ it read. Intrigued I investigated the shop which turned out to be Peugeot’s flagship showroom and brand show case.

Then on the next window I saw this.

Its always nice to get some feedback on the work we have produced, and it doesn’t get much better than this.  Have a read of this quote from Simon Askew, the fresh food buyer at Harvey Nichols about our work for Inishturkbeg

‘It is important that food not only tastes fantastic but also looks fantastic if it is packaged . Our  customers naturally will shop with their eyes.  The packaging design of Inishturkbeg is for me an exceptional piece of work that manages to cleverly evoke not only a sense of the quality of the product inside, but also of the beauty of the enviroment from which it is sourced.’

Not bad, even if we do say so ourselves!

The new London bus

Ask three designers a question and you’ll get four opinions, one sulk and a hissy fit.  So it’s a sign of just how good it is that the design for London Transport’s new bus has drawn nearly unanimous rave reviews from the massed aesthetes at Coley Porter Bell.

The Wrightbus styled by Thomas Heatherwick is the successor to the much loved design classic, the Routemaster, and a replacement for the much hated bendy bus. In design terms at least, it has brilliantly struck a balance between making the bus modern and relevant to contemporary needs on the one hand, while on the other retaining enough of the character of the original Routemaster to make it recogniseably the same family.

As a company that makes a living from refreshing brands we know just how hard that is.

One of our planners summed up the general feeling when he said: “I love it for its retro chic. It takes what is great about London and embodies it in a bus - tradition mixed with progress. So much better than those bender buses.”

He’s right. How typically, quintessentially English to want progress liberally seasoned with references to the past. Think Tudorbethan semis, Roberts radios and anything by Kath Kidston.

People love the curved sweep of the back. People love the subtle rounding at the front and the slightly asymmetric line of the front window which picks up on the hood of the original Routemaster. People love the way that glass is used to emphasis key features like the stairs. And most of all people love the open platform at the back of the bus, which will allow them to hop-on and hop-off. Just like they did in the old days before health and safety went mad.

That’s not to say everyone loves it uncritically. There is a definite school of thought which says that the retro styling is not integral to its function which means that the resemblances to the original Routemaster are just cosmetic.

Its only when you start examining functionality that the wheels start to come off Heatherwick’s design. Like other double deckers currently on service it carries 87 people. But according one driver the much maligned bendy bus can easily carry 150 people. “It’s supposed to be 135 but at rush hour you can just keep on squeezing them on,” he said.

So London Transport’ll need two new buses for every bendy bus it replaces. What’s more because every new bus will need a conductor of some sort to police the open platform, one driver will need to be replaced by two drivers and two conductors.

The conflict between heart and pocket, between beauty and lucre is also a familiar issue at Coley Porter Bell. Let us just hope that in this case, beauty wins.

I’ve never been a fan of PMT.

I can also, without doubt, say my family and friends share this opinion, when month after month it tantrums its way around the kitchen, into the biscuit tin and sulks its way into a dark corner of the house, having slammed all doors in its path.

So it’s a little shocking that I find myself wanting to write about it now - really excited and preparing to be pretty gushing (sorry) over a subject I’d otherwise rather not mention.

This radical change in me has been brought about by discovering an Aussie brand called Moxie. Whilst browsing my parents local Waitrose (a better sort of Waitrose apparently), shopping for the necessities in life, I came across this fab looking brand, a beautiful vision amongst all those other horrendous sanitary products with purple and teal wings etc etc.

I’m not embarrassed to say I squealed (a bit) at the shelf when I realized for the same sum of money I could buy my tampons in a pretty little tin which would match my handbag. Well, I do work in design. Never before has a san pro brand ever moved me to check them out on the internet, so I was equally delighted to find their website also lives up to their philosophy of ‘living beautifully’. I’m actually looking forward the next one (mood swings depending).

Thursday's debate

Last Thursday, despite the cloud of volcanic ash that grounded flights throughout Europe, one of the cornerstones of the American electoral process made its way across the pond: the televised debate.

For the first time in British politics, leaders of the Labour, Conservative, and Liberal Democrat parties gathered in front of a studio audience to share their views on hot button issues, including the economy, immigration, education, and the military. Brown, Cameron and Clegg stood toe to toe for ninety minutes, and beamed their way into the homes of 9.4 million people nationwide.

It remains to be seen whether debates will be a feature of all future general elections, but it is worth noting the migration of a practice that has defined American political campaigns for the past fifty years. And with Barack Obama’s groundbreaking campaign in such recent memory, it will be interesting to see if more of the principles that worked so well for him will translate here.

One of the most compelling aspects of Obama’s campaign was the effective use of design. In fact, an entire book has been written on the subject. The introduction explains, “For the first time in American politics, a candidate used art and design to bring together the American people—capturing their voices in a visual way.”

The Obama logo

From logo to website to pamphlet, the visual language worked incredible hard to embody the core principles of the candidate’s platform: hope, change, and unity. Scott Thomas, Design Director of the campaign, explains, “One thing that design can solve through consistency is it can establish a certain sense of balance.”

The campaign’s commitment to design consistency, however, was refreshingly modern – no overbearing brand rules or restrictions to abide by. The website’s downloads page allowed people to take ownership of the design work, creating their own websites, t-shirts, and signs. It was open source design at its best, contributing to the greatest grass roots movements in this blogger’s lifetime.

And so it will be interesting to see how Britain’s election season plays out, and whether design can do for candidates here what it did for Barack Obama in 2008. We’ve seen them present their own personal brands on television, but can they bring them to life in a visually compelling way over the next few weeks? We at CPB will certainly be watching.

The CPB Shine Award is a competition we hold every year to uncover the finest new graphic design talent. It’s open to all 2nd year graphic design students and the winning entry becomes the following year’s poster.

Today I went to the printers to see this year’s Shine Award poster coming to life. Jia Ying Gnoh’s beautiful creation will soon be winging its way to a design course near you, after a few secret finishing touches!

Chiquita bananas have launched a campaign based on their iconic blue stickers. DJ Neff has designed a huge range of fun characters, using the iconic colours and shape of the little blue sticker. They’re still instantly recognisable as Chiquita even when on their own - a brilliant example of brand equity. But what makes this a truly ‘2010′ project is that they’ve pushed the creative idea even further, linking it into interactive games on the brand’s website. Check out an interview with DJ Neff here.

Ok so I get that we are living in a digital, web 2.0 world where our lives (supposedly) are getting easier as we have more technology to ‘help’ us.  However with all these gadgets taking over our lives i’m almost certain there will come a time when we wont even have to think for ourselves any more, computers will control our brains.

Its already happening to boardgames, have a look at what Hasbro have done to my favourite childhood game, Monopoly.

“Gone are the £400 property bargains, the silver playing pieces  -  and the opportunity to sneak a note out of the banker’s box”

Yesterday to mark its 75th anniversary, Monopoly unveiled their 21st Century version called Monopoly Revolution.  In a move that mirrors whats going on in our own society the nostalgic boardgame now uses electronic banking instead of paper money and the board itself has also changed from a traditional square to a circular board with sound effects! The new version completely removes the need for players to use mental arithmetic and think for themselves, its what I said at the beginning…. technology is taking over our lives!

In another move, property prices have also shot up to reflect modern prices.  No longer a bargin at £200, Kings Cross Station now costs £2million and not surprisingly Mayfair has not escaped the price hike either, it can now be purchased for tidy sum of £4million!

An estimated one billion people have played Monopoly since its launch.  Designed by Charles Darrow in 1935 it has gone virtually unchanged, so why take the decision to mess around with it now?

In my opinion Monopoly is a classic & iconic piece of nostalgia that didn’t need updating.

As my Mum & Dad used to say to me - if it aint broke don’t fix it!

For years we’ve popping up our bread half way through the toast cycle to check its just the way we like it, peering over the top to make sure the edges haven’t burnt, narrowly missing singeing our eyebrows off.

Obtaining that perfect piece of toast hasn’t been an as easy task especially when you have such high standards.  Just read the requirements from some of the CPB toast addicts and you’ll know what i’m talking about…..

“Caught just before it starts to darken, white and pale caramel coloured”

“crispy golden on the outside, fluffy inside with burned bits round the edge”

“I am very particular about my toast.  I prefer hand cut bread, evenly done with a nice golden brown colour.  It mustn’t be too overdone and if it’s too lightly done it’s too soft”

“Golden brown evenly toasted all over . To ensure its evenly brown I frequently peer into the toaster to check how its coming along”

If only we could see whats going on inside I hear you cry!!

Well take a look at this………