Recently launched: the firm’s design for the AIGA Member Gallery. This interactive project, led by Associate Partner Maya Kopytman, lets AIGA members organize and exhibit their design portfolio on an online platform, connect and collaborate on projects, and comment on the design work of fellow members.
Continuing the firm’s longstanding tradition of student visits, we recently welcomed two groups. Our annual British invasion occurred on January 29th when students from Buckinghamshire New University, led by senior lecturer John Hazlewood, came straight to our offices from their cross-Atlantic flight to discuss design, studio life, and a career in the field with partner Steff Geissbuhler.
And on February 2nd, Steff (back row left) hosted first-time studio visitors from the University of Connecticut’s design program (above). This occasion also marked a reunion for our co-founder Steff: this group was led by one of his former Yale students, Randall Hoyt, now an Associate Professor of Communication Design at the University.
Steff Geissbuhler has been appointed act as President of the Design Lions jury in Cannes, which is part of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival taking place from June 20th to June 26th. The festival is a global meeting place for communication industry professionals, and includes seven days of award ceremonies, seminars, workshops, master classes, exhibitions, screenings and networking. As President of the Design Lions jury, Steff will participate in the Press Lions and Cyber Lions Awards Ceremonies in addition to the Design Lions.
Steff was also appointed to the jury in 2008. In the past year, he juried the Spikes Asia, an extension of the Cannes Lions in Singapore.
This Thursday, January 14th marks the opening of “The Graphic Imperative: International Posters for Peace, Social Justice & the Environment, 1965-2005,” at the School of Art at Western Michigan University. The posters chosen for display “have transmitted the ideals, hopes and dreams of millions who have dared to raise their voices in protest or concern. They have helped empower and propel important movements for social change.” Steff Geissbuhler’s well-known “Peace” poster is one of the chosen hundred.
The exhibit runs until February 19th. Find out more details on the exhibit and the venue here.
Under Consideration posted an inspirational article by Partner Steff Geissbuhler in the “Brand New” section today. The editorial strays from the typical material covered on that website – mainly, new identity work – and instead describes Steff’s experience watching his brand identity for MercyCorps evolve over time. In the field, the logo has often been executed roughly and quickly, sometimes by hand and from memory, with the simplest materials. For other institutions, that would be bad news. But not in this case: here, it is a perfect match for the mission and purpose of the organization.
Read the article in full here.
C&G Partners has completed another project through the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors: a monumental sign for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s new headquarters in Prague. The facility is located on a busy street filled with cars and trolleys. The new main signage is large (because of the speed at which it must be read), angled (because of the oblique directions of approach) and built in two materials and two colors to separate the two languages.
Objectified, the documentary about product design, will air tonight on PBS. The film, directed by Gary Hustwit with cinematography by Luke Geissbuhler (son of firm partner Steff Geissbuhler and a past collaborator on firm projects) “examines the science and art of industrial design, and the stunning ubiquity of its impact”. It is premiering on US television for the first time as part of the Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens.
Luke was also behind the camera for the first film in this series, Helvetica, a documentary about the famous typeface of the same name. Read more about the film and watch a preview on the PBS website here. Check your local PBS listings for tonight’s show times here. Congratulations, Luke!
Tomorrow evening, partner Steff Geissbuhler will be speaking to students at the University of Cincinnati about his recent projects and some from the firm’s other disciplines. He will be presenting recent identity work executed for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Alhurra TV Network, Darien Library, and the Nonprofit Finance Fund, as well as the firm’s signage, architectural graphics, and exhibits at the new Yankee Stadium.
On October 15th, Partner Steff Geissbuhler will present the firm’s identity and signage work for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney at the iMedia Connection Financial Marketing Summit. Steff will be presenting alongside Ramona Boston, CMO of Morgan Stanley, at 3 PM at the Metropolitan Club in New York City. The event is free to marketers and agency executives (seats by invitation only).
Request an invitation here. See full summit details here. See more on our work for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney here. Read a past Fresh post here.
The firm’s identity program for the Nonprofit Finance Fund was reviewed today at Brand New. Author Armin Vit writes, “…it’s nice to see a strong icon that is neither literal nor relying on visual pyrotechnics…This is a solid execution that works from logo to applications.” Read the entire review for yourself, including many reader comments, here. See a recent Fresh post about the project here. The NFF project was directed by partner Steff Geissbuhler.
Partner Steff Geissbuhler was just interviewed in the blog “Success Secrets of the Graphic Design Superstars.” He gives away some of his best secrets in the first paragraph, but read on for even more. In the end, says Steff, “Producing quality work is the essence of it all.”
Among the many financial services mergers to take place in 2009, the combining of Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney in early summer created an industry-leading global wealth manager with over 1,000 branches in the United States and significant international presence. The debut of this combined financial entity was rolled out with its new brand identity, created by C&G Partners.
The Nonprofit Finance Fund, a national leader in financing nonprofits, has recently unveiled a new brand identity, designed by C&G Partners. The new identity system reframes how funders, nonprofit organizations and those they serve can work with NFF to achieve optimal financial and operational health, and drives home the connection between an organization’s mission and the practical needs required to fulfill it.
Partner Steff Geissbuhler will be in Singapore 14-19 September to judge Spikes Asia, the “1st Asian Advertising Festival”.
Update and correction: two projects with contributions by C&G Partners have been honored in the Connecticut Green Building Council’s 2009 Design Awards: Darien Library (awarded top honor “Most Intriguing”) by Peter Gisolfi and Associates, for which partner Steff Geissbuhler’s team created the signage; and GE by Perkins Eastman Architects, for which partner Keith Helmetag’s team created installations about sustainability and the GE brand.
Partner Steff Geissbuhler’s early work in Switzerland for the pharmaceutical firm Geigy is currently featured in both an exhibition and a book. The exhibition, Good Design, Good Business, Schweizer Grafik und Werbung für Geigy 1940-1970 (Swiss Graphic Design and Advertising for Geigy), is currently on view at the Museum of Design in Zurich. The accompanying book, Corporate Diversity – Swiss Graphic Design and Advertising by Geigy, 1940-1970 (Lars Müller Publishers), is on sale now. Fan of Swiss design? See a short film on the exhibit here (caution: narration in Swiss German).
Here are more images from the book, and a few rare scans from Steff’s own archive from the early years:
Newsweek magazine just asked partner Steff Geissbuhler to weigh in on the Recovery logo. In the piece, Steff even “offered to do a redesign—free of charge.” Current issue on sale now.
Partner Steff Geissbuhler is featured in today’s St. Petersburg (Florida) Times, giving his professional opinion about the new visual identity for Recovery.gov. Steff “likes how the colors work together” but is otherwise, well, “outspoken”. Read the full article here.
C&G Partners has created a new brand identity for the Greater Hudson Heritage Network, an organization for heritage professionals. The mark projects both the historical nature of the membership and the future potential of the organization. As requested by our client, the logo also deliberately avoids overused regional imagery and colors: no river, no boats, no waves, and no maps of New York State.
The design team explored a range of icons, insignia and symbols, and came to the conclusion that a wordmark was the most appropriate way of communicating the name. The four words are typeset to be the same length, and arranged to read both as the full name and as the secondary vertical pairings ‘Greater Heritage’ and ‘Hudson Network’.
Just in time for Washington’s Birthday, AKA President’s Day, C&G Partners has designed the guide for a new walking tour entitled “George Washington’s New York.” Created for the National Parks of New York Conservancy with support from The History Channel and the Alliance for Downtown New York, the walking tour guide features numerous rare historical images from the Fraunces Tavern Museum and New-York Historical Society.
The design team was led by partner and George Washington fan Steff Geissbuhler.
