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Creative round-up June 2024

Creative round-up June 2024

June has finally brought summer as well as plenty of interesting design and branding news for our creative round-up! Here’s a selection of items from the last month that caught the eyes of the Ingenious team…

UEFA EURO 2024

The official matchball for the UEFA European Football Championship is the Adidas FUSSBALLLIEBE, meaning ‘love of football’. Its design is inspired by the joy of football and energy of the tournament. Prominent black wing shapes accentuated by colourful edges, curves and dots represent the movement of the ball and energy of the game and use of red, blue, green and orange celebrate the vibrance of the competing nations. It is made from sustainable bio-based materials including recycled polyester and water-based ink and incorporates Connected Ball Technology, enabling officials to make accurate decisions faster.

Matchball plinths on which balls are placed before games create focal points at the start of matches. Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis created four colourful resin plinths in yellow, blue, red and green used for the group stage games, while German studio Gonzalez Haase AAS designed a stripy plinth made of 24 coloured aluminium sheets to represent each team playing in the tournament for the opening match, with two as yet unseen plinths to follow for the semi-finals and final. 

According to Marcelis, the most intriguing aspect of the brief was “the opportunity to encapsulate the essence of 'Fussballliebe' – the love for football – into a tangible design," as well as “creating an icon that represents the passion, unity, and excitement that football brings to millions of people."

Latest typefaces

Designers are always exploring and experimenting with new typefaces to elevate their design projects and leading type designers and foundries are known for their ongoing innovation. Recent new releases include an exciting array of fonts that cater to diverse design needs and UK art and design platform Creative Boom has helpfully rounded up a selection of new typefaces for June showcasing a range of the latest offerings, from refined text settings to playful experiments in typographic creativity. 

Well worth checking out if you’re looking for some creative inspo
https://www.creativeboom.com/resources/top-new-typefaces-for-june-from-leading-foundries-and-designers/

Multifunctional pet furniture

Pet furniture is a growing market and Colin Chee, creative director of YouTube channel Never Too Small, launched his Multifunctional Pet Furniture for Small Space Living project, which showcased 11 prototypes by international designers at Melbourne Design Week 2024. 

After noticing several items of bulky, inflexible pet furniture discarded outside his apartment, Chee put out a design challenge for multifunctional pet-focused items which could double as at least one other piece of furniture and which would also be suitable for small apartments, built to last - and constructed from a single sheet of plywood!

Designers developed ideas remotely and sent them to the Never Too Small team who built prototypes in their studio. They include a convertible dog bed, cat tower laptop table and other items for pets which double up as storage units, shelves and seats. Once tested and fine-tuned, the designs will be open-sourced and available to anyone to recreate.

Kelp help

Imagine if we could replace plastic packaging with a sustainable, compostable alternative. Farmed kelp is a growing industry and could be used to produce plastic substitutes as well as beauty products and food supplements. It is a highly sustainable process with minimal damage to the environment, no use of pesticides and diversifies ocean life. It is quick-growing and floats mark otherwise invisible sites of underwater grids where kelp is cultivated. 

Seaweed has been collected and used for centuries as soil fertiliser, in soaps, glass making and iodine production. However, many are convinced it can revolutionise the future of our planet including California-based startup, Sway. Founders Julia Marsh and Matt Mayes have created a plastic pellet from farmed seaweed which is designed to fit into current manufacturing systems where plastic is used. They have also developed a clear, compostable plastic film that could replace parts of packaging least likely to be recycled. 

Ros Atkins Communicating 

Good communication is key and in this new series for Radio 4, BBC Analysis Editor Ros Atkins explores the art of communication. Interviewing some impressive communicators from the worlds of finance, health, education, comedy and more, to find out how they achieve what they do. 

Guests include financial expert Martin Lewis, comedian Rob Brydon and magazine editor Tina Brown, all of whom share practical advice on how to improve communication in our everyday lives and guide listeners through simple changes we can make to the way we interact which have a big impact. Techniques cover a range of situations, from deciding what to say and how to be persuasive to making your point when it matters most.

The series airs weekly from 21 June and all episodes are available on BBC Sounds.

Glastonbury tattoos

Glastonbury music festival includes many iconic sights such as the Pyramid Stage and Ribbon Tower which remain unchanged year on year while other areas play host to dozens of ever-changing venues and bold new spaces. There are so many visual elements to the festival from impressive and imposing stage areas, set and lighting designs, right down to smaller details such colourful festival flags and even the 15,000 hand-painted waste and recycling bins which help to brighten up the site.

New for 2024 are free temporary tattoos designed by celebrities who have teamed up with charity Water Aid which celebrates its 30th year as an official charity partner of Glastonbury festival. Performers such as Russell Crowe, Lulu, London Grammar, Bloc Party, The Vaccines, TV presenter Laura Whitmore and model Mia Regan have all designed eye-catching water themed tattoos to be given out at water bars, kiosks and toilets, highlighting Water Aid’s mission of bringing clean water and sanitation to people living in poverty around the world. 

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