Stiff Rowlands

As huge coffee lovers there were big smiles when Tank Coffee asked us for some pointers on their branding. Inspired by the movie Black Gold, the collective “who care as much about the farmers, as they do about the flavour” jumped on a plane to Ethiopia and Kenya to meet the coffee bean farmers:

“We wanted to know where our coffee was coming from, who was growing it, how much they were getting, and who else was in the supply chain before it got to us.”

“We wanted to see with our own eyes what each farmer was really getting for their hard work and harvest. To make sure our coffee was as fresh as can be, we also wanted to roast the coffee ourselves.”

Our good friend Jez Clark is part of the collective and has created some wonderful copy and a great tone of voice. Reading about the farmer who grows the bean, its journey and the name of the roaster (Garth), makes buying coffee interesting and rewarding. The website is still in its infancy but don’t let that stop you ordering. We’re currently buzzing on the Ethiopian Sidamo Grade 2. Mmmmmm.

NME Radio teamed up with HP for a University tour featuring top acts and a truck full of HP goodies. We created the tour’s co-branded logo, a hub, traffic driver ads and a homepage takeover.

Newly formed, Singapore based production house, The Deck commissioned us to create a brand that appealed to an international market and clients from corporate and entertainment industries. Taking inspiration from the humble tape-spool, we crafted an identity fit for the digital age.

A great start to 2008 with our Stories from the Field logo being awarded a Judge’s Favourite (insert crowd applause here). Many thanks to Design 21 judge Laetitia Wolff for choosing us:

“Stiff Rowlands’ logo incorporates, in a subtle way, the film industry and the storytelling aspects, without being too literal with the icons, and while working essentially on a typographic solution. From the selection we saw, typographic treatments in general, I thought, were the most convincing designs. The advantage of this one is that it keeps a casual, heartfelt and tactile quality, thanks to the hand-drawn lettering.”

Our submission to a competition by Design 21 to produce the official logo for “Stories from the Field: The United Nations Documentary Film Festival”. The festival is presented by Media Communications Association International, New York Chapter (MCA-I NY) in partnership with the United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI) and The New School.

Update: We’re chuffed to bits to be one of the shortlisted finalists from the 1604 entries and only slightly disappointed that the competition judges and MCA-I NY couldn’t agree on an overall winner. Congratulations go to both the most voted design, “Beyond the boundary” by Yuko Inagaki and MCA-I NY’s preferred choice, “Storytelling” by Titania7.

We recently created the branding, stationery and exhibition graphics for Primary Diagnostics – an echocardiography service.