Collect by Spin, United Kingdom

Opinion by Richard Baird.

Collect is an international art fair that will take place between the 2–6 of February 2017 at London’s Saatchi Gallery. Presented by the Crafts Council, Collect will give visitors the chance to see and buy museum-quality and contemporary ceramics, glass, jewellery, wood, metal and textiles created by established and emerging artists and makers represented by over thirty of the world’s best galleries.

Collect’s brand identity, designed by Spin, draws character, play and visual interest from an economical use of a single and fairly austere font, and a black and white colour palette, and went on to include print communication, as documented here, art direction, animation, advertising, signage and environmental graphics.

Spin’s work for Collect appears as a restrained but distinctive expression of modernity and a play on the name Collect. The logotype’s double l does a good job expressing, in their italicised form and differentiating the pairing from the characters either side, the theme of collections with a simple visual gesture.

Repetition furthers this idea, also becoming an eye-catching visual element across print. It is easy to imagine this being expanded in a number of different ways, static and in motion, and evokes a little of the modernist aesthetic of non-fiction book covers from the 50s and 60s.

There is a visual economy to the work, in its limited colour palette and number of fonts, and the creation of image from type. This offers something in the way of contrast to what is likely to be a diverse and ornate show of colour and texture, yet also sharing something in common with the underlying and unifying intentions of the show. More from Spin on BP&O.

Design: Spin. Opinion: Richard Baird. Fonts: Brauer.

What do you think of Spin’s work for Collect? Share your thoughts in the comment section below or get the conversation started on Twitter.

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