Hot off the iPhone of our Soph (who’s off for the day but keeping her ear to the ground for copywriters’ cock ups):

Was talking to my dad last night and he had been to a factory in Leeds where they package all the ainsley harriott food. He said there wad a bit of tension in the factory cos they had just printed all the packaging for his new sausages range and they then found a mistake on it.

Soph x

Sent from my iPhone

Here we are – an unexpected flash of blue sky on what started as a grey, drear February day marks the first shot of the 8 scene Visit Suffolk county tourism shoot. 17 models, 2 art directors, 1 very energetic photographer, a stylist, a runner (also purveyor of glimpses via her iPhone camera) and heaven knows how many bottles of water, apples, crisps and energy-boosting chocolate bars to follow.

This has just popped onto my desktop courtesy of Design Week:

French consultancy Brand Image – Desgrippes & Laga has designed the new identity for Air France.

The consultancy was appointed to undertake a complete brand overhaul of the airline in 1999 following a pitch, according to Brand Image’s European marketing director Annette Klek.

Klek says Air France ‘had a clear objective of renewing and improving its image’, and that for the past ten years Brand Image has been working to update the airline’s identity across a number of touchpoints, such as lounges and printed materials.

The new logo sees the words ‘Air’ and ‘France’ merged, which the consultancy says ‘asserts Air France’s international status while preserving its traditional values’.

The tricolore colours are replaced with a single red accent, although an updated version of the tricolore will be used on Air France tailfins.

Klek says the consultancy will continue to work with Air France to refine its identity.

This is exactly why I am delighted that Spring is Spring. I remember clearly the frustration of working on brand relaunches that took forever – a decade is pushing it to the limit, though I am sure that the financial rewards have made up for it. But there’s something about an element of speed that adds to the magic of the creative process. Sure, ideas need testing, and fine tuning, and approving – but how wonderful when a new brand can burst into life over a process of months rather than years.

I hope that the creative team in question is rewarded with a project that allows them to fly by the seat of their pants for a change.

Zapfino is a very pretty font. It’s elegant, flowing and looks great for headlines. HOWEVER. Some time ago it became a regular desktop font, and since then its use has exploded across all manner of dress shops, wedding services, swanky B&B’s and ladies’ groups.

I find its use inexcuseable by anyone who has access to other fonts and the software to use them. In fact, I personally find the mindless grabbing of any font as a solution to a design problem unforgiveably lazy. Fonts should be used to communicate – both literally, through the words they are used for, and visually, by use of size, colour, weight and layout.

Fonts are marvellous things. Great typography has been behind some of the most memorable pieces of graphic design throughout history. And they need to be treated with imagination and respect. Having selected a font that encapsulates the brief, a designer should approach its use with real care – with love for it, and the purpose for which it is being used.

Zapfino, lovely as it was, deserves a break. If someone wants to communicate elegance, femininity and grace, there are countless other fonts that can be worked with, moulded and placed, to do just that.