Beer needs a hero
Naming, branding, and packaging for Tom Holland’s very own NA-beer brand. Tom’s personal journey with alcohol reflects a great reckoning: the fact that alcohol is less important than genuine social connections. CENTER was tasked with the challenge of building an NA-beer that proves it’s just as real as the Kings of the beverage, which led us to introduce BERO as the rightful heir of beer’s next chapter.
Seeing the pint half-full. The 50/50 design of the brand expresses its duality of modern and classic; experience and taste; culture and craft. The cans launched with a rich palette of colors born from the crests and flags of London boroughs, contrasting in enamel finish and color with a princely tone of metallic gold.
We crafted the “humble trout” of Kingston crest to be an iconic, unique symbol for the Tom and his brand, alluding to class
CENTER Design
Creative Director: Alex Center
Design Director: Andrew Galloway
Senior Designer: Rob Oeschle
Designers: Ellie Jepsen, Ciaran Brandin
Lifestyle Photography: Jack Bool
Product Photography: Graham Pollack, Dylan James Nelson, Rhianydd Hylton
Client: Imaginary
Making Functional Fashionable
Brand system, art direction, and identity for New York-eyewear manufacturer making it possible to walk in and walk out with a new pair of prescription glasses in 30 minutes or less.
With a brand platform to “focus on people,” HEYWEAR encapsulates the two halves of the glasses-making process: the technical side of eyewear and eye care, with the meticulous crafting of a pair of frames both delicate and durable; and the gift of self-expression to the customer. The creation of a daily personal companion.
We built a brand both scientific and human — innovative and refined — that comes to life through monospaced typography paired with warm, human portraits, and interiors moved by materiality. The sculptural warmth of nature pairs with the sleekness of technology, with a line of sight to the glasses-making experience all along the way.
CENTER Design
Creative Director: Alex Center
Design Director: Andrew Galloway
Designers: Pete Freeman, Ashleigh Bowring
Photography: Garnish Studios
Interior: SAVVY Studio
Seed to Sea-Change
Experience, interaction, and spatial design for Meta (formerly Facebook) partner centers in locations around the globe. I helped the team at HUSH with pitch-through-production of an interactive series of high-touch, data-rich installations.
Meta wanted to share a forward-looking design vision in its 10+ headquarters across three continents. High-profile guests needed to understand the company’s approach to making the world more open and connected on an individual and global scale.
We used the metaphor of a forest to weave the narrative thread across the four installations — from the collective experience of tossing seeds into a digital fountain, exploring the subcultural roots of Instagram, watching a viral story shoot across the world, reaching its climax with an immersive world map powered by global data insights.
HUSH
Creative Director: Jasmin Jodry
Designers: Brice McGowen, Andrew Galloway, Devon Cherry
Archictural Design: David Lehman, Michelle Oliver
Technical Director: Justin Martin
The Moves Mac Makes
Campaign, animation, and design direction for the newest Mac campaign since Mac vs. PC. Apple came to CENTER with the challenge to show all that a Mac can do to a whole new audience: PC users at their day jobs. Because Mac’s features are as intuitive as the interface itself, we created a campaign that brings the magic moments of our favorite computers to life.
As a studio of Mac users, we first considered our interaction with our interfaces, taking note of every fluid movement from swiping to hiding to tab shifting and multitasking. We carefully collected hundreds of screenshots and footage pieces, collecting a library of interface minutae.
We then translated these motions to scripts that show off the specific features of the Mac. We humanized each capability of the Mac, from that handy Touch ID that makes your password frustration disappear, to the magic trick of copying on an iPhone and pasting on a Mac. In each spot, we utilized kinetic type as a way to bring interest and mirror macOS motion, while also clearly communicating every functionality, highlighting the key components that make Mac the easiest computer to work on.
CENTER Design
Creative Director: Alex Center
Design Director: Andrew Galloway
Managing Director: Ashleigh Bowring
Designers: Forrest Hu Ta, Ciaran Brandin
Motion Designers: Joe Wright, Nick Carpenter, Brooke Pathakis
Client
Creatives: Esteban Cardona Jiménez, Jordan Pories
Music Supervisor: Sarah Tembeckjian
Honest Tequila
In tequila, some companies add stock flavorings to differentiate themselves, or additives to cut corners. They take the system as it stands and rely on celebrities and gimmicks to help them stand out.
Los Dos does things differently. With literally only two ingredients — water and agave — we pitched a brand system that uses only a few elements to ground a brand and package design that feels clean, quality, and cheeky. Inspired by the best of modernist Mexican design with cheerful colors, an agave-field zig-zag, and straightforward brand copy, Los Dos keeps it 100.
CENTER Design
Creative Director: Alex Center
Design Director: Andrew Galloway
Managing Director: Ashleigh Bowring
Designers: Forrest Hu Ta, Ciaran Brandin
3D Renders: Hanna Pulis
Copywriter: Kevin Batory
The Lab of Luxury
Naming, strategy, brand design, and art direction for a suncare brand that brings a touch of luxurious fashion into the laboratory, founded by and CEO Sophie Bai, one of the world’s preeminent bio-cosmetic scientists.
Named for the 14th-century full-body shield, Pavise offers the ultimate invisible defense against UV-induced skin aging through proprietary technologies built around molecular nanodiamonds.
While most sunscreen brands celebrate the sun with light-filled branding, we built a brand around the color black — the absense of light — with dramatic visuals that emulate the ultriviolet end of the spectrum. Inspired by the electrifying and intensely-saturated colors used in scientific microscopy, the packaging system features a vivid 3D recreation of Pavise’s patented DiamondCore® Shield, balanced by a refined typographic system that instills trust and embodies a brand rooted in extensive scientific research.
CENTER Design
Creative Director: Alex Center
Design Director: Andrew Galloway
Senior Designers: Pete Freeman, Rob Oeschle
Designers: Ciaran Brandin, Ellie Jepsen
Motion Designers: Forrest Hu Ta, Hanna Pulis
Photography: Tom Corbett
3D Renders: Living Thing Studios
Variety Unites
Packaging, copywriting, and campaign for a soda brand that, stripped of insignia and heraldry, represents the new America through color-field-painting-inspired primary colors and stripped back, utilitarian outlines.
In a world that just sees red and blue, United Sodas believes that variety unites; they launched with 12 flavors in their flagship variety pack. The brand’s colorful minimalism simplifies the soda can into an American icon with incredible shelf presence in stores across the 50 states.
The United Sodas team was bold to let us launch with an incredibly minimal design, focusing on human touches like personality-driven names and tactile texture. But that strategy allowed US® to stand out next to complicated and illustration-heavy designs, and become a favorite among stylists, designers, and flavor afficionados.
CENTER Design
Creative Director: Alex Center
Design Director: Andrew Galloway
Senior Designers: Pete Freeman, Ashleigh Bowring
Designers: Ellie Jepsen, Jeff Kardos, Ciaran Brandin
Photography: Mari Juliano
Stylist: Liz Mydlowski
3D Renders: Aldo Gonzalez
Web: House of 207
Grain-Free à Go-Go
When Magic Spoon came to CENTER with their newest product, Treats, we knew it was going to be important to maintain a clear visual relationship between the rich storytelling on their core cereal boxes and this new packaging.
Inspired by the structure and quirks of the existing Magic Spoon Logo, we recognized an opportunity to give Treats the typographic platform they deserve. To do this, we created a custom Magic Spoon-inspired typeface and logo treats-ment.
The core cereal packages reimagine cereal box illustrated narratives, so, we turned the treats into characters themselves — making them larger than life and personifying them with a suite of cheeky expressions.
CENTER Design
Creative Director: Alex Center
Design Director: Andrew Galloway
Designers: Forrest Huu Ta, Hanna Pulis, Ciaran Brandin, Rob Oechsle
Illustration: Juan Molinet
Photography: Heidi’s Bridge, Desx Drechsel