After working together on their first standalone publication These Islands, Rosa Park of Cereal Magazine approached us regarding a new personal endeavor, Francis Gallery.
Named after her father, Francis Gallery had been a dream project of Rosa’s that had been brewing for many years and was finally ready to be launched. Rosa had shared with us her passion for art but recognized that owning art that was displayed in most museums and galleries were simply unattainable for most people. Meanwhile, it was also difficult for up and coming artists to have their art shown in a gallery. Her goal with Francis was to create a platform to celebrate new artists and display artwork that could be more attainable by a larger majority of art lovers.
To support their physical gallery space in Bath, UK, Rosa commissioned us to design and developed their online gallery and shop and printed catalogues.
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<h2>Website Design</h2>
When we first began the design for the Francis gallery website, we took our inspiration from the pure and tranquil qualities of the Korean moon jar.
Echoing the shape of a moon jar, we strived to create a simple top menu; a body with an abundance of rich content; and then ending the page with a balanced footer.
We were also intrigued by the light and darkness of the jar’s exterior and interior. We translated these qualities into the website through a pale homepage and a dark background colour for the shop page.
Since launching in 2018, we have worked with the Francis team to expand on various components of the website to accommodate their growing roster of artists. Most recently, the site has been updated to feature artwork and exhibitions from both their original location in Bath as well as their new gallery in Los Angeles.

<h2>Exhibition Catalogue Design</h2>
As part of the in-gallery experience, we designed an exhibition catalogue to accompany each show. The catalog is wrapped with a sheet of semi-translucent vellum paper that displays the vertical Francis wordmark while subtly obscuring the exhibition title page beneath. This paper combination was inspired by our trip to the UK where fog is a common part of the British landscape—creating a unique sense of depth of field. The catalogue is designed as a flexible template that can be used for future exhibitions and provide visual consistency for the brand. During our partnership with Francis Gallery, around 13 exhibition catalogues were produced, taking the established template and adapting it slightly to fit the concept of the show.
As Francis Gallery opened their new LA location in 2022, we designed a catalogue that was specific for their LA exhibitions. White the Gallery has since moved on with a rebranded identity and website (2023), we are grateful for the opportunity to have partnered with them for the past four years and had the opportunity to witness amazing work created by the artists that have exhibited with Francis Gallery.

Print

Website

Francis Gallery

In 2014, we worked with photographer, Justin Chung on the inaugural volume of Faculty Department and released the self published title around the world. It was significant turning point for our then two year old studio, as we got to showcase our work beyond our city and we were very encouraged by the positive response.
Since the 2014 release, Justin has continued to document stories of noteworthy individuals around the world and also in California, his new home since making the move westward. Within these past five years, both Justin and our team have gone through life changes that have shaped the theme for volume two of Faculty Department—“simple living with purpose”.
For Faculty Department Vol. 2, we decided to print the publication in Verona, Italy. The proofing process proved to be a challenge due to the time difference, yet looking back, it was certainly a worthwhile experience. Upon arriving to their production house, we join our print rep Roberto on the printing floor to examine the first press sheets off the press. The book was printed on Munken Lynx, 120 gsm and wrapped with Wilbalin Natural 502 Fawn end sheets. For the cover linen cloth, we used the 4186 Green swatch from Brilliantia®—a colour that was inspired by the moss green trees from Mariah Nielson&#8217;s story in Inverness, California.

<h2>Design</h2>
As we began to explore ideas for volume two, we knew we had wanted this new volume to be a clear maturation from volume one. It was important to Justin that more photographs would be included for each story, giving the reader a fuller picture of the subject and their way of life. We set up a grid system that allowed us to create approximately 12–13 layout variations. By alternating between the layout sets, we able to diversify the content display and make each spread appear uniquely designed for the content.
In addition to the layouts, we also introduced two sans serif typefaces to the publication to further develop the Faculty Department brand. Neue Haas Grotesk was used for the book cover and display text for each subject’s name while an expanded weight of Helvetica Neue was used for the small titling and captions. We chose these two typefaces as they added to the industrial, old textbook look and feel that we were striving for. Tiempos Text remained as the body text for the book to continue the visual tone of voice for Faculty Department.
By increasing the page count from 265 to 372, volume two was certainly a much larger undertaking that required extensive iterating and review. Ultimately, we wanted to create this publication as a great source of inspiration to creative individuals and entrepreneurs as a document that can be referenced for years to come.

Services

Credits

Art Direction

Faculty Department Vol. 2

In late July of 2018, Eldric Stuart reached out to us regarding an exciting collaboration he was working on for a new coffee roasting space. This new coffee concept would become Harken Coffee, a roasting space with an attached 16 seat coffee shop and a small kitchen, located on Powell St.
As Harken Coffee would include both a roastery company as well as a coffee shop, Eldric described his idea for a “dark and light” motif between the two businesses. The Powell St. interior would take on the darker theme while the roastery was meant to reflect a bright and meticulous approach. With these two themes in mind, we began our research through photo moodboards and tried to articulate the “feeling” of each space through the photos.

Eldric had come up with the name &#8220;Harken&#8221;, which means to &#8220;recall or remember of a time or moment in the past&#8221;. We felt the name was a great fit for the coffee brand, as coffee often reminded us of a pleasant memory in the past; a conversation with a friend or just a great cup of coffee.
While we thought about how to translate this idea visually, we had came across visuals of an object behind frosted windows. Similar to how our memories can sometimes be unclear, the visual behind the window is blurry and diffused, but the overall impression and feeling is expressed. The frosted glass would blur the subject behind it and often create a gradient of colours. We applied this gradient approach to the packaging boxes of Harken’s season-based coffees. By mixing a selection of colours for each box, we found this to be an effective way to express a feeling of each season as well as the taste notes in the seasonal coffee.
Continuing with the gradient concept, we utilize a range of type weights from Acumin Pro to create a gradient type system that could be used throughout brand elements. Just like the variation of taste notes in a cup of coffee, the semibold, regular, light and extralight weights help to expand the visual experience of the Harken brand.

The stunning design for the interior is completely credited to CÒMH-A and Simcic Uhrich Architects (SUA) and built by Milltown Contracting. Our team only met with CÒMH-A early in the process to discuss the design direction and ensure that both the brand direction and the interior design would reflect the same vision. It was amazing to see the Harken brand realized in a physical space where customers can experience the brand spatially, using all of their senses.

Harken Coffee

Brand Identity

2019

Harken Coffee

Brand Identity

2019

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