Design is Play

Recent Posts

Play Press: El Pípila Nominated for James Beard Award

El Pípila has just been nominated for a James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant Design! Congratulations to Neal Schwartz et al!

Our updated tagline for El Pípila—“Guardians of Guanajuatan Cuisine”—is expressed in our design of the restaurant’s environmental graphics. We envisioned the restaurant as a metaphoric garden filled with flowers and butterflies: a gathering place for sustenance and community. This garden of Guanajuatan culture and cuisine is protected by guardians of the night: dogs beneath stars, and scorpions. Larger dogs serve as guardians of the day.

See the full spectrum of our work for El Pípila under Design is Play Studio Systems.

Photography: Bruce Damonte

Play Press: International “Tolerance” Poster Exhibition in Slovenia

Our “Tolerance” posters are exhibited outside the Mestni Muzej (City Museum) in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The posters are being exhibited as part of the 5th “Festival House of Tolerance”—an international festival of films, lectures, exhibits, and other cultural events.

Mark’s poster superimposes one of his illustrations over a halftone image of Donald Trump and the White House.

Angie worked with noted calligrapher John Stevens to typographically interpret a quote of Martin Luther King Jr.’s included in his 1963 book of sermons, “Strength to Love.”

See both “Tolerance” posters and others under Design is Play Studio Posters.

Photography: foto.mihas.fras

El Pípila Branding and Environmental Graphics

Last May, our CCA colleague Neal Schwartz invited us to collaborate with his office to develop an identity for El Pípila—a women-owned, family-run restaurant specializing in the cuisine of Guanajuato, Mexico.

Working with Schwartz and Architecture, we provided full pro bono design services to brand El Pípila. Our work includes brand positioning and design of the trademark, wordmark, environmental graphics, and interior and exterior signage.

El Pípila opened its doors today! Special thanks to Schwartz and Architecture and La Cocina.

See the full spectrum of our work for El Pípila under Design is Play Studio Systems.

Photography: Bruce Damonte

 

Play Press: Fox and Wang Off Duty

One of six assemblage paintings from the series “Unhelpful Instructions”

“Off-Duty” is a modest show of our work that includes assemblage paintings and limited-edition prints—work that we make in our off-hours, when we don’t have to be clear—or helpful.

On exhibit at The Bench Gallery from January 6 to February 16.

See all six assemblage paintings from the series “Unhelpful Instructions” under Design is Play Studio Systems.

Play Press: Communication Arts 2019 Typography Annual

Our GW monogram for Great Western Power Co. is included in Communication Arts’ 9th Typography Annual!

Great Western Power Co. is a rock climbing gym built inside a former power sub-station and steam heat plant in Oakland, California. We described it to our friends at Touchstone Climbing as “a little DC Comics: powerful and super-charged.” We hand-inked the symbol before building it in Illustrator.

Our GW monogram is one of 128 projects out of 1,653 entries that will appear in the January/February issue of Communication Arts.