5 important things that happened in design this week

From the new plastic £5 note to Just Eat and Addison Lee rebrands, we round up the important design news from the last seven days.

The NHS announced it will have a complete digital overhaul

Newcastle, UK - February 10, 2016: The NHS (National Health Service) logo on an entrance sign for the Royal Victoria Infirmary, a teaching hospital which includes an accident and emergency department.

The Department for Health announced this week that the National Health Service (NHS) would be completely redesigning its public-facing website by the end of 2017.

The current nhs.uk (NHS choices) site is currently mainly a hub for researching ailments and symptoms – but the government hopes to turn it into a more holistic supersite.

The new nhs.uk site will aim to bring all patient services together – allowing them to book appointments, find a GP, access test results, order prescriptions and ask for medical advice all in one place.

It will also be taking into account patient data from “NHS-approved” health apps, the government department says, with the hope of providing more tailored services to patients.

The new plastic £5 note design rolled out

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The new polymer £5 note entered circulation this week, with 440 million rolling out in an initial print run.

The redesigned note features Winston Churchill, and according to the Bank of England, is both waterproof and resistant to dirt.

It’s also meant to last more than double the amount of time as a paper note, and contains features which make the note harder to counterfeit and easier to recognise for visually impaired people.

Alongside Churchill, a plastic £10 note featuring Jane Austin will arrive in summer 2017, and a £20 note featuring J.M.W Turner will start sweeping the nation in 2020.

Just Eat revealed a colourful rebrand

Just Eat scooters

A week after rival Deliveroo unveiled an entirely new graphic identity, food delivery service Just Eat rolled out a rebrand.

The new branding sees a spectrum of colours added to the visual application of the brand, and the logo tweaked, with a new italicised logotype and the removal of Just Eat’s signature cursor click icon – perhaps now an outdated motif.

Alongside the visual look, which was designed by consultancy Venturethree, the brand also wants to change its attitude, with new online features that will enable it to communicate better with its audience.

For instance, a new chatbot feature compatible with Facebook Messenger means customers can receive advice on what restaurants or food to choose, based on previous orders.

Addison Lee revealed a new visual identity

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This week, car hire and taxi service Addison Lee looked to better align itself with customer service in its latest rebrand.

Ad agency Whistlejacket London worked on the project, and redesigned the logo from its previous monochrome, intertwined “AL” symbol to a more minimal, yellow “AL”.

The “AL” icon uses a serif typeface, while the Addison Lee logotype has been given a sans-serif.

The yellow aims to be a “shorthand for taxis”, explains Whistlejacket London’s creative director Kathy Kielty, while the gap created between the “A” and “L” symbols indicates two sides of a road.

Alongside the visual changes, the brand hopes to reposition itself as being more customer-focused through new services such as free wifi, courier services and pet-friendly vehicles.

Plumen unveiled its new energy efficient light bulb

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Plumen’s new 003 lightbulb was unveiled this week, after product design consultancy Hulger spent five years creating it.

The new light bulb aims to give “sustainable design sex appeal”, according to Nicolas Roope, creative director at Hulger, and allegedly gives off two forms of light – a more useful, downward spotlight to illuminate worktops and dinner tables, and a more ambient golden glow for the surrounding environment.

The soft glow is achieved through a gold element in the centre of the light bulb, which actually makes people “look more beautiful”, according to Plumen.

At £150 a pop, it’s not cheap – but can last for 10,000 hours before it blows. You can find out more information here.


Got a design story? Get in touch at sarah.dawood@centaurmedia.com.

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