Bird’s-eye view

Boots The Chemists restructures its design capacity and closes its in-house Design Services Unit, turning to focus on the outsourcing of work through the Mother hub (including Circus and Poke) and Nottingham design group Jupiter.

Anti-Copying In Design launches a lobby group, Acid Lobby, tasked with targeting the Government and industry about the issues around designers’ intellectual property rights.

Cult Japanese jeans label Evisu opens its first UK retail outlet – designed by Hassan Abdullah – as part of a global expansion strategy.

Tom Dixon and Farrow Design collaborate on Oliver Peyton’s lakeside restaurant Inn The Park. The St James’s Park project marks Dixon’s first foray into interiors-based work, with Farrow crafting the ssrestaurant’s visual identity.

London’s Camden Arts Centre relaunches following a £4.2m refurbishment programme which includes a refreshed identity by Intro, garden design by Muf and revamped interiors by Tony Fretton Architects.

Digital TV network UKTV appoints Dunning Eley Jones to overhaul its brand as part of plans to unify its stable of channels. A reworked UKTV brand will prefix each of its seven existing channel names.

Coca-Cola Great Britain unveils its soon infamous still water product Dasani, with packaging and a graphic identity by Lloyd Ferguson Hawkins. It marks the company’s first major product launch since Powerade in 2001, but customers don’t quite appreciate the product’s subtleties and the brand is subsequently withdrawn.

Nike designers Richard Avis and Ian Wilton create two products, Total 90 Aerow, a football that can travel in a straight line at high speed, and Air Zoom Total 90 111, a football boot with special shock absorption. At the same time, the company appoints Brinkworth to review the design of its 300 client showrooms across Europe.

Alan Yau, founder of the Wagamama, Busaba Eathai and Hakkasan restaurants, unveils the designs for two new dining projects, Yauatcha and the yet-to-be-opened DaiDaiYa Chowbar. North Design is – once again – tasked with developing the branding, packing and identity for Yauatcha. Christian Liaigre, who worked on Busaba, creates the interiors for Chowbar.

Kim Wilkie Associates is appointed to create an adventurous garden and outdoor garden space at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, as part of its broader £150m regeneration programme unveiled in 2002 (DW 18 April 2002).

Manchester City Council invites seven top-flight designers to apply for the post of creative director, to look at future branding and design projects for the region. The shortlist of candidates includes: Michael Wolff, Peter Saville, Alan Fletcher, Malcolm Garrett, John McConnell and Javier Mariscal.

WPP Group chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell forecasts a strong, clean year ahead, but warns that the industry risks taking a proverbial ‘shower’ in 2005.

Wire creates the branding for London’s Elephant and Castle, as part of a £1.5bn regeneration project.

Welsh design group Hebfinnia revamps the Green Party’s identity ahead of the European Parliament and London Assembly elections in June, creating a ‘muted’ style.

FutureBrand poaches Landor Associates’ number two – EMEA and Asia chairman Jean-Louis Dumeu – to fill its top job of chairman and chief executive. He fills a role that had been left vacant for almost 12 months, since his predecessor John Elkins vacated it the previous April (DW 17 April 2003).

Januaryfebruarymarch Peter Saville is appointed by Manchester City Council to the position of creative director. It is the first British city to create such a role. Saville will act as an ‘image consultant’ to the city, but Manchester has little to show for the idea come the end of the year.

Innocence, sister group of Interbrand, loses its managing director Simon Bailey and senior consultant Glyn Britton. Its former managing director, Jez Frampton, assumes control while still at Interbrand.

Imagination creates designs for a 7400m2 Thunderbirds-themed stand for Ford that will be the centrepiece at The Sunday Times Motor Show Live in Birmingham in June.

Design Week’s Top 100 reveals pockets of growth in an otherwise gloomy set of financials for the top design consultancies, as ranked by overall fees. The list is significantly affected by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the US, which bans the disclosure of unaudited financial data. Consequently, companies within WPP, Interpublic Group, Omnicom and Havas are all omitted.

Exhibition design group Met Studio Design collects the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in recognition of its global success.

BT announces the details of its reorganised design roster, which contains five new consultancies: The Partners, The Team, 999, Elmwood and Lippa Pearce.

Fitch Worldwide acquires Ohio-based Retail Planning Associates, which is relocated to the Fitch London offices. In the US, RPA is renamed as Fitch RPA.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office awards Landesign part of the £3m contract to create concepts for the UK Pavilion at Expo 2005 in Japan. Landesign is working as part of a Ten Alps Events-led consortium and the pavilion will feature content from the Natural History Museum.

Design Council chief executive David Kester reveals his plan for the organisation. The plan places emphasis on strengthening design’s infrastructure through training; building representation between design and outside parties and enhancing design education. Meanwhile, his old firm D&AD stages its first D&AD Congress at London’s Old Billingsgate market.

A flurry of retail activity sees Fred Perry open its first concept store in London’s Covent Garden, designed by Judge Gill, while clothing retailer Jigsaw overhauls its brand in collaboration with Sea.

Fashion label Firetrap embarks on a £3m branding and identity redesign, working with Dry Communications for strategy and logo design and architect and interiors group Brinkworth for store design. Unilever unveils its Wolff Olins-designed corporate identity. The softer, friendlier marque comprises 25 icons relating to the company’s products, customers and environments.

Loewy Group says it plans to triple the size of its business in two years, following a five-way merger and ahead of an Ofex flotation. The business is backed by entrepreneur Luke Johnson.

Multimedia designer Daniel Brown picks up the Design Museum’s £25 000 Designer of the Year award. His work includes experimental website www.play-create.com and www. showstudio.com, of which he is director of multimedia. Marks & Spencer sees some senior shuffling, as incoming chief executive Stuart Rose appoints former Arcadia marketing head Steven Sharp as director of marketing, design and store development. Rose’s arrival also prompts the resignation of executive director of general merchandising Vittorio Radice.

Patrick Smith is promoted to the position of Europe chief executive at brand group Enterprise IG. Former group managing director John Mathers takes over Smith’s previous post as UK chief executive.

After departing Havas-owned Conran Design Group in February, David Chaloner resurfaces as interior and retail design director at Terence Conran’s design consultancy Conran & Partners.

The Crafts Council loses more than 20 pieces of design as a result of the devastating fire at the Momart warehouse, which also destroyed several works by contemporary British artists. Furniture designs by El Ultimo Grito and Shin & Tomoko Azumi are among those lost.

Fitch London axes almost a quarter of its staff as part of a restructuring programme by Fitch Worldwide. Chairman and chief executive Rodney Fitch explains the cuts – from ‘non-core departments’ – will help Fitch return to its ‘heritage’ disciplines: retailing, product design, brand communications and live events.

Priestman Goode is appointed to design the capsule rooms for Yotel!, the innovative hotel concept from Yo! Sushi founder Simon Woodroffe.

A full-scale review of the Nestlé Rowntree design roster results in the removal of half of the consultancies on the list. Incoming is FutureBrand breakaway Bloom Design, while FutureBrand, Design Bridge, Smith & Milton and Volcano are all dropped.

COI Communications embarks on a roster review, ditching its controversial policy of charging consultancies a fee to apply for a place on the list.

The Body Shop plays down the unannounced launch of a concept store format, revealed exclusively by Design Week, opened in London’s Covent Garden. The retail concept and tweaked branding are created under the direction of the company’s head of design Franco Bonadio.

FutureBrand announces the departure of UK managing director Elizabeth Finn, the former head honcho of Coleman Planet. Incoming chief executive Jean-Louis Dumeu takes the reins while the group scours the design industry for talent.

Tom Dixon’s design studio – Tom Dixon – merges with Finnish furniture-maker Artek. Dixon rescinds his full-time remit as creative director of Habitat, and the retailer begins recruiting to boost its in-house team.

The head of Alsop Architects’ graphics division Richard Stayte is made redundant and re-emerges as design director of Conran Design Group’s graphics division. The architect later wields the hatchet on its architectural team too.

FutureBrand axes up to 20 per cent of its London staff of 80. Chief executive Jean-Louis Dumeu says the cuts are part of restructuring plans to return his new ship to short-term growth.

Wolff Olins unveils its colourful, off- beat brand identity for the principality of Liechtenstein.

Marks & Spencer finally commits its plans for a ‘designer’ homewares concept – Lifestore – to the dustbin, after investors remain unconvinced of its launch sales volumes. The retailer moots a first packaging roster for giftwares.

Seoul – which is dubbed the new ‘promised land’ – becomes the stage for product design network Tangerine & Partners to open an office in South Korea.

aprilmayjunejuly The Victoria & Albert Museum begins its search for a design group to create a new-look restaurant and café for its William Morris and Gamble rooms. The London museum finally appoints Muma for the project, as well as architect Eva Jiricna to design its Central Hall Shop, Softroom to create the Islamic Art Gallery and Casson Mann for its Miniatures Gallery.

The long-awaited deal between Digit consultancy director, Daljit Singh) and WPP is finally sealed. The design group sells 51 per cent of its shares to Mediaedge CIA, with options to buy remaining shares in the future.

The Design Council finally names George Cox as its incoming chairman to replace Professor Sir Christopher Frayling. The former director-general of the Institute of Directors, Cox is the man who hired Wayne Hemingway to design the organisation’s alternative members wing.

Siemens, UBS, eBay, Porsche and Audi rank among the top new entries in Interbrand’s annual survey of global brands. Burger King, Ericsson, Jack Daniels, Johnnie Walker and The Wall Street Journal fall out of the top 100 table.

Restaurant chain Little Chef tests a slimmed-down ‘Charlie’ character, designed by Sheffield creative group Dig For Fire, which is later ditched following an ‘outcry’ by customers of the roadside café chain.

Design Week exclusively reveals Jasper Conran’s plans for his first new store for several years. The designer begins the conversion of a five-storey town house on Sackville Street in London’s West End, which will house his collections of menswear, womenswear, homewares and accessories.

Ron Arad Associates unveils its designs for an avant-garde luxury hotel poised across the upper reaches of Battersea Power Station. Called Upperworld, the hotel will house 44 spiral-shaped suites of 150m2. If it gets the go-ahead, it will also house a bar, two restaurants and function rooms.

Aquascutum opens its refurbished Regent Street flagship designed by Fitch London. The consultancy also seals a heavyweight brand project for the Russian postal service.

Former Selfridges head of creative direction Susanne Tide-Frater joins Harrods as its first creative director.

The University of the Arts, London and London Business School reveal a plan to jointly launch the Centre for Creative Business, which will address training for creative consultancies, and student electives for designers and business graduates. Former ITN editor Greg Orme is appointed CCB chief executive.

Alessi unveils a range of superpostmodern tea and coffee sets by architects including Will Alsop, Future Systems, Zaha Hadid and Jean Nouvel.

FutureBrand poaches Enterprise IG’s Europe chief executive Patrick Smith. Smith joins the Interpublic-owned group as chief executive for Europe.

Barber Osgerby turns up the heat by winning the Jerwood Applied Arts Prize and a cheque for £15 000.

Jaffa Cakes fires Williams Murray Hamm, despite the group’s radical packaging designs ticking all the design effectiveness boxes, including a significant sales increase.

Gap appoints Conran & Partners to revitalise its retail design, the first major undertaking for incoming interior and retail design director David Chaloner.

James Dyson quits as chairman of the Design Museum in a public spat conducted through the national press. The move ironically seals a place for the flower arrangements of Constance Sprye in the hearts of everyone in the design world.

Plans for Apple Computer’s radical flagship on London’s Regent Street are revealed exclusively in Design Week. Architect Gensler, which has worked with Apple in the US, is behind the store, which attracts a 500-strong queue the night before it opens.

Peter Saville completes his first phase of work as Manchester’s creative director, saying the city’s core brand values should be ‘original and modern’ and that recruiting ‘visionaries and entrepreneurs’ is more important than creating landmark buildings.

Event is appointed as exhibition designer on Glasgow’s £50m Riverside Museum.

At Design UK in Tokyo, James Dyson hits out at ‘marketing men’ for getting in the way of good design, but later maintains in a letter to Design Week that he has ‘great respect for the vital role marketers play’.

The Royal College of Art sets up InnovationRCA, headed by Professor Jeremy Myerson, to provide a ‘gateway’ through which commercial businesses and students can interact.

Air Canada unveils results of a brand overhaul by FutureBrand.

Design Week’s Hot 50 honours people who have gone the distance for design – even when it isn’t part of the day job.

Asda opens its first food-free supermarket in Walsall, with interiors created in-house.

Boots the Chemists opens a store in London’s High Street Kensington that includes all the store elements created by its Creative Hubs in London and Nottingham.

The Royal Air Force extends its brand to take on video games, clothes and performance accessories. The move follows a licensing deal with 4Kids Entertainment International.

The axe falls again at Conran Design Group, this time hitting interiors division design directors Barrie Legg and Robert Millar and two designers.

Design Week’s salary survey reveals pay is up across the board of design jobs and consultancy locations.

Cornish design groups join forces under the Cornwall Design Forum banner.

Brussels design group Chilli Con Carne creates a portfolio of images and health warnings to appear on cigarette packs across Europe next year.

The Nest is acquired by ad agency St Lukes, but will retain its own identity.

Marks & Spencer unveils a new store format by Urban Salon at sites in Sutton Coldfield, Shoreham and London’s Edgware Road.

The Apple store opens, as predicted in Design Week, in London’s Regent Street.

Interiors show 100% Design announces a plan to open an east London subsidiary 100% East next year.

The South Bank Centre holds a pitch for the redesign of its rather complex brand.

Tom Dixon calls on business leaders to put design on the boardroom agenda and encourages designers to take a lead themselves.

Air France-KLM flies its latest identity, designed by France-based consultancy Desgrippes Gobé’s Paris office.

The Chancellor’s pre-Budget statement fails to address the issue of extending the tax credit to design work.

John Sorrell is appointed as chairman for the Commission of Architecture and the Built Environment.

BT appoints screen-branding specialist Lambie-Nairn to work on a secret major project due to launch in 2005. augustseptemberoctobernovemberdecember