Inspired

I have always been inspired by illustrators, and prefer to commission them over photographers if I have the choice. The right illustrator has the ability to bring so much value and personality to any design project.

Not long ago I had the opportunity to brand two New Zealand illustrators, Scott Kennedy and Donna Cross. Scott has sight in both eyes but Donna is restricted to one fully functional eye, so we collectively agreed that the name Three Eyes was perfect. The name itself was a brave move for illustrators to play on a perceived weakness to front the business.

I initially struggled with trying to represent both illustrators’ styles and personalities within the same identity, so I moved away from using their work and based the identity purely on typography for the first set of concepts. Then it dawned on me that the reason I was designing their identity was because their illustration work was continually fresh, surprising, unexpected and above all inspirational. The best solution to capture this was to create a blank canvas for them to express themselves on, to create unique dialogue with everyone who comes in contact with Three Eyes. The identity I created was simply three holes punched across the identity and it’s up to Three Eyes to finish it. Each time the duo sends out correspondence, it is nothing less than an original gift of illustration, and a damn fine reason why the recipient should commission Three Eyes.

Brian EagleUnreal