The Design Show Identity

A tight schedule and an open brief faced Pentagram partner Justus Oehler when he was asked by Design Week sister company Centaur Exhibitions to create a marque for The Design Show, a new London event to be held from 29 to 31 October. He had about a week to come up with the first ideas for an identity which he evolved over three weeks. Hence, he maintains, the simplicity of the result.

The Design Show will be run along the lines of the Marketing Forum, giving designers the chance to set up stall for a selected client audience. The emphasis is on quality in terms of the design groups involved and the visitor profile.

Given the audience, Oehler felt it was important the marque didn’t look over-designed. It had to look as though the show was well established.

The use of the flat red D – for design – aims to create a 3D feel. ‘One guy is behind it, one’s in front to suggest communication,’ he says. ‘It’s very straightforward and about an event, not a corporate symbol.’ It is also easily reproduced and can work as a 3D sculpture if required, he adds.

Oehler has used Univers Condensed for letterheads and other applications because it is ‘legible and more elegant, since it is condensed and contrasts with the bold D’ of the marque.