5 important things that happened in design this week

Eharmony looked to “differentiate” itself with new branding

Online dating site eharmony unveiled a new visual identity this week, along with redesigned versions of its website and app.

Created by eharmony’s in-house design team, the new identity aims to “differentiate” the brand from newer competitors such as Tinder, said senior manager of creative services, Shaily Savla.

A new logo swaps out the capital “H” in eHarmony for a lowercase version, and uses a shade of teal that is said to represent “compassion and stability”, according to Savla.

A new heart symbol is also included within the logo, comprising various shades of teal, purple and pink set within a grid.

User experience (UX) design manager Tony Smith said the redesigned website and app look to “clear out the clutter”, with a new, “web and app-friendly” sans-serif typeface called Lato.

The new branding and website has rolled out. The redesigned app will roll out in the coming months.

We looked at a new exhibition celebrating the designs of Jewish refugees

Design is at the heart of the Jewish Museum London’s latest exhibition, which opened to the public this week.

Designs on Britain looks at Jewish immigrant designers who fled from Nazi-led Germany during World War Two and their subsequent contribution to British society.

Some 140 pieces from 18 designers fill the exhibition space, which is divided up thematically into sections including war-time, travel, publishing, branding and identity, toys and vehicles.

Notable designs featured within the exhibition range from Tate & Lyle’s branding to Transport for London posters, and have been chosen to highlight that designs often associated with “quintessential” Britain may just have easily been created by “outsiders”, said co-curator and head of exhibitions Jo Rosenthal.

Although the designs themselves form the centrepiece of the exhibition, Rosenthal has also looked to tell the backstories of the people responsible for them. At the entrance, each of the 18 designers are profiled and their histories described in detail.

Designs on Britain takes place 19 October 2017 – 15 April 2018 at Jewish Museum London, Raymond Burton House, 129-131 Albert Street, London NW1 7NB. Museum admission costs £8.50 for adults and £6.50 concessions, and includes entry to the exhibition and all permanent displays. For more info, head to the Jewish Museum London’s site.

The UK James Dyson Award winner was announced

Royal College of Art graduate Ryan Yasin was revealed as the winner of the UK edition of the James Dyson Award this week.

Yasin’s winning design takes the form of children’s clothing items that expand as the child wearing them grows.

The designer’s Petit Pli range features pleated material with qualities based on the Negative Poisson principle, which means that the fabric expands as it is stretched out.

Having been awarded £2,000 prize money to develop the project further, Yasin said his hope is that Petit Pli will make a “tangible difference” to the environmental effects of mass producing children’s clothing, as well as its impact on parent’s purses.

Yasin joins a number of previous UK and international winners who have all addressed the competition’s main criteria: creating a product that “solves a problem”. These have included a recyclable paper bike helmet, a portable vaccine device and a low-cost baby incubator.

The V&A announced an exhibition celebrating the “ingenuity” of contemporary craft

The Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum revealed details of its upcoming exhibition this week, which is being launched in association with the Crafts Council.

The Woman’s Hour Craft Prize will look at how traditional crafts can be used in new ways today, and will see one designer awarded a top prize of £10,000.

The 12 featured designs have been chosen from more than 1,500 entries, and will include a bespoke bicycle by trained silversmith and jewellery designer Caren Hartley, and Lin Cheung’s series of politically-inspired pin badges.

The exhibition will be on display from 7 September 2017 – 5 February 2018 at the V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, Knightsbridge, London SW7 2RL. On 8 November 2017 a winner will be announced live on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, from the V&A. For more information, visit the V&A’s site.

We looked at the month ahead in design

This week, we rounded up the best design festivals, exhibitions, talks and other events to catch across the UK this September.

One of the hottest dates on the design calendar is the London Design Festival, which is set to take place across the capital from 16-24 September. Highlights will include a colourful installation from Camille Walala brightening up Exchange Square in Broadgate, and Designjunction panel talks hosted by Design Week on topics including the value of creative education in schools and the need to diversify design.

Also included in our September round-up is Pentagram partner Marina Willer’s film release, which tells the story of the fate of her Jewish family from the fallout of World War Two, a book release on design duo Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, and the Wellcome Collection’s new exhibition Can Graphic Design Save Your Life?