The Best of Brochure Design 12

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It Needs to Be

exquIsIte

Dave Young

Studio 2br

London, England

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Studio 2br aims to provide large organizations with a

clear-thinking, plain-speaking graphic design craft. We’re

passionate about print and naturally attracted to the pro-

cesses involved in literature design. Of course we recognize

that digital and print media must coexist today: All three

projects submitted for this book exist online as microsites

and in PDF format. Even so, there’s still nothing designers

like more than the smell of ink in the morning.

The growth of digital media only helps to reinforce our belief

that if you’re going to create a piece for print, it needs to be

exquisite. This is not to say every project needs to be printed

in twelve colors, foiled at Hogwarts, and thread-sewn by

elves. Some of the work we’re most proud of is straightfor-

ward four-color work on newsprint. But attention to detail is

key: anything from making sure the fit on the last press pass

is perfect at 2:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning, to rewriting a

paragraph several times to lose that awkward widow. Details

like this make all the difference.

The strength of print is that you can have sensory attri-

butes—texture, weight, the rattle of paper, even the smell.

We aim to capitalize on these qualities. For example, for

this year’s Ernst & Young Global Review, we used a super

matte laminate on the cover not only to make the document

durable and seal the ink, but also to give it a finish that feels

soft and almost seductive to the touch. Spot matte and gloss

varnishes on images and information graphics elevate the

overall look and feel of the brochure, and in turn enhance the

strength of the communication.

Asking questions

Over the years we’ve found that the corporate world often

seems to lack the sophisticated approach to design found

in the retail world. We see no reason why companies in the

financial sector can’t present themselves with the confi-

dence of a retail brand from an aesthetic point of view, but

also through the quality of the writing.

Writing is an essential part of our process and something

that influences all our designs. An example of this approach

can be found in our Give & Go project for Deutsche Bank.

The client wanted to communicate the wide range of

opportunities available to employees to take part in corpo-

rate citizenship-related activities—from volunteering and

charitable giving to exhibitions and events at galleries and

museums. We created Give & Go as an overarching theme

to promote any citizenship-related project or event, using

familiar language to convey accessibility.

We approach each project by asking what the client is trying

to achieve and who the client is trying to communicate with.

If you have clear answers to these questions, you’re halfway

there before you’ve even begun.

Unexpected answers

Doing the unexpected can transform how a brand is per-

ceived, and this is an area where corporations can learn

a lot from how retail brands communicate and package

their products. When Deutsche Bank wanted a brochure to

celebrate the launch of a new permanent exhibition—the

BrandSpace at its Frankfurt headquarters—we helped cre-

ate something as out of the ordinary as the experience the

bank had created.

The BrandSpace is built around dramatic, anamorphic

interior design and lighting and innovative touch-screen

technology. Reproducing the architecture’s sense of chang-

ing perspectives in print involved a unique approach to

photography called panography, a collage of photos that cap-

ture the anamorphic concept. The format of the brochure was

inspired by the scale of the space. Producing a piece of print

that, when opened, would have a flat size of 26.6 x 37.6 inches

(677 x 956 mm) seemed an appropriate way to replicate the

BrandSpace experience. Lastly, the brochure needed to be

mailed to an influential audience, so we packaged it in a

clay-coated, fluted board box that was screen printed with

one of the 3D logos we designed for the bank.

Long live the brochure

Our love for the printed piece is enduring and is clearly

shared by the other designers who have contributed to this

book. Books like this are a great homage to the humble bro-

chure. Even without some of the bells and whistles of print’s

digital mistress, we believe their relevance is as important

as ever.

Dave

It Needs to Be

exquIsIte

Dave Young

Studio 2br

London, England

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