But Actually…
Reviewed by Emily Gosling
We’ve all, at some point in life, encountered a few “But Actuallys”: the kind of people who always know a little bit more than you, constantly correct you, diligently fact check in social situations. They’re perennially just that smidgen More Right than you: a heady combination of The Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy; the classic pedant (or pendant if you want to really annoy them); the Mansplainer; bores who talk about ‘macronutrients’; people who resolutely “only like the early stuff”, and the bro’s still peddling the whole bearded-craft-beer-guy-thing, the ones who look like they walked into a tattoo parlour and simply, indiscriminately asked for “lots of tattoos, please”.
But Actuallys are neatly summed up as the sort of people who, at a public Q&A, will raise their hand and utter the dreaded six words: “More a comment than a question”.
To be clear, there’s a huge difference between geeks/nerds/enthusiasts and But Actuallys: the former have a genuine interest in something that helps them enjoy life, whereas the latter actively want you to enjoy life just a wee bit less, because you’re actually very slightly wrong, actually…
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Collections: Illustration
I’m currently rebuilding the BP&O ‘Collections’ pages to provide a better browsing experience. This will give you a decade-long overview of the brands featured on the site from 2011-present based on key assets such as colour palettes, custom type and logotypes. These are currently a work in progress.
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Aflame
Reviewed by Thomas Barnett
Estepona is a Spanish resort town on the Costa del Sol. It surveys the azure waves of the Mediterranean from the apex of a bight that traces a gentle South-Westerly arc from Marbella to Gibraltar. Strewn as it is on this notoriously idyllic coastline, Estepona largely conforms to the stereotypically cheerful charm of the Spanish resort town, pandering to the predictable pleasures preferred by the British abroad: golden sand, a scenic beachfront promenade, and blithely tautological Spanglish nomenclature (‘Playa Beach’).
The restaurant scene that is clustered along this promenade and around the harbour largely strives to meet, rather than to subvert, these expectations: wooden barrel tables and other such faux-rustic flim-flam are the uniform de rigueur for countless facades promising freshly caught local seafood, unctuous with the ubiquitous flavours of the Mediterranean.
However, amongst the harbourside homogeneity of Spanish restaurant culture simplified and hyperbolised for the incurious mind of the casual tourist stands a singular anomaly. Against the tame backdrop of white tablecloths, nautical motifs and beer-branded patio parasols, stands a conspicuously chic apparition, aflame in blood-red neon…
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Now on Brand Archive:
Volkswagen by MetaDesign, 1997
Brand Archive is a new research tool from the team behind BP&O. Discover a long history of corporate identity design, from the 1960s to present day. Using our custom built filter, discover individual assets from signage, to packaging to liveries, drawn from over 700 brands.
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Logo Histories – Stories behind great historical logos.
LogoArchive Shop – Vintage design books & LogoArchive Zines.