We Are Frank

Showing Fi How To Do Blog

2010-04-08T15:48:00.001+01:00

Fi Livingston came in to talk about her site, and we looked at how easy it is to update a blog

Mar Mar Menagerie

2010-02-05T00:23:00.002Z

Frank has been very happy to collaborate with Mark and Marianne, the daring half-Danish design duo over at MarMarCo recently. Their shop is in Cheshire Street just off Brick Lane, so they're practically neighbours and we've been helping them out with their new-look website and online shop. This groovy Magical Menagerie is just one of the fabulous items they have for sale.

We're Melting

2010-02-04T23:51:00.008Z

Frank recently created the identity and website for Paul and Woody - the bloody nice blokes over at Melt Music. Melt provide contemporary scores for film, TV and commercials, music production, remixing and song-writing. As well as being an award-winning songwriter and drummer for the band Madness, Woody is also a seriously good runner (completing last year's London Marathon in 3 hours 42 minutes!!!) Sponsor him in 2010 in aid of Cancer Research here. Good luck Woody!

Out of the Back Window

2009-12-17T16:35:00.000Z

Frank and Caravan at xmas

2009-12-16T13:58:00.001Z

TOP CHRISTMAS PICKS

2009-12-16T12:27:00.002Z

Heartfelt thanks to Emily of Caravan who took us (and the Caravan girls, Anna and Violeta) out for a wintery rooftop treat at Boundary last night. Among the lovely festive fodder on offer was spiced cider, stinky cheese fondue, mince pies, port, and satsumas! We were also each given a set of these cool guitar picks by David Shrigley. Thanks Emily!

Stimulating typographical debate

2009-12-13T22:12:00.005Z

After a jolly festive lunch with some of our friends and neighbours last week, the hard core retired to The Water Poet for the now-traditional pool tournament. Whilst there, we also got to try out my splendid xmas present from Mr Webb, a set of Type Trumps. As a Top Trumps fan in my youth, they proved a most welcome diversion. The categories included obvious things like number of weights / legibility etc, but it was the 'special power' section which proved the most controversial. According to the rules, when a player calls on his card's special power, a debate should ensue until a winner is agreed upon. So somewhat bizarrely, we found ourselves arguing over some unlikely pairings... the Nazi Regime vs The Face (Fette Fraktur vs Brody)... the BBC vs Glaser's I "heart" NY (Gill Sans vs American Typewriter)... Trajan's Column vs London Underground (Trajan vs Johnston)... I'm sure you fellow type nerds out there get the idea!

15% off at frank TEES

2009-11-20T20:08:00.001Z

There's now 15% off all Frank Alphabetees products until 29th November 2009. All you have to do is enter the voucher code "NOVEMBERSALE" when you checkout... and if you think perhaps it's getting a little too cold for t-shirts, remember the shop also sells all manner of other garments including long-sleeved tops, hats, mittens and thermal hoodies!

East END BOYS

2009-11-20T19:51:00.001Z

Frank recently designed this new identity for our neighbours in Hanbury Street. Possibly London's loudest solicitors, Barker Austin wanted a fresh look but also wanted to highlight the fact that they've been resident in the East End of London for nearly 20 years.

Frank fotos update

2009-11-20T18:13:00.006Z

Been busy putting my latest rangefinder camera through its paces recently, the Voigtlander Bessa R3A, it's like a Leica but at a fraction of the price, check out some of the pics here

H is for Helvetica and Hallage

2009-11-13T15:59:00.005Z

The first few Alphabetee orders are coming in... here again we can see me in a particularly Swiss-looking homage to our old favourite Die Neue Haas Grotesk, or Helvetica to normal people.

Lovely Sausage!

2009-11-11T16:25:00.004Z

Many moons ago, working with long standing Friend of Frank Bill Wallsgrove, we were involved in the development of the identity for Russian sausage brand Dymov. These rather smart pack designs by Firma, featuring our logo, turned up today on Lovely Package. Cool, eh?

FRANK wins a gong!

2009-11-08T22:32:00.002Z

Frank's work on the rebrand of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society was nominated in two categories at last week's UK Packaging Awards. Although our gift box entered in the Cartonboard category was overlooked, the Society's 25th Anniversary bottle stormed home to win best Glassware, and that was up against some pretty stiff competition. The bottle structure itself was designed by Adele Matheson (pictured here with me) of Glenmorangie, while branding, bottle decoration and label design were by Frank. So many thanks to the brilliantly raucous Glenmorangie crowd who looked after me on the night and all credit to the people who worked closely with us on the project... namely Paul, Kai, Charlotte and Valerie.

Under a Pink sky

2009-11-08T21:41:00.003Z

There was a dramatic seasonal light display at Frank Towers recently, which resulted in us all running for our cameras and leaning dangerously out of the back window. (this shot taken with an Olympus XA2 compact)

In the bag

2009-11-06T17:18:00.005Z

Big thanks to Jo at Reworn who has fashioned me a great new laptop cover by recycling what looks like an old workwear jacket. Stylish, practical and eco-friendly, what more can you ask for?

Monogram Tees

2009-10-30T16:01:00.004Z

The Frank T-shirt elves have been beavering away creating some new designs. We've also set up a new Alphabetee Shop where you can choose your own colour shirt, cap or even pair of pants, and then apply your chosen letter in whatever colour and size you want! Here we see Mr And-y (get it?) modelling his big ampersand (set in Clarendon Bold for you typophiles!).

Box fresh

2009-10-30T11:50:00.008Z

Frank will be donning the best bib and tucker next week in order to attend the UK Packaging Awards. The gift boxes we designed for The Scotch Malt Whisky Society are up for an award in the Cartonboard Packaging category! Watch our for further updates from the red carpet after the 4th.

UPTOWN TOP RANKIN

2009-09-17T16:59:00.001+01:00

Tuesday night saw a joint Frank / Pilot outing to the vast Rankin Live show now in its last few days at the Truman Brewery. Apart from a slightly leaky roof, it was a truly impressive display, beginning with Rankin's college output, then through the iconic years at Dazed & Confused, and then ending right up to date with his recent work for Oxfam in the Congo, and of course the Rankin Live shoot itself. This is where he has committed to photographing 1000 'normal' punters - each of whom have paid £50 for the privilege (some of the money goes to Oxfam, after expenses of course!). While we were there, a few of his assistants were busy reviewing a recent shoot, and we stood and watched as giant projections of the very smiley subjects were evaluated by Rankin's minions next door.

Typographer's corner

2009-09-11T15:58:00.003+01:00

Frank towers had a most welcome surprise visit yesterday from old friend and collaborator Robert 'Bob' Stradling. Bob is an old-school typographer and hand-lettering wizard who is now kept busy creating entire fonts for a selection of worldwide clients. He'd just hot-footed it from Landor where he'd been imparting valuable typographic wisdom to Sophie Neilan and her team.

Sketch of the week

2009-09-08T14:09:00.000+01:00

Andy - Hugh Town

Nige - Casio watch

Sketch of the week

2009-09-08T14:08:00.000+01:00

Nige - iPhone

Andy - CHIP FORKS

Sketch of the week

2009-08-04T17:45:00.000+01:00

Andy - Yashica

Nigel - Furniture

Rick - Leibovitz faces court claim

GOLF ON THE ROCKS

2009-07-31T14:40:00.000+01:00

Director and long time friend of Frank Dom Bridges has conjured up another intriguing short film in between paying gigs. He's always had a fairly unhealthy obsession with Neil Diamond and has now finally found an outlet for it. Watch the film here.

Sketch of the week

2009-07-27T11:43:00.000+01:00

Andy - Tin Toy

Nigel - Crouch, Strafe, Jump, Fire

Rick - D28

SLIDESHOW TITLES (pre-Powerpoint)

2009-07-24T14:35:00.000+01:00

No.1 in an occasional series of Frank's Ephemeral Findings
I came across these rather charming title slides whilst rummaging through Bill Pepper's now-defunct attic darkroom recently. The two children smoking on the 'growing up' slide are particularly delightful. Who still remembers the family slideshow...the darkened room, the hilarity of a slide inserted upside down, the satisfying clatter of the carousel? Apparently it's all done digitally these days often with added Ken Burns effect, whoever he may be.