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Championing creativity

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Work / Graphic Design

Paris-based Adrien Menard’s portfolio experiments with letterforms and composition

Words by Rebecca Fulleylove, Thursday 03 September 2015

The eclectic array of work in French graphic designer Adrien Menard’s portfolio is a sight to behold. Beautifully set typography sits imposingly on slabs of grey and copper clay, a cleverly shattered poster advertises a short film and an exhibition identity plays with the representation of music. It’s clear Adrien’s passion is in letterforms as many of his projects seem to use a custom type or are thoughtfully composed around it. This attention to detail manifests itself throughout his projects and it’s this finish that elevates the Paris-based designer’s work.

Adrien_menard_itsnicethat_6 — Adrien Menard: Orium

Adrien_menard_itsnicethat_7 — Adrien Menard: Orium

Adrien_menard_itsnicethat_4 — Adrien Menard: Plan M

Adrien_menard_itsnicethat_3 — Adrien Menard: Plan M

Adrien_menard_itsnicethat_1 — Adrien Menard: Keller

Adrien_menard_itsnicethat_8 — Adrien Menard: Des armoiries aux logotypes

www.adrienmenard.fr

Words by Rebecca Fulleylove, Thursday 03 September 2015

Most Recent

Jack Latham uses photography to explore stories untold 24 April 2018
Designer Jay Vaz combines his love of music and analogue art in a colourful and textural portfolio 24 April 2018
Joey Yu and Wilson Oryema create a paperless zine for Earth Day 24 April 2018
Lukas Wassmann turns his lens on the well-groomed animals of the Swiss Alps 24 April 2018
Graphic designer Virgile Flores on custom typefaces and visualising statistics 24 April 2018
Sam Taylor's World Cup gifs portray “the agony and the ecstasy” of the game 24 April 2018

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Work / Graphic Design Designer Jay Vaz combines his love of music and analogue art in a colourful and textural portfolio

For 20-year-old Londoner Jay Vaz, music and design have always been inexplicably linked. His early years, exposed to “amazing jazz and soul music” has influenced and informed his career which sees him producing music and DJing as well as creating visual matter for gigs, nights and festivals. Jay’s portfolio is packed full of exciting and vibrant work, made all the more impressive when you consider how young he is.

Ruby Boddington — 24 April 2018
Work / Graphic Design Graphic designer Virgile Flores on custom typefaces and visualising statistics

Paris-based graphic designer Virgile Flores is a typeface specialist. Two of his latest text-heavy projects, the immaculate Twelve Angry Men publication and the sleek Pirelli typeface, are just the tip of his font fascination. Design, however, wasn’t always on the cards for Virgile who completed his undergraduate degree in sports studies. After realising that athletics weren’t for him, Virgile took a year out of education to reconsider his choices only to return to university to study graphic design. “I started focusing on type design last year. I felt that I needed to be better equipped at choosing typefaces for my projects. I also wanted to create my own letters and customise existing ones for logotypes. There is a real synergy between graphic and type design. It is also very satisfying to use text that has been drawn by yourself,” Virgile tells It’s Nice That.  

Daphne Milner — 24 April 2018
Work / Graphic Design Designer Anatole Couteau's technical approach lets him communicate simply and precisely

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Ruby Boddington — 20 April 2018
Work / Graphic Design Baptiste Bernazeau draws on a degenerating building complex for his latest typeface

Orgues de Flandre is a group of residential buildings in Paris’ 19th arrondissement built in the 1970s by architect Martin van Treeck, which sharply contrast the romantic, uniform architecture we usually associate with the capital. The building complex may not be conventionally poetic, but it is nonetheless the unlikely inspiration for graphic designer Baptiste Bernazeau’s latest typeface Ogres.

Daphne Milner — 19 April 2018
Work / Graphic Design GT Super: the typeface inspired by the lowercase "a" in a newspaper clipping

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Ruby Boddington — 18 April 2018
Features / Publication Design to improve the general quality of life: exploring Paul Rand's IBM Graphic Standards Manual

In a televised interview with Paul Rand in 1991 the designer was asked, “What does the world need with graphic design, what does it do for us? To the average person it may seem a kind of… fussy little concern with moving words around, pictures around, what good does it do us?” Paul responds that he’s been thinking about this for many years: “Up to rather recently, I sort of concluded that we were not very important. Or you can put it another way – there used to be a guy in my agency days, he would say, ‘how is it possible to make so much and do so little?’”

Lucy Bourton — 18 April 2018

Work / Photography Jack Latham uses photography to explore stories untold

“I’ve always used photography as an excuse to explore things I wouldn’t normally,” documentary photographer Jack Latham tells It’s Nice That. “To date, I’ve made work exploring the remnants of the Oregon Trail, tracking down my childhood pen pal in Sierra Leone, and investigating an alleged double homicide in Iceland, in which 6 innocent people were convinced they were the ones that committed the act. The stories I’ve heard are all incredible in their own way.”

Laura Isabella — 24 April 2018
Work / Graphic Design Designer Jay Vaz combines his love of music and analogue art in a colourful and textural portfolio

For 20-year-old Londoner Jay Vaz, music and design have always been inexplicably linked. His early years, exposed to “amazing jazz and soul music” has influenced and informed his career which sees him producing music and DJing as well as creating visual matter for gigs, nights and festivals. Jay’s portfolio is packed full of exciting and vibrant work, made all the more impressive when you consider how young he is.

Ruby Boddington — 24 April 2018
Work / Publication Joey Yu and Wilson Oryema create a paperless zine for Earth Day

When one of It’s Nice That’s illustrator-loves Joey Yu posted about a “paperless” zine she had worked on with poet and model Wilson Oryema for Earth Day it’s fair to say we were more than a little intrigued. Joey – who has rapidly made waves in the creative-sphere as an illustrator, animator and curator through projects with the likes of Nike and pieces featured in independent publications such as Hard Ears – has been on our radar for a while now and as It’s Nice That love to actively celebrate pro-environmental causes and innovative work, a zine both paperless and with the aim of being a “gentle reminder to be gentle to our home” had us sold.

Laura Isabella — 24 April 2018
Work / Photography Lukas Wassmann turns his lens on the well-groomed animals of the Swiss Alps

The majority of upscale fashion campaigns feature the same supermodels again and again – or rather, feature Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid again and again. However, Berlin-based photographer Lukas Wassmann’s shoots do not. In Lukas’ latest series for Garage Magazine, he turns his lens on the well-groomed goats, pigs and chickens of the Swiss Alps, all of which are accessorised in the most expensive jewellery money can buy.

Daphne Milner — 24 April 2018
Work / Graphic Design Graphic designer Virgile Flores on custom typefaces and visualising statistics

Paris-based graphic designer Virgile Flores is a typeface specialist. Two of his latest text-heavy projects, the immaculate Twelve Angry Men publication and the sleek Pirelli typeface, are just the tip of his font fascination. Design, however, wasn’t always on the cards for Virgile who completed his undergraduate degree in sports studies. After realising that athletics weren’t for him, Virgile took a year out of education to reconsider his choices only to return to university to study graphic design. “I started focusing on type design last year. I felt that I needed to be better equipped at choosing typefaces for my projects. I also wanted to create my own letters and customise existing ones for logotypes. There is a real synergy between graphic and type design. It is also very satisfying to use text that has been drawn by yourself,” Virgile tells It’s Nice That.  

Daphne Milner — 24 April 2018
Work / Illustration Sam Taylor's World Cup gifs portray “the agony and the ecstasy” of the game

Illustrator Sam Taylor has created a collection of football fanatic gifs for Giphy ahead of the 2018 World Cup. Pitching the idea to Giphy himself after working with them previously, the opportunity developed when the illustrator noticed that “there weren’t really that many good football gifs in their database to put in my Instagram stories,” he tells It’s Nice That. “So I wanted to create a set a remedy this.” A green light from Giphy soon followed and now his set is available to use!

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Work / Publication Schick Toikka's beautifully designed (and printed) collaborative celebration of its fifth birthday

What better way could there be to celebrate the fifth anniversary of your the foundry than to release a beautifully designed (and printed) collaborative look back at the work you’ve created so far? In Merged Contours this is exactly what type design duo, Florian Schick and Lauri Toikka have done, with the help of nine of their favourite designers, illustrators and artists.

Ruby Boddington — 24 April 2018
Work / Publication In celebration of his new book 2017, Bráulio Amado picks out the work he loves from last year

“I first met Bráulio as an international exchange student in my class at the School of Visual Arts, in New York City, which I taught with John Fulbrook,” reads Pentagram’s Luke Hayman’s introduction at the start of Bráulio’s Amado’s latest book, 2017. “Bráulio was possibly one of the most enthusiastic students we taught during my seven years at the school. Certain students come with a commitment and eagerness that makes teaching worthwhile and benefits the whole class. He did well.”

Lucy Bourton — 23 April 2018
Work / Opinion Environmental Activism: Why We Need To Shake Up the Visual

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Claire Matthews — 23 April 2018
Media Partnership / Illustration Charlotte Dumortier on her identity for this year's ELCAF and what she's looking forward to most

From 22 — 24 June a global range of illustrators and comic artists will descend on London, filling The Round Chapel and The School Rooms in Hackney for the annual East London Comics and Arts Festival. 2018 marks the seventh edition of ELCAF, a weekend packed with a programme of talks, workshops, masterclasses, screenings, installations and exhibitions, as well as some of the world’s most exciting illustration focused artists selling their goods too. Tickets are now available in advance of the weekend in June and more information is available here.

Lucy Bourton — 23 April 2018
Work / Digital Google Fonts Korean becomes interactive by manipulating path data

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Ruby Boddington — 23 April 2018
Work / Photography Photography series Metamorphosis reimagines iconic female characters as 21st-century women

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Daphne Milner — 23 April 2018

Work / Publication National Geographic’s creative director Emmet Smith on the publication’s redesign

A long-established and highly respected staple of the newsstands, National Geographic, has been redesigned for its May issue. Released on 24 April, the rethink of the magazine and “the most significant overhaul of content and design since 2000,” builds upon the magazine’s successes, creating even more exploratory visual storytelling. Debuting new paper stock, design, updated sections and specially created typefaces, the redesign is revealed at a time when the publication has a particularly strong reputation and readership.

Lucy Bourton — 20 April 2018
Work / Photograhy Leon Mark’s refined and infinitely stylish photography

Leon Mark’s photographs are refined, graceful and infinitely stylish. The London-based photographer has worked with the likes Vogue Italia and Chanel, cementing his name across the fashion industry. This is partly due to Leon’s ability to capture the distinct personalities of his sitters, extracting their idiosyncrasies with his lens. “I got into photography by studying film and cinema. I’ve always been interested in fashion and art so I started to focus more on the mise en scène of cinema which pushed me towards photography. That, in turn, let me to fashion photography,” Leon tells It’s Nice That. Working mainly across Europe and the US, Leon shoots both film and digital, and is currently working on short fashion films.

Daphne Milner — 20 April 2018
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Sophie Harris-Taylor shares anecdotes and insights from her photo series, Sisters

In her portraiture, photographer Sophie Harris-Taylor has a knack for capturing personality and dynamics in a beautifully natural way. This is exemplified in her series Sisters, which saw her shooting 80 pairs and groups of sisters over two years, and in turn depicting their unique and intimate relationships.

It's Nice That — 20 April 2018
Work / Graphic Design Designer Anatole Couteau's technical approach lets him communicate simply and precisely

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Ruby Boddington — 20 April 2018
Work / Illustration A peek inside Hicham Amrani's trippy new comic Svend & Xanax

“I have been drawing since I was little. I wasn’t very attentive in class – like most creatives I know – so I would spend the time drawing in my notebooks instead. My parents ended up enrolling me in drawing classes to calm me down,” Strasbourg-based illustrator Hicham Amrani tells It’s Nice That. This instinctive creative energy Hicham describes clearly manifests itself in his busy, dynamic drawings. His latest project Svend & Xanax tells the humorous tale of Svend, the protagonist, who takes a strong Xanax only to be transported to a surreal, at times disorientating, world. Hicham even compares Svend to “the Joker in Batman” saying, “the more I drew, the darker the story became.”

Daphne Milner — 20 April 2018
Regulars / Friday Mixtape Friday Mixtape: The Orielles mix for "good times with good people"

Arguably releasing one of the most joyful records of 2018 so far, The Orielles are this week’s Friday Mixtape! Halifax-based trio Sid, Esme and Henry have made use of a mix of songs perfect for if you need a pick me up and ideal as the days are getting warmer.

Lucy Bourton — 20 April 2018

Work / Film Rod puppets in intricate felt sets profess The Need to Be Alone for Alain de Botton

Not long out of Kingston’s Illustration and Animation course, Tom Fisher and Catherine Prowse have directed a charming and impressively detailed short film for The School of Life, made entirely from hand-stitched felt. Featuring a cast of rod puppets shot in a live action format, The Need to Be Alone stars a red-spectacled, introverted protagonist called Alan – a tribute to its writer and narrator Alain de Botton. Throughout the film, Alan navigates a series of potentially awkward social scenarios as Alain professes the importance of having time alone to process these interactions.

Jenny Brewer — 20 April 2018
Work / Animation The Art of Shinkansen animated gif series celebrates the Japanese bullet train

The Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) has launched a series of 15 short gif animations by various Japanese and international artists to celebrate the bullet train or Shinkansen. The Art of Shinkansen project heralds the iconic trains’ perpetual movement, innovative technology and impeccable service, specifically the original line joining Tokyo and Osaka, in an eclectic range of animated artworks spanning illustration styles and subject matter.

Jenny Brewer — 20 April 2018
Work / Illustration Furniture obsessions and oranges with acid rainbows: new personal work from Julian Glander

Julian Glander is no stranger to It’s Nice That. We’ve written about his gifs, his 360-degree videos, and even his favourite books. Despite all this great stuff, we’re still managing to find new bits and bobs to bang on about.

Ruby Boddington — 20 April 2018
Work / Photography Jocelyn Lee's first UK solo exhibition surveys The Appearance of Things (NSFW)

Jocelyn Lee has a very certain way of looking at people. Her work is often driven by themes of “sexuality, family, death and ageing,” and in turn, there is an eeriness to her photographs that viewers just can’t help looking at.

Lucy Bourton — 19 April 2018
Work / Photography Okobo is photographer William Ukoh's mesmerising tribute to his grandparents

William Ukoh, also known as Willyverse, is a Toronto-based photographer whose style spans genres. From still lifes to fashion shoots, categorising William as a specific type of photographer would be reductive. Instead, he uses his skills as a means of self-exploration and communication. “My sincere interest in photography developed about nine years ago. I was introduced to the DSLR, decided to acquire one for myself, and began exploring all the possibilities it allowed for self-expression,” the photographer tells It’s Nice That. William is undeniably a visual thinker, his photographs seeped in mesmerising colours and satisfying textures. His series Okobo is no different and sees William look back to his Nigerian grandparents and their culture as a source of inspiration.

Daphne Milner — 19 April 2018
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Alex Norris tells the story of his "Oh No" comics and its “badly drawn blob” star

If you’ve not seen Alex Norris’ hilariously relatable panel comics then where have you been? Readers of It’s Nice That will recognise the “badly drawn blob” character of his series Webcomic Name for his punchline “oh no”, and the inevitably disappointing situations it gets itself into. At Nicer Tuesdays, Alex took us back to the beginning of his comic work, and the ideas and inspirations that led him to where he is now.

It's Nice That — 19 April 2018

Work / Photography Seung-Gu Kim creates Lowry-style photographs of South Korean holidays

In the past 40 years, South Korea has experienced rapid changes in both its society and culture. Since the beginning of the 1980s, there has been a significant shift towards high-tech and computer industries, impacting how the nation’s people work, where they live but also how they spend their free time. For South Korean photographer, Seung-Gu Kim, these changes have provided him with a subject to focus his lens on.

Ruby Boddington — 19 April 2018
Work / Graphic Design Baptiste Bernazeau draws on a degenerating building complex for his latest typeface

Orgues de Flandre is a group of residential buildings in Paris’ 19th arrondissement built in the 1970s by architect Martin van Treeck, which sharply contrast the romantic, uniform architecture we usually associate with the capital. The building complex may not be conventionally poetic, but it is nonetheless the unlikely inspiration for graphic designer Baptiste Bernazeau’s latest typeface Ogres.

Daphne Milner — 19 April 2018
Work / Photography Fish by Osma Harvilahti is a romantic interpretation of the Japanese fishing industry

Finnish photographer, Osma Harvilahti has a knack for encapsulating the aura of a place within his photographs. Having previously documented Morocco and Kenya, it’s Japan that caught his eye in his most recent series, Fish.

Ruby Boddington — 19 April 2018
Work / Publication DR.ME release the latest issue of Fin? filled with killed projects and ideas that never made it

We can only imagine the downtrodden feeling that comes with losing a pitch or some of your favourite work being cut out of a brief by a client. Feeling excited about a concept and seeing it shift is just a part of creative working, and more often than not it works out for the best. But to tackle this feeling DR.ME, the Manchester-based creative studio who consistently create projects with heart, take hold of the pieces and ideas they’re fond and publish them in their own zine, Fin?

Lucy Bourton — 19 April 2018
Work / Publication “Collaborate or die”: Adrian Shaughnessy and Astrid Stavro’s RCA MA students launch a new publication

“Collaborate or die” command graphic designers Adrian Shaughnessy and Astrid Stavro. In recent months, the pair have been busy teaching a group of Royal College of Art students of MA Visual Communication and Digital Direction to “think big in order to find alternative solutions to social issues”. The result? A new publication titled Podium, which launched at the RCA this week.

Bryony Stone — 18 April 2018
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Veronica Ditting on The Gentlewoman and her editorially driven design process

Creative director Veronica Ditting is best known for her landmark work in the publishing industry, including the design of The Gentlewoman, and her art direction of Fantastic Man and Cos Magazine. At Nicer Tuesdays she spoke about her London-based studio, which is surprisingly compact for its impressive output, at just six people.

It's Nice That — 18 April 2018

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