“We try to look within”: Collins discusses its design ethos at Nicer Tuesdays Online

At August’s Nicer Tuesdays, we were treated to an up-close-and-personal tour around the creative universe of Collins. The award-winning branding agency was recently named agency of the year by D&AD. So we thought it was time to dive deep into its design process and discover how it crafts that unique tone of voice for each of its distinguished clients. In the extensive Q&A, we heard from creative directors George Lavender, Nick Ace and senior designer Sanuk Kim. Together, they took us through three of Collins’ recent projects – Sweetgreen, Medium and Crane – which saw it update the brands for today’s modern needs.

Reflecting on Collins’ creative philosophy which underpins all its output, the three designers shed light on how Collins considers real-life consequences when designing. In turn, introducing new perspectives and pushing a visual language that can prompt new waves of thought when a user interacts with a brand. As the talk unfolded, the Collins team discussed how the relationship between agency and client works, before closing in on the details of the three aforementioned projects. While Crane “was a dream project for us as designers,” in the words of Nick, Sweetgreen was a breath of fresh air, and Medium challenged the designers in an almighty brand overhaul of the online publishing platform. With plenty more details shared, digging into some of the biggest rebrands of 2020, find out more about Collins’ work by watching Geroge, Nick and Sanuk’s Nicer Tuesdays Online August talk.