My paper products will be at Au Courant. Hope to see you there!

Hi folks! Hope to see you there.

My last name is supposed to be Chinese, that’s what I was told. Aside from my Mom playing Mahjong, we didn’t really grow up practicing any of the Chinese traditions. I am, however, inlove with their culture. The food, the history and Jackie Chan (not the best actor but just the most likeable guy).

This may be cheesy but my first memory of getting to know the Chinese culture was when I watched The Joy Luck Club in 1993. I was 13 then.

I was annoyed by Auntie Lindo but when I got older I realized that that story needed her. I was so affected by the couple who divided all their bills. How could he? Or how that mother drowned her own baby. Oh the drama!

Then of course there’s the real country which I visited a few years ago with my family. In this picture I am with my cousins Camille and Monica in Shanghai. I had some tourist shots of course but I was wearing a pair of white sunglasses that were just horrible. What was I thinking? Let’s not post that and stick to my Eminem look.

I was thinking of doing something dark and very In The Mood For Love but then I felt an intense red would be cliché. I wanted to tone it down but keep the metals.

First on the list is the Chinese Dragon of course. I didn’t want to streamline it, I wanted to keep all of the details, like a tattoo. See Franka Potente’s below.

There is an insane amount of detail involved in this and my printer probably hated me for it because they had the cliche (the metal plate used to emboss the paper) made from a far away place. I don’t know how far away exactly, but it took a while to arrive.

Pattern time. My favorite part. Do you know how they always have those swirly clouds behind the dragon in their pottery and paintings? I love that but it’s just a little too swirly for me. I just had to enclose it in something geometric. Let’s put some method into that mayhem.

I love this ironwork pattern in one of my favorite designers’ Massimo Vignelli’s office.

So, let me just put those together in the non-intense red that I wanted.

I knew from the start that I wanted the dragon just peeking into the paper like a mischievous yet chic version of Mushu.

Because I wanted this to be a more delicate set, I had it printed on bone-colored paper.

Finished product. Yang.

 

Second are the foo dogs. They really aren’t dogs, they’re lions and I don’t know how they evolved to being called dogs. If Snoop Dogg (now Snoop Lion) had a logo, it should be inspired by this. Then again, his transformation to being a Lion is because of the rasta culture so let’s scrap that idea.

They always come in this shade of blue, especially the young looking ones. They’re placed right in front of the main door to act as guardians. Female to the left and male to the right if you are facing the façade. The female is holding her cub (no she is not crushing its skull) and the male is holding the world in his paws.

The pattern is inspired by the latticework in Chinese interior design. Foo dogs = exterior. Lattice work = interior. I can’t say I didn’t plan that.

Detail shot.

Finished product.

The last design is this very visually distinct Chinese junk boat. It’s so symbolic of China because of its sails. I wonder if the design is inspired by the wings of the dragon.

I used copper as a metal because the Chinese junk doesn’t seem like a luxury symbol to me so it would look odd in gold or silver. I identify copper with function like how they are used for pots or electric wires.

I always see this striped concave pattern to represent water but I really don’t want to see that anymore so let me just inverse that. Here it is in a pale jade color.

Detail shot.

Here they are in action. Thank you notes for Vince Uy and Pauline Juan for the collaboration with Preview magazine and a birthday greeting for Daphne Oseña Paez.

The correspondence card is a very small medium and I wanted a lot of detail to go into this because it is experienced up close. It’s not a billboard or a building sign trying to sell you something. Its function is to be filled with brief, direct and personal details. A person’s handwriting, a message of gratitude or a birthday greeting.

I want to thank everyone who bought, blogged, Tweeted and Instagrammed about Angolphila. I appreciate it! I found that paper fans in this big city visit these stores: National Book Store Rockwell, National Book Store Shangri-La and PowerBooks Greenbelt 3. I have decided to focus on where the paper lovers are so you will find Dynasty only in these branches.

I have also opened an online shop because I’ve been getting messages from design enthusiasts from the provinces and abroad. I hear you folks! My store ships anywhere in the Philippines and, thanks to my freight partner UPS, all over the world!

shop.isabelgatuslao.com

 

 

My interior designer friend Nina Santamaria was working on a new store that was opening at the Fort. A more designy sports store that was going to look like a boutique. Great idea! She recommended my work to Gutsy Tuason of Squires Bingham International, the mother company of Armscor (yes the arms manufacturing company). She thought their old logo needed an update to complement their new sleek sports store. Thanks for the reco Nina!

This was the old logo.

 

 

Contrary to what you may think, I’m not a big fan of changing old things. I never thought the American Airlines logo needed changing. The Goldilocks logo either. I miss her face and her golden locks! I hope Philippine Airlines doesn’t change theirs. It’s perfect as it is. This time for Squires Bingham though, I vote yes! Not that my vote mattered. I was excited to do this logo because it was my first time to change something that’s over 100 years old. Oh the pressure.

The company was started by Englishmen who moved to the Philippines in 1905, the Edwardian Era. Downton Abbey fans, this was during season 1. It doesn’t get any more English than Squires Bingham. A squire is a knight in training and Bingham is a classic English last name.

Gutsy wanted something new, modern, contemporary! Roger that.

I always start with research. I read books on English heraldry just so I could let the brand simmer in my head. I have a sister who lives in London and she gave me this disc with 50 books on it. We fancy that. Thank you dear sister.

After way too much reading, I decided I wanted the knight on top of the shield to face front because that would be easier to apply. I can get a little crazy about symmetry sometimes. I also wanted to eliminate the shield completely. If Gutsy wants modern, we’ll give him modern. Besides, dropping the shield is alright because in their original logo, it just had the initials S & B in old English calligraphy and some stripes. Technically, shields shouldn’t even have text on them unless they are on the ribbon which is where the “war cry” should go. Let me shake off my heraldic jargon because I’m sounding like a know-it-all (not cool). Anyway, here are my sketches.

This is the knight helmet I came up with. Gave it a bit of a jaw line á la Heath Ledger circa A Knight’s Tale.

Well hello there handsome…

Just got this photo off a stock image site (sorry stranger). Wanted to see if the logo would look good on a wetsuit.

I kept the blue and added gold because I wanted it to pick it up a notch. I cannot imagine any sports store using gold. You know how they say that real men can wear pink? Well I’d like to say that real brands can be completely comfortable with gold.

I changed the typeface to this to make it feel that we kept its heritage at the same time make it easy to apply. Look at the tail on that Q. Hands down, the hottest Q ever.

You don’t always have to emphasise the initials of the brand, other letters have feelings too. In this logotype’s case, Q is the star! Enjoy the limelight, buddy.

When Gutsy emailed this to his dad who was coincidentally in London at that time, he didn’t like it.

*Falls off chair and cries like a baby*

He wanted the spears in there, a ribbon and the year the company was established. Ok, that’s not too bad. Shouldn’t be too hard to add but will it register well? There’s only one way to find out…

Now that WORKS! Everyone approved.

Well hello again handsome…

I’ll stop it, sorry. Life and its distractions.

Planning where to put the signage. Nina hard at work with paypay in hand.

Final interior signage at the reception area.

Detail shot.

Exterior signage.

Applied it on their stationery and packaging. I love that tissue paper with the sticker seal. Thanks Terry Uy for taking this photo.

On their paper bags. Even on a low ball for some whiskey time.

Forms are just as important.

I bought my Babolat tennis racquet here, it’s never too late to be the next Rafa Nadal. Clearly, I’m not in touch with reality but there is nothing to lose if one picks up a new sport, only the extra weight. A win-win situation. I keep my Isabel Nadal delusion and lose those extra pounds all at the same time.

If you are one of those firing range types or if you are into diving, underwater photography, golf, tennis, Neptunic shirts, Lifeproof iPhone cases, Luminox watches, pepper spray (ladies, you need this), etcetera… do visit the store! Here’s the info:

Unit G Ground Floor
The Sapphire Residences
2nd Avenue corner 31st Street
Crescent Park, West Bonifacio Global City
Taguig 1634
Phone +632 856 3322

Thank you Gutsy and Nina for making me a part of this project. Had a blast working on it!

I was in Tokyo when Vince Uy iMessaged me about collaborating with Preview magazine and the possibility of suggesting some typefaces for its redesign. I remember being extremely pleased about that text that I had about ten plates of sushi from one of those those conveyor belt restaurants soon after. I’m a bit of an emotional eater. It doesn’t matter if it’s a good emotion or a bad emotion, if it’s an emotion, I’m eating. And boy did I eat a lot after such good news. Vince also mentioned that he’s never collaborated with another graphic designer before for a Preview redesign and that I would be the first. Oh let’s translate that amount of happiness into more sushi, shall we?

I grew up reading Preview and when I was invited to be on their Creative It List in 2006, that pretty much made my 2006.

When I met with Vince and Eugene, they told me they wanted something different. Oh I know what they meant. Don’t you see a lot of this in fashion magazines?

Don’t get me wrong, I love this typeface but it’s just been used so many times, it can feel a little generic to the industry.

I wanted to put together a set of typefaces that reflected the culture of Preview. It’s very on trend, very eye candy and it’s the kind of magazine that’s closely connected to their readers. The street was my main inspiration. Graffiti, street art, directional signs. Visual cues that were informative and reflective of society.

I started by suggesting a typeface that’s inspired by stencil graffiti.

Yes Banksy – an artist whose work reflects our time. I suggested a stencil typeface for their section headers. Not a safe choice and this one is not easy to find unless you are a typomaniac like me (Let’s be friends?).

That’s the bold version. They also have a stunning book version. Look at those numeros!

And the sexiest italics. *Faints*

Did you see that upper case Q? Or the lower case z? As Rebel Wilson would say, beautimous!

For captions I suggested this typeface. It is the official street sign typeface of a lot of countries.

We use this in the Philippines too but Manila sees a lot more Helvetica of course. Sometimes they stretch Helvetica. I could really tear out those signs and throw them in the trash but then people might get into accidents and lives will be lost. It takes a lot of energy for me to tolerate this but it has taught me the art of supreme acceptance. Thanks MMDA Chairman for making me a stronger person.

Anyway, here it goes. Legibility at its finest. This font looks amazing at 8 points.

Vince also asked me to do something different for Preview. Something for their editorials so I decided to stylize the beautimous italic version of the display typeface I chose for them with lace. Lace because it transforms and it adapts to both high and low fashion. Lace? What did I get myself into? It’s like sewing on paper and Adobe Illustrator and I failed sewing class! But it is the brave choice and I’m so glad the Preview team agreed to it. I can only show you sketches of what’s already been shown on the magazine but I promise you all 26 of them are different from each other.

Here’s my sketch for the letter B.

I did not use a brush tool. Pen tool all the way even on the tiniest edges. And notice how the lace detail on the letter B’s bowl isn’t even.

Final letter B.

A McQueen-inspired F.

Vectorized.

This is a little more Dior.

Also went crazy on some of the details here.

My favorite in this issue: the W.

After hours and hours of work, I sent these files to Eugene and off they went with it. I’ve only seen it on the iPad because the issue just came out last night and I am so extremely happy about how they used all the fonts! Here are a few clips.

Oh Preview… I just love this magazine. Pauline Juan also mentioned me on her editor’s note. I am so kilig. Thank you!!!

Now off to check National Bookstore for the real thing. Please get a copy of the March issue. This is the beautiful cover styled by the Preview team.

Thank you Vince, Pauline, Eugene, Lyca and everyone at Preview!!! So ecstatic about this.