The Edit: five new projects including ExpressVPN by DesignStudio

Each and every day, we're lucky to discover dozens of interesting and inspiring projects from around the world. From global identities and campaigns to side projects and independently published books, The Edit is home to five of them; every two weeks. Founded in 2009, ExpressVPN is an award-winning provider of VPN services with active users in over 180 countries. Aiming to become more accessible and personable with their brand in a sector primarily filled with negative, fear-inducing language, ExpressVPN turned to the Sydney team of branding and digital agency DesignStudio. The resulting visual language is energetic, friendly and innately positive; with an overarching vision centred around ‘Shift Control’ – a strategic mantra developed by DesignStudio to capture Express VPN’s belief in empowering users to take back control of their online experience. Taking inspiration from the way we interact with our digital devices in translating their strategy into visuals, DesignStudio built a system of six key gestures – swipe, drag, pinch, push, rotate and shake – each of which is expressed through a series of vibrant geometric gradients. They pair seamlessly with illustrations from the hand of Ping Zhu, adding an additional human layer to DesignStudio’s already characterful work. “We fell in love with Ping’s work as soon as we saw it,” DesignStudio’s James Gilmore tells us, explaining that it helped to “bring to life tricky abstract subjects in a way which has personality and friendliness.” A joint venture between Barnet Council and Argent Related, Brent Cross Town is a new park town located on the outskirts of north-west London with 50 acres of parks and playing fields, state-of-the-art sports and leisure facilities, 6,700 homes and a major office development. Hoping to shift the existing perceptions of the area in which the development is located, Barnet Council and Argent Related commissioned London-based brand consultancy DNCO to create Brent Cross Town’s positioning, strategy, name, brand narrative, editorial strategy and visual language. Previously known as Brent Cross South, DNCO swapped in ‘Town’ to capture the area’s scale and forward-thinking plans to be a hub for sport, play, health and wellbeing; as well as establish a stronger sense of place.