Cuba Gallery Graphic Design & Architecture Blog

You have to admire brands that connect pure graphic design with naming and ultimately business outcomes. It's really the pinnacle of commercial design, without a clear business outcome, it's really just a pretty picture. I love the minimal approach in this concept. So simple but seems to harness some sort of visual energy through the font and diagonal line.

This stunning piece of graphic design was created for the Finnish association for visual communications designers. This concept by Kuudes references boxing iconography and was designed for Finland’s most significant annual creative design competition. The high impact editorial layout direction has been easily adapted across channels, including printed materials, online content and event materials. 

Architect Vincent Van Duysen has completely transformed this 19th-century farmhouse into a modern day architectural masterpiece, ”I wanted to reinterpret the classic Flemish country house.” says Van Duysen.

This cool green canvas beach bag really hits the mark with it's minimal design approach. This one comes in three colours – green, red and yellow and is available here at fashion store Toast

For years the world of fine art has been a source of inspiration for both fashion and graphic designers. The uninhibited and expressive nature of this work can provide a unique ignition point for many creative explorations and ideas.

This range of printable graph papers are the perfect addition to your DIY design kit. The grid paper selection features 3 different grid sizes, plus a bonus dot grid template. The sheets are ideal for sketching plans or creating your own DIY designs.

The latest Abukoo calendar designs have arrived for 2018. These DIY calendars are the easiest way by far to track the year in total style. The best thing is they are completely free.

Visit the Abukoo Website to get the Printable Calendar Download

If you are looking to get started with Adobe Lightroom (LR4, LR5 or Lightroom cc), then this video tutorial is a great place to begin. It focuses on how to use Lightroom in a creative, non destructive way. There is an in-depth tutorial on how to use the develop module, covering exposure techniques, gradient filters, color grading and image sharpening.

If you or your kids love puzzles then you'll really like this free printable Sudoku download. It's beautifully designed and the perfect way to satisfy your puzzle cravings. The Abukoo store is now offering the worlds most popular puzzle game in a beautifully designed typographic format. It's been created in black and white for easy home and work printing. There are 4 puzzles per page, with answer sheets at the end (easy medium and hard).

Here are a few of my favourite book cover designs. It's always fun seeing how my imagery will translate into a finished piece. Some of themes unlikely images can suddenly come to life when they are surrounded by some well considered graphic design and typography.

This beautiful design was created by Hannah Stout for the folks behind Odettes (another eatery that Hannah Stout worked on), Hugo’s is a cozy but sumptuous space with a interior fit-out all about tactility and understated luxury. The design challenge here was to mark out a clear identity for Hugo’s, while still maintaining a subtle connection to its “big sister” restaurant.

I have been collecting graphic letters and numbers for a while and thought it was worth putting together a post with a few of my favourites. I'll be trying to add images to this post as I stumble across new reference material.

I have been a huge fan of simple, well constructed, minimalist photography for a long time. As a graphic designer I lean towards this style because it connects well with other design elements. It creates the opportunity where typography and imagery to fuse nicely together, rather than fighting. I wanted to share a few key things I've learnt about how to get started shooting minimal landscape photography.

This beautifully crafted visual identity and packaging concept by Amanda Mohlin redefines how a luxury product should look. It has colour, personality and style - but always delivers on an inspiring sense of understated class. The conceptual graphic approach for Luc & Louna showcases a selection of different flavoured chocolate, each with a minimal design and always leaving the chocolate as the hero.

This simple design layout for Chandra is a great example of classic styling and typography.

Stone’s Throw is an iconic bar and restaurant that recently under went a full renovation to bring it back to life in the form of a modern watering hole. The design strikes an incredible balance between quirky Illustration, simple texture and sophisticated colour combinations. 

This new identity for Watson Vegan Truck captures a unique style for the edgy vegan food market. It takes on a slightly retro premium feel, with incredible use of typography and colour. The graphic simplicity of the word mark and monogram feel effortlessly cool. The translation of the design through to vehicle signage and menus is a stroke of genius, I'd definitely stop to sample a burger if I saw this design - and I'm not even Vegan!

A beautiful example of what you can still do with the printed projects. The design of this special edition brochure celebrates the store opening by exploring some of the city’s inspiring places. It was given away on opening night - nice work guys looks great.

These incredible minimalist window frame designs by Keller  open up a whole variety of architectural features for designers. The frame profile is reduced to allow seamless integration into floor, ceiling and walls. It means the glass can take up to 98% of the area giving incredible light flow and near perfect finish. It also seems to substantially reduce the border between glass doors and helps minimise overly heavy appearance of vertical mullions. The office pod design was produced by Podspace

The East Cut is a brand new neighborhood in downtown San Francisco. It's designed to unify these disparate areas into one vibrant modern community.

I have recently helped produce this really cool new Adobe Indesign photo calendar template. 

These Abukoo printable calendars have a beautiful minimalist feel. Best of all they are free to download and super stylish. These are definitely ideal for DIY projects or just a bit of fun if you want something nice to pin on the wall. The best part is you can reprint it again if you mess up writing in your birthday list. Check out Abukoo for the download.

This apartment by Metaforma shows how small spaces can be both stylish and practical. The combination of black, timber and concrete create a modern industrial look. 

Hello Mario is a brilliant small creative design store in Spain selling handmade products. The bright yellow, white and black visual identity created by Min hints at shops fun playful personality.

Hungarian designer Kevin Harald Campean has beautifully delivered a new understated and elegant look for Galamb Tailoring. The brands striking and distinctive design reflects their core values of style, perfection and tradition.

I'm a huge fan of simple design. These notebook concepts have a very graphic geometric design style that really appeals to my minimalist nature. 

I generally have a love-hate relationship with sunset photography. I love experiencing them in real life, but I really don't like sunset photos. 

If ever there was a simple design that says exactly what it does - then this is it. This incredibly minimal yet beautifully crafted visual identity plays perfectly to the needs of copywriter Mattias Jersild.

Simple, beautiful and minimal typography is always refreshing to the eyes. We are bombarded with busy visual material and branding everyday. Seeing graphic design that is not over worked reminds me to do less and make it count.

Using slow shutter speeds to capture movement is a true art, and to be honest it's not really that easy - but when you get it right there are some subtle and seductive qualities that are hard to beat. 

I recently stumbled across this very cool bath-house located in Carinthia, Austria. It's located in the eastern Alps set near Austria’s highest mountain, Grossglockner. 

It's always a huge turn off when some body turns up with tacky self promotional material - in my opinion it can completely change a clients perception of you and your business. I'm currently on the hunt for a few card designs that are perfect for photographers, it's always nice to have something that makes you stand out from the crowd - and for the right reasons.