The Outline - NASA geometry, spaghetti maps, and a puppet mascot
The Outline: major appointments, spaghetti maps, and a furry mascot – 24/07/26
24 July, 2026
Welcome to your weekly digest of noteworthy stories, announcements, and interesting tidbits from across the design industry. This week, we’ve got major appointments, viral designs, a matchmaking-themed showcase, and more.
Grab a cuppa and get through a world of news before the tea gets cold!
Appointments
Ricardo Bezerra returns to Tátil Design as Global Chief Creative Officer
Award-winning creative leader Ricardo Bezerra has rejoined independent Brazilian agency Tátil Design as Global Chief Creative Officer following a tenure as Executive Creative Director at JKR in New York. Having first joined Tátil in 2008 to help shape its founding philosophy of “originality by origin”, Bezerra will be based in Rio while overseeing international creative output across New York, London, and global markets. In his new role, he aims to champion Brazilian design discipline and the concept of antropofagia, digesting global influences to build culturally rooted brand identities.
Forever appoints Tendril co-founder Chris Bahry as Chief Executive Officer
Global creative group Forever, the parent collective behind FutureDeluxe, Tendril, Builders Club, Found, and Trizz, has appointed Chris Bahry as Chief Executive Officer. Bahry, who co-founded Tendril and previously served as the group’s Chief Creative Officer, succeeds James Callahan as CEO. The appointment signals a deliberate strategic commitment to placing creative leadership and artistic taste at the head of the organisation as generative AI tools transform production workflows across the motion design industry.
Monotype’s Tom Foley joins custom type foundry Studio DRAMA as Creative Type Director
Tom Foley, former Executive Creative Director at Monotype, has joined independent custom type foundry Studio DRAMA as Creative Type Director. The move highlights a broader shift across the design sector where brands increasingly rely on custom typography as a primary differentiator across systemic digital touchpoints. In his new role, Foley will help steer the studio’s expansion across bespoke brand typefaces, retail systems, and multi-platform typographic architecture.
Business News
Studio McW applies domestic design principles to new Shoreditch studio HQ
Architecture practice Studio McW has renovated and moved into a new permanent headquarters at Printing House Yard in Shoreditch, East London.
Marking the studio’s upcoming tenth anniversary, the workplace project serves as a case study in applying residential design sensibilities, such as natural material palettes, tactile scales, and comfortable lighting, to commercial office environments, creating an inviting workspace designed to sustain long-term appeal.
Sharps study ranks Bali as the world’s top destination for design-led travel
A new study conducted by fitted furniture brand Sharps has ranked Bali as the world’s leading destination for design-led travel, beating traditional style capitals Paris (2nd) and California’s Joshua Tree (3rd). Analysing accommodation listings across 210 global locations based on architectural significance, interior quality, and guest reputation, the report highlights Bali’s temple-inspired indoor-outdoor architecture and natural materiality as key drivers for modern interior inspiration.
Ascend Studio appointed to define brand identity for £800m Barts Life Sciences Cluster
London agency Ascend Studio has been selected to create the overarching brand strategy, positioning, and visual identity for the Barts Life Sciences Cluster in Whitechapel. Backed by more than £800m in planned investment and centred around The Royal London Hospital and Barts Health NHS Trust, the health innovation district aims to position East London as a global hub for AI, robotics, diagnostics, and medtech. Ascend’s brief covers the complete brand ecosystem across investor, public, political, and occupier touchpoints, balancing nearly a millennium of medical heritage with forward-looking scientific innovation.
Design Bits
VML Canada transforms The Globe and Mail masthead into a dynamic brand system
VML Canada has created a flexible, typography-led brand platform for 180-year-old Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail by turning its historic masthead into a storytelling asset. By examining the 12 existing serif characters in the publication’s modified Pratt logomark, the design team extrapolated the remaining letterforms to construct a custom display typeface. The resulting system transformed the traditional header into a modular sentence structure, allowing headlines across politics, business, and culture to actively reinforce the newspaper’s heritage while engaging modern readers.
Mikesian Studio crafts dynamic rebrand for BFI-backed cinema scheme Escapes
Manchester design duo Mikesian Studio has unveiled a new visual identity for Escapes, the UK’s largest free cinema initiative supported by the British Film Institute (BFI).
Following an award of £3m in National Lottery funding to extend the programme through 2029, the rebrand is designed to scale the scheme as it distributes free tickets across more than 100 independent cinemas nationwide. The updated identity features accessible typography and energetic motion graphics aimed at engaging new audiences ahead of nationwide preview screenings.
Adrien Beaujeant turns Sofiane Pamart’s ‘Movie’ score into a collectable design art book
Designer and illustrator Adrien Beaujeant has designed the official piano score book for composer and pianist Sofiane Pamart’s new album, Movie, treating the publication as a collectable design object. Drawing inspiration from vintage screenplay covers, classic title sequences, and Hollywood iconography, the book features a signature pink palette and custom illustrations throughout. The release forms part of a long-term collaboration where each of Pamart’s album releases is treated as an interconnected volume within an evolving visual universe.
POTR launches self-watering plant pot Helix inspired by NASA geometry
Glasgow product design studio POTR has launched Helix, a self-watering plant pot engineered to adapt across a plant’s entire life cycle. Drawing inspiration from NASA’s origami satellite structures, the flat-pack pot uses expandable geometric folds that scale from seed germination through to mature growth within a single modular system. Manufactured from recycled materials with an integrated self-watering reservoir, their Kickstarter campaign has reached over 2,000% of its initial target.
Desk Curiosities
Furry Puppet Studio’s viral ‘Frankie Focus’ mascot went beyond the brief
SoHo-based character workshop Furry Puppet Studio sent us a nostalgic bit of news this week. Frankie Focus, the official mascot for New York State’s phone-free schools initiative, was commissioned to introduce the policy alongside Governor Kathy Hochul, and the studio patterned the character in bright upholstery foam and synthetic fur to ensure durability during live camera interactions and school visits.
Initially designed as a practical public awareness asset, the character quickly transcended its initial policy brief to take on a life of its own in American pop culture, making high-profile television appearances worn by Matt Damon on Jimmy Kimmel Live and featured on Late Night with Seth Meyers. It’s one of those design stories that remind us of the inexplicable will of virality in our culture.
Art on the Underground launches ‘Spaghetti Map’ for children’s summer holidays
Transport for London’s Art on the Underground has collaborated with artist Michael Crowe and over 100 London schoolchildren to release ‘Spaghetti Map‘, a free activity leaflet launched for the summer holidays.
Available across 11 Tube stations and online, the publication spotlights six permanent public artworks across the Underground network, including Larry Achiampong’s pan-African roundel at Westminster, and uses humorous prompts and drawing exercises to encourage young commuters to think like artists. The project is accompanied by a public display of student artwork in the South Kensington Subway.
LCC’s Graphic Branding & Identity Class of 2026 plays matchmaker in grad publication
The BA (Hons) Graphic Branding & Identity Class of 2026 at UAL’s London College of Communication (LCC) has taken a tongue-in-cheek approach to post-graduation job hunting, packaging their final showcase publication around a retro dating-magazine aesthetic titled Find Your Perfect Match. Complete with design-punned Love Heart candy stickers featuring slogans like “Kern Me” and “My Type”, it’s a brilliant meta-showcase of the cohort’s talents leading up to the grad showcase.
Great big hunka chunka of an Outline this week, wasn’t it?
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