Studiose, Plymouth (www.studiose.co.uk)
Branding for Royal William Yard Festival, Plymouth.
The bold designs and colours of the International Code of Signals, optimised over a long process of iteration to achieve maximum clarity, are a ready-made palette of motifs and meanings for graphic designers. Shown on these pages are just some of many adaptations that have found their way onto mugs, tee-shirts, tote bags, signage and corporate branding.
The story of what was possibly the first such use is told by Captain Barrie Kent – an enamelled brooch of a flag hoist given by King Edward VII to his mistress Alice Keppel after sailing at Cowes Week. There was little ambiguity in the signal from the Code Book, Flag Z, Pennant 9, Red Burgee, Flag M: ‘Position quarterly and open, I am about to fire a Whitehead torpedo ahead’.1 Less risqué and perhaps better known is the two-flag hoist adopted by NATO and used widely in the military to commend a task well executed: Bravo Zulu.
dn&co, London (www.dnco.com)
Branding for Royal Docks based on code flags R and D plays on the motifs of ‘plus’ and ‘equal’.
Burger bar branding, Washington DC.
Fayenza.com, Spain
Brand mark for swim and beachwear, Spain based on letters B ‘Bravo’ and C ‘Charlie’.
Nebau Design, Berlin
Branding for New York agency ‘Commonwealth’ based on code flag C.
Change of colourways used in branding for South Devon music festival.
Author’s photo
Signage at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
