Explosive Brands Limited

This week in the studio, we found ourselves jumping across a pretty varied mix of stories. From the reopening of the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, to the rise of “human-made” labels and Firefox bringing new life to their fox. That naturally led us into a wider conversation around the return of character-led, cuter branding. We also look at a iKKO Technology a refreshingly different phone brand and dayo an app helping limit teen's screen time. Read the full stories on our Substack - https://lnkd.in/gBTw8mTK Johnny Karen Kitty Oscar Gina Howard Stela Sharon Jenna Substack Jones Knowles Ritchie #DesignInspiration #CreativeAgencyLondon

We recently partnered with Clementine and Olivia Vaughan to bring their podcast 'Shift Happens' to life. Our mission was end-to-end creation, from initial concepts and brand identity through to recording, filming, editing and delivery. Hosted by two sisters, the podcast focuses on honest conversations around health, mindset and the realities of navigating adulthood. Our aim was to create a brand and production style that felt true to that - warm, relatable, messy but fun, while maintaining the credibility of their wellness platforms. Read more about the work that we did together here - https://lnkd.in/eBGVzDtb Third Sister Johnny Isaacs Kitty Newton Karen Bernard Stela Bonova Sharon Davidson Howard Mosley Jenna Overbury Gina Ross Oscar Horwood #PodcastProduction #BrandingCaseStudy #PodcastBranding #CreativeStudioLondon

Penguins, Whisky and Medicine Made in Space A big topic in the studio this month was Endometriosis Awareness Month and the importance of better conversations in health. We also discussed some of our creative inspirations - Penguin Random House UK's playful identity refresh, the design thinking behind Cerca and Compass Box’s latest Hedonism release. We look ahead to medicines made in space with an exciting event we're going to and round things off with some motion inspiration from The Sims and BUCK. A mix of ideas, creativity and a few things that genuinely got us thinking. Read the full stories here: https://lnkd.in/eZ8mG9wz Johnny Isaacs Karen Bernard Kitty Newton Stela Bonova Howard Mosley Sharon Davidson Gina Ross Oscar Horwood Jenna Overbury Electronic Arts (EA) Kuratd Studio Saint Urbain MSD Europe UK Space Agency #CreativeInspiration #CreativeBlog #DesignStudioLondon #BrandingInspo #MotionGraphcis

Today’s inspiration comes from the Guinness x Premier League campaign and their short film 'A Lovely Day'. Developed with VML and directed by Arthur Neumeier, the documentary-style film blends analogue and digital footage to show match day as it’s truly lived. The customised kits to football-inspired braids and neighbourhood traditions reminds that fandom is deeply personal, expressive and global. It’s also a great example of how brands can tell richer, more inclusive stories by focusing on people, not just products. As some of our team-mates have Irish roots, it felt like a fitting one to share today. Happy St Patrick’s Day from the Explosive Brands team! 🍀 Enjoy the video - https://lnkd.in/eeStcqNF. Johnny Isaacs Karen Bernard Kitty Newton Gina Ross Oscar Horwood Howard Mosley Stela Bonova Sharon Davidson Jenna Overbury The Premier League Diageo #AdvertisingInspiration #CreativeAgency #StPatricksDay

This week’s studio conversations started with the outdoors and quickly spiralled into culture, fashion and technology! We’re sharing our thoughts on Merrell’s refreshing “It Starts Outside” campaign, Nike’s modular, portable football pitch and a colourful runway moment from Fendi’s SS26 show in Milan. Along the way we explore culturally significant design moments from Black Panther newspapers entering The Metropolitan Museum of Art to Hello Kitty’s rise from kawaii character to global icon and finish off with a clever piece of British innovation by Pavegen, tiles that turn footsteps into electricity. Read all about it here - https://lnkd.in/ewi6ZjCW Johnny Isaacs Karen Bernard Kitty Newton Gina Ross Sharon Davidson Stela Bonova Jenna Overbury Howard Mosley Oscar Horwood Amsterdam Berlin International Fashion Week Dubai, Paris, Milan, London, Newyork Homeless World Cup Marc Newson Ltd Sanrio, Inc. Sanrio Lenovo Lenovo Center #designinspiration #creativenewsletter #creativeagencylondon

Hypertension, often called the “silent killer", affects more than a billion people worldwide. In the latest episode of our podcast Trail Blazers, we speak with Laurence Pearce, CEO and founder of Lifelight, about the groundbreaking technology they've developed that measures blood pressure using nothing more than a smartphone camera. We discuss the science behind it, the challenges of building medical-grade software and the potential for everyday devices to transform preventative healthcare. Listen to the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/e8zEC4gh Johnny Isaacs Karen Bernard Kitty Newton Stela Bonova Sharon Davidson Gina Ross Oscar Horwood Howard Mosley Jenna Overbury Gina Pelletier Jennifer Troman British Heart Foundation #CardiovascularHealth #Hypertension #MedicalDevice #MedTechPodcast

This week our chats in the studio were surprisingly focused around bags - from the nostalgic paper bags archive, a dumpling-shaped accessory and Lidl GB’s trolley bag hitting London Fashion Week to Arda Biomaterials’s clever beer-waste leather goods. We talk about blending fashion and innovation in the smart T-shirt, that could monitor your heart and beyond that: a colourful public artwork by Smiling Wolf ,brightening Clapham Junction, promising arthritis research from Stanford University and a few creative events worth stepping out into the sunshine for! Read the full stories here: https://lnkd.in/e5HPNdcH Johnny Isaacs Karen Bernard Kitty Newton Gina Ross Sharon Davidson Oscar Horwood Howard Mosley Stela Bonova Jenna Overbury | #LidlBag #LFW #CreativeInspiration #CreativeBlog #CreativeStudio #PaperBagArchive | British Heart Foundation L'Oréal Battersea Power Station ESENES WORLDWIDE Imperial College London London Festival of Architecture Clerkenwell Design Week

Meet the Explosive Brands team! 👋 Can you guess who's who? Johnny Karen Kitty Sharon Jenna Howard Oscar Gina Stela #CreativeAgencyLondon

What do red telephone boxes, a charity rebrand, Wallace & Gromit and Pokémon at the Natural History Museum have in common? They all show how design seeps into our culture and sticks. Unintentionally, many of the topics we've been discussing in the studio lately have had a distinctly British feel. So we decided to write a bit of a love letter to British visual culture, from analogue slide archives and road signs we barely think about to red phone boxes and the stop-motion heroes we grew up with. Read the full story here - https://lnkd.in/eebBGJAj Aardman Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association lukecharles Bloom Design Council Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings Thames & Hudson Natural History Museum | Johnny Kitty Stela Gina Karen Sharon Howard Oscar Jenna | #DesignInspiration #DesignBlog #CreativeStudioLondon

Here’s what our podcast studio looks like in action! What started as a space for recording our own podcast Trail Blazers, has grown into a studio we now share with brilliant people like Olivia & Clementine from Shift Happens, Dominic James, Aleksandra Filipovic and more. We’ve had so much fun filming powerful conversations, big ideas and stories that deserve to be heard! #PodcastRecording #BehindTheScenes #PodcastRecordingStudio #StudioForHireLondon