Guinness Hides Its Harp, New Balance Plants a Garden: Design Week

Guinness has launched a global out-of-home campaign that turns its 160-year-old harp into a typographic device. Created by AMV BBDO, the 'LoVely' campaign swaps the letter 'V' in "Lovely" for the brand's harp mark, reviving the "Lovely Day for a Guinness" platform that dates to the brand's 1930s advertising.

Photography by Dan Burn-Forti and Peter Franklyn Banks captures pints of Guinness in settings including Electric Picnic in Ireland and Premier League football. The campaign is live in Ireland and Great Britain across high-impact OOH and DOOH, with a wider rollout to Africa and APAC to follow. Diageo is preparing to invest just under $1 billion in Guinness over the next three years.

A garden at Flimby

London-based jewellery designer Bleue Burnham has partnered with New Balance on a Made in UK 991v1 — and on something larger. Burnham designed a 900-square-metre garden for employees at New Balance's Flimby factory in Cumbria, with seating tucked into flower beds and cherry trees growing through picnic benches.

The shoe draws directly from that garden: pinecone brown suede across the upper, hand-applied multicolour 'wild garden' stitching, and Burnham's signature baby blue on the insole. A documentary about the garden's creation is narrated by Monty Don, longtime host of BBC's Gardeners' World. Limited to 240 pairs, the 991v1 released exclusively via Bleue Burnham on 12 September.

QM2, illustrated

Cunard has announced a major refurbishment of Queen Mary 2, the world's only ocean liner, for spring 2027. The line partnered with luxury illustrator Tanu Vasu — whose clients include LVMH, Tiffany & Co. and The Dorchester Collection — to produce a bespoke collection of hand-drawn illustrations for the project.

The design vision is led by Chris Finch, one of the ship's original designers, and pairs classic Hollywood glamour with British tradition. The refurbishment adds new Grill Suites, an elevated wellness offering, enhanced retail spaces and refreshed guest areas while preserving the liner's Art Deco identity. "In an era dominated by digital renderings, illustration offers an opportunity to tell a more human story," Vasu said.

Holden's centenary

Transport for London marked 100 years of the Northern line extension to Morden with a family-friendly treasure hunt on Saturday 12 September, part of the Open House Festival. Participants explored the route between Morden and Clapham South, tracing the architecture of seven stations by Charles Holden that opened on 13 September 1926. The extension pushed the Underground deep into south London for the first time and created what was then the longest railway tunnel in the world. Merton Council hosted a celebration at Morden station with live music, poetry, and an exhibition of artworks and heritage photography.

Business and appointments

Sydney studio Universal Favourite has been appointed lead design partner for beverage company LION after a competitive RFP process. The three-year partnership covers LION's portfolio — Kirin Ichiban, XXXX, Stone & Wood, Four Pillars Gin, Hahn, Tooheys, James Squire, Little Creatures and Furphy among them — spanning brand identity, packaging and design systems.

Monotype, home to a type library of more than 400,000 font styles, has announced a collaboration with Elle Cordova, the creator behind the viral "Fonts Hanging Out" series and a TED2024 speaker. Details of the collaboration's scope are expected in the coming weeks.

MediaZoo Group, the UK learning, communications and creative agency backed by BGF, has appointed Susan Steele as Non-Executive Director. Steele, previously senior at IBM, Deloitte, WPP and Linklaters, will focus on the agency's US expansion.

Billboards and sauce holders

Elliott Starr of Belief Studio, David Johnston of Accept & Proceed and Indy Johar of Dark Matter Labs will show the 'Unbreak Britain Billboard', a sequel to the Broken Britain Billboard that first appeared anonymously in Liverpool in September 2025. The 48-sheet work appears in Whitechapel during the London Design Festival, retaining the original's red typewriter text while adding a blue typeface that turns the St George's Cross into a Union Jack.

KFC, meanwhile, is marking London Fashion Week with nine limited-edition Pocket Dips — wearable sauce holders matching every flavour on its Tenders & Dips menu, from Texas BBQ to Mango Masala. They are not for sale: fans can win them at the Baker Street restaurant on 15 September. The stunt follows KFC's 2025 London Fashion Week show with designer Sinead Gorey.

Koestler Arts at the Southbank

Koestler Arts returns to the Southbank Centre this autumn with 'Rock, Paper, Scissors', showing more than 200 works selected from over 7,500 entries to the Koestler Awards. For the first time, the exhibition has been curated by five members of the Parental Imprisonment Collective — young adults aged 18 to 35 who experienced parental imprisonment in childhood — who selected works without information about the artists. Previous Koestler curators include Ai Weiwei, Antony Gormley, Grayson Perry and Sarah Lucas. 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' runs 16 October to 29 November in the Southbank Centre's newly refurbished Undercroft space, with free admission.