Charles Grech, importers of fine wines, beer and tobacco since 1881 have extended their range of upmarket products to include perfumes and cosmetics. With this product diversification and extensive refurbishment programme at their flagship store in Valletta, Mangion and Lightfoot were brought in to create an image that reflected this diversification on a retail level. The challenge was to create an image that would cover the whole range of products without looking out of place if simply applied to one particular range, say cigars. Ultimately the brand had to look comfortable if you walked out of the store carrying a CG bag with a box of cigars or just a perfume or both.  The inspiration behind the logo itself came from the name Grech which from research we carried out was derived from a Greek family who settled on the island of Malta in the 17th century. Further research into Greek keys, designs and motifs inspired us to construct a ‘C’ and a ‘G’ in a continuos line that became the logo. But this wasn’t enough, we also created a separate graphic ‘device’ to suggest the product type as upmarket and established that would provide extensibility and could be easily applied across their diverse range of products.

In the ad campaign we wanted to recreate a Valletta scene from the 50s to further emphasise the established brand element and an aspiration to quality. The facade itself although extensively restored, was not changed from its original design and we felt that cigars, fine wines and even cosmetics fitted perfectly with the 50s theme.

Mangion & Lightfoot’s Granfarina package design was recently featured in The Dieline a highly regarded website dedicated to the progress of the package design industry and its practitioners, students and enthusiasts. Its purpose is to define and promote the world’s best examples of packaging, and provide a place where the package design community can review, critique and stay informed of the latest industry trends and design projects being created in the field. The Dieline has quickly grown into the most visited website on package design in the world, and has become the voice of the industry. It is an active sponsor of the Pentawards, the first and only professional design competition devoted exclusively to the art of brand packaging, further promoting the field.

Gran Farina is a private label brand developed for use in Eastern Mediterranean markets and was commissioned by Federated Mills, Malta’s only flour milling operation. We developed the name and visual identity along with a range of packaging for the 6 main types of flour they planned to market.

Demicoli & Associates are one of Malta’s leading architecture firms. Having previously worked with them to develop a new visual identity in 2007 we were asked to help update their website in 2009; this is the result.

Though not live yet it is in the final stages of development as is to be launched in the coming weeks. We hope you enjoy this little taster.

Building on the strength of the geometric logo and contemporary typography, we developed a simple grid to support the different layouts and used strong black and white photography to bring out the form inherent in the architecture.

New operators, new brand. The logo builds on the casino heritage providing a fresh interpretation of the name with a newly drawn logo and type based on Hoefler & Frere Jones’ Gotham.

By using a lively type palette the visual identity places an emphasis on juxtaposing the type treatment with block colour to bring out contextual references; it is also a way to reposition the casino as the premier gaming venue in Malta.