Installations by Everyday Workshop for Wolff Olins
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

In the post-Mad Men world, success requires more than a big idea and a Madison Avenue campaign. Having come of age in the more innocent 1960s and faced the technological revolution head on, brand consultancy Wolff Olins (opens in new tab) knows this better than most. Its latest report, 'Game Changers', outlines the five characteristics today's businesses need to adopt in order to make strides. The title refers to those corporations - Apple (opens in new tab), PayPal (opens in new tab) and Nike (opens in new tab), to name a few - that invested in the five game-changing behaviours with outstanding results.
Helping their clients become game-changers is Wolff Olins' core business, so the London office recently underwent a vibrant makeover to reflect that. It hired the young ad and art-direction agency Everyday Workshop (opens in new tab) to create a number of in-house installations that, abstractly, convey the five key attributes to 21st-century success: 'purposeful', 'useful', 'experimental', 'boundaryless' and 'value-creative'.
The Day-Glo graphics - overseen by Everyday founder (and former Wallpaper* Bespoke art director) Andrew Wren - are definitively 21st century. One wall displays a 2D mural of overlapping spheres that literally burst out of the picture and hover over the office. This is meant to convey 'boundaryless-ness', the need for companies to shift from being insular to being 'constellations' (like Amazon (opens in new tab), for example) that collaborate with would-be competitors for wider success.
'Experimental' is represented by a mural of multi-faceted pyramids overlooking lengths of neon tubing, laid in paths along the floor. Evolution, this is meant to communicate, depends on trial and error and acceptance of failure.
The new graphics make the five tenets impossible to avoid. Are they experimental? Absolutely? Are they purposeful? Useful? Boundaryless? Value-creative? Let's just say they carry the message that these are people who practice what they preach. And that, these days, is a game-changer.
To illustrate the importance of being 'experimental', Everyday Workshop designed a mural of multi-faceted pyramids and zigzags of neon tubing. Some paths, they say, will get you nowhere and some lead to gold, but you'll never know until you take them. WO uses the example of Google, a company whose strength is its willingness to experiment
Graphic cubes in varying sizes and colourful arrows pointing every which way represent 'diversification'. In order to succeed in today's changing economic climate, companies must branch out from their core values and embrace new directions. Exemplifying this idea of 'value-creatives' is Lego, which branched out into theme parks, and Tesco, which sells everything including the kitchen sink
Office supplies on a table and a busy graphic representing productivity symbolise 'usefulness'. Companies should take cues from Apple, says WO, and turn customers into users, making their experience fun
Companies should be constellations that collaborate with would-be competitors rather than shutting them out, according to WO. Here, this concept of being 'boundaryless' is depicted by orbs that represent corporate stars like Amazon and PayPal, which join forces with other entities for combined might
For game-changing businesses today, an identifiable brand drives growth and makes a difference in the world. This area in the WO office acts as a sort of 'think tank', promoting abstract, out-of-the-box thinking
-
London architecture exhibitions 2023: a guide to the best shows this month
Exciting, beautiful and thought-provoking London architecture exhibitions; here's our pick of the finest in town, to visit and enjoy this month
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Ai Weiwei's largest-ever Lego artwork revealed at London’s Design Museum
At London’s Design Museum, Ai Weiwei has unveiled Water Lilies #1, a new Lego recreation of Claude Monet’s iconic painting. We explore the vast new work ahead of the Chinese artist’s major show at the museum, opening on 7 April 2023
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
These Jacob Cohën jeans are entirely compostable
‘From nature, to nature,’ goes the tagline for Jacob Cohën’s ‘Endless Luxury’ collection, which is the latest innovation in the Italian denim brand’s pursuit of sustainable design solutions
By Jack Moss • Published
-
Supergraphics pioneer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon: ‘Sure, make things big – anything is possible'
94-year-old graphic designer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon talks radical typography, motherhood, and her cool welcome for St Moritz
By Jessica Klingelfuss • Published
-
Montreux Jazz Festival posters: a visual history
As artist Guillaume Grando (SupaKitch) unveils his poster for the 57th Montreux Jazz Festival (30 June - 15 July 2023), we reflect on the most memorable designs since 1967, including from David Bowie to Andy Warhol and Camille Walala
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Last updated
-
AA Bronson on the radical, enduring legacy of General Idea
General Idea, an art group that pioneered a queer aesthetic, is celebrated in a retrospective at the National Gallery of Canada (opened during Pride Month and running until 20 November 2022). Surviving member AA Bronson speaks about their origins, and impact on art and social justice
By Benoit Loiseau • Last updated
-
A Practice for Everyday Life gives 59th Venice Biennale a richly surreal graphic identity
London-based graphic design studio A Practice for Everyday Life (APFEL) gives an otherworldly identity to the surrealism-infused 59th Venice Biennale theme ‘The Milk of Dreams’
By Jonathan Bell • Last updated
-
Inside Na Kim's vibrant playground for all ages
South Korean graphic designer Na Kim's ‘Bottomless Bag’, installed at Buk-Seoul Museum of Art, is a vivid, geometrical exploration of memory and everyday objects. We offer a virtual tour and find out how the concept came to be
By Andy St Louis • Last updated
-
Philipp Doringer’s cartographic design: from Bob Dylan to Vienna’s Second District
Our Next Generation 2022 showcase shines a light on 22 outstanding graduates from around the globe, in seven creative fields. Here, we present Austrian Philipp Doringer, a graduate of Design Academy Eindhoven
By Jonathan Bell • Last updated
-
Chiachi Chao’s typography blends Western and Eastern writing styles
Our Next Generation 2022 showcase shines a light on 22 outstanding graduates from around the globe, in seven creative fields. We profile Taiwanese type and graphic designer Chiachi Chao, a graduate of ECAL, Lausanne
By Jonathan Bell • Last updated
-
Tom Hingston on designing for Serpentine Galleries, the V&A, and Wallpaper*
London-based art director and graphic designer Tom Hingston discusses his visual identities for Serpentine Galleries
By TF Chan • Last updated