Of course we do, we are a design studio, its obvious! We just wanted to take the time to celebrate the wonderful medium of typography, and share some of our favourites with you.

We come across many different examples of typefaces every day, across multiple touchpoints. Typography, the art of arranging type, type design and modifying type glyphs, is often considered a major element to marketing. Used properley, it can really strenthen your brand.

One of our favourite typefaces at the moment is Nouvelle Vague, which we liked so much we used as part of the identity for Reevlands Place, a Linden Homes development:

Nouvelle Vague is modern and elegant at the same time. It is confident and bold - no wallflower.

It reminds our very own Nikki of her all time favourite typeface Bauer Bodoni, with its slab serifs and strong contrast between thick and thin lines - flirtatious with plenty of character, just like Nikki herself.

Browsing Twitter the other day I also came across this rather unusal Typeface courtest of Glasgow artist David Shrigley.

Greg is loving a new font called 'Intro' by Miroslav Bekyarov for Fontfabric

It is a really simple Typeface which is why he likes it. It is bold, easy to read, modern and made up of basic graphic elements; triangles, circles and squares. It has a similar styling to Futura, but has a slightly more geometric makeup and structure.

I recently saw an advert in Conde Nast Traveler magazine claiming boldly that luxury is overrated. At first I was interested in the different angle on the subject of luxury brands in the current climate. I disagree with this statement as it largely depends on the definition of luxury.

Luxury can mean different things to all of us, depending on the environment we are in. For example my luxury needs, if traveling First Class on a commuter train, are very different to the ones if I had the luxury of traveling First Class on an airline. Whilst they are different, they are just as important and demanding, and require the brand to be continually responding to and meeting my specific needs and expectations.

Whether you're buying a first class ticket, penthouse apartment, luxury holiday, expensive car, luxury is expressed in many different ways. The customer has expectations that must be met throughout the whole experience, so that not only do they leave with a desire for more but better still, speaking highly of the experience.

Having worked on many luxury brands from American Express Platinum card, First Great Western First Class, ELAL First Class, The Residence, Guildford and more, I have found luxury is less tangible and goes beyond the obvious bling and one size doesn't fit all. Working on each of these brands, helping deliver luxury, was very unique and tailored as should be the brand experience.

When did you last experience luxury delivered by a brand?

The Pantone swatch has become a bit of a design classic. In its original form it is slightly utilitarian but also demonstrates pure simplicity that we all love. French food designer Emilie de Griottes has come up with a different interpretation. Still beautifully simple and perfect for our appetite for colour at Evolve.

Having seen the Erdem fashion show taking place just across the road at the White Cube gallery on Bermondsey Street, it inspired me to share with you some of our fashion-inspired work we have recently done for Saffron Square.

We took inspiration from the 4 most fashionable cities in the world....London, New York, Milan and Paris, and filtered these influences down through the identity and into the interiors of the apartments, giving the customer a choice of which city they identified with the most.

The result is a strong, fashion-led identity, adding that touch of glamour to an up and coming area of London.

Ahhh, valentines day is hear again, happens once a year you know. We have been having a discussion in the sutdio this morning about what valentines day means to us, and to be honest, very little however, that does not mean that we are not feeling the love here at Evolve HQ.

We are loving Typography very much, and this numerical type is inspiring us for a very exciting project we are working on (all shall be revealed in April!).

I personally love escaping to the country whenever possible, and I absolutely fell in love with the room interiors at http://www.thecrownamersham.com/. Having helped to create luxury brands over the years, we feel that luxury should feel effortless, and my experience here was just that. Great simple design.

One thing we are all big fans of here at Evolve is the Aesop brand, and we have fallen hard for the interior of its Soho branch, with its luxuriously sparse feel.

So there you go, just a few things we are loving here in the sudio. We love love so much, its even included in our name!

Now that we have January over with us, our thoughts turn from detoxing (yawn) to holidays, and as Evolve have experience in branding hotels we thought we would gather our thoughts together and come up with a post about our favourite hotels around the world, both in terms of design and brand experience.

Babington House is one that was pretty much screamed across the office when I put this to the team http://www.babingtonhouse.co.uk/. With its opulent decor and facilities that include a Cowshed Relax spa, heated pools as well as a cinema, I imagine it would be quite hard to leave!

Our very own Nikki stayed in a fantastic hotel, the Mercure Amsterdam Arthur Frommer, on a recent trip to Amsterdam, and loved every minute! Some images of the hotel are below, simple yet effective I think you would agree. She loved it so much she cannot wait to go back, thats what you want from a holiday!

In regards to brand experience, http://www.greenmountainchalets.co.uk/ seems to tick a lot of boxes. Communal living, someone on hand to cook the evening meal, wine served, and all in the surroundings of chalet chic at its finest - sounds bliss - and as someone who has never had an interest in skiing before, i'm converted!

In terms of sheer opulence and beauty, I would not mind having a trip to this place! http://www.hotelneri.com/ - beautiful.

And keeping it close to home, the 5-star wonder that is http://www.the-berkeley.co.uk/.

And of course, we can't forget http://www.hotelshoreditch.com/ - great identity, hmmm I wonder who did that then?

Of course, our discussion did soon turn to bad hotel experiences, but I shall leave that for a later date...watch out!

Nowadays it is more important than ever that your hotel has a great identity, to tempt people to actually book a holiday in the first place, as staycations are becoming more and more popular. Hotels really need to up their game, not only in terms of look, but how they make a guest feel during their experience.

Of course, we cannot ignore the 'R' word, and investing money in tidying up your brand during a recession might seem like the last thing you would want to do, but I cannot stress how important and beneficial it would be.

If, like me, you are in denial and have decided to 'opt out' of the recession, then you would have an amazing time at any of the hotels above!

Now, roll on lunchtime so I can get booking!

Happy new year to all our clients past, present and future. And what of the future you may ask. Well, blogs and news websites are getting their 2 pence in (I was going to say 10 pence but there is a recession on!) and telling us what they think is going to happen in the world of branding and design this year.

Some blogs are telling us that there will be a lot more free creative pitching going on. Some are telling us that budgets are so slashed that we shall have to do more work for less money. And all of them are telling us that there are certainly tough times ahead. Its all very cheery isn't it?!

Well, we at Evolve are a positive bunch. Great, intelligent creativity does not stem from negative thinking surely? We predict 2012 to be a great year. Yes, we are aware that there is a recession on, but situations never stay the same, they must (sorry) evolve.

The luxury sector is actually thriving through all this unrest, and our experience in the luxury sector continues to soar, with new briefs coming in all the time.

This year we predict many people in business will go it alone. Blogging has never been more popular. Social networking never busier. The Apprentice is still entertaining us with the UK's 'business elite'. People are finding that if they have a great idea for a business it is easier for them to start something up as they already have a ready made database of potential clients to target  through the likes of Facebook and Twitter. All sounds great doesn't it?

It is great, but for a startup business to succeed and have staying power, it needs not only a great identity but great strategic thinking behind it. Its not just about having a nice logo! We at Evolve have many years experience of creating exciting brands for startup businesses so as I mentioned, I feel its going to be a good year.

We continue to build on our already strong relationships with our current clients and have been inundated with inquiries since getting back into the office after the new year break, and the feeling I get is that we will only get busier, lucky us!

The other thing to think about this year is that more and more people are deciding to opt for 'staycations' rather than heading abroad, so more and more hotels are having to sharpen up their identities to compete in the UK market. People are craving that bit of luxury when they go and stay in a hotel, and a 'luxurious' identity alone will not achieve this.

When we rebranded a 3-star Days Inn hotel in Shoreditch and positioned it as a 4-star boutique hotel destination, our expertise in brand experience came into play, as the way you interact with all brand touchpoints, including staff, is incredibly important.

My last prediction is centered around the food and drink industry. The 'Come Dine With Me' revolution (?) is encouraging people to entertain friends at home. This in turn is forcing restaurants to go down the voucher and deal-website routes. There is an argument to say that this is damaging their brand, as it is hard to come back up to full price if you have been discounting at 50%!

More than ever, restaurants need to be strengthening their brand through not only a great identity, but through the entire brand experience. Why not take a leaf out of Marco Pierre White's book and actually up your prices during the recession. If you are going to have less customers you might as well charge them more. It worked for him.

So there, those are my predictions. Its not all doom and gloom after all is it? Positive thinking, intelligent creativity and a little bit of thinking outside the box should see us through 2012.

Who does not love shopping for clothes. Well, that is unless you happen to shop in one of 'those' high street stores where you are picking up clothes from the floor because the racks are so overstuffed (you know which ones I mean). Not a great brand experience, no.

There are however still some stores where you can shop for good quality clothing, and that are still quite affordable (especially around this time of year...January sale anyone?).

Mary Portas has just published her report on the high street, and it is in trouble. Online shopping is very popular right now. It would take a certain type of store to get you away from the comfort of your sofa and braving the (dwindling) crowds on the high street.

One such store is Reiss, and it is a fantastic brand in my opinion. Their identity is spot on, with a very high end feel. The clothing is amazing quality, and although priced certainly more toward the high end of the high street spectrum, it somehow seems worth it.

The thing I love most about my (regular) shopping trips to Reiss is the way I feel throughout the whole experience. Upon entering the store every time, I am greeted with a warm, friendly and not too in-my-face 'hello'.

The staff are never intrusive and are always on hand to help. The store is always presented immaculately, with the shelves not too abundant, giving it the feel of a designer store.

The quality of the clothing is fantastic, and they even provide their own tailoring service for those perhaps party-induced wears and tears.

The introduction of their very own bespoke suit service for men really cemented Reiss for me as a wholly satisfying shopping destination. For me, this particular brand extension is the next best thing to Saville Row!

I could harp on about this store for a long time, but in this economic climate, I certainly am craving that little bit of affordable luxury, and Reiss delivers on this score. Get me to the high street! Go on, treat yourself.

We (especially Nikki) had a lot of fun creating Derek to enter him into Creative Review's paper man competition. And all the hard work (and fun) paid off because guess what?? We only went and won, and are featured on the Creative Review blog. His short life was not in vain. Good old Derek.

Whether we are helping launch a brand for a new company or launching a property development, it still amazes me how we manage to transform spaces, in such a short space of time. The brand launches we have worked on tend to have slightly more time and planning. However, with all the months of planning involved, the property launches seem to have a common lastminute.com theme no matter who, what or where. In the short space of time the magic happens and the Sales and Marketing Suite is ready for a weekend launch or VIP evening. One of my most vivid memories is the launch of one large development where I clearly remember the signage team hanging off the building in the rain on a Friday evening at 9.30pm with the pending launch happening the next day. Debris from packaging strewn everywhere, drills buzzing, pizzas arriving and some very heavy eyelids. The beauty of the chaos is that the result is always magnificent. See some of our before and after creations - most are just 24hrs between before and after!