Sunday, March 14, 2010

IAN ken cato

Design makes business strategy visible. Rather than regurgitating formulaic brand and identity programmes that lack difference, Cato Partners produces appropriate solutions for your needs. Everything we produce reflects your business strategy – no two approaches are alike.










If you can picture in your mind's eye the corporate trade-marks for Common wealth Bank, Seven Network, biscuit company Arnott's, or Coles supermarkets, then Ken Cato has done his job. "I feed my brain and take inspiration from films, books, poetry, music, whatever ... When I tackle projects, the battle is not the creative thing; the battle is to keep the mind open until you fully understand the exercise. A lot of designers hear the brief and make very quick assumptions. I think the longer you can hold that open, the more chance outside influences and experiences will come into play. ''He relishes connections. The giant figures he designed for Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre speak to the building's architecture and the sports it hosts. The yellow-and-black Commonwealth Bank symbol references the Southern Cross. The pointed ellipses of the SBS trademark are a literal translation of opening up the globe.
Cato Purnell's themed redesign of Qantas aircraft interiors echoed elements of the landscape over which the jets fly.

Beginning in the 1970s, Ken Cato built an international reputation as a talented graphic designer capable of powerfully articulating a concept or brand through visuals, objects, interiors and landscapes.

His design practice, Cato Purnell Partners has offices in Australia and New Zealand, and has been the force behind memorable graphics such as the Australia Made logo and the Qantas Airways logo.

Clients such as World Central Airport in Dubai, Glasgow Prestwick Airport, the merger of BenQ and Siemens, Hiranandani upscale townships in India, Mexico’s Carta Blanca beer, and closer to home, Commonwealth Bank, Seven Network, Arnotts, Qantas, iconic brands whose visual identities have been conceived and realised by Cato Purnell from the wellspring of an unusually open-minded, holistic approach
More attentive to blurring lines than drawing them, in practice, Cato is less immersed in affecting a formal terminology and more concerned with the rigour of the ideas it expresses. Editing the information overload and gauging interaction encourage ideas-driven methods.

3 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like Ken's work it is always legible yet striking with the design and choice of colours he adds.

    ReplyDelete