Turning the table on Holly Gallacher

Holly Gallacher, Senior Designer at Nike and 2024 Applied Arts Student Awards juror, shared, at our request, a favourite project of hers - the task of refreshing Canons visual identity. She dove deep into research to create a beautiful elegant design.

What were some unique features of the campaign?

Canons is London's oldest bespoke shoe and bookmaker. With a strong focus on craft and quality, with each of their items being truly bespoke. I created a refreshed visual identity that mirrored these attributes, it was important to bring an updated look to the brand while still managing to maintain that feeling of heritage.

What were the success stats or indicators?

Ensuring the identity felt refined and matched the high quality that Canons represents. The client was a pleasure to work with and was happy with the final re-design which is always the biggest success!

Can you give us some "peeks" behind-the-scenes?

I ended up doing a lot of exploration into bookmaking tools and what goes into the process of last making which was really interesting and a whole world I didn't know about. A lot of the angles and visual cues found in the hardware was brought into the final wordmark.

Why is this particular project a fave?

This project was an opportunity to get particular about details, and obsess over craft which I really enjoyed. 

Can you give us your opinion on what you think made this project a success?

I would say a great client working relationship was a big factor, also having time and freedom at the outset of the project to explore and create options and ideas before finalizing the project.

A beautiful mix of the old and the new, congratulations Holly!