DESIGN CARTEL

Design Cartel is a creator’s ecosystem. Their architecture and design projects are a result of collaboration, reflecting a sense of nuanced abstraction coupled with modern, minimal sensibilities. We took the same approach when we designed their website. The layout reflected their staggered, mezzanine aesthetic, which was then paired with minimal copy and clearly demarcated content sections.

Design Cartel came to us with a very solid visual identity system already in place. Our idea, the pièce-de-résistance on the website, is the stop-motion video we created. The intent was to use their logo in environments of varying material to show how versatile they are with all kinds of mediums and aesthetics.

The stop-motion video was shot at the Design Cartel office, with the help of Sharanya Ramesh, an award-winning filmmaker. The three members of Design Cartel joined hands with us to form one team that worked flawlessly for 13 hours to finish the video. Their office, which used to be a sound and light studio in the 80s and 90s, lent itself to our team dynamics and the general light-hearted mood of the day. Bonding over a shared enthusiasm about the music we played over the PA system, we rhythmically checked shots off the storyboard. Even an unexpected power cut didn’t throw things off.

This outfit of architects and designers walked away with a digital home and a voice that speaks about what they bring to the table.