Marque, Glasgow, London, New York
You might say Marque is the fantasy football team of graphic design —its members are creamed from the best of the UK design scene and sport a collective pedigree that spans Browns, MadeThought, Cartlidge Levene and Spin. STEVEN BATEMAN caught most of this thoroughly modern studio, which usually divides itself between London, Glasgow and New York, on a rare moment together.
When I arrive at Marque’s London studio, there’s an air of celebratory fatigue. The previous night saw the collective basking in glory, having raised £10,000 for Shelter and The Bowery Mission in New York with the collaborative project A Little Piece of Mind. Last year, it invited leading creatives from around the world to contribute a 6-inch square of fabric featuring the design of their choice. The response was fantastic, with contributions from the likes of Kate Moss, Rankin, Marc Jacobs, Gavin Turk and Hussein Chalayan stitched into an engaging design by quiltmaker extraordinaire Julie Floersch. Part of the text written to accompany A Little Piece of Mind reads: “Important to us, was the challenge of an idea to take, and then piece together, seemingly disparate influences and inputs to make a coherent, influential output. As an aesthetic philosophy, this has engaged both us and our creative collaborators.” It’s also a philosophy that helps drive the day-to-day practice at Marque, and one of the reasons why the studio is such an intriguing proposition.
When Third Eye Design became Marque in 2008, it signalled an important new chapter in the evolution of a unique design collective. Founder Mark Noë has come a long way since 1996, when he established Third Eye with friend Andy Inglis. “We got involved in the club scene, doing flyers and record covers. We enjoyed it. When Igraduated Isaid, ‘Architecture’s not for me, why don’t we try graphic design?’ We fell into it that way, doing local stuff for friends… Andy’s passion is music, and after a year of working together he moved to London.” While Inglis has seen great success as a music promoter, launching award-winning venue The Luminaire, Noë enjoyed his own success, establishing Third Eye’s reputation in Glasgow and building the foundations upon which Marque has been built.
“Iworked on my own with a junior designer for two, three years. We were winning bigger contracts and the design team grew to around fifteen people. It started to gain momentum.” Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, he aimed to offer something entirely different from the competition. “Ihad to hire well. Imean, that’s always been my philosophy—always hire people who are better than you.” He shopped around for the best graduates—not unusual in itself, but what set Third Eye Design apart in Scotland was a distinctly European aesthetic, a product of Noë’s decision to hire fresh young talent from Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark.
“I’ve always tried to bring in good, young, raw talent; get them involved and build a team. There were growing pains but we became very successful in Scotland, fairly quickly.” Having garnered the runners-up gong in 2004 and 2005, Third Eye won the Scottish Design Awards’ Design Consultancy of the Year in 2006, 2007 and 2008, by which point things had changed radically. By the end of 2006, it had studios in Glasgow, New York and London.
“Winning plaudits and awards in Scotland was great, but creatively Iwanted to stretch to something different; expose the company to a wider audience client-wise, and do the work we wanted to do. There was a case for us coming to London, but at the time Ifelt New York was the place. Ihad this idea, from day one, that I’d like to work abroad. Iwent for a long weekend in January 2005, spent time in places I’d never been before [and] got a real energy from the place.” He identified a gap in the design market and, with trademark confidence, drafted the next chapter in the company’s evolution. “There’s a perception that New York is saturated with great design firms, but when you’re actually there it’s not the case. When Istarted to research it more, there were maybe three or four agencies as direct competition.”
While many designers in New York will sniff at that notion, it is true that Marque’s distinctly European aesthetic offers a refreshing alternative. It’s also true to say that it has had a positive impact on the city’s visual landscape with projects for Dow Jones, the New York Festivals, the Haunch of Venison’s NYC gallery, luxury boutique hotels, and restaurants like Delicatessen, with its considered reinterpretation of traditional New York deli graphics.
“We took a lot of influence from classic deli menus and neon signage,” recalls Noë. “It’s a custom face,” says Joe Burrin, one of Noë’s key collaborators in Marque. “Hubert Jocham cut it for us; he’s a specialist. Then Terry Richardson did a shoot for the opening night, which became the menu imagery.”
Noë picks up the story. “Delis always photograph their patrons and have them on the wall. So we thought, how do you do that in a modern context? For the launch party we worked with Interview magazine. They got a lot of cool kids down [and] Terry took snapshots.” Richardson’s vibrant images tip a wink at the visual and social heritage of New York’s delis, but they also feed into the energy and culture of a brand that belongs well and truly in the twenty-first century. Rather like Marque. So what prompted its rebrand?
In October 2006, Noë opened the London office. Things were moving fast, and thanks to the critical success and financial stability of Third Eye Design, it became possible for him to up the ante even further. Setting up in New York and London exposed the company to a larger client base and, just as significantly, to a much broader circle of creative talent. He began building a team of established creatives, maintaining the approach and structure of a small studio while increasing the scope of its capabilities and network.
“Opening in London made sense,” admits Noë. “We’d been working with much bigger clients so Isaw it was possible to take the business international. At the same time, it was about keeping that boutique feel while hiring people that can really deliver.” Hector Pottie joined in February 2007 following spells at Tayburn, Locofoco, Meta Design, Blue Source, Cartlidge Levene and MadeThought. Joe Burrin—a former partner at both Guerrilla 6 and BCD—joined in July 2007 following four years at Spin. They are further supported by a group of experienced creatives including Nick Tweedie (formerly of Farrow, Made Thought, and Value and Service) and Lisa Smith (who worked at Browns for five years before joining the V&A). Hoss Gifford heads up the digital team, supporting Marque’s commitment to stay one step ahead of innovations in the field. “That’s a whole story in itself,” claims Burrin. “Because we’re involved in software development it can lead us into other things.”
“As a creative agency, being innovative should count,” says Noë. “It’s not just about graphics and print.” Pottie agrees. “Any medium, any discipline, we’re keen to approach it so we can tackle problem after problem. We have the right people who know what they’re doing, but it’s also about getting beyond the idea of ‘oh, you’re a graphic design company’. Yes, we do that, but on the other hand we’re also interested in the world and how it works; how we can make it better.”
“After Hector, Hoss and Joe joined,” recalls Noë, “we discussed what we’d become as a company; what we wanted to become. The name change was a big catalyst for us. Dropping ‘Design’ was essential. We gelled as a team and began to understand what we were about, what we could offer. We are truly a collective; we run three studios, but we’re effectively one small studio working together.”
They outgrew their name, but dropping the word ‘Design’ wasn’t enough. They settled on Marque, a reference to craft and design tradition, but also to the hallmark of quality and value their work can bring to a brand. As they talk me through some of their recent projects, it becomes apparent that every job is a group effort; everyone contributes to the debate, the process, and projects are seldom worked on in just one office.
“The first major international job we worked on together was the Chicago Spire,” says Pottie, “and that was every single person in the company working on it. Getting different opinions, passing it backwards and forwards. It gives a very rich end result.”
“It was a baptism of fire,” recalls Noë. Burrin agrees: “Trying to do something sophisticated in that market,” says Burrin, “in the States, is difficult.”
The Chicago Spire is one of the world’s most ambitious residential developments, and the package delivered by Marque is an impressive one, with a visual language very much attuned to its intended audience. From the elegant symbol through to websites, ads and print collateral, the project reveals a keen attention to detail: it might have been a huge project, but the level of care dedicated to each and every application was unfaltering. “It tested our skills across so many disciplines,” says Noë. “Naming, branding, print, content delivery in terms of writing and art direction, render art direction, advertising and a huge digital delivery.”
In the early days, the company may have evolved in a fairly organic manner, but the recent changes have been more deliberate, as they strive to carve a niche of their own. They’re not interested in designing for their peers. “It’s about trying to find an appropriate solution,” states Burrin. “You’ve got to think about your client’s needs. When you start designing for your peers and not for the client, it’s a real trap.”
Look through the Marque website and you’ll discover a body of work that eschews current trends and graphic design fads. Instead, the work is considered and crafted. The designers go to great lengths to get beneath the skin of their clients, offering a holistic service where research, consultancy and the sharing of knowledge and innovations combine with the craft of design. Inevitably, some clients take more convincing than others, but large or small, they all benefit from a measured, erudite approach. It’s an approach that has allowed them to take on more of the projects that inspire them; projects where they see themselves as the audience. “We say to some of our clients, ‘We are your demographic,’” claims Pottie. “We want to do the bars, restaurants and hotels that we want to go to.”
“Oliver Spencer’s a lovely story,” smiles Noë. “His aesthetic fits what we’re all about. His clothes aren’t about fashion. They’re about longevity; building a collection over time.” The identity Marque designed for Spencer—a menswear designer with stores in London and New York—is a fine example of its crafted approach, not to mention its role as a trusted cog in the client’s business. Spencer’s clothes are modern interpretations of classic English menswear, and the identity reflects that aesthetic with a clean, controlled palette and some appropriately crafted details.
“He’s really into detail,” says Burrin. “Epaulettes, buttoning and fabrics. He’s quite a traditional tailor. He asked us to reinvent or refresh his identity, because it was all over the shop. So we did this simple custom face, which is quite appropriate for what he does. He did get a bit fixated with the beetle.” A reference to the Victorian love of entomology, the beetle also reflects Spencer’s passion for collecting. “It’s the whole British, Victorian explorer thing,” says Pottie, “seeing the world, bringing back samples.” Drawn by Janine Trot, the stag beetle monogram is based on fantasy; it’s an idealised hybrid but it serves its purpose nonetheless, adding a rich, textured quality to the brand identity.
“For the press invite,” Noë adds, “she made the beetles by hand. There wasn’t a big budget, so the idea is that it’s collectible; it’s not something that comes in the post and you chuck it in the bin.”
They definitely have a knack for getting the best out of a small budget. They created a modular look-book for Alta Pampa, an Argentine textiles and homeware brand established by Eduardo Ardiles and Diego Scaro, meaning the company can add new products whenever it desires. Furthermore, Marque did the still-life photography in-house, building a set in the corner of its London studio. “If we’d had great budgets we could have done lifestyle shoots,” says Noë, “but they liked the idea of still life. It was about doing something simple; making the fabrics look attractive.”
“The thing is,” Burrin muses, “it’s not always like clockwork. Not every client says, ‘Show me the way!’ It’s about trying to convince them to let you take them there. Clients are starting to trust us more in that respect, and that makes us more confident in ourselves, about what we can do.”
“Just being attuned to the world and what’s going on,” says Noë. “That’s why we’re in these different locations… Long term we’d love to be in more locations, because the more we can expose ourselves to other cultures and influences, the more enriched our organisation will become.”
Having established itself in Glasgow, New York and London, Marque is planning to open in Amsterdam. While it might present the designers with their biggest challenge to date, you can’t help but see them succeed. During our interview, they showed me several work-in-progress projects—identities, exhibitions and signage projects—that will cement their reputation with both clients and peers alike. The immediate future looks exciting then, and with that in mind I’d advise you to stay tuned. The next chapter in Marque’s evolution is bound to be fascinating.
www.marquecreative.com
When Third Eye Design became Marque in 2008, it signalled an important new chapter in the evolution of a unique design collective. Founder Mark Noë has come a long way since 1996, when he established Third Eye with friend Andy Inglis. “We got involved in the club scene, doing flyers and record covers. We enjoyed it. When Igraduated Isaid, ‘Architecture’s not for me, why don’t we try graphic design?’ We fell into it that way, doing local stuff for friends… Andy’s passion is music, and after a year of working together he moved to London.” While Inglis has seen great success as a music promoter, launching award-winning venue The Luminaire, Noë enjoyed his own success, establishing Third Eye’s reputation in Glasgow and building the foundations upon which Marque has been built.
“Iworked on my own with a junior designer for two, three years. We were winning bigger contracts and the design team grew to around fifteen people. It started to gain momentum.” Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit, he aimed to offer something entirely different from the competition. “Ihad to hire well. Imean, that’s always been my philosophy—always hire people who are better than you.” He shopped around for the best graduates—not unusual in itself, but what set Third Eye Design apart in Scotland was a distinctly European aesthetic, a product of Noë’s decision to hire fresh young talent from Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark.
“I’ve always tried to bring in good, young, raw talent; get them involved and build a team. There were growing pains but we became very successful in Scotland, fairly quickly.” Having garnered the runners-up gong in 2004 and 2005, Third Eye won the Scottish Design Awards’ Design Consultancy of the Year in 2006, 2007 and 2008, by which point things had changed radically. By the end of 2006, it had studios in Glasgow, New York and London.
“Winning plaudits and awards in Scotland was great, but creatively Iwanted to stretch to something different; expose the company to a wider audience client-wise, and do the work we wanted to do. There was a case for us coming to London, but at the time Ifelt New York was the place. Ihad this idea, from day one, that I’d like to work abroad. Iwent for a long weekend in January 2005, spent time in places I’d never been before [and] got a real energy from the place.” He identified a gap in the design market and, with trademark confidence, drafted the next chapter in the company’s evolution. “There’s a perception that New York is saturated with great design firms, but when you’re actually there it’s not the case. When Istarted to research it more, there were maybe three or four agencies as direct competition.”
While many designers in New York will sniff at that notion, it is true that Marque’s distinctly European aesthetic offers a refreshing alternative. It’s also true to say that it has had a positive impact on the city’s visual landscape with projects for Dow Jones, the New York Festivals, the Haunch of Venison’s NYC gallery, luxury boutique hotels, and restaurants like Delicatessen, with its considered reinterpretation of traditional New York deli graphics.
“We took a lot of influence from classic deli menus and neon signage,” recalls Noë. “It’s a custom face,” says Joe Burrin, one of Noë’s key collaborators in Marque. “Hubert Jocham cut it for us; he’s a specialist. Then Terry Richardson did a shoot for the opening night, which became the menu imagery.”
Noë picks up the story. “Delis always photograph their patrons and have them on the wall. So we thought, how do you do that in a modern context? For the launch party we worked with Interview magazine. They got a lot of cool kids down [and] Terry took snapshots.” Richardson’s vibrant images tip a wink at the visual and social heritage of New York’s delis, but they also feed into the energy and culture of a brand that belongs well and truly in the twenty-first century. Rather like Marque. So what prompted its rebrand?
In October 2006, Noë opened the London office. Things were moving fast, and thanks to the critical success and financial stability of Third Eye Design, it became possible for him to up the ante even further. Setting up in New York and London exposed the company to a larger client base and, just as significantly, to a much broader circle of creative talent. He began building a team of established creatives, maintaining the approach and structure of a small studio while increasing the scope of its capabilities and network.
“Opening in London made sense,” admits Noë. “We’d been working with much bigger clients so Isaw it was possible to take the business international. At the same time, it was about keeping that boutique feel while hiring people that can really deliver.” Hector Pottie joined in February 2007 following spells at Tayburn, Locofoco, Meta Design, Blue Source, Cartlidge Levene and MadeThought. Joe Burrin—a former partner at both Guerrilla 6 and BCD—joined in July 2007 following four years at Spin. They are further supported by a group of experienced creatives including Nick Tweedie (formerly of Farrow, Made Thought, and Value and Service) and Lisa Smith (who worked at Browns for five years before joining the V&A). Hoss Gifford heads up the digital team, supporting Marque’s commitment to stay one step ahead of innovations in the field. “That’s a whole story in itself,” claims Burrin. “Because we’re involved in software development it can lead us into other things.”
“As a creative agency, being innovative should count,” says Noë. “It’s not just about graphics and print.” Pottie agrees. “Any medium, any discipline, we’re keen to approach it so we can tackle problem after problem. We have the right people who know what they’re doing, but it’s also about getting beyond the idea of ‘oh, you’re a graphic design company’. Yes, we do that, but on the other hand we’re also interested in the world and how it works; how we can make it better.”
“After Hector, Hoss and Joe joined,” recalls Noë, “we discussed what we’d become as a company; what we wanted to become. The name change was a big catalyst for us. Dropping ‘Design’ was essential. We gelled as a team and began to understand what we were about, what we could offer. We are truly a collective; we run three studios, but we’re effectively one small studio working together.”
They outgrew their name, but dropping the word ‘Design’ wasn’t enough. They settled on Marque, a reference to craft and design tradition, but also to the hallmark of quality and value their work can bring to a brand. As they talk me through some of their recent projects, it becomes apparent that every job is a group effort; everyone contributes to the debate, the process, and projects are seldom worked on in just one office.
“The first major international job we worked on together was the Chicago Spire,” says Pottie, “and that was every single person in the company working on it. Getting different opinions, passing it backwards and forwards. It gives a very rich end result.”
“It was a baptism of fire,” recalls Noë. Burrin agrees: “Trying to do something sophisticated in that market,” says Burrin, “in the States, is difficult.”
The Chicago Spire is one of the world’s most ambitious residential developments, and the package delivered by Marque is an impressive one, with a visual language very much attuned to its intended audience. From the elegant symbol through to websites, ads and print collateral, the project reveals a keen attention to detail: it might have been a huge project, but the level of care dedicated to each and every application was unfaltering. “It tested our skills across so many disciplines,” says Noë. “Naming, branding, print, content delivery in terms of writing and art direction, render art direction, advertising and a huge digital delivery.”
In the early days, the company may have evolved in a fairly organic manner, but the recent changes have been more deliberate, as they strive to carve a niche of their own. They’re not interested in designing for their peers. “It’s about trying to find an appropriate solution,” states Burrin. “You’ve got to think about your client’s needs. When you start designing for your peers and not for the client, it’s a real trap.”
Look through the Marque website and you’ll discover a body of work that eschews current trends and graphic design fads. Instead, the work is considered and crafted. The designers go to great lengths to get beneath the skin of their clients, offering a holistic service where research, consultancy and the sharing of knowledge and innovations combine with the craft of design. Inevitably, some clients take more convincing than others, but large or small, they all benefit from a measured, erudite approach. It’s an approach that has allowed them to take on more of the projects that inspire them; projects where they see themselves as the audience. “We say to some of our clients, ‘We are your demographic,’” claims Pottie. “We want to do the bars, restaurants and hotels that we want to go to.”
“Oliver Spencer’s a lovely story,” smiles Noë. “His aesthetic fits what we’re all about. His clothes aren’t about fashion. They’re about longevity; building a collection over time.” The identity Marque designed for Spencer—a menswear designer with stores in London and New York—is a fine example of its crafted approach, not to mention its role as a trusted cog in the client’s business. Spencer’s clothes are modern interpretations of classic English menswear, and the identity reflects that aesthetic with a clean, controlled palette and some appropriately crafted details.
“He’s really into detail,” says Burrin. “Epaulettes, buttoning and fabrics. He’s quite a traditional tailor. He asked us to reinvent or refresh his identity, because it was all over the shop. So we did this simple custom face, which is quite appropriate for what he does. He did get a bit fixated with the beetle.” A reference to the Victorian love of entomology, the beetle also reflects Spencer’s passion for collecting. “It’s the whole British, Victorian explorer thing,” says Pottie, “seeing the world, bringing back samples.” Drawn by Janine Trot, the stag beetle monogram is based on fantasy; it’s an idealised hybrid but it serves its purpose nonetheless, adding a rich, textured quality to the brand identity.
“For the press invite,” Noë adds, “she made the beetles by hand. There wasn’t a big budget, so the idea is that it’s collectible; it’s not something that comes in the post and you chuck it in the bin.”
They definitely have a knack for getting the best out of a small budget. They created a modular look-book for Alta Pampa, an Argentine textiles and homeware brand established by Eduardo Ardiles and Diego Scaro, meaning the company can add new products whenever it desires. Furthermore, Marque did the still-life photography in-house, building a set in the corner of its London studio. “If we’d had great budgets we could have done lifestyle shoots,” says Noë, “but they liked the idea of still life. It was about doing something simple; making the fabrics look attractive.”
“The thing is,” Burrin muses, “it’s not always like clockwork. Not every client says, ‘Show me the way!’ It’s about trying to convince them to let you take them there. Clients are starting to trust us more in that respect, and that makes us more confident in ourselves, about what we can do.”
“Just being attuned to the world and what’s going on,” says Noë. “That’s why we’re in these different locations… Long term we’d love to be in more locations, because the more we can expose ourselves to other cultures and influences, the more enriched our organisation will become.”
Having established itself in Glasgow, New York and London, Marque is planning to open in Amsterdam. While it might present the designers with their biggest challenge to date, you can’t help but see them succeed. During our interview, they showed me several work-in-progress projects—identities, exhibitions and signage projects—that will cement their reputation with both clients and peers alike. The immediate future looks exciting then, and with that in mind I’d advise you to stay tuned. The next chapter in Marque’s evolution is bound to be fascinating.
www.marquecreative.com
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