branding

The Globe and Mail x Cannes Lions

The Globe and Mail has been the official Canadian representative for the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity for the last twenty years. 

They asked us to develop a fresh, cohesive identity that speaks to the Canadian focus while bringing in French Riviera vibes—even providing playlists in their brief for inspo! 

We dusted off our high school French to come up with a framing device for the system, using the language to demarcate their series of events: Pré Cannes, Canada À Cannes, Après Cannes—and adding a series of phrases for a fun, friendly touch throughout. 

Visually, we landed on the idea of ‘Postcards from Cannes’—leaning into an elegant typeface with Art Nouveau proportions paired with sunny riviera-inspired photography.

The result is a bold scalable system that can be applied effectively to a wide range of extensions, including e-vites, posters, ads, signage, social media, merch and more. 

It was a milestone year for The Globe as we celebrated 20 years as Canada’s official representative to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. I couldn’t have asked for a better creative partner than Studio Wyse to help reimagine and elevate our visual identity.

From event branding systems and comms templates to custom merch (those matchbooks! that broadsheet paper!), their work helped The Globe show up with clarity, cohesion, and undeniable style.
— Marcin Zerek, Head of Trade Marketing at The Globe and Mail

For the cover of the custom 8-page newspaper, illustrator Giacomo Gambineri built a world around the theme of Canada in Cannes – including numerous Canadiana references (see if you can find the trash panda) and other nods to the festival. Plus, some spots for a witty weather forecast!

Inside, the paper features advice from award-winning creatives, past Grand Prix & Titanium award-winning work, and Q&As with Canadian talent heading to this year’s festival paired with photos from the Pré Cannes event by Albert Hoang.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Marcin ZereK; EDITOR AND WRITER: CHARLOTTE HERROLD

contributors: Giacomo gambineri, Albert Hoang

Lately

Meet Lately, the latest tech & business podcast from The Globe and Mail. The weekly 30-minute episodes tackle big heady topics like: the fake online review economy, technofeudalism, posting your layoff on TikTok, and more.

We established a modern and buzzy identity, pairing an open geometric sans-forward workmark with a reduced, pop-art colour palette and brought in Rose Wong to help us develop a custom illustration for the podcast cover.

Studio Wyse’s designs break through the clutter of the media landscape. The team’s branding for The Globe’s Lately is punchy, bold and fun — it matches the voice of the show and pops on a user’s scroll of favourite podcasts.
— Maryam Sanati Managing Director, Product Growth and Innovation, Globe Media Group

Lafayette Magazine Rebrand

Lafayette College is a small private liberal arts college in the U.S. Founded in 1826, they are proudly independent and academically competitive, offering bachelor degrees in dozens of arts and sciences fields including five in engineering. 

When they approached us, both internal sentiment and feedback from the college community was that Lafayette is among their peers in every measurement that matters—they just weren’t showing it effectively. We set-out to completely re-envision their flagship communication vehicle—the quarterly alumni magazine, its digital counterpart and the supporting newsletter and social media channels. 

The goal was to position the college as an innovative, nationwide leader by showing the impact of its alumni, faculty, and students. We worked with the team to establish a strong editorial mandate and strategy, with more visual content and variety in story formats and a sprinkling of small details, entry points and elements of surprise throughout. 

The new magazine and supporting website are relevant, innovative and confident, telling authentic and meaningful stories while bringing in an energetic and dynamic visual approach. It evokes pride in Lafayette and offers alumni a backstage pass not found elsewhere, all aligned with digital assets that amplify and extend the depth and creativity of the printed stories.