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Null Zero is an independent, Berlin/London-based graphic design studio. Our approach blends conceptual rigour, creativity and craftsmanship.

 

Founded by Craig Sinnamon, the studio works across print, digital media and physical spaces for cultural, commercial and educational clients. Our output is progressive, considered and distilled down to the essential. Collaboration is central to the practice — often by forming project-specific teams from a network of specialists.

Contact

Null Zero

Templiner Strasse 7

Berlin 10119, Germany

mail@nullzero.studio

Selected clients

Atelier Paulina Piipponen
Belmacz Gallery
British Council
Design Research Studio
Historic England
Illuminated River Foundation
Ilona Gaynor
Léon Wuidar
London Institute of Photography
Mind Design
Moving Brands
Playlab
Somerset House
Tom Dixon
V2 Institute for Unstable Media

Colophon

Web development: Virgile Janssen
Typeface: Pitch Sans

Legal

Registered office address:
Null Zero Ltd, (c/o CNG Associates),
23 Austin Friars, London EC2N 2QP
Registered company number: 8668032

© 2020 / All rights reserved

Null Zero is an independent, Berlin/London-based graphic design studio.

Léon Wuidar website

Website design for the Belgian contemporary artist Léon Wuidar. For sixty years he has been exploring geometric abstraction, informed by architectural light, space, volume and perspective.

Designed with Virgile Janssen
Photography courtesy of Rodolphe Janssen

If I Was Your Girlfriend catalogue

Newspaper catalogue designed for the exhibition ‘If I Was Your Girlfriend: A Jam’ at Belmacz Gallery commemorating the two year anniversary of Prince’s passing. The newspaper deconstructs tabloid culture and celebrity, featuring work by 27 artists and writers.

Belmacz Gallery website

Redesign of the Belmacz Gallery website. The design is a mixture of brutal minimalism and refined elegance to reflect the output of the contemporary art gallery.

Web development by Virgile Janssen

Artworks by Belmacz artists

 

 

Muggenburg Grotesk Neue

Bespoke title typeface for Belmacz Gallery, London. It is an update of their Muggenburg Grotesk typeface (itself a direct relation to Kino MT). It uses a more traditional grotesk footprint to aid legibility on and off screen, whilst retaining the idiosyncratic features of its predecessors.

Kino MT by Martin Dovey / Monotype, 1930
Muggenburg Grotesk by Andy Lang / Mind Design, 2006

Out There

Identity and exhibition design commissioned by Historic England for the exhibition Out There at Somerset House. It explores post-war public art in Britain and focuses on the people and stories behind the pieces.

 

We had access to a brilliant photographic archive from the period and were struck by the less formal images of people interacting with the public art. This became the photographic theme for selecting images to promote the show, such as the sceptical man between the Hepworth on the main poster.

Curated by Sarah Gaventa for Historic England

A to z

An animation exploring the form and structural connections between characters of the alphabet. The typeface used is a custom skeletal weight of Simplex to emphasise the transitions between characters. Created for the Typeset exhibition as part of Offset, Dublin.

Designed with Amira Prescott
Simplex typeface by Dr AV Hershey, 1967

The Ascent

Graphic design for Ilona Gaynor’s carte blanche at Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Etienne 2017. The subject was a play which is set on an airplane. The set was designed to be bare and indicative — like a scaled-up diagram. The project included set design, typography and a printed script.

Exhibition design in collaboration with Ilona Gaynor

Alpenglühen

Art catalogue published on the occasion of Ettore Sottsass’ 100th birthday and group exhibition at Belmacz Gallery. The publication presents Sottsass’ work alongside 11 contemporary artists drawing inspiration from his output.

London Institute of Photography

Identity for the LIoP. It utilises a constructed typeface built from modular blocks — much like how the courses are taught in building blocks of individual units. The bright colours are inspired by photography test cards.

Photography by Holger Pooten
Initial website developed by Neal Fletcher

The Department of No

Identity for the design, research and investigation studio. The primary aim was to create a symbol which is strong, direct and mysterious. Inspiration was taken from public order signage (ie. No Smoking), optical illusions, marine dazzle patterns, document stamps, cult iconography and classic bank logos. The shape also represents an ‘N’ and ‘O’. The logo does not explain itself and is often used only as an identifier without accompanying typography.

Work completed with Andy Lang and ongoing

Zoë Law

Identity and website for the photographer Zoë Law. The typography is designed to have a minimal, quiet confidence so that it acts as a neutral platform for the photograhy. The monochromatic colour palette is offset with a fresh yellow.

Photography by Zoë Law
Website developed by Neal Fletcher

Sticky Banjo

The studio was amoung the 100 artists and designers selected to create a beer label for the 100/100 exhibition by The Liverpool Craft Beer Co. Each participant was assigned a random beer name.

Work completed with Lena Wallacher

Belmacz Gallery

Redesign of the Belmacz identity to coincide with the opening of their gallery and shop in Mayfair, London. The identity is based on the ideas of dislocation and refinement, referencing creation of jewellery from raw materials and their journey.

Work completed at Mind Design and ongoing

Never Mind The Bollards

An installation in South Crescent, London commissioned by New London Architecture which explores design in public spaces. The focus was on elements which often get overlooked; such as bollards, manhole covers and railings etc. The design uses patterns found on these industrial objects with coloured planes used in public information.

Work completed with Virgile Janssen
Curated by Sarah Gaventa

Paramount

Identity, stationery, printed items, signage and interior elements for a private members’ club located in the top 3 floors of Centre Point, London. The identity is a set of rising patterns based on the graphic shapes found in the buildings architecture.

Work completed at Mind Design
Interior design by Design Research Studio
Interior photography by Ed Reeve

The Collection

Identity for a West London Restaurant. The idea is based on artist multiples, limited editions and signatures. The logo is the owner’s handwriting which was then edited electronically and given specified curve limits to create a kind of synthetic signature. All of signage is created using a series of A5 cards which are screen-printed while constantly adding different inks.

Work completed at Mind Design
Interior design by Design Research Studio

Manning’s

Identity and website for a London-based tutor company. The visual language is inspired by the shapes and forms of school stationery and ephemera, remixed to create new compositions and patterns.

Website developed by Virgile Janssen

Paper Moon

Exhibition concept and design for the show Paper Moon held at the V2 Institute of Unstable Media, Rotterdam, Netherlands. It explores historic and emerging legal and economic consequences of prospective Outer Space ownership and control. A conscious effort was made to avoid the stereotypical sci-fi aesthetics of space, as all decisions regarding Outer Space are made in an office environment on Earth. The theme of the office is used to communicate and bind the investigations together.

Exhibition content and design with Ilona Gaynor, with research assistance by Benedict Singleton

Playlab

Identity, stationery and website for a company who celebrate the link between play and creativity. They run creative workshops and events using a wide variety of digital and physical mediums. The design is a mix of laboratory with an ‘anything goes’ attitude, to match the companies ethos.

Completed at Mind Design and ongoing