Richard Baird
Founder
About
Designer, writer and founder of BP&O, a publication exploring branding and packaging design.
Biography source ↗Biography checked
In their own words
Made in Italy sells more than where something was manufactured.
Sometimes packaging isn’t competing against another brand but convincing people to cross the aisle entirely.
Self-deprecating humour is one of the few voices a brand can use where it takes a hit and still comes out stronger.
Self-deprecation works when you’re in on the joke, not when you are it.
Portal offers access to this engaged community, helping individuals take their next step and enabling studios to grow.
This will be the first system in the industry to connect a jobs board and ATS so you’ll have a direct understanding of how well the job listing on Portal did.
This feels like vibe branding. It’s a vibe – and it doesn’t need to be anything more.
From the foundational principles of music – musical motifs, the real nuts and bolts of musical communication – Collins has built a sense of boisterous improvisation and spontaneous musical expansion.
We call this Wittl, and we’ve designed it for small to medium-sized studios, those who, through great work, are finding that one job post is getting a lot applications.
The logotype is weird (it’s the ‘g’ that does it), but the typeface (the aptly named Work Sans), characters, and colour palette are very disarming.
Articles & interviews
- Smart Life Co Brightens Oral Care Shelf Design
BP&O praises Design Womb's identity and packaging work for oral-care brand Smart Life Co. The project replaces the category's cold, clinical visual conventions with bold colour, stripes and playful type, while foregrounding bamboo, biodegradable, compostable and refill-ready product formats.
- Jules Feiffer Remembered Through His Final Interview and Last Books
BP&O examines Made in Europe, a certification concept created by Copenhagen think tank 21st Europe with Dada Projects. Unveiled at Web Summit in Lisbon, the initiative combines a twelve-star certification mark and Digital Product Passport to make European manufacturing standards, traceability and environmental protections visible to consumers.
- Sunwink Packaging Uses Cobalt Color to Stand Out in Wellness Drinks
Richard Baird’s BP&O article reflects on Sunwink’s cobalt-blue packaging and how it stands out in the wellness drink category. He praises its ability to attract attention and shift consumer perception in a market dominated by muted tones. The piece highlights how design can influence behavior, even prompting a switch from alcoholic to functional beverages.