Category Archives: Graphic Design

Return of the hat…

…-trick. hat-trick‘s Jim Sutherland visited Lincoln as part of the Chitter-Chatter talks series. I remember going to his talk two years ago when I was a 1st year and being really inspired. Ever since then I’ve kept an eye on their work and was really excited to hear that Jim would be doing another talk.

For the full low down, read what I wrote on the Show Thirteen blog.

I briefly talked about their work for the Horniman Museum & Gardens but I need to show you something:

So they cleverly use brackets as a way of linking different collections, create a H and patterns for merchandise. Did anyone notice this:

Does anyone remember my YCN i  newspaper campaign from last year?

I used the bracket as a fun, moustache icon. Seems like the guys at hat-trick and I are on the same wave length… I’m going to take that as a good sign! Maybe I belong at hat-trick?

I asked Jim a question about how to stand out from the crowd of students applying for internships at hat-trick and in return he gave out some ‘prizes’. The choice was either some hat-trick playing cards (which I love) or a box with a book in. I didn’t know what book was in the box but I think that’s why I chose it – I like a bit of mystery. Inside the box was a beautiful 900 page mini book of every hat-trick project – ‘In brief‘:

Ooooh look, there’s the Illuminating Victoria alphabet hoarding project – a bit of a personal fave! So I’m glad I chose the book – tonnes of hat-trick inspiration at my finger tips. It was a brilliant talk and a lovely surprise to see that an idea that I’d produced in 2nd year had also been thought of by experienced designers at hat-trick.

Thanks for the talk and helpful advice Jim – expect something soon, hat-trick!

Leave a Comment

Filed under Graphic Design, BA (Hons) Graphic Design, University of Lincoln

Going dotty

It’s been such a busy week – I’m going dotty:

There’s so much going on, I don’t know whether I’m coming or going! Just thought I’d post a quick photo of my mess of a desk – I’ve been working in the studio today. It’s my last University crit EVER on Friday – it’s pretty scary! I haven’t got time to think about that yet though…

Leave a Comment

Filed under Me, Graphic Design, University, BA (Hons) Graphic Design, University of Lincoln

Pick Me Up 2013

Yesterday Jack & I travelled to London to visit Pick Me Up, the graphic arts festival at Somerset House. Last year Jack went with his sister Emma and her boyfriend Alex, and we met up with them to see what was on show this year. En route to catch the train I realised I hadn’t brought my camera with me – I was so annoyed with myself! Knight to the rescue – Jack let me borrow his iPhone but I hadn’t ever used one before so they’re not the best photos ever, sorry.

We hadn’t booked tickets online as we wasn’t  sure what time we would be going so had to wait in the queue for a bit but it was a gorgeous sunny day so it wasn’t so bad!

When we finally made it inside, the first thing I saw was Maricor Maricar‘s beautiful stitched typography which I’d seen on Behance. (This happened with a lot of the work – great to recognise something you’ve seen online but actually see it in the flesh!)

Around the corner was some great work by Hattie Stewart:

A set of magazine spreads overlaid with patterns and doodles – so much detail!

The room was full of people admiring the work and Daniel Frost’s people caught my eye as well as that of a little girl on a scooter…

Anna Lomax’s work caught my eye for a different reason:

A neon fry up and some fluorescent price tags – very British!

Fluoro was quite popular, also featuring in the striking risograph prints by Rob Flowers:

Striking for other reasons…

Malika Favre’s Kama Sutra alphabet for the Penguin Classics book. Some were a bit naughty but they’re simple, striking and brilliant!

We then went upstairs and the first thing I was was this lovely print by Dayjob – it was obviously the tri-dar in me:

A nice little range of prints.

Brothers of the stripe were showcasing some great prints…

… as well as a lovely eclectic alphabet.

Fatherless print posse were screen printing through out the day:

Awesome and colourful prints – I liked the overlaying.

Facestamp by Human after all provided an opportunity for you to do some printing yourself…

A variety of facial feature stamps with different styles by several illustrators – good fun.

Fun was a general theme throughout the room with portrait booths, fayre games including hoop-la and an ideas machine:

Then we ventured into the collaboratives and gallery side rooms off the main area…

…Puckleduster had set up a mini tattoo parlour offering temporary tattoos whilst Nelly Duff had an eccentric gallery with quirky frames and Anthony Burrill prints:

SOMA had some cool parcel tape:

and I loved Hazel Nicholls’ Nice biscuit design – ‘It’s nice to be nice’. I also loved Untitled’s alphabet candles…

…whilst Jack & Alex admired their prints – one of which was on printed onto leather.

In Handsome Frank’s room I found a lonely fluoro poster shouting FREE at me, so of course I picked it up (pick me up pun haha):

But it wasn’t the same story in the shop – I resisted buying any of these tubes filled with lovely prints:

I was well behaved, only picking up a few freebie leaflets and business cards and I signed up to a couple of mailing lists too:

As I’m sure you can tell, I had a great time! Saw so much, loved so much and even persuaded Jack to take my photo next to the giant Pick Me Up pencil (which I am amazingly colour co-ordinated with)!

Pick Me Up is open until 28th April and I recommend going if you’re around London. I’ll definitely be going again next year.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Craft, Graphic Design, Illustration, Printmaking, Typography

Dirty Money

A little while back, the 2nd years were working on designs for the Penguin Book Cover Awards 2013 and it reminded me – I wanted to enter. Last year I submitted an entry for One flew the cuckoo’s nest by Ken Kesey. This year the brief was asking to design a cover for The big sleep by Raymond Chandler. It’s set in LA around the 1930s and is based around the adventures of private detective, Philip Marlowe.

The story is based around crime, murder, blackmail, money, pornography and backstabbing so it’s pretty dark and dodgy. For me, the main root of all the problems was money, dirty money. Now I’m pretty sure that defacing money is frowned upon, but in the name of art, ooops…

… needs be. It’s not real money though so it’s ok, right? Just a normal day, defacing some money and then I arranged it on a page:

It didn’t really turn out how I wanted, but it wasn’t the main part of the design. For the cover I wanted to create a camera with the money pouring out of the lens… so I did:

I stuck the money down but not completely flat, so that when I took the photo there would be shadows.

And here’s my final cover:

For the background of the blurb on the back cover I used a newspaper texture with jagged edging. On the front cover I added the title and other required information.

I should probably add that I basically did this in a day – the idea and the production. I know it’s not amazing but I just wanted to submit something, so I did! It was just a bit of fun :)

I’ve seen some great entries on Behance and cargo so good luck to everyone!

Leave a Comment

Filed under Graphic Design, Paper Craft

Hungry?

Hunger is usually a negative thing – you need or want something that you don’t have. Hunger magazine is what you want and need – it is possibly the best designed magazine on the shelves right now (although I’m a fan of 1883 too). It describes itself as being ‘for the culturally and visually hungry’ and it definitely delivers!

On Thursday issue #4 was released and I headed to my local WH Smiths to get a copy. Hunger is a biannual publication, so it’s a long wait in between but it’s completely worth it! With Ian Rankin as Editor in Chief, Hunger was guaranteed to be awesome in my opinion.

For less than £5 it is an absolute bargain with over 432 pages – it’s almost a book! I bought issue #3 a while back, which had a fluorescent pink spot colour – this issue uses silver:

An introduction to the cover girls – Rita Ora, Iggy Azelea, A*M*E, Gabriella Aplin, Grimes and Jessie J. 6 girls, 6 covers – I chose Jessie J.

The contents page is full of text, yet so spacious and doesn’t feel cluttered even with images as well.

In fact all of the magazine is so spacious – they get the balance just right through out. Even when a page is text heavy, it doesn’t look too much:

The title pages are simply silver with text in white:

It’s beautiful!

The interviews range from models and musicians to actresses…

… such as Gemma Arterton. Her article contrasts Hunger’s crafted typography with some delicate but interestingly skewed cropped images. Also featured…

… are TV presenters Ant & Dec! An odd choice if you ask me – I wouldn’t have placed them in cool, edgy and forward thinking Hunger magazine. But hey, Hunger is a magazine that will keep you on your toes!

I love the title of Selma Blair’s article – it’s simple but striking and of course it helps that there’s a triangle instead of the A!

Hunger’s typographic detailing is one of the best elements. The typeface stays consistent, but it changes in subtle ways to be playful and quirky:

Shaping…

… upside down & back to front…

… delicate flourishes…

… connecting lines..

… free to roam…

… confined in a diamond…

… and dripping onto the page.

I had to highlight this – an interview with Phillip Schofield! On par with the Ant & Dec interview in bizarreness for me, but still – lovely photography and typography!

And it still continues…

… falling…

… in lights…

… in an elevator…

… in a square. So simple but with so much personality – I love it! It just proves that you don’t need complicated, in your face titles all the time.

The last section of the magazine is framed with silver – a great detail . The whole magazine is just amazing. And I’ve only shown you 5% of it – there’s still over 400 pages to explore. Got £5 burning a hole in your pocket? Feed your Hunger! ;)

Like I said, it’s quite a while in between issues, so check out the website for more:

So who have I convinced? Let me know…

4 Comments

Filed under Graphic Design, Magazine Design, Typography