Tag 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!

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

What’s in the window? #4

What’s in the window? Me! Well I’m not anymore, but I was in the window today creating a display for the auction.
The Auction 13 team have been given permission to use TPH’s window to display our lovely postcards, so we set to work:

          

We’ve displayed the postcards that we’ve received so far on a bookcase. To create some suspense and excitement, we’ve  created a guessing game by placing tags with a numbers. Get involved  on twitter by guessing which numbered postcard was created by who – it’s a bit of fun!

The boys worked hard on our blackboard:

There’s a date for the auction now, with bidding opening 6th May and ending from 6PM Sunday 12th May – plenty of time to get your bids in!

What do you think to our window? We’ve had some great comments already but we’d love to hear from you – tweet us!

If you’re around Lincoln, pop down to Thomas Parker House and take a look at the postcards in detail. But if you’re elsewhere in the world don’t worry, we’ll have close up images of all of our lovely postcards very soon.

Watch our video to see how it all came together:

We are so grateful to all the creatives involved – thank you! Keep an eye on twitter as we’ll start to turn over the tags to reveal the creative behind the postcard.  In the meantime, get involved in the guessing game on twitter and help to spread the word – we’d really appreciate it!

I’ve got my eye on a couple of postcards, so will be keeping my fingers crossed, but will just be happy to raise money for Show Thirteen and brighten people’s days with some lovely postcards.

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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…

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Filed under Graphic Design, Magazine Design, Typography

Mind your language!

WARNING: This post contains swearing!

It seems like a long time ago now, but before Christmas I started working on the ISTD Sound Bites brief. After listening to several of the clips, I found swearing was a common theme and an interesting one at that. I’m not really much of a swearer, but I definitely learnt a few words during this project!

I packaged my work up on Tuesday and this weekend it is auditioning at the judges houses – has it got the ISTD factor? Let’s hope so – keep your fingers crossed for me!

Mind your language! is my dictionary of swear words and taboos from around the UK. It’s A3 in size for a big impact, like the swear words contained inside!

I used a selection of woodblock type to create the titles, quotes and end paper pattern of exclamation marks.

I divided the UK into sections to make it easy for the reader to navigate the dictionary: Scotland, The North, The Midlands, The East, The South, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The left hand page contains the definitions and the right, the experimental visual of the word:

Barstarrd

Raining (Pisssin it daaaaan)

Muva fucka

It was good fun listening to people discuss swearing and then transcribing how the words are spoken. I’d never really thought about it before, but found it  interesting to hear about the changing attitudes to swearing – generations and regions all have different opinions. One word could be considered very offensive in one area but be part of everyday language in another.

Arrrsss

Shittt

Cockney rhyming slang – Brahms & List (Pissed)

Flippin’ eck

Nack Kerred

My tutors, Philippa and Barrie, said that when they were marking it for assessment, they were sounding out the words – which I can just imagine and makes me smile. I hope everyone reading this had been doing the same too, even if it’s just in your head.

As part of the definitions, I wrote some examples of how the words would be used in conversation – that was interesting! Ha

This tastes like shit (adj.)
Can you stop talking shit? (adj.)
When he had me by the throat I was absolutely shit scared. (v.)
Oh shit, I’ve missed the bus! (interj.)

All good fun! So what’s the conclusion? Whether you think swearing is inappropriate and show a lack of vocabulary or is a healthy way to emphasise your feelings…

… everyone’s got an opinion on swearing!

To finish, I japanese stab bound my dictionary:

This project was stressful, but fun. They’re just words, but they have so much power! I originally had more planned, but figured 83 pages was enough of a challenge. Swearing is interesting and I think I’d like to look into it again in the future – another thing to add to the long list!

Fingers crossed, the judges won’t be offended and will see the fun side (and brilliant typography :P ). Fingers crossed for good news!

Until then… What do you think? If you want to see more, there’s a few more photos on my website.

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Filed under BA (Hons) Graphic Design, Book Making, Graphic Design, Printmaking, Typography, University, University of Lincoln

Women in Graphic Design

The University library started a system called ‘More books’ just after christmas where students can request new books that are needed for studying/dissertation. My dissertation looks at women in Graphic Design – the attitudes, successes and problems faced. As a female about to go into the industry, it’s something that is very relevant and I find it really interesting. I found that all of the books on women and design in our library were either about feminist art or celebrating the female form – not really what I wanted! So I put in a request for 2 books more specifically about women in Graphic Design. A couple of weeks later my housemate Amy said she’d seen something in the new books section which reminded her of me:

One of my books had arrived!

Women in Graphic Design 1890 – 2012 by Gerda Breuer and Julia Meer is a great study of the development of women’s roles in Graphic Design. Although half of it is written in German, it contains some insightful interviews and case studies of female graphic designers around the world (in English – yay!).

From Irma Bloom…

… to Paula Scher, this book is the perfect resource for my dissertation! It even includes sections from other books by female designers like The boat by Paula Scher:

And if that wasn’t enough, there’s an A-Z of female designers at the back:

From April Greiman to Jessica Hische – old and modern female designers are featured side by side giving a great overview of history on the topic.

Unfortunately 3 other people have requested the book so I have to return it, but I’ve definitely learnt a lot from it. Thanks University of Lincoln library!

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