Rose Thomas

I have a shop!

2012-01-23T21:16:00.001Z

http://rosethomas.bigcartel.com

Withdrawn zines

2011-11-21T14:34:00.001Z

Scandinavian Domestic Design

Industrial Design & the Community

Cities, Their Origin, Growth and Human Impact

Canonic Design in English Mediaeval Architecture

Each zine folds out into a different poster celebrating the Withdrawn series

Withdrawn is a set of zines created from books rejected by the University for the Creative Arts library in Epsom. The books had their covers torn off and branded with WITHDRAWN. They were found in the tip by tutors who saved them and the hundreds of others being thrown out. The covers were left in tact and the books found themselves on a table ready to be taken away by passers by. Each Withdrawn zine features one of these rejected books. I have re-ordered and re-edited the books to eight pages each chosen for their visual merit and each one folds out to a different poster celebrating the Withdrawn series.

My new online portfolio...

2011-11-10T13:01:00.000Z

is here!

Handmade and Bound

2011-11-03T17:16:00.002Z

A spread from a new zine: Withdrawn no.1

I'm busy creating and printing lots of new zines for Handmade and Bound later this month. I'm also preparing lots of screen printed wares including my moustache bookmarks and the above Christmas paraphernalia.
I filled my bag with lots of wondrous books and prints last year and I can't wait to see what's on offer this year. I'm selling with the lovely and talented Graphics students from UCA Epsom who sold almost everything on offer last year.
The event is on at St Bride's on Sunday 20th November, 12-6pm more details here.

Babies!

2011-08-31T14:17:00.005+01:00

One of the best things about growing up is your friends having children, which means I've been busy designing and screen printing cards to print for some of my favourite little people.

Here comes summer!

2011-08-05T10:50:00.002+01:00

Today is day two of my month away from work, so far I have seen the final Harry Potter film (and wept), eaten 4 ice lollies, swam in the lido, eaten 3 Frankfurters and created lots of illustrations. I posted one yesterday whilst listening to Adam & Joe talking about the fantastical language of physicist Brian Cox. Today I have been working on a print to submit to Advice to sink in slowly, who give posters to Freshers starting uni, but these aren't any old posters, they are posters designed by graduates with advice to sink in slowly. It'a a great idea.

I wanted to create something which had been printed on a risograph, I do love a good pattern overlap, unfortunately I don't have a risograph printer, so I cheated a little. Sorry.

Inspired by Brian Cox, Adam Buxton & Joe Cornish

2011-08-03T13:11:00.005+01:00

This morning has included lots of laughing whilst listening to the Best Of Adam & Joe on iplayer. Here's an illustration inspired by them talking about the physicist Brian Cox. A couple of close ups below.

Long Live The Art School- The book

2011-06-23T00:00:00.007+01:00

Last week was the book launch and supporting exhibition for Long Live The Art School, the graduate show for the Graphic Design course I work with at UCA Epsom.

The book (click for online edition) celebrates the opening of the original Epsom School of Art by Lord Rosebery in 1898. The book features the events on the course over the past year, including workshops, visiting speakers, exhibitions, publications and the Print Area which I run. Long Live There are essays on the subject of the Art School from guest writers, artists, lecturers and designers including Adrian Shaughnessy, Andy Altman (Why Not Associates), Ken Garland, Martin O'Neill and Vaughan Oliver.

The book also acts as a catalogue of graduate work from the course and is supported by the exhibition of graduate work at The Gallery on Redchurch Street, London. I worked with the curatorial team to design and hang the exhibition, my main role being to curate a salon hang of 55 A3 frames, each one representing a graduate.

The website designed and built by Aaron Nicholls includes a digital version of the salon hang which links you to the graduates portfolios when you roll-over.

The book features a number of my own prints made in the Print Area alongside students prints from the past year. As well as featuring projects I have worked on such as Acne Paper, Minotaur and Elephant magazine. I also printed a letterpress quotation from a lecture Andy Altman gave at epsom earlier in the year and the back cover features a letterpress print I did for the book saying Long Live The Art School. Pictured aboved (photo credit to Bob Wilson)

As well as celebrating and exploring the notion of the Art School the book has collated all the interesting, intriguing, inventive and intelligent work which has been done by both staff and students this year and truly expresses the nature of the course.

Long Live The Art School!

I designed a new typeface

2011-06-01T01:03:00.009+01:00

Long Live The Art School

2011-05-27T12:36:00.003+01:00

Invitation for the book launch by Graphic Design BA at UCA Epsom; where I run the Print Area. I printed the letterpress quote on our Farley proofing press along with other quotes inthe publication relating to the Art School. The photograph is of Lord Rosebury, who opened the original Epsom School of Art. More information about the book launch from Design Week.

The launch will feature a publication containing a range of student work as well as a feature on the Print Area and student prints.

New business cards

2011-05-18T00:52:00.005+01:00

New business card experiment screen printed using the screen filler technique.

Painting on to the screen

2011-05-17T23:20:00.005+01:00

I have been painting on to screens with screen filler to print reversed out. The top photo is the screen filler on the screen and the bottom one is ready to print with black ink. It makes screen printing so much quicker and easier to prepare. Today I have printed two posters and eight business card designs.

Flickr number 2.

2011-04-27T18:03:00.007+01:00

I've set up a new Flickr account to upload photos from the UCA Epsom Print Area, which is where I work four days of the week.

Letterpress seed packets

2011-04-21T15:03:00.005+01:00

I've set some lead type and ornaments to print onto tiny brown envelopes to turn them into seed packets. The information recorded on each packet will be the name, when to sow and notes. I was inspired by Small Caps blog after reading about seed swaps.

Click on the photo to enlarge.

jotta's photos from the Dazed Live zine exhibition

2011-04-14T15:26:00.002+01:00

In the last post I wrote about my zine Adventures in Newsprint being part of Dazed Live festival.

jotta, who curated the exhibition have some good photos of the event on their flickr.

Dazed Live Zine exhibition

2011-04-12T12:35:00.006+01:00

Last weekend saw the Dazed Live festival take over several venues in London. As part of Dazed Live jotta held an exhibition "celebrating the best London zines of past and present, alongside a selection of iconic international titles."

A zine I made to represent the Print Area at UCA Epsom was entered into the exhibition alongside students zines printed in the Print Area and many a zine from the depths of self-publishing history.

Here are some photos from 'Adventures in Newsprint' which was created from a selection of scrap prints produced in the Print Area at UCA Epsom (GDNM.org). Screen Prints by Students- Ben Ewing, Danielle White & Depinder Sidhu and Staff - Rose Thomas, Brian Whitehead & Tim Ellis.

left hand side: Rose Thomas. right hand side: Ben Ewing

left hand side: Ben Ewing. right hand side: Danielle White

Ben has photos on the exhibition on his blog.

3D Type Book

2011-04-04T12:37:00.005+01:00

The 3D type book published by Lawrence King is now on sale at Amazon, and stocks are running low! A posted a video preview a few posts ago, which features a flick through of the whole book. The 3D Type Book features photography I did for the Pixies Minotaur boxset.

Mother's Day

2011-03-28T18:04:00.002+01:00

Screen printed Mother's Day cards

2011-03-28T16:45:00.004+01:00

An illustration for Inventive and co

The 3D Type book

2011-02-22T19:47:00.010Z

The 3D Type Book by FL@33 from Tomi Vollauschek on Vimeo.

This video shows a sneak preview of The 3D Type Book designed by FL@33 and published by Laurence King.

The book features one of my images from Minotaur, the Pixies boxset.

I worked on Minotaur with Vaughan Oliver (Art Direction), Simon Larbalestier (photography), Phoebe Richardson, Rosie Upright, Ben Ewing, Aaron Kitney and Michael Speed.

The picture below shows a spread featuring Minotaur.

"This book is the most comprehensive showcase of three-dimensional letterforms ever written, featuring over 1,300 images of more than 300 projects by more than 160 emerging talents and established individuals and studios" more here.

Available for pre-order on Amazon

Valentines Day cards

2011-02-02T17:29:00.002Z

Just sent off these hand screen printed Valentine's Day cards to the Black Swan Arts.

Me at work

2011-01-19T23:30:00.004Z

Here's me printing my Christmas Thank you postcards, which are in the post. Letterpress on the Farley proofing press at work.

Acne Paper

2011-01-17T23:45:00.003Z

Here are a few more spreads of letterpress prints featuring in Acne Paper 11, Winter 2011. The Studio issue. Design by Ben Branagan and Art direction by Christoph Stolberg, who both came along for a fun day printing the over-sized letters.

Find every page here. It's on sale now.

A past post with more information is here.

Parallelogram

2011-01-17T23:37:00.004Z

I created this poster in January 2009, then screen printed it in November 2010. Here is the screen print with blue to silver gradient, it's a shame you can't see silver on screen. I posted the original poster here.

Still Reverting to Type

2011-01-10T00:59:00.005Z

The Reverting to Type exhibition is on at Standpoint Gallery until 22nd January.

Two of my prints feature in the show, which is one reason to see it, but really there is an amazing selection of innovative and beautiful letterpress work from printers the world over.

The opening night was rammed full of people amazed by the work, so I'm not just shamelessly promotion my work, it's a very good show.

If you don't believe me, then try this review from Eye Magazine.

Below is a video from New North Press who organised the exhibition , which gives interesting insight into their ambitions, as well as some lovely footage of the studio.

Reverting to Type from Lima Charlie on Vimeo.

Hello. I love you.

2010-12-16T15:49:00.005Z

New cards, illustrated and hand screen printed by me. Winging their way into gift shops in the new year.

Acne Paper 11 - Letterpress

2010-12-15T16:31:00.007Z

A few months ago I was visited by Acne Paper to assist them in doing some Letterpress printing for the next issue. These large letters are around 30cm tall and were specially laser cut for the job. The magazine is out now, and it's really great. You can buy it here. I'll put a few more images of the work once I've found a big enough scanner, it's a huge magazine!

Design by Ben Branagan.

Art Direction by Christoph Stolberg.

An out take print features in this post.

Pixies’ ‘Minotaur’ box set earns Grammy nomination for best packaging design

2010-12-08T21:23:00.003Z

I worked on this beautiful boxset with Vaughan Oliver as Art director, Simon Larbalestier as Photographer and a group of fellow students in 2009. See previous blogposts for more Minotaur news.

More about the Grammy nomination here.

Reverting to type exhibition

2010-12-06T12:57:00.007Z

Today I am busy framing and preparing some letterpress prints I printed for Reverting to Type at New North Press, which opens this week. Click on the image above to see the amazing line-up of contributing letterpress printers! Below are my framed prints for the show, some of my unframed prints will be on sale too.

Prints from recent months

2010-11-09T16:11:00.017Z

Experimenting with four colour separation screen prints

Screen printed postcards

Screen printed miniature envelopes

Experimenting with new screen print inks

Out-takes from a Letterpress project- look here and here for the final prints

B Pattern

2010-08-23T17:41:00.003+01:00

Here is the finished screen print of the B print from my series of Alphabet type prints.

Hello

2010-08-23T16:54:00.007+01:00

Elephant Magazine

2010-08-18T10:46:00.003+01:00

A bad crop from an ill-fitting scanner.

Images from a photoshoot I did for Elephant magazine. It was a collaborative project using type designs from students on Graphics Design at UCA Epsom. These words were then displayed and I photographed it before printing a large format version and sculpting it and photographing it again. The image was used as the chapter divider for the Studios section.

The other chapter dividers are all images created by students at UCA Epsom. The project was Art Directed by Vaughan Oliver.

This issue is great, with an interesting feature on printing textiles as well as an interesting interview with Vaughan Oliver- including work from the Pixies Minotaur boxset I worked on.

Postcards

2010-05-31T20:18:00.005+01:00

I've designed and illustrated some postcards to be hand screen printed. Here are a couple of the illustrations.

B

2010-05-01T00:08:00.005+01:00

A version of the B pattern in Verdana being screen printed.

The finished print features in this post.

Rrrrr.

2010-04-18T23:26:00.000+01:00

For the past year and a half I have been making patterns from letters and words, in the beginning I dreamt of screen printing a set of them from A to Z. Then I made a book of these patterns, each one made up of a different letter of the alphabet, half the book in Verdana and half in Times New Roman. Making ugly type beautiful. See here for a mediocre post about it.

I have probably created about 300 patterns since the beginning and it's probably one of my favourite things to do. It wasn't until somebody pointed it out to me that I realised how underrepresented my patterns are on this blog, so here is one I did today, it's my first one I've ever done with a hand drawn letter rather than a typeface. What took so long? I will probably spend the next three days obsessively making them only to move on to something else.

On Thursday I screen printed the first colour of a B pattern set in Verdana Italic, more to come.

Berlin I miss thee

2010-04-18T23:25:00.002+01:00

Wish I was back playing amongst the dinosaurs.

Ich bin ein Berliner.

2010-02-11T22:09:00.002Z

Last week I was in Berlin.

I'm on Flickr

2010-01-23T23:18:00.002Z

I've finally added some photos to my Flickr page, which can be seen here.

Happy New Year

2010-01-22T12:24:00.000Z

Here comes the snow. Well here came the snow. It gave me the perfect opportunity to try out my new christmas present pens for writing on glass. And to capture the view from my bedroom before it is replaced by a whole house.

Rolling stone magazine Minotaur reveal

2009-12-11T23:14:00.006Z

Pixies Minotaur Boxset revealed.

2009-11-10T20:51:00.008Z

Today I was lucky enough to see the finished and final masterpiece that is the Minotaur (see these past posts here, here, here and here).

I think it is the most beautiful thing my eyes have ever seen, you can order it here.

Below is a photograph I took for the box set, Art Direction by Vaughan Oliver.

2009-08-21T13:58:00.000+01:00

Intervening the everyday

2009-08-17T23:58:00.002+01:00

Intervening the everyday

I've been thinking about this a lot recently. I printed another 30 odd posters to spread around the Secret Garden Party festival but accidentally left them on a train, so if you find a green leather covered poster roll (snaffled from my graduation ceremony) on your travels let me know.

I like helping people, and I like to help people feel better, so I set out to create positivity for the people around me.

I wanted to steal a moment from their routine to show them that they can feel happier, better more optimistic, that there are reasons to smile. I wanted these moments to come from them, from their emotions and feelings in response to something I had given them. I did this by creating messages for them to see.

I started with a few posters that developed at a fast pace adding new messages and concepts. I had a camera by my side and a pile of posters ready to go up at all times. The initial interest in my posters inspired me to find new ways of intervening and intercepting the everyday in my neighbourhood. I designed stickers, badges and business cards. These designed pieces spread my messages to people by giving them something different and questionable.

When my community became Barcelona I took it there. I measured and documented the intervention though photography and created a book of my photographs and the stories behind the images.

Officially employed!

2009-08-07T12:19:00.003+01:00

Next week I am going to start the first steps into my new job!

The contract has been signed and the studio is about to me built so after a couple of months waiting it's really going to begin!

Luke Pendrell the course leader of Graphic Design at the Unversity of the Creative Arts, Epsom asked me to set-up and run a letterpress studio at the Uni. It starts off that I work in an existing letterpress studio one day a week and spend a second day at the Uni setting up a studio with the press there. When the studio is up and running I'll be the technician of sorts and I'll be running workshops with the students.

I think it may just possibly be my dream job! Re-visiting what I had written as my career plan five months ago (here) reminds me of how perfect this job is. It's great to be doing something I am really passionate about as well as have access to a studio and running workshops! I am starting off my training with two days spent at Hand & Eye next week, and I'm really looking forward to getting back to those little letters.

Letterpress printer

2009-08-07T10:35:00.007+01:00

Me at Hand & Eye Letterpress in March, photo by Rosa De Carlo.

Here is something I found on my computer. It comes at a good time to re-read it. I wrote it as a career plan for my final project for my degree back in April. Take a read...

I am going to work in a letterpress workshop, I will learn the craft and skill of printing and the technique and beauty in good typography.

I have done a two week placement at Hand & Eye Letterpress and enjoyed it so much, I have never learnt so much so quickly and easily. I even enjoyed cleaning the windows and dissing (putting away in the correct place) tiny type for hours on end when there was no printing to do.

I spent long days standing up with short breaks and no pay whilst sleeping on a sofa, but I really felt right being there. I like the tactile type, the beautiful prints, the impression of the type on the paper. There is so much to consider all the time, there is always something going slightly wrong or unexpected which needs to be corrected. There is such a sense of achievement when something is completed, and things are completed all the time. There is no panic or stress when things go wrong, I was packing 5000 letterheads to be send to the client when Phil realised one line had been positioned wrong. We threw them in the bin and they had to be printed again, that’s two days work for one days paycheck. But these things happen, letterpress is a risky business and it is part of the process.

I have always been driven by process, and feel that one of my strengths is my interest in learning new processes and techniques constantly. I immerse myself in as much information about something as I can and I try things until I come up with something I like. My passion for traditional print techniques began in the very early days of my degree, and I feel more than ready to get into the world and start really working with print.

I’ve only been away for two days but I already miss the routine, the people and the type. So I think I’ll try and find a press to work in, maybe as an intern, maybe part-time, maybe on a casual basis, maybe in America where the presses are bigger, better and further away.

As it is very hard to find working and busy presses who are able to take on staff or interns I will be looking for jobs and internships in all areas of traditional printmaking, paper and publishing. I have a few ideas, such as London Print Studio who featured in my design investigation are a really interesting charity organisation built on an amazing ethos of community, people and printing. They have internships starting in November and are in the process of installing letterpress equipment.

I dream of having my own letterpress studio filled with tiny metal type and giant wooden lettering and beautiful colour inks and a vast array of paper stock with the radio playing and people dropping by for cups of tea.

2009-07-28T23:03:00.005+01:00

A rather nice view of a salivary gland

Sorry for the lack of posting recently, I am stranded far far away from my bits and bobs and my own computer due to an unexpected blockage in one of my salivary glands which has taken me out of action for now. I'm pursuing some letterpress work, which was meant to start next week but shouldn't be far off when I'm all better.

I found out about a billboard campaign in America stating optimistic facts about the recession, similar to the work I was doing during my degree to encourage optimism and happiness in my community which formed the content for my book Intervening the everyday (here). As for these new billboards the design isn't good but I think the intent is. For more info read on here.

Pixies Minotaur Exhibition and secret gig! UPDATE

2009-07-03T13:15:00.005+01:00

As promised here are some more photos from the Minotaur Work in progress exhibition a few weeks back. More info in earlier blogs.

above: A shot of the Minotaur boxset content.

above: My photograph of Pixies spelt out of small metal type in a spread for the small book.

above: Photo I took as part of a shoot Art Directed by Vaughan.

above: the image on the right is from the same photo shoot.

above: and another from that shoot. The shoot also features in the Minotaur Digital Press Release number 2 (posted below).

All work has been Art Directed by Vaughan Oliver.

Lexicon Degree show Update

2009-07-03T10:43:00.003+01:00

After a very scary incident with my memory card I have finally recovered photos taken over the last few months, including Lexicon, my degree show in May. More information on all the projects can be found in previous blog posts.

Me with my portfolio and a banner showing an image from Intervening the everyday book. The feather says 'Wonderful World, Beautiful People' words from the Jimmy Cliff song, printed onto the feather with a DIY stamp.

The A-Z of Patterns book as seen in the display case.

Intervening the everyday, a book about my journey to spread happiness throughout my community with stickers, post-its and business cards used in the intervention.

Amelia's magazine and Shelter Update

2009-07-03T00:40:00.004+01:00

Here is one of my images for a competition run by Amelia's Magazine in aid of homelessness charity Shelter on the Facebook page. Much more info in the post below. My work being chosen to feature on the Facebook page doesn't mean it will be included in the quilt Amelia is making but it means somebody likes it, always nice. Have a look here for mine and many many other wonderful entries.

Amelia's magazine and Shelter

2009-06-28T02:00:00.009+01:00

I've just sent these photos off to Amelia's Magazine as an entry for a competition. The winning entries will be included in a quilt which Amelia is making. The quilt will then be auctioned in aid of Shelter the homeless charity. The brief is to create artwork which represents the two of hearts.

I have cut out hearts in the shape of a two and used light and shadow to create images and photographed them. I couldn't pick one to enter so I sent all of these.

D&AD New Blood exhibition

2009-06-25T22:49:00.002+01:00

New Blood starts on Monday and with all work printed, mounted and boxed up it's ready for the private view on Monday.

Everybody is welcome, just sign up at D&AD New Blood.

National Hall, Kensington Olympia, Monday 29th June private view from 6pm-10pm and Tuesday 30th June 10am-9.30pm and Wednesday 1st July 10am-4pm.

Intervening the everyday: remix

2009-06-19T01:25:00.001+01:00

Pixies Minotaur Exhibition and secret gig!

2009-06-16T23:29:00.009+01:00

Well last night saw the launch of Minotaur, the Pixies boxset I've been working on with Vaughan Oliver and 7 others since February. There was an exhibition of the artwork as a work in progress. This included the design and art direction of Vaughan and the photography of Simon Larbalestier, both of whom worked on all the five original Pixies albums.

The exhibition also featured a 40 minutes set by the Pixies themselves, which was amazing! The highlight was Kim Deal saying Thank you to Vaughan and his students, and actually mentioned my name! It was great to meet both her and Frank Black before the exhibition as well as Simon Larbalestier, who's photography lined the walls alongside ours.

My work was hung in the exhibition as spreads from the two books featuring in Minotaur. I also spent time with Vaughan last week preparing the artwork for print and composing the large banners. It all came out really well and looked great hung in the space at Village Underground on Great Eastern Street.

More of my own photos to follow but until I can get them from the camera to the screen these from official sources will have to do. Click here to buy Minotaur, or just to see what's included.

Post Degree post

2009-06-14T16:59:00.001+01:00

Ok so what now? Since my Degree Show Lexicon I have been chosen for the D&AD New Blood Exhibition, which I'm working towards at the moment.

Me and my work will be at National Hall, Kensington Olympia, Monday 29th June private view from 6pm-10pm and Tuesday 30th June 10am-9.30pm and Wednesday 1st July 10am-4pm.

I have also been working on more Pixies things with Vaughan Oliver, details to follow very shortly, after tomorrows exhibition of the work!

I have been involved in talks about being in a collective involving artists from a range of backgrounds and working in lots of different mediums, our first exhibition is set for the end of July at Foundry on Old Street.

Phew, three Exhibitions in one post! Busy times.

Hand & Eye Letterpress part two

2009-06-14T16:55:00.004+01:00

I've finally sorted through my photos of Hand & Eye Letterpress, where I spent two weeks helping out and learning in April.Faces in unusual places.
Six Elements of Good Typography, set by me in Baskerville.

Ready to print, a poster of an Eric Gill quote. Available at the Hand & Eye shop here.

Now sold out, available at Keep Calm Gallery only.

The quote is "If you look after goodness and truth, beauty will take care of itself" A lovely statement.

New North Press Letterpress day

2009-06-14T16:18:00.006+01:00

The first thing I ever typeset.This poster was a collective effort by me and 11 other students from UCA Epsom. Early stages editing in progress above.The final version all inked up and ready to print.The first print of the run. The poster explains how what we do to procrastinate when we're given a new brief. These procrastination's seem to hinder the process of starting work but often turn into their own inspirations. This was a full group effort with each of us choosing one caption to typeset and print. Mine was talk.

The workshop was held at New North Press a few months ago.

Business card factory

2009-05-25T00:18:00.004+01:00

So I've spent the bank holiday getting ready for my degree show, LEXICON (see below). I ordered some rubber stamps and and lots of yellow card for my business cards.

The idea is that you take a card with my details on and use one of the wooden stamps to print a message on the reverse. These messages are from my Intervening the everyday project. So after cutting and stamping 250 little cards I'm eager to see whether my idea will be a popular one.

Lexicon degree show

2009-05-25T00:10:00.004+01:00

Well this week brings my degree show LEXICON at Truman Brewery, Brick Lane in London.

Come along from Friday 29th May until Monday 1st June, 10am - 7pm.

Take a look at my work on the official LEXICON website. I'm also represented at the Free Range website.

The skull symbol was designed by fellow student Phoebe Richardson

Pixies

2009-05-21T03:12:00.014+01:00

This is the second press release for work I've been involved in for

Minotaur, a Pixies boxset with all new artwork including an over sized
72 page book.The work is all Art Directed by Vaughan Oliver who

designed all the original Pixies artwork. Simon Larbalestier the
original photographer has done a new set of photographs for Minotaur.

Kim Deal, Joey Santiago and Dave Lovering from Pixes are all

interviewed on the video, along with Vaughan Oliver and

Simon Larbalestier. More information at Artists in Residence

Exciting stuff!

Intervening the everyday

2009-05-04T11:43:00.011+01:00

I like helping people, and I like to help people feel better, so I set out to create positivity for the people around me.

When my community became Barcelona I took it there. I measured and documented the intervention though photography and created a book of my photographs and the stories behind the images.

Lexicon invitation

2009-05-03T17:00:00.006+01:00

One of my proposed invitations for my degree show titled Lexicon, which means the language of a particular group. Printed using 11pt Garamond in metal type.

The show is part of Free Range and opens on Friday 29th May until Monday 1st June. It's in the Truman Brewery (F Block, Room T1) on Brick Lane in London. Come along!

Cut it out

2009-05-03T16:26:00.001+01:00

Here is the beginning of something new.

Hand & Eye Letterpress

2009-04-21T00:04:00.005+01:00

I'm in the middle of a two week placement at Hand & Eye Letterpress in East London. It's been amazing so far but very tiring so I must now recline and rest for another day pressing letters. More words and some photos to follow.

2009-03-23T00:43:00.002Z

I'm currently in the midst of the final project for my degree. It is a campaign which intervenes with the everyday, to create more optimism and maybe even happiness. I have been documenting it with photography and the above is something I found in the studio, it describes my current status (and blog absence).

Barcelona

2009-02-25T01:38:00.000Z

Parallelogram

2009-01-29T16:20:00.002Z

It's true, and it's new.

Faber Films

2009-01-25T00:51:00.006Z

Here are a few of the final book covers for the D&AD Faber Films typography brief.

The brief was set by Faber & Faber to design book jackets for the Faber Film back catalogue. The design works across the whole range of books as well as identifying each book category. I used the idea of feeling of design to create an overall look. My recurrent theme was paper and unique processes with type. Each book category had a different way of using paper and type.

The design had to be simple to reproduce other titles to work with new Print on Demand technology.

The A-Z of Patterns 2008

2008-12-10T16:58:00.011Z

The A-Z of Patterns is a book showcasing patterns I created using each letter of the alphabet set in Times New Roman and then in Verdana.

Each typeface has it's own section in the book, as you can see in the top photo.

*Update* There are more recent off-shoots from this project in other posts here & here.

I have never

2008-11-28T00:35:00.006Z

An Atlas of the British Isles showing Aberdeen was my starting point.

I have never was a one day project. Using stickers and one piece of cut-out typography (above).

It is based on the idea that I have never used a lot of my household items in the way they are intended or even at all. Most of them were gifts and I felt guilty every time I saw something I hadn't used. Some where expressions of my ignorance in certain areas. I have never read the Greek Myths. Each object has a back story, where they came from, who they relate me to, how much they cost. Through making stickers and labelling these items I was able to admit to many things, my habit of collecting, regular guilty feelings, my lack of care, the care taken to hide my ignorance, my dislike to some things, small white lies and that the present giver is usually a reason to hold on to something rather than the actual object. So there it is, I've used them now, the guilt has gone.

'I Prompt You'

2008-09-05T13:28:00.002+01:00

Here is a nice little task given to me by the guys at 'I Prompt You'. Drawn unnaturally with my left hand.
Part of YCN LIVE 'I Prompt You' is a participation event to encourage members of the public to draw, by asking them to fill in prompt cards using their left hand. See their findings and creations at Rough Trade in Brick Lane and check out their blog.

What is Graphic Design? (Again)

2008-09-05T13:27:00.005+01:00

What is Graphic Design, as answered by Graphic Designer Craig Oldham.
Printed at my first evening class in Silkscreen at Wimbledon college, way back in January. The red indicates what I believe are the core aspects of Graphic Design is within Craig's answer. Check out Craig's interesting and inspiring projects on his website.
Words from Craig, design by me.

What is Graphic Design? (Again)

2008-09-05T13:09:00.005+01:00

Here is the answer from Douglas Wilson who uses letterpress to create beautiful posters.
Words by Doug, design by me. Doug has also uploaded this poster on to his blog.

What is Graphic Design?

2008-09-05T13:08:00.008+01:00

Alistair Hall from We Made This contributed his answers to 'What is Graphic Design?' The idea of cutting back the words to provide a simple answer struck me and inspired the next two posters (above). This inspired the cut out technique.
Words from Alistair, design by me.

Lisbon. Spain. Morocco

2008-09-05T13:08:00.004+01:00

I spent 3 weeks of my summer in Lisbon, Spain and Morocco. Saw brilliant places and things, met interesting people and generally felt inspired and brimming with new ideas.
Portuguese postbox
Spanish ParkingMoroccan Parking

Proctors and Stevenson

2008-09-05T11:30:00.001+01:00

I spent a weeks placement at Proctors and Stevenson
in Bristol this summer. It was great to experience 'real' work, with a well established firm. I had a mini project of logo design and branding for ESDIN and spent lots of time chatting to people about their roles, a great insight. Got the chance to visit a real live printers, which was great. Thanks to Mike Cain, creative director for all his help and knowledge.
Here's an example of a letter format with the logo I designed, all this corporate malarkey is new to me, but I like it a surprising amount!

Harrington and Squires

2008-08-12T18:16:00.002+01:00

Spent a lovely morning at Harrington and Squires a few weeks back.
H&S are letterpress printers and designers Vicky Fullick and Chrissie Charlton.
They shared their extensive knowledge, examples of lots of great work and an impressive book collection.
It's an amazing studio, dubbed the corridor due to it being only 1.2 meters wide. Vicky and Chrissie were very accommodating and clearly have great intelligence and witt when it come to typography and metal type.

UNFOLD for the Design Museum

2008-06-01T17:07:00.001+01:00

UNFOLD was my response to a brief set by the Design Museum to promote the museum to 15-25 year olds. The middle image shows the photography work of fellow student Elio Trappani

26 Letters 2007

2008-05-30T15:43:00.007+01:00

26 Letters is a self-initiated project cataloging 26 letters I sent to myself.

Each envelope was created to test whether it could reach the destination despite different versions of the address or stamp. These variations included a map of my address, missing information and a visual version of my address.

Each envelope had a letter of the alphabet inside, hence the name 26 Letters.

Cover of 26 Letters

Opening spread of 26 Letters

An example of the layout

Examples of the envelopes I sent