Hasta La Ideas

Graphic artist Emily Forgot has created a striking abstract identity for this year’s Manchester Weekender.

The identity is inspired by a quote from Jeremy Deller about all roads leading to Manchester, says Emily (real name Emily Alston), and will appear in print and in 3D at venues around the city.

Alston was commissioned by Mat Bend at local creative agency Modern Designers, and is the fourth artist to create an identity for the annual arts and culture event since its launch three years ago. Brighton-based Jamie Cullen created 2010’s pop-art inspired design and Helsinki illustrator Janine Redwell produced a folk-art influenced geometric identity last year.

“I was given total creative freedom but Mat mentioned a quote from Jeremy Deller about all roads leading to Manchester, which I used as a starting-off point. He also emphasised that it was important to convey a festival/cultural feel within the design even if I went down an abstract route,” she explains.

“Taking my cue from Deller’s quote, I liked the idea of giving the piece dimension so it would feel like a city itself with the roads creating the form of the numbers.  I created something slightly similar in feel to the Herman Miller poster [for exhibition Then X Ten] I produced last year and was also influenced by the awe inspiring axonometric work of Takenobu Igarashi,” she adds.

“I had about a week to produce the design, so it was a rather quick turn around but luckily, I had a strong idea of the direction I wanted to take early on and it took shape pretty quickly.”

Alston’s design will be displayed in shop and gallery windows and on posters, and a simplified 3D version will be installed at Manchester’s Cornerhouse and Holden Gallery. “I’m really looking forward to seeing this aspect of the project as I love seeing projects come to life within a space and regularly push my work in this direction. Being at the computer for so much of the creative process its nice to see the work become a physical, tangible object,” she says.

It’s a great design with some lovely details, and the latest in a series of fun typographic creations from Alston – she’s also created a ‘hobby alphabet’ print and a typographic cover for Michal Witkowski novel Love Town, as well as a series of window displays for department store Selfridges and a pop-up monochrome office space for Wieden+Kennedy, all of which can be seen on her website.

Manchester Weekender takes place at various from October 10-13. To find out more visit creativetourist.com.

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