Hasta La Ideas

London College of Communications’ second summer show, showcasing work from the School of Design, is open to the public until June 27. There’s a lot to see, but here’s a look at some highlights from graphic and media design, illustration and visual media and design for graphic communications…

Illustration and visual media

Work from this year’s illustration and visual media graduates spanned collage, animation, set design, sculpture and textiles.

One of the first and most unusual sights greeting visitors is Fin Sullivan’s imagined museum retrospective of time traveller John Titor – an intricate life-size model made out of wood:

Set designer Toni Hollowood‘s work (produced with Celia Dunque) occupies an entire wall of the space, and features some bold and playful magazine shoots:

Cristina Florit Gomila‘s 3D sculpture based on the journey from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Gauruja beach, includes some charming hand painted details and wobbly skyscrapers:

While Robert Cottrell’s Equable typeface, created from moulded acrylic, is an interesting visual experiment, and one that tests the limits of legibility. Cottrell says it aims to explore ‘all the different possibilities in shape without committing to destructive decisions’:

Of the various prints on display, Daniel Sonino‘s monochrome designs inspired by mathmetical concept Phi are among the most striking (Sonino has also compiled the prints in a newspaper, shown below):

And Sarah Birtles’ work, which included scarves, zines and ceramics figures, stands out for its sense of humour (you can see more images on Birtle’s website):

Graphic and media design

The graphic and media design show features some excellent poster designs, including Longcheng Chen’s for the Barbican, inspired by its Brutalist architecture:

And Jese Siu’s work for LCC’s visual archives. Siu also designed a new visual identity for the archives, which is on display alongside the posters, and you can see more on Siu’s website.

Helena Battye has produced some striking prints as part of a visual experiment inspired by the Bouba Kiki effect, where shapes are linked to sounds:

I also liked Greg Jackson‘s typeface, inspired by the photography of Bernd and Hilla Becher:

Hector Plimmer‘s depiction of The Dreams, an audio recording made for the BBC in which interviewees describe their dreams and the colours in them:

And Marie-Pier Tremblay‘s series of illustrations inspired by Breni Brown’s thoughts on being vulnerable. Tremblay had a number of great projects on show, including posters and branding for creative workspace Dungarees and a book to accompany Mike Mills’ film, Beginners:

There are several interesting approaches to type, editorial design and branding on show, too, as well as textiles and interactive pieces. See more work and details of graduates exhibiting at lccgraphics2014.com.

Design for graphic communication

The design for graphic communication show features a mix of BA and FdA work, covering a diverse range of themes from pornography to science and nutrition.

Jessica Daughters‘ Good Mood Food app aims to promote the mood-boosting benefits of different types of food and is based on thorough research into how our diet affects our mental state. Users select how they are feeling from a range of options, such as sad or stressed, and are given a selection of recipes that might improve their sense of wellbeing. They can also select recipes based on the time they take to cook, and share photos of their meals on social media:

Hasan Gozlugol’s book and series of posters visualising scientific concepts such as dark matter and the doppler effect, include some strong infographics visualising mathmetical concepts, DNA, dark matter and The Doppler Effect:

And Katarzyna Bitner’s Domestication of Pornography, a black PVC tent kitted out with UV lights and neon infographics, displays some shocking statistics about the prevalence of porn today and the effect it’s having on young people’s perceptions of sex.

The show is open until Friday, from 10am-5pm and until 9pm tonight – for details, see arts.ac.uk/lcc