Spring redesigns Visit Suffolk

Southwold design agency Spring has launched a new website and campaign for Visit Suffolk offering tourists an interactive guide to the county

The new Visit Suffolk site uses a responsive theme and flat, bold graphics. An image-led homepage displays local weather forecasts, event listings and articles and can be filtered according to visitors’ interests. It also hosts live stream of social media posts that use the hashtag #ifoundsuffolk.

The best feature is an interactive map providing a look at the region’s highlights by area: it uses clear and colourful icons and is easy to navigate, allowing visitors to filter landmarks and attractions by category and create and save local itineraries. A ‘take me somewhere lovely button’ provides randomly generated suggestions for those looking for some inspiration.

The redesign forms part of a communications strategy to promote travel in the region – an accompanying campaign site and Facebook app offer direct access to the Google Maps feature, which includes added illustrations of deer, trees, boats and sea creatures around the Suffolk area – and Spring will also be releasing weekly themed content on the Visit Suffolk site and Facebook page (this week’s theme is wool towns).

Spring has been designing the project since September and will be working on the campaign throughout the year, says co-founder Erika Clegg.

“Our creative vision was to allow site visitors a real experience of discovery on a website and app that would allow them to wander, explore and uncover unexpected treasures. It was also important that the site projected a sense of being a consumer brand experience, rather than a standard tourism board offering,” she adds.

As the project is in its early stages, some areas of the map are sparsely populated and a paid-for listings package means there is a risk that larger businesses will be given more exposure than smaller, independent venues – local brewery Adnams, for example, features heavily. But both the new campaign and site offer an engaging alternative to traditional tourism sites, and seamlessly integrate editorial content with live updates, local events and social conversations, allowing viewers a look at what people are saying about the region as well as what there is to see and do.

London, home of menswear

The Mayor of London has launched a campaign to promote the city’s menswear industry showcasing iconic fashion looks invented in Britain.

Brogues, tartan and the three piece suit feature in Tube posters advertising London as ‘the home of menswear’. The campaign was launched to coincide with London Collections’ men’s fashion week and aims to highlight the industry’s contribution to the UK economy while helping promote independent labels based in the city, says creative director Tom Lancaster.

Images were shot in and around Smithfield Market and at Beppe’s café in East London by street photographer Jonathan Daniel Pryce. “Our brief was to find a way to communicate the cultural ambition of being ‘the home of menswear’ with making a creative industry story about menswear attractive to real Londoners,” explains Lancaster.

“To do that, we put clothes in everyday settings – on the street, in a café – to make them accessible rather than nice. The overall tone was London shown in a real light, with models that look like real Londoners, but with a premium finish to show clothes in their best light,” he adds.

The campaign builds on a heritage map Lancaster worked on with the British Fashion Council, GQ and the Museum of London in 2013 which identifies ten famous styles invented in Britain and made famous by London designers or public figures: Vivienne Westwood adapted tartan and tweed for the catwalk, the three piece suit was introduced by Charles II in 1666 and brogues, which can be traced back to Scotland and Ireland, were made famous by the Duke of Windsor, who wore them on golf trips.

“With the new campaign, we wanted to tell that story to Londoners in a way that would showcase London’s menswear brands to a broader male shopping audience – not people with a specific interest in the industry already – and give exposure to small and medium businesses that aren’t generally running out of home campaigns on their own. [We also wanted to] stake a claim to being the menswear capital of the world… and show how the creative industries are helping the economy and creating jobs in town,” adds Lancaster.

Posters are supported by a social media competition inviting Londoners to share their postcode’s fashion highlights using the hashtag #londonmenswear, and winners will receive items featured in the campaign.

Credits
Creative direction: Tom Lancaster
Design: Vivienne Lang, Glen Birchall, Sergio Fernandez
Photography: Jonathan Daniel Pryce
Copy: Helen Booth

Best Art Vinyl Award 2013: the winners

The cover design for White Lies’ album Big TV has been named the winner of 2013’s Best Art Vinyl Award.

Art Vinyl pubished a shortlist of 50 album covers in November and winners were decided by a public vote. Paul Jackson’s artwork for Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip’s Repent Replenish Repeat came second, followed by Leif Podhajsky’s design for Bonobo album The North Borders.

Big TV features an oil painting by artist Michael Kagan, one of a series he created in 2010 depicting astronauts. Kagan met with the band early last year and says he could tell immediately “how connected they felt to the painting and how important it was for them to use it…there is a nice cohesiveness between all of the images used and the songs and feel of the album,” he adds.

Art Vinyl award founder Andrew Heeps says the public’s choice was a clear indication of vinyl’s popularity as an affordable art form – apparently, more than a quarter of all vinyl records are sold as wall art.

“In an era with a heavy focus on the digital music format, it is interesting to see that the public prefers such a traditional artistic technique as oil on canvas to associate with music,” he adds.

The cover for Big TV, art directed by Gerard Saint and Markus Karlsson, was the only one of the top three to feature an existing image: both Podhajsky and Jackson’s designs were created in collaboration with the musicians whose work they represent.

Jackson’s cover is a visual representation of the act of rapping and the album’s title. Dan le Sac and Scroobius Pip are represented by their favourite animals – a panda and a lion.

“I came up with the idea of them vomiting a whole world of stuff – essentially representing what Scroobius Pip does – vomiting words and ideas into a microphone. The idea seemed visually arresting and interesting enough to turn heads – which to me is what a good album cover does,” says Jackson.

Podhajsky’s cover for The North Borders started out as a traditional ‘clean photo’ like Bonobo’s previous album, Black Sands, he says. “[But] I snuck some more abstract ideas in which I thought could really fit the mood of the album, which Simon [Green, Bonobo] responded to,” he adds.

Podhajsky also worked on the vinyl artwork for single releases from the album including Cirrus, which came with a zoetrope picture disc (a device creating the illusion of movement) and the artwork for Mount Kimbie album Cold Spring Fault Less Youth, (below) also shortlisted for the Best Art Vinyl Award:

The shortlist received a mixed response when it was announced in November but each of the winning designs, while disparate, feature imagery that’s both striking and memorable. It’s also the second time a space-themed cover has won the Best Art Vinyl Award – Richard Robinson’s design for Klaxons album Surfing the Void (below), featuring photography by Mads Perch, was the public’s favourite in 2010.

See this year’s full shortlist at bestartvinyl.com

Shakespeare posters: a call for entries

Steven Heller and Mirko Ilić are looking for submissions for their latest project – a book showcasing poster designs for Shakespeare plays to mark the 400th anniversary of the writer’s death.

The book will be published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2016. Ilić and Heller are looking for submissions from around the world and also plan to use entries in a promotional exhibition exploring Shakespeare’s influence on contemporary theatre.

A former art director at the New York Times, Heller has written for more than 100 design books and collaborated with Ilić last year on Lettering Large, a publication exploring monumental typography in urban settings.

The deadline for Shakespeare poster submissions is March 14 and works must have been published – personal and student projects will not be accepted. Files can be submitted online or by post and a printed copy should also be supplied for use in the exhibition.

For details on how to enter, click here.

Arem Duplessis Leaving New York Times Magazine for Apple

Your Sunday is about to get a lot less visually stimulating: Arem Duplessis has decided to leave his post as design director of The New York Times Magazine [muffled sobbing]. Come February, he’ll begin his new position as a creative director at Apple, where he’ll lend his creative genius to the internal marketing team. Word of the move follows the recent announcement that Facebook has tapped Apple advertising veteran Scott Trattner to serve as its executive creative director. We asked Duplessis a few questions as he prepares to relocate to the promised land of Cupertino.

Why is it the right time for you to make this move?
I’ve been at The New York Times Magazine for almost ten years. I have worked with some of the smartest people on the planet and it’s been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I feel very fortunate to have been able to experience such a great gig. With that said, it’s time for a new chapter and a new challenge.

What will you miss most about working at The New York Times Magazine?
Without question the people. I have made so many great friends over the years and I will miss them dearly.

Bonus question: What’s the best gift you received this holiday season?
Hearing my son proclaim “THIS IS THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!” No way to beat that, right?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Tom Eckersley exhibition at LCC

Poster designed for the Ministry of Housing and Local Government’s ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ campaign, 1963, published by the Central Office of Information

An exhibition of Tom Eckersley’s poster work is to be staged the London College of Communication in January, marking the centenary of the British designer’s birth…

Eckersley (1914-1997) set up the school of graphic design at the London School of Printing (now LCC) and his recognisable style was used in campaigns by copanies and organisations as wide-ranging as Guinness, London Transport, the General Post Office, the United Nations, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, the Worldwide Wildlife Fund and the LCP itself.

An RAF cartographer during the Second World War, Eckersley was awarded an OBE in 1948 for his service to poster design and became one of the first British members of the Alliance Graphique Internationale. He remained at the LCP for over 20 years and was head of graphic design until 1977.

The LCC houses the Eckersley archive and the show will include 40 posters, made from the 1940s to the 1980s, and selected from the UAL’s collection. The show will also include a selection of preparatory artworks and materials created for the LSP.

“Nowhere is Tom Eckersley’s legacy more keenly felt than at LCC, where graphic design teaching and research are rooted in the college’s first undergraduate degree course he established in 1954,” says professor Lawrence Zeegen, the LCC’s dean of the school of design.

“As 21st century communication design and media races ever onwards, finding a moment to pause and reflect upon the discipline’s past, amidst the barrage of multi-disciplinary, multi-platform, multi-layered visual messages, is increasingly relevant. It is crucial in our understanding and appreciation of communication design’s past, present and future.”

Seven of the posters which will be exhibited in January are shown here. For more of his work, see the London Transport Museum collection and the VADS archive.

Tom Eckersley: Master of the Poster, January 11-29 2014, 10am – 5pm (closed Sunday). London College of Communication, Elephant & Castle, SE1 6SB.

100 Years of Printing Education poster promoting a historical lecture at London College of Printing, c1985

Graphic Design Works poster promoting an exhibition of work from the London art schools
at the Whitechapel Gallery, 1975 (Inner London Education Authority)

‘Urgent please return that library book’ poster, 1975 (University of the Arts London)

Greetings poster celebrating the New Year, 1983

Equus: Visual Interpretations poster promoting an exhibition of student work at the National Theatre, interpreting the play Equus, 1981

Long Hair is Dangerous health and safety poster for London College of Printing, 1976

CR Blog Stories of the Year 2013

In our review of 2013, we run down the top ten most popular stories from the Creative Review website this year. Click on the links to read the original posts

 

10, Everton with the late winner… and a replay


In May this year, Everton unveiled a new club badge (shown above). In the face of huge opposition to it from fans, the club rapidly backtracked and invited supporters to choose from three more options. We covered the original design and its replacement (both posts linked above)

Football fans generally react badly to any attempts to mess with the heritage of their club. In particular, changes of club colours, names or badges can provoke huge hostility. So it was with Everton this year when the club announced a new badge for the 2013–14 season.

 

Development sketches for the new Everton crest by in-house design team. Creative manager: Nigel Payne. Graphic designer: Mark Derbyshire. Artworker: Lee May

On the face of it, Everton appeared to have gone about things in the right way: it consulted with fan groups and published a lengthy background rationale for the new design. But many fans hated the new look and, in particular, the fact that it no longer included the club motto. A redrawn Prince Rupert’s Tower also failed to find favour even though the new design bore a far closer resemblance to the actual building.

 

The club responded (or caved in, depending on your perspective) to fan pressure and announced a new, wider consultation process. Working with design consultancy Kenyon Fraser it then presented three new options for public vote. The fans’ favourite (above), which includes the motto, original drawing of the tower, laurel wreaths and the club’s formation date, will be used from the start of the 2014–15 season.

 

 

 

9, Matt Willey redesigns The Independent

 

The newspaper’s elegant, beautifully crafted redesign drew almost universal praise from our readers (post linked above), but others doubted its effectiveness

On November 7, The Independent revealed a new look, the result of a three month project from Matt Willey and the newspaper’s in-house design team. In our post, Willey and the paper’s Stephen Petch and Dan Barber, talked through the changes which included a new bespoke type family and a radical masthead redesign.

A new set of typefaces designed by Henrik Kubel of A2/SW/HK and A2-Type featured throughout. Designing from the type up meant that the way each page worked was rethought, restructured, and, in particular, de-cluttered and simplified.

From the front page onwards, the new direction was striking. The previous blocky sans-serif masthead made way for a new design that was at once radical but also elegant. Willey said its placement was a way of making the compact front page appear more sophisticated, creating a taller, more broadsheet-like format.

 

 

“I wanted to go back to an elegant serif for the masthead which felt like such a strong part of the newspaper’s identity when it was a great paper,” Willey said. “Running it vertically allows what is a fairly long name to be prominent, unapologetic, without it getting in the way.”

“We were keen to strip out a lot of the clutter, to simplify the colour palette, to have more deliberate and rational use of colour, photographs and graphics,” Willey said of the overall design. “It just feels like The Independent to me.”

 

 

 

 

 

 


8, Futurebrand rebrands American Airlines … and Vignelli has his say

 

Ahead of a long-rumoured merger with US Airways, American Airlines unveiled a new look, ditching Massimo Vignelli’s classic eagle logo

In January American Airlines unveiled a new brand identity from Futurebrand, replacing the 1967 Massimo Vignelli classic with a 3D ‘flight symbol’ and plenty of the good ol’ red, white and blue.

 

 

Key to the new look was what was referred somewhat clumsily to as the ‘flight symbol’. This 3D device (above) combined several AA ‘assets’ – the letter A, a star, an eagle and the red, white and blue livery. The ‘flight symbol’ was matched with the airline name (set in a custom face named American Sans) in a new mark.

 

 

 

 

Anyone who is familiar with Mad Men will have an idea of just what a central place American Airlines has in corporate America. In design terms too, along with perhaps IBM, FedEx and UPS, it has been one of the greats – the last survivor of the golden age of US corporate design when Rand, Bass, Vignelli et al branded America.

Vignelli has said that his original (above) was all about stressing “the professional, no-gimmicks attitude” of the airline. It was, Vignelli’s site says, “one of the few [logos] worldwide that needs no change”.

Obviously, AA thought otherwise. Perhaps relying on a “professional, no-gimmicks attitude” just won’t cut it in the airline business these days.

We asked Vignelli what he thought of the new look: “Design cannot cover the mistakes of bad management, but styling can. That is why American Airlines opted for that solution. The logo we designed had equity, value and timelessness. Why to bother with it?”

 

 

 

 

7, M&S unveils a Christmas ad full of Magic and Sparkle

 

This year’s M&S Christmas ad starred model/actress Rosie Huntington-Whitely and Helena Bonham Carter in a fairytale extravaganza

M&S unveiled its blockbuster Christmas TV ad on the same day as some pretty bleak sales figures were announced. Would Rosie and her ever-changing array of undies right the ship?

RKCR/Y&R put Rosie Huntington-Whiteley front and centre in a fantasy treatment which referenced Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz and also featured Helena Bonham Carter. The ad was beautifully made but perhaps didn’t have the ‘all things to all ages’ appeal of previous M&S Christmas spots. And a lot of you were horrified by the choice of door bell…

 

 

 

6, Dmitri Aske and the art of plywood

 

Sometimes the stories which capture our readers’ imagination simply showcase a great craft technique, as in the case of this Russian artist

Number six in our list of the most popular stories of the year on the CR website featured the work of Russian graphic artist Dmitri Aske who created a series of striking plywood artworks.

 

 

Aske starts with a sheet of plywood onto which he transposes his drawings. The individual pieces are then cut out, painted in acrylics and re-assembled. This series of pieces was shown at the Faces&Laces Street Culture Show in Moscow. Aske started his career as a grafitti artist but now works across graphic design, typography, illustration, street and fine art. For more, see sicksystems.ru

 

 

5, On The Money

 

Our Money issue and its follow-up online created a lot of debate in the industry as readers compared their pay with the averages quoted

Are designers badly paid? How much should you charge? What do ad agency creative directors earn? Could you earn more abroad? Our January issue tackled these and other cash-related questions. Online, we shared some of the key findings of the research

 

 

 

 

 

4, Dance Pony, Dance

 

Three’s Moonwalking Shetland Pony became a massive viral hit, prompting widespread media coverage and making Socks an instant star

Wieden + Kennedy’s London office conjured up a dancing, moonwalking Shetland pony to demonstrate that mobile network Three understands that ‘silly stuff’ is important to its users. This film – shot by Blink’s Dougal Wilson who worked closely with MPC to create the pony’s magic moves –  was a great example of a piece of content that was duly shared like crazy. The silliness of a Shetland pony strutting and moonwalking to the sound of Fleetwood Mac’s Everywhere proved irresistible to many.

As well as the film, W+K, with Blink and Munky, cooked up more ways for the idea to be shared in the form of The Pony Mixer, an app that also lived on Three’s YouTube channel and allowed users to create and share (via Twitter or Facebook) their own remixed videos of the pony performing to different types of music

 

 

 

 

3, London Underground Special Issue

 

To mark the 150th anniversary of the London Underground, our special issue delved into every aspect of the tube’s visual communications


It’s rare that one of our posts about the new issue of CR generates masses of traffic but a combination of the subject matter and, we’d like to think, the content ensured that our March special issue on the 150th anniversary of the London Underground received a very positive response online. It sold out too.

 

 

 

2, Orwell covered up

 

David Pearson’s ‘censored’ Penguin Classics cover for Nineteen Eighty-Four caused a huge amount of interest and debate on our site (story linked above)

Brand new covers for five of George Orwell’s books featured in a series of Penguin Classics designed by David Pearson. The set included a remarkable take on arguably Orwell’s best-known novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Pearson’s adept use of type – as demonstrated in his work on Penguin’s Great Ideas series of short, influential texts – was once again at the fore of each of the designs. For Nineteen Eighty-Four, the title and author’s name were almost completely obscured by black foiling.

“It’s obviously the risk-taker of the series,” said Pearson. The design went through numerous iterations “to establish just the right amount of print obliteration. Eventually we settled on printing and debossing, as per the Great Ideas series … leaving just enough of a dent for the title to be determined.”

 

 

 

 

 

1, Behind the scenes on the John Lewis Christmas ad

 

With its tale of furry fellowship, the Bear and the Hare captivated many. But what really got the debate going was our post on how it was made (linked above)

Adam & Eve DDB’s John Lewis Christmas ads are met with feverish anticipation by the media. This year’s sweet story about the friendship between a bear and a hare featured Lily Allen singing Keane’s 2004 hit Somewhere Only We Know.

But what really interested our readers (and many members of the public coming to our site) was the technique used to create the spot. In a highly unusual move, the ad was the work of two directors, Elliot Dear and Yves Geleyn, working in tandem.

Dear explained that the ad employed a complex mix of 2D stop motion animation and a ‘real’ set. The technique was based on something Dear had played around with at college. “I remembered something that I was doing when I was a student,” he explained, “which was to do illustrations, cut them out and place them in front of the camera [on a set].” But was all that effort worth it?

 

Canada’s logo debate continues

Last week, we published an article about a proposed set of logos to mark Canada’s 150th anniversary. The controversial designs prompted Canadian creatives to launch a site showcasing alternatives – but their decision has been openly criticised by the country’s association of graphic designers.

As we reported in a previous blog post, the Canadian government has commissioned a new logo to mark the 150th anniversary of the country’s confirmation. Five designs (below) were developed and tested on focus groups in Montreal, Ontario and British Columbia but received mixed reviews – one was considered too aggressive, another too bland and others were deemed too “one-dimensional” to truly reflect the spirit of Canada.

Uninspired by the suggested designs, claiming they lacked evidence of careful thought and consideration, designer Ibraheem Youssef approached 15 Canadian designers and art directors and asked them to create something better. A week later, he launched the150logo.ca, showcasing 17 alternatives.

The site has had more than half a million hits since its launch and Youssef released a second set of logos on Monday after receiving emails from hundreds of Canadian designers (top and below). In an interview with CR, he said he didn’t expect the government to opt for any of the proposals on the site, but hoped it would provoke a public debate about acceptable graphic design and the way national projects are approached.

But while it’s certainly ignited widespread discussion, the site has also attracted criticism from the President of Canada’s Association of Registered Graphic Designers, Lionel Gadoury, who published a message on the association’s website accusing Youssef and contributing designers of undermining the industry.

“Being creative is clearly addictive…however, like any addiction, this can have unintended and harmful consequences,” he writes, adding: “On one hand, we can appreciate how talented individuals can, in just a few short hours, create marks with aesthetic appeal, but the flip-side is that crowd-sourcing ultimately undermines and devalues our profession.”

Gadoury’s note goes on to say that good design is “much more than aesthetics alone” – it is the result of a careful process, evaluation and collaboration between client and designer.

He also suggests that Youssef and co’s logos do little to highlight the research and planning that national projects demand and risk reinforcing the perception that design is merely making something that looks nice.

While equally unimpressed by the government’s proposals, the RGD is urging designers to adopt a more formal opposition route and have published a letter that creatives can send to MPs to voice their disapproval.

Youssef and the150logo team have since responded with a letter of their own (which can be read in full here), reiterating that the purpose of their project was to encourage debate, prove that good design is present in Canada and make Heritage Canada retract their proposed logos and consult with national agencies to create a more meaningful symbol.

“We both want to raise awareness for the importance of quality design and design thinking. We just chose a different avenue to raise that awareness,” it states. “We are seasoned industry professionals, not addicts, and this is a grassroots visual movement,” it adds.

While the letter agrees with Gadoury that good design is about more than aesthetics, it goes on to say that “open letters and passive complaining hasn’t gotten us anywhere.”

“These logos are our version of a protest sign. And our protest seems to be working. Considering the results we have achieved and the fact that our efforts …have obviously strongly contributed to directing the discussion regarding good Canadian design… we believe that instead of belittling our efforts and discrediting the unity we’ve established between hundreds of Designers and Creatives from all across Canada, we’d appreciate your support and acknowledgment of our efforts. At the end of the day, we both want to achieve the same thing.”

Since the responses, Canada’s government has not confirmed if it will retract the proposed logos: Len Westerberg, media relations advisor with the Department of Canadian Heritage in Ottawa, told Canadian magazine Marketing  that no decisions have been taken on a visual identity for the anniversary but added: “All feedback, including that which was gained through focus groups, will assist us in creating a design that will resonate with Canadians.”

While Gadoury’s comments have been viewed by Youssef and other designers as belittling the 150 project, he makes some valid points: the initial round of logos posted on the site received a mixed reaction – probably as they were created in just a week –  and critics said they also failed to capture Canada’s diversity and national identity.

But as Youssef stated from the outset, his intention wasn’t to provide a winning design but instead show that there are hundreds of Canadian creatives who could devise something more inventive than the symbols put forward – creatives who should have been consulted about the project.

With half a million visitors and global news coverage, the site has successfully demonstrated that a visual online response will better capture the public’s attention that a strongly worded letter and will achieve immediate and wide reaching results.

But by so openly opposing each other’s approaches, RGD and the150logo creators are missing a trick. Youssef and co are right that online campaigns are the most effective way to attract attention on a global scale. But however dated formal channels are, they can still be a useful method of opposing government schemes. Perhaps if both groups worked together, and invited the public to have their say, they could create a campaign that will force the government to re-think its proposals and allow Canadians and design professionals a voice on how their country should be represented.

Designs (from top): Stefan Dukaczewski, Jason Niles, Lee Wilson, Jill Brown, Jean Francois Dumais, Jag Nagra, David Bromley and Lisa Litz. To view an explanation of each design, click here.

Sign Painters film to screen in London

Colossal Media’s Sky High crew at work on the corner of Metropolitan & Driggs in Brooklyn NY (August 2013)

Sam Harris of the Ghostsigns project informs us that tickets for the London screening of the Sign Painters film are selling fast…

Set to screen at The Roxy Bar and Screen on Borough High Street on February 5, Sign Painters is a fantastic documentary on what remains of the working sign-writing community in the US.

It will be shown alongside Horn Please, a short documentary about Indian truck painting, and there will also be a Q&A with several contemporary sign painters after the films. Sign Painters has previously screened in Birmingham, Leeds and Falmouth, but this marks its first time in the capital. The trailer is here.

Since 2010, Faythe Levine and Sam Macon’s project has been to document the work of artists who have put brush and paint to storefronts, murals, banners, barn signs, billboards, and even street signs across America, but who have seen their skilled trade “overrun by the techno-fueled promise of quicker and cheaper,” say the filmmakers.

“The resulting proliferation of computer-designed, die-cut vinyl lettering and inkjet printers has ushered a creeping sameness into our landscape,” they continue. “Fortunately, there is a growing trend to seek out traditional sign painters and a renaissance in the trade.”

Sign Painters is, say Levine and Macon, the first anecdotal history of the craft and features interview with two dozen sign painters working throughout the US, from the new vanguard working solo to the collaborative shops New Bohemia Signs in San Francisco and Colossal Media’s Sky High Murals in New York.

Sign Painters is at The Roxy Bar and Screen, 128-132 Borough High Street, London SE1 1LB on February 5 2014, nearest stations are London Bridge and Borough. The film is showing at 7.30pm for an 8pm start, running time 80 minutes. Tickets are £12.50 standard / £25.00 with copy of the Sign Painters book by directors Faythe Levine and Sam Macon. Tickets can be bought online via the Ghostsigns page, here. More details on the film at signpaintermovie.blogspot.co.uk.

Blisters poster show open for entries

 

Screen printing studio Print Club London is looking for young, emerging and established illustrators to take part in its annual poster show, Blisters.

The show will take place at Print Club in Dalston, East London from September 12-14. This year’s theme is ‘sound sessions’ and posters should be inspired by a band, song, musician or gig but must not feature the name of the song or artist (use of other text is allowed).

Now in its fifth year, the Blisters shows were set up to offer affordable art to a wide demographic and give new artists a chance to display their work alongside more experienced names. Past contributors include James Joyce, Kate Moross and Atelier Deux-Mille and 2013’s show was film-themed.

40 entries will be selected for next year’s show and signed screen prints will be sold for £40 each. To enter, send a low-res jpeg file to postershow@printclublondon.com by March 1 2014.