Hasta La Ideas

Taking into account the Queen’s Jubilee, the theme for this year’s Colchester Institute show was Make Do & Mend. We sent our talent-spotter, Jason Stone, to scope out some of the best work from the exhibition, which was held in a disused bus station waiting room in Colchester town centre.

Immediately as I entered the exhibition space, my eyes were drawn to the work of Chester Fletton, with his 3D Union Jack Baskerville B setting off the room and capturing the theme of the show. Combined with his outstanding book about the effects of Oil, Chester’s work appeared again and again throughout the show, with his attention to detail second to none.
chesterfletton.blogspot.co.uk/

Jade O’Bryan’s illustrations of British models were expertly drawn, and the larger model drawings set themselves apart from the rest of the exhibited work.
jadesvintagedelights.blogspot.co.uk/

Adam Benton’s fabric-paged screenprinted book on the history of Nintendo was a pleasure to behold, with excellent typographic layout and attention to detail. Adam’s work had a clear style and was complemented beautifully by a set of screenprints of Nintendo consoles.
bentonafolio.tumblr.com

Becky Bigmore’s The History of Ford book was an excellent example of outstanding visual layout, using type and images to present the information in an easily digestible way.
beckybigmore.tumblr.com

Another student to watch for, Hannah Yapp’s bold screenprinted poster for local film The Vicious Dead stood out amongst the Live project briefs, where students work with real clients to get a taste of the industry. Hannah’s set of screenprinted childrens books about Roads are another excellent example of her work, complemented with colourful screenprinted postcards.
hannahyapp.co.uk

The exhibition hall featured posters by Year 1 students for Amnesty International, here are a few which stood out:

Sophie Holloway
sophieroseholloway.tumblr.com

Guy Catling
guycatling.tumblr.com

Samantha Rogers
samantharogers.tumblr.com

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here

CR in Print
The July issue of Creative Review features a piece exploring the past and future of the dingbat. Plus a look at the potential of paper electronics and printed apps, how a new generation of documentary filmmakers is making use of the web, current logo trends, a review of MoMA New York’s group show on art and type, thoughts on how design may help save Greece and much more. Also, in Monograph this month we showcase a host of rejected design work put together by two Kingston students.

Please note, CR is no longer stocked in WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your independent newsagent can order it for you or you can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, email Laura McQueen (laura.mcqueen@centaur.co.uk) or call her on 020 7970 4878 to buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

With 78 graphic design students alone, Northumbria’s Reveal proclaims itself the canniest degree show on Earth. Our guest reporter, Livija Dale, covered the graphic design section of the exhibition, finding some beautiful illustrated books, a text-speak interpretation of Romeo and Juliet, and a cheeky underwear rebrand.

Dorothy Kwan’s illustrated books are delightful and show a unique flair. 10 Ways That Rainy Destroys My World is based on her real experiences with her flatmate, telling a funny stories of her eccentric friend through illustration and small snippets of text.

Alex Edwards’ book, Romeo and Juliet, seeks to highlight the shortcomings of textspeak by by providing an alternate ‘txt-spk’ version when you flip the book – ‘RMO + JLT’. Humorous, but also effective at getting you thinking about the effect of text speak.
alexanderedwardsdesign.com

In DRA, Angela Burnell explores the plans Hitler had for Nazi Germany, creating a hypothetical world in which Hitler is still in power. This architecture magazine shows the Nazis’ vision of the future. Another of her works is a response to the day Martin Luther King Jr gave his iconic speech, utilising bold typography to encapsulate the spirit of that day.
angelaburnellgraphics.com

Merlin Duff explores the social tensions within an elevator, inspired by John Cage’s silent composition 4’33”. Very clear work with a great sense of motion and space.
thatsduffdesign.co.uk

Jim Clayton, Aaron McConkey and Rowan Van Blerk collaborated on this piece, Indent, a magazine which looks at the more hidden characters in typography such as indents and pilcrows, likening them to the designers in the publication. A smart way to explore more ‘unknown’ designers.
amaaron.com
typtwo.com

A little bit of cheeky and off-kilter advertising, Rachael Jackson rebrands Triumph using colours for clear correlation to sizes, and the analogy of jelly for, well… the wobbly parts! In seeking to make bra fitting a more approachable subject, some humour is definitely the way to go. Her NorthSouth project creates a restaurant that focuses on the differences between Northerners and Southerners, offering menus featuring dishes from both regions. Some good use of bold, simple and funny ideas.
rachaeljackson11.tumblr.com

Josh Goodman shows a distinctly physical style, especially in his piece for The Wordsmiths, which communicates the idea of the English language being lost through the metaphor of a bar of soap with words imprinted, which will eventually disappear with use.
joshgoodmandesign.co.uk

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here

CR in Print
The July issue of Creative Review features a piece exploring the past and future of the dingbat. Plus a look at the potential of paper electronics and printed apps, how a new generation of documentary filmmakers is making use of the web, current logo trends, a review of MoMA New York’s group show on art and type, thoughts on how design may help save Greece and much more. Also, in Monograph this month we showcase a host of rejected design work put together by two Kingston students.

Please note, CR is no longer stocked in WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your independent newsagent can order it for you or you can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, email Laura McQueen (laura.mcqueen@centaur.co.uk) or call her on 020 7970 4878 to buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

Over the years, we’ve come to expect great things of the illustration show at Norwich Univeristy College of the Arts. This year’s show, while not quite hitting the all-round heights of 2011, still features some wonderful imagery

The show (which also encompasses NUCA’s Gallery space this year, where work will be on sale) opens to the public on Wednesday 27 June but CR was granted a sneak peek last Friday.

Gary Hunt has already had some success this year, his Social Mail series of stamps (above), featuring heads which users were encouraged to add bodies to on the envelope, winning at the RSA Student Design Awards. His very strong display included Headgear (detail shown top), a series “based on a central character who is able to perform various jobs thanks to his magical headgear. Beekeeper, Spaceman, Fireman, Diver…”

Also impressive was Oddity Outpost, a packaging series of products designed to defeat mythical creatures while also being handy camping items (all rather reminiscent of McSweeney’s 826 writing centres including the Superhero Supply Store perhaps, but very well executed)

Nicola Jones took her inspiration from the college’s doorstop with a lovely editorial project on Norwich market, consisting of a concertina book and poster.

I also enjoyed Georgina Pape‘s Indian and African book projects

In terms of pure technique, Rupert Smissen’s work was remarkable, as can be seen from his entry to a D&AD Student Awards brief set by Little White Lies magazine.

This video, made over 48 hours, reveals more

One of the most striking displays came courtesy of Stacey Knights and her series on endangered British birds, all beautifully cut from paper. The leftover bits were then used, charmingly, for nesting material.

Stacey also entered the Little White Lies D&AD brief, with this Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy cover

And finally, Sian Richards‘ animal triptychs, adding musculature and hide in three stages, were beautiful

There’s lots more great stuff in the show – these are only personal highlights. For a comprehensive overview, the show’s website is here

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here

CR in Print
The July issue of Creative Review features a piece exploring the past and future of the dingbat. Plus a look at the potential of paper electronics and printed apps, how a new generation of documentary filmmakers is making use of the web, current logo trends, a review of MoMA New York’s group show on art and type, thoughts on how design may help save Greece and much more. Also, in Monograph this month we showcase a host of rejected design work put together by two Kingston students.

Please note, CR is no longer stocked in WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your independent newsagent can order it for you or you can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, email Laura McQueen (laura.mcqueen@centaur.co.uk) or call her on 020 7970 4878 to buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

Alanna Cavanagh reports from NYC:

First off it must said that being at the Javitts Centre can be an overwhelming experience. Your pass allows you admission not only into Surtex but into the National Stationery Show and ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) as well.  If attending all three shows you are literally exposed to thousands of images, exhibitors, attendees, press packages, “trend seminars”, workshops, and business cards. By the end of Day 1 I had a strong desire to be put into a sensory deprivation tank with a big glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.

I come from an illustration background and bring a bias to the Surtex show—I am most excited by the illustration booths.

One of the freshest presentations I’ve seen so far was from Sorry You’re Happy. This art licensing and surface design studio is made up of husband and wife illustrators Kyle Reed and Jen Hsieh (You might be familiar with them from UPPERCASE’s Work/Life book series). It was exciting to see that they were exhibiting work from two established and talented Toronto-based illustrators Katy Dockrill and UPPERCASE contributor Aaron Leighton.

Kyle and Jen holding one of Jen’s tea towels.All the work in the booth looked fresh and playful with the perfect amount of quirkiness thrown in. Jen and Kyle are particularly interested in licensing their art in the children’s market and I think it would work beautifully there. I can easily imagine any of these designs dancing on a onesie or on children’s bedding.

Booth panels by Aaron Leighton, Kyle Reed and Katy DockrillOne of Katy Dockrill’s patterns in the sample book

There’s been a veritable deluge of newsprint publications coming into CR towers in the last two weeks so thought we’d share a selection with you…

First up is the Frieze Projects newspaper. Frieze Art Fair held it’s first New York event earlier this month entitled Frieze Projects New York. For the event, Frieze invited eight international artists to respond to the location of the show, Randall’s Island in the East River, and turn the island park into a an experimental platform for contemporary art. Mulberry, the event’s sponsor, produced this unbound, newspaper-like publication (designed by Construct) to introduce each artist and their approach to the commission…

S.E.H Kelly is a two-person men’s clothing company based in East London. It’s publication, Some British Makers Vol. 1, features photos taken and info gleaned from visits to a small clothes-making workroom in North London, the only maker of horn buttons in the UK, and two woollen mills in Yorkshire.

“We tend to make our printed stuff with Newspaper Club,” says Sara Kelly of the project, “and they just printed this for us, to introduce ourselves and the kind of craft we employ to the stores in Japan who stock our stuff.”

Here are some images:

For any of our readers who don’t know, Newspaper Club was founded by Ben Terrett, Russell Davies and Tom Taylor in 2009 to make it easy for designers (and non-designers too) to make their own newsprint publications. Also hot off the Newspaper Club press is this self-promotional mailer by illustrator Andy Smith – a 12 page newsprint publication that shows off 12 of Smith’s poster designs:

“Business is certainly booming at the moment,” says Newspaper Club MD, Anne Ward when we asked if the unusually high influx of newsprint projects to CR towers was reflective of a rise in interest in the services they offer. “May is usually our busiest month but this May our orders are at least double last year’s,” she adds.

Paper-obsessed artist Rob Ryan has also taken advantage of Newspaper Club’s services – we just got the first issue of his studio’s new quarterly publication S.P.Q.R. which is available from Ryan’s Etsy shop for the princely sum of £2.

“Basically, it’s going to be a collection of pictures and words that I’ve been working on within the preceding three months,” explains Ryan. “Anything that I draw or design always starts its life as a note or a scribble somewhere in a note book and I’m kind of hoping that this project will become more like that, a printed notebook of thoughts and ideas,” he continues. “Ninety percent of my notebook stuff is rubbish and really quite embarrassing, so don’t expect too much,” he adds.

Despite his modesty, the first issue of S.P.Q.R. is full of lovely imagery – and also a short written piece by Ryan in which he explains how he ended up working almost exclusively with cut paper.

Last but not least is another first issue newspaper from a design studio, also printed by Newspaper Club. The Moon on a Stick, by Cheltenham-based ASHA (the studio behind the recently held first Cheltehham Design Festival) is by far the most ambitious of all the publications shown in this blog post – it’s 72 pages for a start, making it quite a big ask in terms of engagement time.

Essentially, The Moon on a Stick is a vehicle for showcasing projects ASHA has worked on and, despite an initial worry about delving into such a lengthy own-trumpet blowing exercise, it’s actually pretty engaging, thanks mostly to a playful approach to design and layout. Each feature sports different combinations of headline, display and text typefaces which stops it from being visually bland and kept me leafing through.

Also, peppered among the many case studies of ASHA projects are nuggets of editorial gold like the Best in Class spread that shows two great CV packs the agency received from graduate hopefuls, showing that creativity when applying for a design job really is worth the effort. Here are some spreads:

For more info about Newspaper Club and how to create your own newsprint publication, visit newspaperclub.com

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here

CR in Print
The May issue of Creative Review is the biggest in our 32-year history, with over 200 pages of great content. This speial double issue contains all the selected work for this year’s Annual, our juried showcase of the finest work of the past 12 months. In addition, the May issue contains features on the enduring appeal of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, a fantastic interview with the irrepressible George Lois, Rick Poynor on the V&A’s British Design show, a preview of the controversial new Stedelijk Museum identity and a report from Flatstock, the US gig poster festival. Plus, in Monograph this month, TwoPoints.net show our subcribers around the pick of Barcelona’s creative scene.

If you would like to buy this issue and are based in the UK, you can search for your nearest stockist here. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 292 3703 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.