london book

So the first year has finished and the second year will have to wait whilst I take the student equivalent of maternity leave. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to photograph my london book before handing it in so here are a few spreads and the poster cover in digital format. Now I just have to wait for the result!

vernacular type

We began this workshop by looking at some examples of vernacular typography, such as the work of the prolific and incomparable Mike Perry. Our task was to create our own typeface based on the vernacular of Elephant & Castle. I tried my hand at emulating some of Perry’s hand drawn lettering but apart from being nice to look at they did not really say ‘Elephant & Castle’ to me (apart from literally). I went back to my research photographs to try to discover an overall vernacular or aesthetic of the area. The overarching idea I got from my images was one of decay - there were many different typefaces but they were mostly peeling off, dirty from years of traffic pollution or obscured by grafitti and fly-posting. I decided therefore to make my typeface more about texture than form and I have created something that hopefully emulatles the down-at-heel tattiness of  Elephant & Castle. I used Helvetica as a template because I thought as a well-known and generic typeface it would not detract from the overall feel of the piece.

reduction - mapping london

In one of last weeks workshops we had to reduce a street map of London right down to its street names alone - whilst retaining its key direction-finding function as a map. It is a great exercise in kerning and tracking type and here is one I am working on at the moment - a map of my old stomping ground, Soho (not yet finished)...

experiments

I have been playing around today and came up with some ideas for my London book. Herewith some monoprinting, vernacular type and stencilling as well as some other bits and bobs I've found/made...

this is london

Went for a lovely blustery walk along the Southbank today to take some photographs for the Layers workshop tomorrow. I have just been playing around with some of them in photoshop & indesign to think of ideas for my London book front cover and came up with these...

repetition

Workshop number 1 focused on the concept of repetition. We learnt that:

*The act of repeating something over & over is called repetition. 

*Repetition can be used as an aid to memory or to create impact. 

*Pattern is repetition and it is all around us. 

*'That which is static and repetitive is boring. That which is dynamic and random is confusing. In between lies art'. - John Locke

Here are some photos I took around the Elephant and Castle that highlight repetition in the urban environment.

monoprinting london

Today's workshop was monoprinting with Rachel Ortas, which is something I did a long time ago at college and had since forgotten about. It is a really simple and relatively quick method of creating prints which are atmospheric. With the theme of London I produced the following images.

penguin design timeline- a short history

For our Visual & Cultural Theory class we were asked to produce a timeline of a design subject of our choosing. I chose to explore the designs of Penguin book covers and here is my timeline - a short history of Penguin Design. Click on the images to enlarge them.

uscreates

The lovely people at Uscreates have asked us to design a series of postcards for their company  to help them keep in touch with their clients, associates, peers, volunteers and interns. We have four weeks to come up with our designs and here are a couple of early ideas I've had. Watch this space for more...

penguin design award 2011

This year's Penguin Design Award will go to the best cover designed for Garcia Marquez's 'One Hundred Years of Solitude'. I will shamefully admit that I have not read this novel (although I have read others of his) and have been carried away all day designing the below cover without actually putting much research into whether it represents the book in anyway. SO if you have read the book then I would be very grateful to hear your thoughts on the below!