portfolio
To download high resolution, click here.
#typetartsalford submission 12:10 PM
It was also featured as a favourite entry.
Read about the history of Tart Cards.
Cheers! for Cool Type 4:31 AM
Saints Elite
Custom typography work.
Big Chip 2012 Re-design 6:19 AM
Read more about all three companies.
Icon Design for Magento Agency 4:52 AM
Interview with Business Boom Bolton 7:02 AM
The Future of Ecommerce & Magento 11:25 AM
#Gastroclub - Branding 2:27 PM
Ampersand Commerce Website 10:45 AM

Ampersand IT Win Three 2011 Big Chip Awards 11:47 AM

Work in progress: Marathon Challenge 9:00 AM
Hand drawn type over photography.

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April in New York 5:56 PM
Flyer for EXPOSURE 5:25 AM

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Happy Holidays! 12:01 PM

(Postcard designed by me)
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Future Artists Holiday Party 12:04 PM

(logo and flyers designed by rachel graham)
Join us for a holiday networking event for for those of you who work in the arts. Great networking opportunities, gallery of Future Artists members work (like mine!), speakers, and good music.
Future Artists is a place of diversity via creativity, created out of a need to deviate from the monoculture of the established arts, film and media scene.
All profits from this event will go towards the creation of our event on March 7th with Channel 4's 4Talent, Mofilm.com and BBC North. Get involved! See you on the 4th.
Date: 4th of December, 2010
Place: The Factory, 112-118 Princess Street, Manchester, 7:30pm
For tickets and more information, click here.
Featured work on Central Station 2:54 PM

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New Studio 4:06 PM
7 hours, 14 Designers PART TWO: AGI Open 2010 5:47 PM
Following Sarah Fanelli was Pentagram's Abbott Miller. Through his work he explained that process IS the project. With that thinking, he explained his theories about different kinds of projects and how he goes about them.
Here are a few highlights:
"A poster is a short story hit by a car." Meaning you have to portray a whole concept and or mood within one space. "A logo is a very small piece of architecture." One example if this process I adored was his branding work for MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art). Using the view out of the modern building onto the historic building, he created the logo (see below). It was the rhythmic lines of the main building’s facade that inspired the lines that separate the letters of the new logo, and the last slanted line references the slanted glass shape of the contemporary building. He had to reflect the unity of the old and new within one mark, and did it beautifully.
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| Image copyright MICA |
"Signage is type having sex with architecture." My personal favourite. He went on to explain the branding of the new Cooper Union building for the Advancement of Science & Art in New York. He based the logo off of an old stone sign from one of the other school buildings, which reminded him of Gridnik. He then worked with the architects to intigrate the logo into the building, outside as well as inside. See below.
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| Image copyright Pentagram |
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| Bottom of stairs in Lobby of building |
German studio, Cyan (founded by Daniela Haufe and Detlef Fiedler), was next up to discuss their process. They explained that unfortunately a lot of it does come down to leveling their clients expectations with the clients budget. In adorable broken English, the partners explained their projects over the last few years including posters for sound design festival Singuhr.
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| copyright Cyan |
They also have created a book about the life, process and work of Paul DeMarinis. Sometimes the project is about conveying someone else's process.
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| Copyright Cyan, Book available to purchase on Amazon (text in German), click here. |
Stefan Sagmeister took the stage next. He has just been in Bali on a year of rest and personal craft. He wonders, "what makes a happy designer?". He said that one of the things that would make him happy is to do more of the things that he likes to do and less of the things that he doesn't like to do. That makes perfect sense. It's okay to be a niche designer, it's ok to pick and choose. Just make sure you always like the end result, or why do it? Stefan Sagmeister is known for wild public spectacles and creative typographic beauty. Like his installation of Euro coins for experimentdesign in Amsterdam which was later removed by police.
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| Copyright designboom.com |
He also spoke on a similar point to Abbott Miller: logo as a small piece of architecture. He was asked to design the identity for the Casa da Musica building. Such an icon was the building itself, but Sagmeister was bored of all of these "architectural logos". So, he decided to come at it at several angles, literally. He also designed a color algorhythm that could take any photo and grab the colors to fill the logo. See examples below.
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| Casa da Musica building designed by Rem Koolhaas |
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| Final Casa da Musica Logos, from all angles of the building |
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| Example of color generator at work |
Lastly, Sagmeister encouraged everyone present to keep a diary. Not only is a diary a record of your life, but it "supports personal development". Process is life, and all of your experiences that have developed you.
Swiss designer Bruno Monguzzi is was the second to last speaker. "The HOW defines the WHAT," said Monguzzi. He told this lovely story from his mentor, Antonio Boggeri, head of Studio Boggeri in Milan. "For what other purpose is a spider's web but when it's beauty is broken by a fly." He said that statement follows him still to this day. He talked about how sometimes one has to disobey briefs, rules and trends. He feels that students today are too focused on fashionable typography, instead of substantial typography that holds weight with the reader. To make an active example, he went to the middle of the stage and yelled, "Maria!!!", like the call of an angry father. Then, he turned his back to the audience, and like one would do in middle school, put his hands around his back to look like he was making out with "Mmmmmmariia...." That was my favorite bit.
Last, but definitely not least, was Pantagram's Michael Bierut. An amazingly energetic presenter, he spoke of how his process consists of making mistakes and fixing them. He explained this through a project he did with schools in New York City's lower income areas. He was charged with the job of graphic designer for the new Libraries being built throughout New York for lower income schools. Each library was being built by different architects, but each had to have it's own unique yet uniform feel. After reading the brief, he came back to present what he thought were brilliant branding and marketing ideas. It turned out they were not at all what the client was looking for. He admitted to the audience that had not read the brief well, and he thought he would just get all designer-y and tell them what they needed. But, he realized, he forgot what it was that the children needed at the school. A place to read, relax and learn.
At his next proposal, this was his idea:
Perfect, a mark that could actually be placed in any typeface available in schools and still have a logo effect (i.e. L!BRARY). After branding the libraries, he had to make every building different and unique to each school. Using children who attended each school, he collaborated with several artists to make portraits (shown below) for the walls of each building. Click here to see the other L!BRARY designs.
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| Photo copyright Pentagram. |
The 11th of October, 2010 was an absolutely incredible day in Porto. I feel so lucky to have seen so many of my influences speak and to have been a part of the first AGI Open conference. Thank you to all who spoke and all who made it possible.
Back to Part One.
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