July Review

If not a little later than planned here is the latest review of some of the most interesting things to have found their way into the studio including a number of degree show catalogues and the very first It’s Nice That footwear.

5:1 – Graphic & Media Design Degree Show Catalogue 2009 (London College of Communication)

BA (Hons) Graphic & Media Design 09
The mamouth task of collating 200(ish) students work is not a desirable one, to then go and do something completely different and pull it off is more than applaudable. Rumour has it the final spec was a little over budget but appears to be worth every penny resulting in a conclusive, well designed catalogue archiving the work of 5 different pathways.
www.5to1show.com

In Three Word. The Arts Institute at Bournemouth Catalogue 2009

BA (Hons) Graphic Design 09. The Arts Institute at Bournemouth.
Not the easiest catalogue to open up and put back together but well worth the effort. In Three Words does exactly what it says on the tin, each student sums themselves up in three words on the reverse of a postcard. Occasionally resembling a calling card but more often than not a confident, clever, showcase.
www.inthreewords.co.uk
www.dayfold.com

Royal College of Art Show Two Catalogue 2009

Design by Happily Ever After
It always helps when putting together a catalogue that the work featured is well designed, considered and interesting, something the RCA consistently prides itself on. Printing a hefty A3 catalogue certainly reinforces the fact that this institution is bigger than most but in reality becomes quite cumbersome. Having said that it’s worth the extra effort to read and enjoy.
www.happily-ever-after.co.uk
www.rca.ac.uk

Royal College of Art Animation Showreel 2009.

Deisgn by David López Retamero / Adnan Lawson
Sitting through an entire animated showreel is one of those things that given the time I’d love to do, unfortunately I only managed to flick my way through the DVD and as such can’t really call this a proper review. However, the RCA is always going to produce a high caliber of animator and those looking for something will probabaly find it. Well packaging with an informative booklet it’s defiantly worth making the time for (as I intend to some time soon). Sarah Wickens and Tom Judd were the two that stood out from the brief time I did spend watching it.
www.rca.ac.uk/animation

miOriginals

Earlier last month were invite down to the Adidas Originals store in Covent Garden to check out miOriginals. Essentially you can now customise your favourite pair of ZX700 / Superstar / Gazelle / Forum or Stan Smith trainers. Naturally we decided to create the very limited edition It’s Nice That trainer. We’re going to see how sales go before opening them up as a series venture but if you’re interested you can check out mi Originals at the Adidas Originals stores in Covent Garden and Westfield shopping centre (both London).
shop.adidas.co.uk

Endless Possibilities

Illustration by Damien Weighill. Design by Blast. Published by Conqueror
There are some things that come through the post that you’d happily sit through most of the morning looking at. This is one of those. Nicely designed by London based studio Blast with quirky illustrations provided by Damien Weighill. The book promotes the creative potential of the current range of paper from Conqueror, it’s an interesting alternative to the familiar sample book.
www.conquerorpossibilities.com
www.damienweighill.com
www.blast.co.uk

Grid Index

Edited and designed by Carsten Nicolai. Published by Gestalten
Are you the kind of person who wants to look at an endless source of patterns and have them all available on CD for your own personal use? Lucky you, here it is. There’s obviously a little more to it than that, Grid Index is the first comprehensive visual lexicon of patterns and grid systems based on years of research by artist and musician Carsten Nicolai. Also check out the film on him here where he talks more about the book on Gestalten.tv.
www.carstennicolai.de
www.gestalten.com

Loops Journal

Edited by Lee Brackstone and Richard King. Design by Wallzo. Published by Faber & Faber/Domino Records
Faber & Faber and Domino Records have joined forces in producing an incredibly interesting piece of work, a biannual journal called Loops. The cover illustration by Mario Hugo is enough to get you to pick it up and when you then realise that the design and art direction is by Wallzo, with some bespoke type and a handful of David Shrigley illustrations throw in to good measure it is easy to understand why it’s that little bit harder to put down. It is of course not the design that makes this interesting (although it more than helps), the content is also as noteworthy and although at first glimpse it appears a little text heavy there’s enough time to wade your way through before Issue 2 is published in February.
www.loopsjournal.com
www.wallzo.com

Fig.It Out

Designed by Bark
London based Bark Design kindly sent us their recent self promotion newspaper. “A publication of themes, observations, sound and visual bites, notions and ideas.” You can request your copy now, check out their site.
www.barkdesign.net

Truckers

By Mary Richardson. From Mark Batty Publisher
Things I know nothing about (it’s a long list) always make me inquisitive and can often capture my imagination. I know nothing about trucks, but thanks to Mary Richardson and Mark Batty Publishing Truckers reveals the diesel-fueled lives of America’s true road warriors.
www.markbattypublisher.com