Things this week is all manner of graduate publications!

As you may know from the marvellous graduate work being showcased on It’s Nice That for the past two weeks (see in full The Graduates 2012 here), it’s that time of year again when we have amazing work blasting through our letterbox as creatives everywhere are breaking free from the shackles and security of student-hood.

This can be an exhilarating time, but also a scary one – when you’ve worked extremely hard, are aware of the need for a break, but at the same time know you need to get cracking if you want to make the “real” world work for you. By the standard of the things we’ve seen so far, we’ve no doubt this batch of graduates are on a roll! So, for this special version of Things, we’ve decided to show you a selection of some of the best graduate publications and catalogues that have come bounding into our studio. Enjoy!

Magnus Hearn and Tom Mattison: Changing Climate Changing Language

Magnus and Tom have just finished their studies at the University of the West of England, Bristol, and have combined their serious talents to take on a very serious topic – climate change. Their publication consists of a series of visual responses to the manner in which climate change is discussed and illustrated, and takes an investigative look at some of the language that has arisen out of the topic. Tom’s work explores the visualisation of the subject, and Magnus’ work is an analysis of how it’s often spoken about, focusing on the creation and integration of new words and phrases; there’s even a helpful glossary at the back to remind us of the perils of “greenwashing” and “eco-bling”.
www.magnushearn.co.uk
www.tommattison.co.uk

Kingston University 2012: BA (Hons) Illustration & Animation and BA (Hons) Graphic Design: Rare, Take Shape

These two beautiful publications showcase the work of this year’s Kingston Illustration & Animation and Graphic Design graduates. It’s perhaps fitting, then, that each is absolutely perfectly finished; Rare, which shows us the illustration and animation, is fitted with a bellyband featuring an image of a large desk wooden desk about which is arranged crayons, tubes of paint, and brushes. We fully understand if such places have been “home” to the students featured for the past three years, because the profiles of their work are top-notch. The Graphic Design publication, Take Shape, is delightfully presented in a plastic cover adorned with bold typography, and has such high-class production values that we had difficulty telling if it was foil-embossed or letterpress. The work inside, meanwhile, is fantastic. Super stuff.
www.rare2012.com
www.takeshape2012.com

Ed Rivers

This is a lovely work from Ed Rivers who recently graduated from Kingston’s Graphic Design course; its reminds me of one of my primary-school copybooks, with the red textured paper cover, while the abstract linear pattern on the loose folds within fold out to create a map-like artefact. There’s a very nice take on textual arrangement and its implications for meaning as well, with a quote from Edward de Bono on the dangers of pattern-repetition, set out in text that gradually diverges from itself. Nice.
www.cargocollective.com/edrivers

Ella McLean: Peckham

This riso-printed publication from Ella McLean, who recently finished at Camberwell, is wonderful. It’s based on a man’s walk through Peckham, with a short piece of text at the beginning to set the scene and the journey. The illustrations, in bright orange details and dominant blues, are beautiful; the glimpses of gutters, shopfronts, brickwork, and shopfronts are akin to what you’d glance at on a similar walk, and it’s all very atmospheric; a bit like a sequence of film. Great work altogether.
www.ellamclean.co.uk

University of Brighton Graphic Design and Illustration: Now What

This absorbing publication from the University of Brighton tackles a very appropriate subject for graduates everywhere: now what? It’s positively brimming with arresting pictorial and textual content – along with profiles of student work, there are written pieces on East London: A Creative Ghetto and an extremely interesting piece called Getting In & Getting On – an invsetigative article on internships. The future’s looking bright for these guys!
www.nowwhat2012.com