Nat-ional-Re-con-struct-ion Book Launch

Nat-ional-Re-con-struct-ion is a self-promotional project by Studio Sutherl& exploring the visual and verbal language of flags and national identity.

"Flags are a potent symbol of national identity: an example of visual communication in its purest form. Their shapes represent the land, sea and sky. Suns, moons and stars. Solidarity, religion and freedom. Their colours represent physical and emotional attributes. At a time when the world is riven with nationalist tensions, global challenges and diseases, it’s a small flag raised for play and creativity."

On Wednesday evening, Jim Sutherland hosted a book launch at D&AD where he spoke about the project together with writer and poet Nick Asbury.

...and there was a whole table of flags to be cut up and reconstructed

Jim Sutherland gave a talk explaining how the project began and it's evolution through D&AD workshops to the eventual production of the book.

The Nat-ional-Re-con-struct-ion book is 115 x 200mm, Landscape and is digitally printed in a limited edition of just 200 copies with 50 different cover designs.

The text is digitally printed (HP Indigo) on our lovely Offenbach Bible 80gsm.

"Nat-ional-Re-con-struct-ion explores the visual and verbal language of flags and national identity. This book is an excercise in deconstruction and reconstruction. At a time when the world is riven with nationalist tensions, global challenges and diseases that respect no borders, it is a small flag raised for play and creativity."

The book is beautifully printed and bound by Boss Print.

It was a wonderful evening and so good to get out and meet people physically again. There are still copies available, so you can still buy a copy HERE.

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.12.2021

D&AD Awards 2020

Yesterday evening it was the D&AD awards, which this year, was an online affair. I've been fortunate to have been invited to the awards dinner a few times over the years and been on the table of those who have won yellow pencils for projects for which I've had input and they have been very memorable evenings!

Given the circumstances, the awards this year were very well executed and superbly presented by D&AD President Kate Stanners Saatchi & Saatchi Global CCO).

A phenomenal 618 pencils were awarded, including 384 Wood, 150 Graphite, 68 Yellow, and 4 elusive Black Pencils. One of the black pencils worthy of note was for typeface Universal Sans, a variable typeface that allows for an extensive range of customisation and unique variations produced by Family Type.

This year, many of the studios that I have worked with over the years, including Johnson Banks, NB Studio, Magpie, Osborne Ross and Here Design, to name but a few, have been nominated and won awards.

It's always lovely to have been involved with a project which has won an award and even better, a project which has won two awards...

Twenty-five Sculptures In Five Dimensions was a self-promotional project for writer Tom Sharp. It was a demonstration of creativity within strict technical writing and design restraints, an experiment in reading and seeing, and an attempt at creating a sublime, meaningful experience with as few elements as possible.

I wrote about the actual event on my blog, last November  HERE.

Tom Sharp filled a high-ceilinged church in Covent Garden with 25 plinths. Each plinth held a text created to a strict format of five syllables per line, five lines plus a title. Each piece of writing described an original, imaginary object, so that any emotional response the reader had was because of the object they conjured up, rather than language manipulation.

The project was a collaboration with Studio Sutherl&. Tom Sharp and Jim Sutherland are the Creative Directors, writer is Tom Sharp and the designer is Rosey Trickett. The printed sheets were all printed on our wonderful Sixties paper and printed offset litho by Boss Print.

Yesterday evening this project was awarded a Graphite Pencil [Graphic Design] for Self Promotion and a Yellow Pencil [Graphic Design] for Writing for Graphic Design.

Congratulations to all participants in this year's awards. It has been a strange year, but life goes on and it's great to see that the creative industry is still producing and recognising great work, even in these unprecedented times.

You can watch the 2020 D&AD awards and check out the winners HERE

https://www.thepoetryofitall.com/
http://studio-sutherland.co.uk/
https://www.bossprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 11.09.2020