UOP Showcase 2014

You may remember that back in the summer I went to New Designers exhibition, where I wrote about one of the students from Portsmouth University (Eric Downer) who was awarded the coveted "New Designer of the Year" title. http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/new-designers-2014.html  I also mentioned that the course showcase publication at the show was printed on our paper and that I would write about it at a later date ...well, here it is!

 

Size is 225x160mm, portrait and is perfect bound. It has a 4pp cover with a 64pp text and has a superb quality and feel about it ...and there a really clever little twist as well!

The covers, which are all printed just one colour - magenta- have been printed on five different colours of our Colorset, 100% Recycled. This is a wonderful 'print design' solution as maximises the impact and the processes used. It looks and feel like you are getting so much more out of a project, but a no extra cost!

All that is required to make this effective, is a design that will work printed in one colour, that can be applied successfully on a range of colours ...and this does just that, beautifully.

The text is printed on our Redeem 100% Recycled 130gsm which is printed beautifully and does great justice to the wide and varied work of the students. Being a neutral white it gives the publication a 'booky' feel which works really well with the imagery.

The catalogue design team is Andy Lethbridge, Ellie Taylor, Ali Bird and Eric Downer and they have done a superb job. The academic team is Sarah Houghton, Andrew Denham, Mike Harkins, Dan McCabe, Estelle Taylor, Alex Tibus.

...and below you can see the striking result of how the different colour covers look, all stacked up at the New Designers show:

Catalogue production and coordination was handled by Sarah Houghton, Course Leader at the University of Portsmouth. Printing is by PPG Print in Portsmouth.

www.port.ac.uk
http://www.ppgprint.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 28.11.2014

New Designers 2014

Yesterday evening, I went to the New Designers exhibition and awards at the Business Design Centre in Islington.

New Designers is an exhibition for emerging design, full of innovation and fresh thinking, covering all aspects from textiles and fashion to product design, visual comms etc. It takes place over two weeks, with each Part focusing on a different set of design disciplines and featuring its own Awards Programme. The show sees over 3,000 of the most talented, newly graduated designers from the UK's leading universities come together to exhibit.

It was a lovely evening and the queue for entry was a mile long!

I saw many of the tutors and part time lecturers that I know who were from the universities and colleges who had stands at the exhibition. Particular mention shall go to Portsmouth University, who not only sent me an invitation, but also used our Colorset and Redeem 100% Recycled for their show catalogue! ...but more about that another time when I have more space to write about it.

Above is the University of Portsmouth stand and you can see all the books stacked up.

...and because I love to associate myself with success (!),  I must congratulate Eric Downer from the BA (Hons) Graphic Design course at University of Portsmouth, who won the overall "New Designer of the Year". Fantastic news for him personally and for the course and very well deserved.

Photo of Eric Downer winning his award. Photo courtesy of Dan McCabe

Eric Downer has also won an ISTD award for his piece on Electricity Pylons. I've seen it and it is a lovely piece of work. Here are his words " I don't feel pylons are particularly aesthetically pleasing (a lot of people agreed) but there was always something that made me wonder there is more to them just just pure functionality. My curiosities were rewarded when I discovered the main men behind the pylons past and the role the pylons themselves went on to play in our history. Your have to read the book to find out what and who they were".
So any of you studios out there looking for some fresh young talent ...look no further!

In particular. thanks to Sarah Houghton, Dan McCabe and Michael Harkins at the University of Portsmouth

http://www.eric-downer.co.uk/new-page-1/
www.newdesigners.com
www.port.ac.uk/graphic

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.07.2014

University of Portsmouth Graduate Show 2014

Last week, I had a lovely surprise when I opened my post to find not one but four posters for the University of Portsmouth graduate show!

The invitations and posters for the show are designed by Michael Harkins who is not only senior Lecturer but is also the course leader of the MA Graphic Design course.

He kindly wrote a few words about the project for me: The posters represent part of a wider identity for the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries 2014 Graduate Show. This celebrates the opening of a new building allowing all four schools of the Faculty to be housed in single creative campus. The brief was to create a single identity that would unify, whilst retaining individual identity for each of the schools. The theme was based on ‘bringing together’. Initially a bespoke typeface was created consisting of four elemental parts. Each of the schools are represented by one of the geometric shapes. When combined form the identity SHOW 2014.

The posters are all A1 size (841x594mm) and are printed offset litho in CMYK on one side only. The paper used is our Redeem 100% Recycled 130gsm, which has a neutral white shade and recycled tone. Here they are on display in the Eldon building.

There are also four A5 invitations, mirroring the design on the posters, which are printed on Redeem 100% Recycled 315gsm

Printing is by L&S Printing who are based in Worthing. Thanks to Mike for sending file copies and his kind note

The show is open all this week at the Eldon Building at University of Portsmouth, ending on Friday 6th June, so you'd better get done there quickly!

www.port.ac.uk

www.ls-printing.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.06.2014

Summer Show 2013



Now is the time when many readers of this blog will be receiving invitations to degree shows from all corners of the country. Here is a particularly lovely and inspired example for the University of Portsmouth.

Below is the A1 poster (841x594mm) printed in CMYK, one side only, on Redeem 100% Recycled 130gsm.

...then to make the invitations, the material on the run was changed to Redeem 100% Recycled 315gsm and the run completed. The reverse of the board was then printed in one colour forming 16 x A5 invitations with CMYK on the reverse of the invite - a smart idea! 

Reverse of the A5 Invitations

The design is by  Michael Harkins, who is a senior Lecturer in Graphic Design and the course leader of the MA Graphic Design at the University of Portsmouth. Given the complexity of the design, I asked Mike to write some words to explain the project:

Often my work plays with complex ideas found within the design problem itself, yet this is something for the viewer to find within the work, not something obvious initially.

The idea really came from thinking about 2013 as a number in itself. For many people the date could be seen as a portentous one, unlucky, lucky, superstitious etc. This led me to think about what it is when we read into numbers as individuals, we often bring our own meanings/readings.

The numbers within the date are also the first in the sequence of natural, ordinal or cardinal numbers. 2013 is also the first time these numbers appear together in a year date since 1320, so quite special in that sense. They also form the idea of a countdown 3,2,1,0 to the show. As in the ordered sequence 0123, we arrive at 3, the number of years students commit to their degree programmes, culminating in the show.

So really the numbers become celebratory and playful. The use of the CMYK adds to this idea of playfulness in terms of interaction of form and colour. It also gets us, the viewer to bring about our own readings of the numbers. 

The invitations extend the playfulness by dividing the colour composition into 16 parts, each one producing a unique composition in itself, something we take time to view, enjoy, contemplate.

Posters on display behind glass

Printing is by L&S Printing based in Worthing, West Sussex and a beautiful job they've made of it.

...and thanks to Mike for sending me some file copies and a note (written on the printed reverse of the A5 invitation):

The preview is tomorrow evening at the Eldon Building at University of Portsmouth and the show is open from 3-14 June.

www.port.ac.uk

www.ccichannel.port.as.uk

www.ls-printing.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 30.05.2013

Portsmouth Summer Show 2012

I can truly describe this project as pure Gold! This is the poster and invitation to the forthcoming University of Portsmouth, 2012 Summer Show. There is an A1 (594x820mm) poster on Colorset Solar 120gsm and an invitation (297x105mm) on Colorset Solar 270gsm. Both items are hot foil blocked only (no print) in two colours (metallic gold and pigmented white foil).

The design is by Michael Harkins, who is a senior Lecturer in Graphic Design and the course leader of the MA Graphic Design at the University of Portsmouth and I asked Mike to write some words to explain the project:

"The poster and identity for this year's Summer Show ties together many themes, as is usual in the work I produce. Firstly the show is the high point in the academic year, it is also the month where the sun reaches its zenith (in this part of the world at least), additionally we often refer to this month as 'Golden June'. This nicely fits in with the idea of the 'Gold Standard', especially this year being an olympic one, so there is a cultural echo here in the identity. This is a time of year when students are showing their best work, not for the sake of winning but completing. The circle also reflects the last element in the University logo (originally designed by Banks and Miles). This can also be interpreted as completing – leaving the University with achievement. Thus, on the poster the names of the courses within the circle have completed at this point in terms of the show. The gold foil and terrifically sunny Colorset Solar, also help to give a feeling of celebration and opulence in these somewhat austere times. Although in ethical terms, the production and paper were actually a cheaper alternative to printing at this size in two colour litho. There is also less waste in terms of make ready etc. with regards to the paper"

The foil blocking was produced at Reflections print finishers in London. Mike mentioned that Bill Fletcher at Reflections deserves a special thank you, as the job was not an easy one to produce due to the huge area of foil on the poster - it does look absolutely stunning.

The private view is this Friday (1st June) and is open for general viewing on Wednesday 6th - Wednesday 13th June at the Eldon Building at University of Portsmouth - you should go and you may see something golden!

www.port.ac.uk

www.ccichannel.port.ac.uk

www.reflections.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 29.05.2012

University of Portsmouth - Showtime 2011

Showtime 2011 Summer exhibition poster/identity

This is a lovely set of literature which forms the identity, invitation, posters and information about the shows. There is an A1 folding to A4 poster/invite printed on Offenbach Bible 50gsm and an A5 invitation card.

The design is by  Michael Harkins, who is a senior Lecturer in Graphic Design and the course leader of the MA Graphic Design at the University of Portsmouth. Given the complexity of the design, I asked Mike to write some words to explain the project:

"The identity of the poster etc. plays upon the polysemy of the word Showtime. Time to put on a show; The point in time that has arrived to show work; Showing the time that has been invested in work and study through the public exhibition.

Bespoke lettering/type was created that used the metaphor of the opening door as this was also a time of departure from study to the wider world etc. This also represented the number one of the individual and eleven for the year of the show. Show and 2011 are represented as time in the form of a digital clock-like composition.

The reverse of the poster uses an algorithm based upon the screen angles of the colours used to create unique 'interactions' representative of each students unique contribution in terms of time and the work they show.

The Offenbach Bible Paper 50gsm used, also allows the front and back of the poster to interact * showing through * connections at the individual level contributing to the whole.

Poster (Reverse)

Front of the A5 Invitation is printed on Redeem 100% Recycled 315gsm:

Printing is all by L&S Printing based in Worthing, West Sussex and a very nice job they've made of it.

...and thanks to Mike for sending me some file copies and a note (written on the reverse of the A5 invitation):

The show is on this week at the Eldon Building at University of Portsmouth - get down there now!

www.port.ac.uk

www.ccichannel.port.as.uk

www.ls-printing.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.06.2011