Graphic Design History Resources

We Made This is the design practice of Alistair Hall who's work has appeared on this blog many times before. He is also an author and an Associate Lecturer on the Graphic Design BA course at the School of Art at London Metropolitan University.

...and this is what he wrote on his blog:

"One of the things I’ve noticed each year though is that students often struggle when it comes to finding useful places to look for inspiration when they search online.* If you’re new to design, it can be hard to filter, to work out what you should really be looking at. The problem seems to be the massive gravity of Google Image Search and Pinterest, which exerts a pull that students find hard to escape."

The result is Alistair has created a list of some really great graphic design archives and resources, which you can find here:

https://www.wemadethis.co.uk/blog/2021/09/graphic-design-history-resources/

Alistair is not claiming this is an entirely comprehensive list, just a useful resource ..and indeed it is. 

As he goes on to say:

We’re at an exciting time in our industry’s history, when the established canon of graphic design is being questioned, examined, and reformed, so that it’s no longer the preserve of middle-aged straight white men. That said, the following list still leans heavily in that direction, partly because the industry leant heavily in that direction for many, many years. But great strides are being made, and as we look forwards, the industry is beginning to reflect the true diversity of society.

Thanks Alistair!

https://www.wemadethis.co.uk/blog/2021/09/graphic-design-history-resources/

Posted by Justin Hobson 23.09.2021

London Street Signs

Today is the publication date for a superb new book by a wonderful designer Alistair Hall, who's work has appeared on this blog many times before.

Over the past few years Alistair has researched, visited and photographed sites all over the capital city, documenting and creating an archive of street name plates. London has an amazingly rich collection of these wayfinding signs which stretch back through the centuries. The beauty is that because the signs were never erected by a single authority or been updated at a particular time, they
comprise a rich treasury of graphic form and typography, which Alistair has carefully and considerately mined.

Click on images to enlarge

‘London Street Signs is the stunning new book from Alistair Hall. An absolute must for type fans – one of the design books of the year.’ Daniel Benneworth-Gray

‘Mr Hall writes in an informative way about an unexpectedly fascinating topic. He has a good eye for serifs and unusual embellishments, such as the “delicately rendered manicule” on a sign on Addison Road, W14.’ The Times Literary Supplement

‘Everything I hoped it would be, nerdy and engrossing in all the right ways.’ Professor Phil Baines, Typography Professor at Central Saint Martins

Alistair Hall runs his own studio We Made This, he lectures at The Cass and CSM and is also art director of children’s literacy charity Ministry of Stories and its fantastical shop, Hoxton Street Monster Supplies.

London Street Signs is published by Batsford, which is an imprint of Pavilion Books and I'm sure they have a sure hit with this book. Congratulations to Alistair on the publication of his first title, I'm sure there will be more to come!

This 192pp hardback book is available from all good bookshops (Foyles, Waterstones, WH Smith etc.) at very reasonable prices or you can buy direct HERE.

https://www.pavilionbooks.com/book/london-street-signs/
http://www.wemadethis.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.09.2020

St Bride Student lecture

Yesterday, I attended a lecture day at St Bride's put on for students which was funded by the Wynkyn de Worde Society Charitable Trust. The speakers at the event were Alistair Hall (from We Made This), Sharon King-Chai (an author-illustrator and book designer) and Chris Bounds (from Carter Wong design). There were around a hundred students from universities around the country. I spoke to some from Kingston, University of the Creative Arts and University of Reading.

Alistair Hall gave a special insight into the way that the Ministry of Stories initiative started followed with an amusing set of anecdotes about the Hoxton Street Monster Supplies - truly this is an example of where design has helped changed people's lives for the better - over a thousand children helped with writing every year.  

Sharon King-Chai spoke about her career, from her arrival in the UK to getting work experience, her work designing album covers and her transition into the world of publishing. One slide in particular struck a note with me ...be nice

Doesn't matter who you are - being nice is the right thing. Even when you have to say NO, you can still do it nicely.

I took a few printed examples to show, to inspire students about the quality print work that is out there and what can be achieved.

It was a very interesting day and I'm sure the students that were there found it inspiring and useful. The print workshop was also open which gave people the opportunity to print some letterpress keepsakes to take home.

If you would like to stir the greymatter, how about going to the Type Tuesday event this evening, run by Eye magazine? The archive evening is hosted by Paul Barnes and there are half a dozen speakers talking about their favourite items found in St Brides. You can read about it here: http://www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/type-tuesday-archive-night-with-paul-barnes and you can buy tickets from Eventbrite - only £12.00. Go on, get out and feed the brain!

http://www.sbf.org.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.03.2016

Shakespeare Schools Festival

The Shakespeare Schools Festival is the UK's largest youth drama festival, offering students from all backgrounds the opportunity to perform Shakespeare on their local professional stage. Alistair Hall and his Clerkenwell studio 'We Made This' was commissioned to create a promotional pack of exercise cards to send out to schools. The brief was "to challenge, support and inspire teachers to inject some SSF style creativity into their classrooms"

They created a stunning box set of hot foil-blocked cards featuring quotes from Shakespeare's plays.

This size of the box (outside dimensions) is 160x222mm and the depth of the box is 16mm. The box is a two piece 'tray and lid'. The cards are all A5 (148x210mm), hot foil blocked and 'round cornered'

Click on images to enlarge

The cards are printed on our Colorset Light Grey, 350gsm (above) which is 100% recycled and the natural kraft colour below is printed on our Plexus 350gsm (below)

Click on images to enlarge

The quotes are set in bold, engaging lettering on the fronts of each card and are beautifully hot foil blocked ...just look at the image below:

Alistair says "the client's response was - They are beautiful! Thank you so much, I couldn't be more pleased" and it was lovely to have that passed on and to receive a file copy and his kind note

The superb execution of the project is by Benwells. They produced all the print, foiling and finishing of the cards - all of which is superlative. Paul Haslam at Benwells oversaw the project.

The exquisite boxes are produced by W. MacCarthy & Sons Ltd, who are based in Woolwich in South London.

This project is a truly outstanding piece of design, typography and print.

http://www.ssf.uk.com/
http://www.wemadethis.co.uk/
http://www.benwells.co.uk/
http://www.maccarthyandsons.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.01.2016

we made this

Alistair Hall from "we made this" has just sent me pics of his new set of stationery and he's dead chuffed with it. The business card is foiled with matt silver foil on our Kapok 500gsm board and the comp slips and letterhead are on Episode IV, 115gsm (100% recycled)

And this lovely pic below shows the depth and clarity of the deboss (but on a white material)
Foiling and printing was done by Benwell Sebard (London)

All looks very, very smart ...thank you Alistair.

http://www.wemadethis.co.uk/

http://www.benwells.co.uk/