OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - Floriography Collaboration Publication

During the creation of the publication I was given a lot of creative freedom to experiment with the design of the spreads, however as myself and Kate have worked closely on many projects before, there are many similarities between our design aesthetics.

Prior to collaborating with me, Kate had already selected a typeface to use and it was agreed between the two of us that the serif typeface was appropriate for the project as it had subtle characteristics which were reminiscent of the scripts used in the Victorian era, while also being a more contemporary typeface that suited the tone of the photographs well.

Combining the images and chosen typeface proved to be relatively simple, as Kate was on hand to give me feedback at every stage. The final designs for the publication's spreads are shown below:

Front and back covers

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - Floriography Collaboration Brief

I was approached by photographer (and sister) Kate Blamire to collaborate on the creation of a publication to accompany her recent project entitled Floriography.

Floriography as a concept is the cryptological communication through the arrangement of flowers. Dating back to the 1700's, it rose to prominence during the Victorian era where individuals used different bouquets of flowers to privately express messages and emotions. The project itself consists of a series of still life photographs depicted a range of different flowers that were used during the era, each with a different symbolic meaning.

Kate approached me with the idea to create a photo book that would accompany a series of prints of these images. Her ideas for the publication were all very minimalist, with a view to create a series of full bleed spreads. The information for each flower would then be displayed either alongside the images or in a list at the back of the book.

Based on the number of images she had, the publication would be a 16 page book that would be professionally printed. As there were so few pages, I suggested that the most appropriate binding option for this publication would be a saddle stitch, and Kate agreed.

When discussing ideas for the publication with Kate, it became clear that the format of the book should maximise the impact of the images as standalone pages. In order to allow the copy text to have minimal intrusion on the content of the spreads, I suggested that instead of placing the text alongside the spreads, or even at the back of the publication, we design a cover that incorporates a fold out section so that the copy text may be hidden away and then revealed as the user explores the book. Kate gave positive feedback to this idea.

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - LCA Student's Union Rebrand

This year Leeds College of Art gained Taught Degree Awarding Powers, giving the college full University status and allowing the college to award it's own degrees to students. Alongside this, the college will also change its name form Leeds College of Art to Leeds Arts University.

In connection with this, the student's union will also change its name to Leeds Arts University Student's Union, or LAUSU. As an existing member of the union team, I was approached by the union to help them create a new brand for the union using the name, alongside a few other members of the graphic design course L5 and L6.

During the first meeting, the existing logo was analysed and new styles and colour schemes were debated.

The existing logo has been part of the branding for the SU for the past few years, and while it was successful for the union at the time, it is no longer as relevant. The hand-rendered style type and rustic aesthetic of the logo can very much be associated with a small college. However, the college itself has grown and changed dramatically during that period, expanding workshop facilities, taking on more students and starting to build a new set of facilities that will accomodate two new courses. The college now runs some of the most successful and sought after courses in the country, and the Union would like their new logo to reflect a progressive and strong university and union that will provide opportunities for and support students fully.

The Union would like to create a more solid brand, possibly incorporating both a symbol and a word mark to create a logo that could be used in multiple parts across multiple applications. More specifically they would like to change the logo from a circle, as they have found that a circle shape can be hard to incorporate successfully into posters and banner designs. They would also like the change the colour scheme so that it does not match the rest of the branding currently used by the college, allowing the Union to forge its own unique identity and become a recognisable organisation under the umbrella of Leeds Arts University.

Before the next meeting, each member of the rebrand team and the union will undertake a range of research into existing branding for union university unions and wider logo design. In the next meeting we will pull all of these idea together to create some initial ideas.

Existing Union logo

OUGD02 - Studio Brief 01 - Shy Bairns Application To Middlesbrough Arts Weekender

As a collective Shy Bairns put in an application to the Middlesbrough Arts Weekender, a three day contemporary art festival for artists from the North-East of England, supported by the Arts Council of England and Middlesbrough Arts Council.

Submitted work is to be placed in existing art spaces as well as in both disused spaces and businesses along Albert road in Middlesbrough, with the aim of reactivating the heart of the town. The Weekender's aim is to build on the cultural scene already existing in Middlesbrough, and to promote increased arts activity in the Tees Valley area.

Our idea was to use this opportunity to push our publication skills further, with the idea to create a live publication over the course of the three days. In order to submit an application, a full proposal was required as well as a biography for the collective, a CV, and examples of our existing practice.



Application:

Shy Bairns is a four person multi-disciplinary collective specialising in DIY arts publications. We aim to gather Northern creatives together on one platform to showcase their works. Due to a lack of resources and funding, accessible northern gallery spaces are limited; Shy Bairns has therefore created a platform that does not rely on institutional support for the promotion of artists and their ongoing practice. 

Shy Bairns has successfully released two self-published, self-titled publications in the last year, each providing independent artists with an opportunity to submit and showcase their works in a 66-page, two colour Risograph, perfect bound publication. Shy Bairns has also curated a week-long online residency at IsThisIt, and is currently preparing for an upcoming solo show at Caustic Coastal in Salford later this month.

Erin Blamire

https://www.behance.net/erinblamire

Erin Blamire is a Graphic Designer from the North East, specialising in editorial and publication design. She is currently Editor-In-Chief of NEST magazine.

Eleanor Beth Haswell

www.eleanorbethhaswell.com

Eleanor Beth Haswell is an artist from County Durham. Her current practice focuses around photography and found imagery through print based media.

Georgia Gibson

www.georgiagibson.co.uk

Georgia Gibson in an artist from Houghton Le Spring, in Tyne and Wear. Her practice centres around heritage, culture and locality in a digital age, working mainly in digital and printed mediums.

Izzy Kroese

Izzy Kroese is an artist from Newcastle, who’s practice centres around book and zine making. She is the co-editor of Oranges zine and Milk Publications.

Proposal

Over the course of the Art Weekender we will work with Northern artists to produce a series of works about Middlesbrough and the visitors that approach the space. Artists involved will work in a range of mediums, including an illustrator who will draw portraits of visitors, a site-specific piece which involves gathering material from nearby bodies of water, and a textiles artists who produces work based around local high street stores. We will also create a series of prompts so visitors can make their own written contributions - our aim is to interact with the public as much as possible to make a collaborative creative space. This work will then be gathered and printed to produce a publication capturing a range of experiences of the weekender.

In preparation for the event we will print a cover and supporting materials for the publication on a Risograph printer. The first two days of the event will be dedicated to collecting work. A range of artists, including ourselves, will spend a day in the space producing work with visitors, creating work around the local area and talking to the audience about the project. We aim to have approximately four different artists using the space each day.

The work produced will then be edited and printed live by one of our team members so that the audience can gain insight into our process and the production of an arts publication. On the third day we will finalise the publication, then hold a launch afternoon with a showcase of the work, giving the public and opportunity to get their hands on a copy!

The stipend will be used towards materials for producing the publication and transport for the artists. We will be using our own printer during the event. A breakdown of our proposed costs is as follows:

Paper: £75

Printing: £75

Travel: £170 (to be divided between approx. 10 people)

Launch event: £50 (refreshments and advertising posters)

Artists supplies (paper, drawing materials): £50

Shy Bairns CV

Erin Blamire, Eleanor Beth Haswell, Georgia Gibson, Izzy Kroese

website: www.shybairns.co.uk

email: info@shybairns.co.uk

instagram: @shybairnsgetnowt

twitter: @shybairns_

Publications

Aug 2015   Press Go and Wait ‘21528170' and ‘2152402’ 

June 2016   Milk Issue 1

Dec 2016   Shy Bairns Volume 1: The Only Pizza Shop Where I Live Burnt Down  

Feb 2017   NEST Issue 10

Feb 2017   Giant Veg Community

March 2017   Oranges Issue 1

March 2017   Things I Like This Week Issues 1 and 2

April 2017   Shy Bairns Volume 2: Where’s Your Coat You’re Going To Be Cold

Exhibitions

Aug 2015   Clandestine Collective, Solo Arts, Sunderland

Sept 2015   Manchester Feminist Freshers Fair, 2022, Manchester

Aug 2016   Press Go and Wait exhibition, The Newbridge Project, Newcastle

March 2016   We Are All Happy, 43 Lewisham Way, London

Feb 2017   NEST Issue 10 Launch and Exhibition, Colours May Vary, Leeds

March 2017   Oranges Zine Launch, Turf Project, London

April 2017   Shy Bairns: Where’s Your Coat online residency, www.isthisitisthisit.com

April 2017   Shy Bairns: Where’s Your Coat You’re Going To Be Cold, Caustic Coastal, Salford

Shy Bairns Volume 1: The Only Pizza Shop Where I Live Burnt Down (2016)

Shy Bairns: Where’s Your Coat You’re Going To Be Cold (2017)

isthisit online residency (2017)

Just over a week later we received a response revealing that we had been successful in our application. Other artists involved include David Shrigley.

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - Shy Bairns #2 Exhibition and Launch Opening Night

The opening night of the exhibition was very successful. Roughly 60 people attended the event and the launch of the new issue was met with much positive feedback. Visitors ranged from students at Manchester School of Art, the University of Salford, Leeds College of Art, Caustic Coastal's own studio members, the curators of Collar (a gallery and studio space in Manchester) and the head of Islington Mills, one of the best know artists community in Manchester.

A photography, Nick Porter, was hired to photograph the event. A selection of his photographs are below:

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - Shy Bairns #2 Exhibition Vinyl

One of the tasks I was given during the preparation for the exhibition was to create vinyl lettering for the walls of the exhibition space. As discussed with the group, the exhibition space would include our name, the title of the exhibition and a selection of initials to place next to the exhibited works.

The vinyl designs were created in our typeface and scale to the size of the walls. They were cut from orange vinyl using the digital print facilities at LCA. Once cut, the excess vinyl was removed to leave only the letterforms. The letters were then backed with sticky back plastic to allow for easy transference onto the exhibition walls.

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - Shy Bairns #2 Tote Bags

Alongside the release of the new issue of Shy Bairns, I also created the first pieces in a range of merchandise that the collective will sell to promote the project and raise funding. For the launch of issue #2 the group discussed the creating of tote bags. It was agreed that the design should be the same as the stickers, featuring the grid motif and the typeface used throughout both issue of the publication. 50 tote bags were printed over the course of one day using the traditional print facilities at LCA.

Black and white design

Red design

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - Shy Bairns #2 Exhibition Promotion

To coincide with the official release of Shy Bairns #2, the collective put together a launch and exhibition event at Caustic Coastal in Salford, Manchester. The exhibition included the work of 11 artists from across both Shy Bairns publications, and work ranged from video art, sculpture, photography and textiles.

To promote the event, I created a series of posters based around the cover design for issue #2 for both print in risograph, and use across our social media platforms:

Exhibition poster for print

Square format poster for use on social media

Long format instagram graphic for promotional use

Countdown graphic for use on instagram

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - Shy Bairns Online Curatorship With IsThisIt?

In April 2017, Shy Bairns were given the opportunity to collaborate with IsThisIt?

IsThisIt? is an online platform for contemporary art, created and managed by Bob Bicknell-Knight. Online, it operates as a gallery with weekly exhibitions showcasing emerging to mid-career artists, hosting a roster of guest curators interrogating a variety of different concepts. The website also hosts monthly residencies, where artists are given a web page to create a completely new work that exists on the internet. Offline, it has held exhibitions in venues across the UK. The first printed issue of its magazine is currently in production.

Shy Bairns was offered a week-long residency to curate an interactive webpage within the IsThisIt website. Taking works from Shy Bairns #2, the residency offered the project a new platform to showcase our Northern artists, and included works ranging from performance art, spoken word, sculpture, collage, illustration and textiles.

The residency officially ran from 14th - 21st April, but can still be found here.

OUGD502 - Studio Brief 01 - NEST Issue 11 Magazine Design

To create consistency between issue 10 and issue 11, the design of the magazine remained almost entirely the same. The print specifications meant that it was again designed as a B5, 32 page, full colour, saddle stitched publication. However as this issue had the theme of space, I wanted the design of the spread to feel more immersive, with little to no negative space. Therefore all of the spreads feature full bleed images. The horizontal NEST tag-line remained on the outer edge of each page, and the page numbers again remained only on right hand side of spread. The names at the top however were separated so that each individual image would be credited. This created a slightly altered grid that encased two sides of the spreads, leaving the bottom and left edge free to hold without compromising the view of the content.

As with the last issue, a full cover was replaced with the belly band, again using the translucent G. F Smith stock as it was also appropriate to the theme of space and created added cohesion between this issue and the last.