Essays: Scratching the Surface
Unit Editions
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Scratching the Surface is a collection of essays and journalism by graphic designer, senior tutor and writer Adrian Shaughnessy. The book’s introduction opens with a disconcerting question: ‘Why would anyone want to read about graphic design?’ Shaughnessy convinces us that there are enough reading graphic designers out there to make writing about design worthwhile. Buy the book here.

I worked on Essays: Scratching the Surface as editorial coordinator.

Jurriaan Schrofer: Restless typographer
Unit Editions
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Jurriaan Schrofer (1926–90) was a Dutch experimental typographer born in The Hague. He worked at the renowned Dutch studio Total Design but spent most of his career freelancing.

In the essay, design writer Frederike Huygen describes Schrofer's work as ‘research into perception, visual effects and the optical illusion of perspective: or the interplay of letterform, pattern and meaning.’ Buy the book here.

I worked on Jurriaan Schrofer (1926–90): Restless typographer as the editorial assistant.

Ken Garland: Structure and Substance
Unit Editions
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Ken Garland: Structure and Substance is the first comprehensive monograph devoted to the entire career of legendary English designer Ken Garland, published by Unit Editions. The biographical essay is written by Adrian Shaughnessy and touches on the many sides of Ken: the ethical and political designer, the writer, the teacher, the photographer. Buy the book here.

I worked on this books as editorial assistant and photographer. It was a great pleasure to meet and work with someone as established but ever modest as Ken.

London College of Communication
Student Guide (2011–2012)
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At the end of 2011 I was asked by London College of Communication to design their new Student Information Guide for 2011–2012. It is an 8-page student broadsheet in two parts, assisting new students in finding their way around college and the neighbourhood.

Designing backwards
Major project
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In my major project I investigated how to make sustainable graphic design more comprehensible and appealing to design students and professionals. My final outcome introduces the process of designing backwards, a mental journey from the end-of-life of a product to its conceptual phase, as a sustainable approach to graphic design.

As a final outcome, I wrote and designed two booklets, one aimed at design students and one for professionals. The student edition was handed out to all first year BA in Graphic Media Design (2012) students at London College of Communication, the professional edition has been sent to a selection of design studios in London. All of the information can also be found on the project's website.



In extension I participated in a sustainable graphic design workshop in January 2012, for the first year BA in Graphic Media Design students at LCC. The day, organised by Sarah Temple and Monica Biagioli, started with lectures about sustainability in general and about sustainable print design, followed by a hands-on workshop about 'pretty garbage' and upcycling.

Journey to Greatness
Nike T-shirt
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A collaboration between Nike and University of the Arts (UAL). Four colleges from UAL handpicked four alumni to represent their institution, I was part of team LCC – London College of Communication. Over the course of five weeks – during which we met several world-class Nike athletes – each team created a t-shirt design for famous sports brand Nike. My other team members were Alex Leonhardt, Valentina Verč and Freya Dyson.


This project was featured on It's Nice That, here and here. You can also read about it on the 1948 website and the LCC blog.

In this video our mentor Dave White talks about the project and its aim. It also reports on our first day of the 'Journey to Greatness':



In this video we talk about our inspiration for this project
and explain the concept behind it:



Our initial inspirations came from the meetings we had with some of today's best Nike athletes: Harry Aikines-Aryeteey, Allyson Felix, Dai Greene, Paula Radcliffe. They all talked about sacrifice; how being the best requires them to prioritize their sport over other important aspects in life, such as friends and family. Harry talked about his fear of failure and how winning is addictive, while Dai shared with us how his days are planned out and repetitive in order to be as prepared as he can be for a race.

These ideas of determination, addiction and repetitiveness excited us and they formed the basis of our concept. We went through an extensive research and development stage touching on viscous circles, spirographs, kaleidoscopes and strobo photography. We also knew we wanted to use information design for our final piece so that was a thread throughout our conceptual phase.

After our first interim crit we decided to look for more unconventional ways of data visualization, something that was more unpredictable and organic and that reflected our initial inspirations of determination, addiction and repetitiveness. That's how we found the automated drawing
machine by Robert Howsare – we rebuilt his machine made up of old turntable decks, made a few tweaks and started experimenting with it.

Our final concept draws from the 5K we ran with Paula - the idea that everyone can run and that it's addictive even to the mere mortal. One of our teammates ran from Niketown at Oxford Circus to London College of Communication at Elephant&Castle – two places that obviously meant a lot to us during this journey – while our turntable was drawing the final design based on the date the runner fed back to us: his heart-rate, speed, time and location.

Here are images of the workshop day and of our initial moodboard:



Here are some shots of the 16 grads from LCC, CSM, CCW and LCF:




Our t-shirt is for sale in seven Nike shops throughout London, for £35.

More press coverage on 1948, the UAL blog and artwednesday.

Photography by Ryan Hopkins
Films by Andrew Telling