Thinking

You&Me and Me&You

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A charming documentary looks at the making of the giant You&Me and Me&You artwork, and its personal connection to the renowned designer’s creative journey.

Graphic artist Anthony Burrill recently revealed a giant typographic mural in Leeds, and now a documentary short about the artwork delves into the ideas behind the piece and its meaning to the designer. You&Me and Me&You sees Burrill’s signature letterpress typography blown up to epic proportions, covering one side of the 88-ft-high, seven-storey canal-side building, The Calls, in Leeds city centre. Impactful in white on black, the piece embodies Burrill’s mission to “say the most with the least, and connect with people through words” on a monumental scale, and speaks to the importance of human connection during the pandemic.

In the film directed by Ben G. Brown, Burrill explains how the mural signifies “a particular moment and a particular time” during the global crisis, and highlights the “value of relationships” between people, and the “simplicity of that connection… that connection is our humanity” he says. In an interview with It’s Nice That, Burrill adds that he hopes the mural remains in place for decades and marks “a time when we were collectively thinking about friends, family and wider society. The pandemic will affect us for the rest of our lives and will become part of our shared history. It’s given us time to think about the things that are truly important. Life is about those we hold dear and how they each influence us. I hope the mural will have the same connection with people in the future as it does now.”

Burrill studied at a university in Leeds in the late 80s, and hence says in the film that creating the mural felt like “some sort of homecoming” and that going back reminds him of “where I came from and the values it gave me growing up”. Shots of the mural are spliced with photographs of Burrill in his early 20s “in the full bloom of youth” he tells us, sometime between graduating Leeds Polytechnic and starting at the Royal College of Art. “It was the early 90s during the time of acid house, outdoor raving and long hair. The photos and memories they conjure give the film its emotional kick. It’s about the link between then and now, the friends I knew then that are still part of my life. It’s also about my relationship with where I grew up, my family and the personal journey I went on after moving to London from the North.”

Ultimately, though, the artwork is about connecting with people and reminding us what’s important during a challenging era. Response to the mural has been “amazing” he says – no doubt providing a welcome bolt of positivity to locals’ lockdown walks.

The film was produced by Charlotte Rosson with production company Maniac, and DoP Matt Gentleman. The mural was curated by Laura Wellington at In Good Company, supported by King & Co and installed by Bread Collective.

Full article on It’s Nice That

Film by Ben Brown at Maniac.

 

Photography by Chris Spencer-Payne.
Pure Graphic Design foil block mailers

Print is not dead

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Beautifully printed stationery

To fully launch my full-time freelance career this month, I invested in designing some beautifully printed business cards and A6 mailers. My passionate printer lovingly printed them in white foil block onto an array of different coloured high quality board. White foil was used for the mailer details and the business cards whilst the front of the mailer, that featured the word ‘Flourish’ was printed in holographic foil, so it catches the light and gives off lovely incandescent colours. So much marketing is done purely digitally these days, I think it is lovely to receive something tactile that’s been created with love and care that you will want to keep hold of and not discard.

My goal is to use my design & website skills to help you grow your business and flourish.

Investing in business collateral that eschews quality speaks so much about you, your business and how you approach your work – it really is money well spent.

Branding a movement: Extinction Rebellion

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Campaigners have issued three core demands to the government: to “tell the truth about climate change”; to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2025; and to create a citizens’ assembly to oversee progress.

With such a clear and strongly communicated set of demands it is no surprise that XR’s other communications have also been equally well thought through. People were already activated but not organised and the XR movement has acted as a powerful force for bringing people together under a shared identity – something bigger than themselves that they can be part of.

 

Trust

A well-developed brand proposition can also engender feelings of affinity, belonging, and trust. This is important if you aspire for an existing network to evolve into a real movement. You are inviting people to activate and demand change whilst holding a banner with your logo on it. Do not underestimate the level of trust that is required for this to happen.

 

The brand toolkit

A huge amount of planning has gone into the Extinction Rebellion visual execution. They have an in-house art group, made up of graphic, fashion and stage designers and artists, who have created branded protest materials. Born from a strong visual foundation, they have expertly created a wider toolkit that is both recognisable yet adaptable.

The Extinction Rebellion logo was designed by a street artist who wishes to remain anonymous. The logo features a stylised sand-timer set inside a circle, representing the planet and is a clear symbol that time is running out. This references the warning from the United Nations that we have just 12 years to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or risk catastrophic changes to the planet’s climate.

This sand-timer logo combined with the language used throughout the campaign clearly highlights the scale and urgency of the climate crisis.

 

The simplicity of the logo has meant that it has been recreated on streets all over the globe in protest art and is instantly recognisable. It has been available for people to add to their facebook profile images, spreading the message further.

By contrasting the bold black logo and typeface with colourful graphics this works to give the movement an energetic and dynamic look and feel, emphasising the organisation’s passion and anger at the government’s in-action on climate change.

One of the most important things was that this movement needed to feel really inclusive. A lot of eco movements feel a bit hippy and exclusive, and not particularly urban. It was important to have a consistent look, so we could be an umbrella movement that everyone could come underneath.
Clive Russell, Graphic Designer at Extinction Rebellion

Pushing boundaries of design

Another great way of making the organisation inclusive and accessible has been the free availability of their protest graphics to download from their website, provided they are used strictly for non-corporate purposes. This open-sourcing of their graphics has allowed people to take a sense of ownership over the rebellion by making their own protest materials.

Maintaining a co-ordinated graphic identity in the corporate world is tricky, but this more spontaneous way gives the movement a stronger, more vibrant visual identity. It’s anti corporate subversiveness is what makes it so engaging and striking, lending itself to quick adaptions, home-made slogans and graffiti and that’s why I love it so much.

Click on the images to enlarge

Mountain biking

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My hobby and time to think…

Creating, thinking…

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The current state of my desk….

Steve Jobs – Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.

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