Well, 2025 – you’ve been quite the year creatively… Here are four projects where I’ve been able to get involved from the very beginning: My work on Vianne’s Confession for independent perfumer Sarah McCartney of 4160 Tuesdays started before the perfume existed, smelling its ingredients at Sarah’s studio. Designing a … Read More
It’s just a label for an ingredients bottle; a simple, utilitarian thing. Except that this label is for independent perfumer Sarah McCartney’s Scenthusiasm perfume workshops. Sarah likes good stationery, fountain pens and ink – her formula books are things of wonder. So there’s no ‘just’ about it… Working with Amberley Labels … Read More
It’s easy to miss. London Bridge writes its name where passing boats might see it. But when I typeset Jonathan Holt’s poem London Bridge on London Bridge to enclose with our lithograph for 26 Bridges, a project by writers’ organisation 26 to raise money for a UCLH specialist clinical nurse, … Read More
I enjoy the paraphernalia of printers’ proofs. Outside the test of the thing we’re producing are colour bars, information meaningful only to people who know how to get the best out of the job. They’re lovely things in their own right and so are strike offs – textile proofs. I’ve … Read More
I’m curious. So I like to understand what I’m designing and the visual language it should be in. I read the copy. I delve into the subject matter. In many ways, it’s the most interesting bit of a project. For me, it’s important to do some of that away from … Read More
One of the reasons why we make Studio Snack, a food podcast about design, is the opportunity to do a creative experiment each month. For this month’s Pride special, I’ve indulged my love of drag and a good bagel in watercolour illustration, iPad illustration and typography. But there’s more than … Read More
I get in touch with clients from time to time to see where we are on their projects. It’s part of the choreography in getting processes to work, individually and around each other. Which would suggest that every project is dancing the same steps, to the same tempo, in the … Read More
I’ve designed catalogues for central London exhibitions – printed, with high production values, for sale as souvenirs. But why design one for a solo show in a café? Well, the PDF catalogue for Hello, Petal, my exhibition of botanical work, is there to help. It can be looked at via … Read More
We learn something from each episode of Studio Snack, a collaborative food podcast about design. And this month, exploring seeds and sowing has given us much to discuss about the how and when of a design project. I’ve used type to illustrate stories from my inexpert gardening that make good … Read More
You would think that a blogpost on sketches in an exhibition has no place here. But here’s a thing: one is on glassine paper made for packaging; the other takes a technique I use in short pose life drawing and applies it to something else. Both are unpredictable – and … Read More