Design & Print Studio (DPS) contributes significantly to our BA programme through modules in professional practice, more usually known as the ‘real jobs’ scheme. Students gain confidence through the proximity of a working design and production office, as this year’s degree show publications for Art and Typography demonstrate. And in a real vote of confidence in our current crop of students, DPS has just announced a paid-for internship for a graduating BA student starting this summer.
Author Archives: typographer
Another contribution to the Venice Biennale
Adobe Thai, a typeface designed by Fiona Ross and Tim Holloway, features in this visual project by Zurich-based artist Dafi Kühne – 40 posters in 34 languages – presented at the Biennale in 2012. You can watch the production process on Vimeo:
You can read the artist’s documentation, where he thanks Fiona, research student Titus Nemeth, and MA graduate Toshi Omagari for the help with the non-Latin typeface layouts.
A new design for Modern Poetry in Translation
Reading MA student Katy Mawhood’s new design for Modern Poetry in Translation has given a new look to one of Britain’s oldest poetry magazines. You can read Katy’s article on the redesign, which features fellow Reading graduate Veronika Burian’s typeface Maiola.
ICON print identification course
This week we were pleased to welcome members of the Institute of Conservation, for whom we ran a hands-on print identification course. To find out more about our short courses, including next week’s poster workshop in conjunction with the V&A and the Arts Council England Subject Specialist Network (Wednesday 24 April), contact Diane Bilbey (d.j.bilbey@reading.ac.uk)
We run regular two-day short courses explaining printing processes, specially tailored to the needs of librarians, archivists, curators, and social historians. Led by Martin Andrews, each day focuses on one of the three main processes – letterpress, lithography, and intaglio – and participants are able to examine original printing materials and prints from the Department’s extensive collections, and try out tools, materials, and techniques in hands-on sessions. By the end of the course you will be able to indentify a wide range of printing procesess, take prints yourself, and use the replica Gutenberg press featured in Stephen Fry’s television documentary.
¶ For more information on the Posters SSN, contact Catherine Flood (c.flood@vam.ac.uk) at the V&A
Students and industry (2)
This week saw the launch of an exciting new project for Part 2 students in collaboration with Oxford University Press. OUP Education Division’s head of schools design Kate Kunac-Tabinor and designer Fiona MacColl have provided realistic briefs for innovative new covers for Keystage 3 textbooks in Science, English, and French, and they explained the design commissioning process to students on the Editorial Design module as part of the project launch. They’ll be returning to Reading at the end of term to see the results …
Students and industry (1)
Information Design students respond instinctively to a wayshowing solution by getting out their smartphones. They were spotted while visiting the Bristol offices of City ID – thanks to Mike Rawlinson of City ID and to Beth Shepherd for organizing the visit.
Ian Watson on contrast set labelling in information design
Ian Watson from Bifröst University, Iceland, is visiting the Department, and will talk to MA students on Friday 22 February. His thesis, Cognitive design: Creating the sets of categories and labels that structure our shared experience, can be read here.
Steen Ejlers on the Danish lettering tradition
Danish architect and graphic designer Steen Ejlers wil be talking in the Department on Monday 25 February at 10am about the Danish lettering tradition of the 20th century.
Steen Ejlers is associate professor at the Institute of Design & Communication at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. His current research project ‘Danish Font Design of the 20th Century’ is a culmination of many years of historical interest in type design, and he has published books on Claus Achton Friis, Gunnar Biilmann Petersen, and Ib Andersen.
Reading at the ICA
Reading’s new partnership with the ICA was launched tonight, as Typography and Art began a collaboration that will provide a London venue for both departments for teaching and public events, drawing on Reading’s strengths in both disciplines and on the ICA’s ability to connect with a young, vibrant audience. The launch event was preceded by workshop sessions in the ICA’s studio space for MA Book Design and BA students, run by John Morgan and Ruth Blacksell. Watch this space for more news.
Celebrating Ken Garland
Designer, teacher, author, and photographer Ken Garland is celebrated in the current issue of Creative Review. Ken has been associated with the Department since its inception in the 1960s, and generations of students were inspired by his provocative teaching – learning how to think about the ‘why’ of design as well as the ‘how’.
Ken will talk at St Bride on Tuesday 12 February, followed by a panel discussion in which some of Ken’s Reading students – Anne Odling-Smee, Fraser Muggeridge – will take part in a panel discussion chaired by author Adrian Shaughnessy
Ken Garland: Structure and Substance
Photograph of Ken Garland by Liam Lewis