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Perspectives Issue 2
Published by Haileybury, 2022
Editor-in-chief: Toby Parker
Editor: Kathryn Koon
Photography: Anya Campbell
Designed by James Brook
210mm x 245mm | 40 pages | Printed on 150 gsm Edixion Offset with 300 gsm machine-sealed soft cover by Gomer, Wales
This is the second issue of Perspectives, a magazine that I designed, published by Haileybury School. The publication was developed from a desire to showcase the school’s heritage, current academic and cultural issues and new research about the school’s collections. It has been established in order to examine its role in a variety of cultural practices and issues, and to think critically about the way in which it interacts with other cultural institutions locally, nationally and globally.
For the design of the magazine, I worked closely with Toby Parker, the Director of Learning and Research at Haileybury. Through a series of conversations and exchanges of visual material, I developed a design that makes some nods to Haileybury’s visual identity but which is distinct enough to stand alone.
The design is based around a flexible layout that can accommodate different types of information, giving each section of the magazine its own distinct identity. The basic layout is a three column grid with type arranged on one or two columns giving a variety that helps differentiate each article. Titles, body text and images are often hung from a guideline that runs through the magazine giving a sense of order which is occasionally broken to create emphasis or visual energy. I have used type at different sizes, weights and combinations to create interesting titles and headers, arranged in sometimes playful ways with the text and images.
My initial thoughts for the choice of typeface was to use a serif and sans-serif that have been designed to work together – I initially considered Meta Pro and Meta Serif Pro or Freight Sans Pro and Freight Text Pro. The school’s branding is based around the typefaces Calluna and Calluna Sans, so, although not a requirement to do so, it made sense to use these typefaces in the magazine. Calluna has some interesting characteristics that are revealed when the typeface is used at a larger scale, as on the masthead.
Images are prioritised in the magazine: some were specifically chosen to be placed within particular articles but I was also given another set of images, of members of staff photographed by Anya Campbell, to be placed throughout the magazine to act as punctuation and to create an alternative dialogue that runs alongside the main articles.
The magazine is published quarterly with issues in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Each issue will be themed, with this one titled ‘Legacy’.
Tracey Emin: I Lay Here For You Book
Edited by Eleanor Edmondson
Texts by Katy Hessel, Nicky Wilson and Claire Feeley
Photography by Keith Hunter and Allan Pollok-Morris
Published by Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh, 2022
Designed by James Brook
ISBN 978 1 5272 2203 8
Hardback | 165 x 220 mm | 96 pages | Printed and bound by Gomer Press Ltd, Llandysul, Wales, on Munken Lynx Smooth Natural White 170 gsm with endpapers of Colorplan Candy Pink 135 gsm; matt laminate printed cover with black head and tail bands
Produced as part of Jupiter Artland’s Artist Commission series, I Lay Here For You documents Tracey Emin’s exhibition – including her monumental bronze permanent sculpture – at Jupiter Artland in Summer 2022. Alongside photography by Keith Hunter and Allan Pollok-Morris, the book includes texts by Nicky Wilson and Claire Feeley as well as an essay by Katy Hessel, author of The Story of Art without Men.
The size, format, layout and typography of the book adapts the design that I created for Phyllida Barlow: quarry, published by Jupiter Artland in 2018. Like quarry, the book is typeset throughout in Meta Serif Pro but, in this case, the body text is set in the light version of the typeface giving it a less heavy feel than the regular weight used in quarry; all other typefaces are one step lighter than their counterparts in quarry.
The paper is Munken Lynx Smooth Natural White, a very slightly creamy off-white that gives a slight warmth chosen to complement the images of Emin’s drawings, paintings and prints. The cover drops the cloth quarter binding of quarry for a wraparound printed cover that has a scuff-free matt laminate. For the front cover image, I had to extend the image in Photoshop so that there was enough of the image to wrap around the cover boards – the original image was only as wide as the front cover – I am pleased and relieved that this has worked out! Candy Pink Colorplan endpapers make an unexpected contrast to the lush greens on the cover and echo some of the colours found in Emin’s work.
The Piper and the Penguin
Published by Golden Hare, Edinburgh, 2022
Written by Stella Powell-Jones
Illustrated by Katy Riddell
Designed by James Brook
ISBN 978 1 8384 0652 3
270 x 170 mm | 32 pages | Printed by Gomer, Wales, on 170gsm Edixion Offset with machine-sealed cover printed on 350gsm Edixion Offset
It was delight to work on this children’s book, which tells the story of young Gilbert Kerr’s voyage to the Antarctic to discover the noise that penguins make. The book is written by theatre director Stella Powell-Jones and illustrated by the very talented illustrator, Katy Riddell.
My contribution is largely invisible but it involved making the illustrations ready for print, cleaning up and cutting out the backgrounds of the scanned original paintings so that they presented a unified appearance and, of course, typesetting the text. I typeset Stella’s charming story in Freight Text Pro, a typeface that balances the feel of a traditional children’s book typeface with a contemporary edge. I worked very closely with Katy to make sure that her handwritten text overlays felt integrated with her original drawings: I tested many ways of overlaying the text, working with different samples of lettering from Katy and exploring different techniques in Photoshop and Illustrator until I was satisfied with the results.
For the cover, I advised Katy on the best position of the elements in her illustration – which wraps around from front to back – dropping her rough sketches in to a template so that we could all see how the cover would look. Katy supplied various versions of handwritten text for the cover which I turned in to vectors in Illustrator then worked out the best arrangement of text with her illustration. The colours of the cover text are based on the colours found on the title page – this typographic treatment of the cover text is based on my initial ideas for the cover, using the typeface Clarendon as a contrast to the body text, Freight, and echoing the Victorian feel to Katy’s illustrations.
The publisher, Mark Jones, of Golden Hare, wanted the book to have a slightly old fashioned feel and showed me examples of vintage books that were printed on uncoated paper with covers that were not laminated – we both agreed that this book should not have a glossy cover. To give the book some body and to give it a feeling of quality, the book was printed on Edixion Offset, at a slightly heavier weight than I would normally use. I gave each page a tint of yellow which added a creaminess to the uncoated paper, making if feel warmer and more fitting to the illustrations (it also made the paper feel more expensive, a trick passed on to me by the very canny Pit Dafis at Gomer Print!). The cover was machine sealed, which offers some protection, but maintains the texture of the uncoated paper and makes the book feel slightly out of time.
Change Makers Report
Into Glitch Book
Published by HDK-Valand, Academy of Art and Design, University of Gothenburg, 2022
Edited by Cathryn Klasto
Designed by James Brook
ISBN 978 91 987101 3 7
210 x 148 mm | 136 pages | Printed by Stibo Complete, Horsens, Denmark, on 150 gsm uncoated paper with 300gsm paper cover with matt laminate
This is a publication that I designed for the MFA Fine Art Programme at the HDK-Valand Academy of Arts in Gothenburg. I worked closely with the eight graduating students, helping them to produce their visual essays for the publication, advising on print specifications and making them print-ready. To create a cohesive publication I suggested that the students use two typefaces: Meta Pro Serif and Meta Pro – though, in some cases, I kept the student's choice of typeface to maintain the spirit of their submissions. The submissions varied from writing to complex, multi-layered visual essays and it was interesting, through a series of online tutorials with each of the students, to learn about their intentions with the design of their essays and to help them achieve what they wanted to communicate.
Each essay is separated by a double page spread which includes the name of the student, the title and an abstract of their submission. This is faced by a detail from a large digital image created by Anders Walfridson which formed the poster for an exhibition of the students’ work that had taken place ahead of the publication of the book. The students were keen not to repeat the image on the cover (it appears at full size on the inside covers) so I came up with a design for the cover using words that the students had supplied that related to their submissions, using a line device to connect them.
