Initially there was no title for the exhibition, just the strapline Collective Satellites Programme 2024 with Satellites as the key word. I’ve always been interested in the tensions generated when a design aesthetic that is rooted in corporate identity is combined with contemporary visual art practice that is inherently anti-corporate – early iterations pursued this idea but on this occasion, I realised this approach was not appropriate. David Upton proposed the title pass shadow, whisper shade for the exhibition and the beautiful poetic feel of those words suggested to me a very different approach to the identity. I found that Freight Text Pro worked well alongside Circular Standard so I used it to typeset the title of the exhibition using the delicate light italic variation to amplify the literary/bookish feel to the words (The title in part comes from an Irish proverb, ‘Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine’, meaning ‘people live in each other’s shadows’). I typeset the list of participating artists in the light version of the typeface and placed them – and the exhibition strapline – in an informal arrangement that gave a sense of movement in the design.
I experimented with various colours and treatments for the background using gradients of colours taken from the Collective branding. The background was looking rather flat and lifeless, so I started thinking about photographs that I had taken on my phone of shadows and light, which I thought might help create texture in it. I’m always a little cautious about using my own imagery in projects such as this, as it could be mistaken for a representation of work in the exhibition. However, once I combined the almost abstract image of shadows of foliage on a wall with the colours and gradients already in place in the background, something magical happened and the design came to life – though I was still apprehensive about using my own imagery. Fortunately, Collective agreed that this was the best treatment and the design fell in to place with the Collective logo, sponsor logos and secondary information typeset in Circular Standard arranged at the edges of the layout.
Although initially designed as an A3 format poster, the design was adapted to suit other formats such as a horizontal advert, email banners, and square imagery for social media. As always, once a kit of parts has been established and finalised it is relatively simple – and also rather satisfying – to adapt them to different uses.
