Next of Kin Poster, Hawick Museum

A4 poster designed and illustrated by James Brook for Next of Kin, a National Museums Scotland touring programme commemorating the centenary of the First World War across Scotland through a touring exhibition, learning programme and online resources.

Find out more about Next of Kin here 

Dovecot What's On Guide 1

Dovecot What's On Guide | August-December 2015

Designed by James Brook for Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, 2015

210 x 148 mm | 12 pages with half cover
Printed by Allander, Edinburgh, on Vision Superior

I was asked to redesign the Dovecot Gallery What's On Guide, building on the pared back identity that I had started to develop on Dovecot's invitations, posters and banners. This is the first piece of print that I have designed for Dovecot that uses Whitney, the typeface that appears in the Dovecot logo (which was not designed by me) rather than Callibri. I'm very proud of this design and delighted with the way it turned out - I've enjoyed spotting it around Edinburgh! This is the cover of the guide, which I photographed earlier in the summer when I was busy with other things; I didn't get a chance to photograph the inside pages. The guide is twelve pages plus cover which is cut away on the front to reveal half of a full bleed image of a detail from a work by the wonderful textile designer Bernat Klein. The guide was printed by Allander on Vision Superior 200gsm for the cover and 120gsm for the text pages. My original intention was to have a gloss UV varnish on the outside of the cover to create a contrast with the uncoated stock on the inside but it turned out to be too expensive. I think that, in the end, the guide works perfectly without the gloss: the white of the paper looks crisp and clean against the image and is also pleasing to touch; and the half cover adds another layer of visual appeal. I'm looking forward to designing the second guide for January-July 2016.

The Improbable City Book

The Improbable City

Published by Edinburgh Art Festival, 2015

Edited by Sorcha Carey and Emily Gray

Designed by James Brook

ISBN 978 0 9929909 1 6

48 pages with soft cover with pockets front and back containing a set of 8 postcards
Book size 210 x 165 mm; postcard size 105 x 148 mm
Printed by Allander, Edinburgh, on Cocoon Preprint 100% recycled paper with Colorplan smoke grey cover; postcards printed on Cocoon Offset 350gsm

☞

The Improbable City is the second book that I have designed for the Edinburgh Art Festival. The book accompanied a programme of commissions that 'celebrate the work of visual artists who vividly conjure alternative imaginary worlds through their work, and considers how it is often the improbable which illuminates the real'. The programme included work by leading and emerging Scottish practitioners and includes new work by three international artists showing in the UK for the first time. The Improbable City ran from 30 July – 30 August 2015.

The set of postcards was an attempt to include last-minute images of the installations that were being created specially for the Art Festival and that were still being made when the book had to go to print to meet the deadline of the opening of 29 July; as the postcards had a shorter production time we hoped to include images of the finished installations that were not ready in time for the book. The postcards slot in to pockets on the front and back cover, strengthening the idea of a book as a guide for visitors to 'The Improbable City'.

There are eight postcards in the set with work by the seven artists featured in the exhibition – Charles Avery, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, Julie Favreau, Emma Finn, Ariel Guzik, Kemang Wa Lehulere, and Hanna Tuulikki – as well as an eighth postcard by Neil Mulholland, which features a text written in response to Marvin Gaye Chetwynd's work.

The 'map' of Edinburgh on the cover is by Hanna Tuulikki; rather than running the map over the spine, I ran the map over the fore-edge of the book, cutting it in two. I had fun using a glyph of a pointing hand to further emphasise the feeling of a guide book or travel guide; I later learned that this symbol is known as a 'manicule' (from the Latin root manus for "hand" and manicula for "little hand") or fist.

Platform Leaflet

This is the leaflet and logo I designed for Platform: 2015, a new Edinburgh Art Festival initiative 'intended to showcase Scottish artists at the early stages of their career'. Four artists – Antonia Bañados, Ben Callaghan, Ross Hamilton Frew, and Jessica Ramm – were selected from an open call by artists Christine Borland and Craig Coulthard working with Edinburgh Art Festival Director, Sorcha Carey and curator Emily Gray.

Today is the final day of the Edinburgh Art Festival and your last chance to see Platform: 2015, the exhibition can be found at the Festival Kiosk, 9-11 Blair Street, Edinburgh EH1 1QR. Catch it while you can!

More information can be found here.

'The Improbable City' book – with postcards!

It's the last week of the Edinburgh Art Festival and I've finally got round to photographing the book – with the postcards in place in the flaps on the cover – that I designed to accompany The Improbable City, this year's EAF commissions programme. The Improbable City 'celebrates the work of visual artists who vividly conjure alternative imaginary worlds through their work, and considers how it is often the improbable which illuminates the real'. The programme includes work by leading and emerging Scottish practitioners and includes new work by three international artists showing in the UK for the first time. The seven artists in the exhibition are Charles Avery, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, Julie Favreau, Emma Finn, Ariel Guzik, Kemang Wa Lehulere, and Hanna Tuulikki. The Improbable City closes on 30 August 2015 – make haste and visit it while you can!

More details here.

Platform Logo

This is a logo I designed for Platform: 2015, a new Edinburgh Art Festival initiative 'intended to showcase Scottish artists at the early stages of their career'. Four artists – Antonia Bañados, Ben Callaghan, Ross Hamilton Frew, and Jessica Ramm – have been selected from an open call by artists Christine Borland and Craig Coulthard working with Edinburgh Art Festival Director, Sorcha Carey and curator Emily Gray. The exhibition can be found at the Festival Kiosk, 9-11 Blair Street, Edinburgh EH1 1QR, until 30 August 2015.

More information can be found here.

Postcards from 'The Improbable City' printed!

The 'Postcards from the Improbable City', which accompany the book that I designed for the Edinburgh Art Festival, have been printed, and are available from the Edinburgh Art Festival Kiosk, 9-11 Blair Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1QR.

The postcards are slotted in to pockets on the inside cover of the book, strengthening the idea of a book as a guide for visitors to 'The Improbable City'. There are eight postcards in the set with work by the seven artists featured in the exhibition - Charles Avery, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd, Julie Favreau, Emma Finn, Ariel Guzik, Kemang Wa Lehulere, and Hanna Tuulikki - as well as an eighth postcard by Neil Mulholland, which features a text written in response to Marvin Gaye Chetwynd's work.

Photos of the book coming soon!

Kwang Young Chun Poster

Kwang young Chun: Aggregations

Designed by James Brook for Dovecot Gallery, 2015

Poster | 850 x 620 mm

One of a pair of posters designed for Dovecot's 2015 Festival exhibition, which featured work by Korean artist Kwang Young Chun alongside the work of Serbian textile designer and painter, Bernat Klein. The poster follows the template that I established with my design for the Magne Furuholmen poster. It has an image in a panel running full width across the centre; all the textual information, logos etc, are contained in a panel at the bottom; the Dovecot Gallery logo is given emphasis by being placed on its own in a panel at the top; all other logos are arranged vertically on the right-hand side. I designed different type treatments for the titles of each exhibition; something I would develop further with subsequent exhibitions.

Kwany Young Chun Invitation

Kwang Young Chun: Aggregations

Designed by James Brook for Dovecot Studios, 2015

Invitation Card | 148 x 210 mm | Printed by Allander, Edinburgh, on Vision Superior 450gsm, 4 colour process both sides

Bernat Klein Invitation

Bernat Klein: A Life in Colour

Designed by James Brook for Dovecot Studios, 2015

Invitation Card | 148 x 210 mm | Printed by Allander, Edinburgh, on Trucard Double Sided 450gsm, 4 colour process both sides with PMS metallic silver on one side