Rhythm & Colour Book Cover Mock-up

It's been a busy week with a lot of waiting around for things to come back from the printers. Allander brought round a test copy of Rhythm & Colour to check that the binding is correct. The book is being bound by Charles Letts & Co. in Dalkeith, a company famous for their diaries but also a specialist binder and finisher. The text pages look fantastic: I am delighted with the paper, the print quality, and the flexibility of the binding – the book lays flat when opened. We made some adjustments to the cover, after which Letts made another test copy, which I signed off. I’m very happy with it.

The dust jacket has not worked out as I expected: in order to have the UV spot gloss varnish that I originally planned, the dust jacket – which is printed on 150gsm Olin Regular Cream, an uncoated paper – needs to be sealed: the anti-scuff seal did not work and took away from the tactile quality of the paper. Luckily, last week, Allander had sent me some running sheets of the dust jacket to check the colour balance. I trimmed one of these sheets to size and wrapped it around the test copy of the book. I was much happier with the cover without a sealant or coating and although that means we cannot have a spot varnish as I planned, I think we gain more from keeping the natural quality of the paper that maintains the connection to the text pages which are printed on the same stock. Allander are currently reprinting the dust jacket; once we have this, Letts will run some tests as they are concerned that the dust jacket may crack when folded. I've run some ʻtests’ here with the running sheets and, so far, no cracks, so fingers crossed that we are able to do this.

Meanwhile, Rees & Co., the cultural communications agency that are promoting the book, have been pushing ahead with the press campaign, including a small article in the June issue of Harper’s Bazaar. I am also delighted to hear that the book will be distributed by Cornerhouse Publications in Manchester.

Rhythm & Colour Dust Jacket Proof

Here is the proof of the dust jacket for Rhythm & Colour. The book is being printed by Allander in Edinburgh and the dust jacket will be printed on 150gsm Olin Regular Cream with the title, author’s name, Golden Hare logo, and the images highlighted in a spot UV gloss varnish. The dust jacket will be wrapped around a cover of Keaycolor Sombre Grey 120gsm with the title, author’s name, and the Golden Hare logo printed in black. The endpapers will be printed to match the background colour of the dust jacket and finished with black head and tail bands.

Very much looking forward to seeing the finished book!

Rhythm & Colour Cover

This is the cover of Rhythm & Colour, a book that I have been working on for almost a year and which finally went to print a few weeks ago. It’s a big book, 624 pages, written by art historian Richard Emerson and is the inaugral title to be published by Golden Hare, a new publisher based in Edinburgh, established by Mark Jones, formerly Director of the V&A Museum. The book is the first examination of the lives of three extraordinary women – Hélène Vanel, Loïs Hutton and Margaret Morris. With the use of recently rediscovered letters, journals and memoirs, as well as a number of previously unpublished photographs, Richard Emerson has uncovered the story of these three dancers of the avant-garde, spanning nine decades and following their journeys from the intellectual circles of London to Wales, Paris and the French Riviera. It has been a pleasure working on the book, learning about these fantastic women, and a delight to work with such a rich archive of wonderful images.

Discover RSA Newsletter Summer 2018

Discover RSA | Issue 108 | Summer 2018

Designed by James Brook for the Friends of the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 2018

Booklet | 210 x 148 mm | 16 pages
Printed by Events Armoury, Edinburgh

Having re-designed this newsletter in 2016 and then working on three subsequent issues, the Royal Scottish Academy decided to use their in-house designer instead. I was approached again in early 2018 to update the design of the newsletter, which had now finally become a 16 page A5 booklet; a change I had planned in 2016, but never implemented as the Academy had not approved this move while I was doing the design. I wanted to create a clean, rationalised design based on a grid, with a limited palette of colours and with just one typeface in different weights throughout. By keeping – almost – all of the typography aligned to the same baseline grid the newsletter looks ordered and rationalised. Taking visual cues from the design of the RSA Friends membership leaflet that I had designed the previous month, I used the burgundy that I had used in my refresh of the RSA Friends logo as an accent colour alongside an extended palette of greys. I typeset the newsletter in Aktiv Grotesk, a typeface that sits well with the Akzidenz Grotesk that I used on the logo and that is easy to read, even at a small scale. For the cover, I had originally planned to have a new treatment of the Discover RSA logo at the same scale and treatment as the membership leaflet so that they sat alongside each other, making a cohesive suite of printed materials, but the client felt that their membership might confuse the two items so I did an update of the original logo instead.

Glasgow International Books

Last week saw the opening days of Glasgow International 2018 during which, the monograph about Carol Rhodes, published by Skira and designed by myself, was launched at the Glasgow School of Art accompanied by a talk about Carol’s work. The book was given a great reception with plenty of copies sold, and I received lots of positive feedback about the design and production. After the launch, I went to an exhibition of works by Serge Charchoune at Andrew Mummery’s space at Oxford House, where I was pleased to see another stack of Carol’s books alongside the Serge Charchoune book that I designed in 2013 for the Talbot Rice Gallery/Smart Art Gallery, written by Merlin James. This new Serge Charchoune exhibition is curated by Andrew Mummery in collaboration with Merlin James and 42 Carlton Place, and focusses on works from the 1930s and the 1960s by the Franco-Russian artist. A new print by Carol Rhodes, based on the painting that appears on the cover of the Skira monograph, can also be viewed at the space. More information about the exhibition here.

Rhythm & Colour Dummy

This is the dummy for Rhythm & Colour, a book that I have been working on for almost a year and which is finally going to print next week. As you can see, it’s a big book, 624 pages, written by art historian Richard Emerson and is the inaugral title to be published by Golden Hare, a new publisher based in Edinburgh, established by Mark Jones, formerly Director of the V&A Museum. The book will be published in June 2018, and is the first examination of the lives of three extraordinary women – Hélène Vanel, Loïs Hutton and Margaret Morris. With the use of recently rediscovered letters, journals and memoirs, as well as a number of previously unpublished photographs, Richard Emerson has uncovered the story of these three dancers of the avant-garde, spanning nine decades and following their journeys from the intellectual circles of London to Wales, Paris and the French Riviera. It has been a pleasure working on the book, learning about these fantastic women, and a delight to work with such a rich archive of wonderful images.

The book will be printed full colour throughout on 100gsm Olin Regular Cream with a cover of Keaycolor Sombre Grey printed in black only; there will also be a full colour dustjacket printed on Olin Regular Cream 150gsm with a UV spot varnish. I am passing on press with the publisher at Allander on Tuesday – looking forward to seeing the book come alive!

Carol Rhodes Monograph Cover

I am delighted to have designed a major new monograph on the work of Carol Rhodes published by Skira Editore. I was working on the book throughout 2017 and the book went to print in early 2018. This is the cover of the book, with a detail of Rhodes’s 2009 painting, Open Ground and Mudflats.

I first saw Carol Rhodes’ paintings in an exhibition titled Construction Site at Glasgow International in 2016: I was intrigued by the scale of her paintings, which, despite taking in panoramic aerial views, are often much smaller and intimate than they might appear in reproduction; the exhibition also revealed the dialogue between her preparatory drawings and the finished paintings, a theme that has been drawn out in the book. It has been a pleasure working with images of Carol’s paintings and drawings, and, once again, a surprise to see the scale of the actual work when I made a visit to the house / gallery / studio she shares with the painter Merlin James, on the banks of the Clyde in Glasgow. It's been inspiring to learn about Carol's engagement with, and commitment to, the life and culture of the city.

This new monograph reproduces over forty of her paintings and, for the first time, a significant number of drawings. Specially commissioned texts by curator Lynda Morris and art critic Moira Jeffrey discuss Rhodes’s work in the context of her biography and cultural background, and examine its place and importance in contemporary art.

The monograph also includes an interview with Rhodes by consultant and former gallerist Andrew Mummery. Rhodes’s thoughts about her art have rarely appeared in print before and their inclusion here will be especially valuable. As well as the full-page plates, archival and documentary photographs accompany the texts, chronology, exhibition history and bibliography sections. The book provides the most comprehensive overview of Rhodes’s work yet available, and will be a standard reference work on the artist.

The book will be launched in London on 11 April with an exhibition of selected paintings and drawings at Charles Asprey, 130 Tyers Street, SE11 5HS. Click here to find out more.

During Glasgow International 2018, there will be a second launch, at The Glasgow School of Art, with a presentation on the work of Carol Rhodes by Kate Davis, Moira Jeffrey, Andrew Mummery and Richard Walker, introduced and chaired by Karen Roulstone, Head of Painting and Printmaking, the GSA. Click here to find out more.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Here are some placecards that I made for our Easter Sunday lunch. The Easter Bunny is a very scary creature and you don't have to look very far on the internet to find some frightening examples of him (or, in the spirit of Stephen King, should that be 'it'?).

RSA Friends Membership Leaflet

I was asked by the RSA Friends to design a leaflet to encourage new members. The brief was to design something clean and contemporary that would appeal to a younger audience. From a selection of images sent by the RSA, I prioritised images that showed people of all ages engaging with art in a lively social situation. From the original copy that I was sent, I suggested a shorter strapline ‘Join the Friends’, that was a more direct invitation for readers to engage with the members shown in the photographs. I used the colour that I had previously used in my refresh of the RSA Friends logo alongside an extended palette of greys. I typeset the leaflet in Aktiv Grotesk, a typeface that sits well with the Akzidenz Grotesk that I used on the logo and that is particularly pleasing at a large scale where the subtleties of its design are revealed (my initial designs for the cover had a much larger strapline with a smaller image, which I felt was very striking, but this was adjusted at the request of the client). I especially enjoyed designing the application form and direct debit sections of this leaflet: it was an interesting challenge to work with such a lot of information and to think about how the user would engage with it. When the leaflet is displayed in the gallery, the ‘Join the Friends’ strapline is very eye-catching and visible from a distance: on the strength of this, the RSA Friends asked me to design a large vinyl banner that is displayed at events.

Dovecot Events Leaflet

Dovecot Events January-June 2018

Designed by James Brook for Dovecot Studios, 2018

Leaflet | 210 x 148 mm
Printed by Allander, Edinburgh, on Cocoon Offset 100% Recycled Paper

A simple two-sided leaflet for Dovecot acting as a supplement to the What’s On guide, with a design based on the template that I created for the guide and using colour and typography in several weights and styles of Dovecot's ‘official’ typeface, Whitney, to create a hierarchy of information. The circular logo on the front was designed to link the events leaflet with the Dovecot venue hire logo and materials that I had previously designed.