A Dictionary Story

In 'A Dictionary Story', typography extraordinaire Sam Winston created a story that "illustrates the balance between a world that’s safe but boring and a high risk universe full of creative possibilities."

"Like people, the alphabetically constrained words yearn to release their individual potential. They want to escape the dictionary’s regimentation and come together to tell a story. But when the words break free, so do their letters. They scatter and tumble across the page, reflecting meaning through visual representation. For a time it’s wild and exciting but when things look to be getting out of hand the Alphabet arrives to remind everyone of their responsibilities. Order returns… but the world and it’s words will never be quite the same again."

"It’s a illustrated story in which words from the dictionary come to life, take on human characteristics and cause a whole world of trouble on the page. It’s a playful book – full of images – to celebrate our language."

"When it comes to typography language always comes first. This might seem like a fairly obvious statement to make but to find this harmony between content and form is incredible hard. There is a need to achieve legibility but also have a strong visual aesthetic. I don’t think they are exclusive but at times they can be at odds."

"Initially the project started as a short narrative in which certain words from the dictionary became living characters that met each other – “Springs next victim was Lawless who was rejoicing in being knocked away from such a boring neighbour as Lawful. Lawless landed straight on top of Lawn which suddenly became very unruly. After some time Lawn was no longer and in its place sat Jungle, happily spreading its creepers across the page.” "

"From exploring the meaning in writing it was then applied it to its design. As I came to set the type I realised, by creating two columns, you could have the story running in one whilst the definitions of the words ran in the other.

This project hopefully goes some way to explaining some of my thoughts around language and design."

David Bowie Poster Set

Non-Format has produced a reworking of the David Bowie poster originally produced for the UK? OK!! exhibition at Parco Factory, Tokyo. This edition is produced as a silkscreen printed two-poster set in an extremely limited edition of only 25 sets printed. The first covering Space Oddity to Young Americans is printed in gold on black stock, with the second charting the albums from Station to Station to Tonight, printed in silver ink, again on black stock. The visualisation is based on Brian Eno’s concept of Axis Thinking, applied to Non-Format’s response to each Bowie album via a graphic representation of a mixing desk.

 

 

 

Link

The RSC at 50

Celebrating the Royal Shakespeare Company's 50th anniversary, Hat-trick have teamed up with illustrator Marion Deuchars to create a series of stamps featuring defining scenes from a variety of RSC productions.

"Endeavoring to make my type work at such an intimate scale was an ambitious undertaking and at first I thought impossible. However, I also knew it would create a distinct and engagingly graphic depiction of a very well known subject.

I liked the idea of juxtaposing some very obvious quotes with some less known citations. In the end I tried for an emotive quality between the character from RSC archives and the words, as if they were being sounded out on the stage. 
For example, with the design for King Lear, I wanted the type to be fervent and disturbing, as if it had been scratched out, whereas in Romeo and Juliet I concentrated on it flowing round the figures and being more lyrical and passionate. 

In the end I hope the stamps reflect the amazing work of the RSC and to appeal to the new and old audiences of Shakespeare."

Hat-trick also designed four additional stamps featuring a miniature paper stage set created and built specially by illustrator Rebecca Sutherland and shot by John Ross. The stamps pay homage to the four stages in Stratford – the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the Swan Theatre, The Courtyard Theatre and The Other Place.

A1 Scrabble

Designer Andrew Capener has redesigned the classic Scrabble board and turned it into playful typographic anarchy, with the ability to for the owner to choose which font their scrabble set comes in, with additional fonts available to order creating an interactive art piece that grows as each word is put down. 

 

The playing board itself is solid walnut with six pieces magnetized to stick together. The bottom is lined with slip-free cork and all pieces tuck away in a minimalist birch box.

 
 "The purpose of this project was to revive an old, but loved game...[and] to excite people about typography".

 

Designed by Andrew Capener - Link

Shrinkage design

www.shrinkagedesign.com

Coralie Bickford-Smith Cover designer

Isaac Salazar - Book of Art