Slavery and resistance 200 years after abolition

In 1807 Britain abolished the slave trade. 200 years later at least 12 million people worldwide remain in slavery. Photojournalist Pete Pattisson exposes modern forms of slavery across the world. This book, published to accompany an exhibition first held in London in 2007, is a compelling reminder that slavery may be forgotten, but it is not yet gone.

The understated design focuses on the powerful content – although an engaging variety of layouts are used. Each chapter begins with a striking portrait against a black backdrop. The linked ‘o’s of the main title resemble not only a broken chain (signifying resistance to slavery) but also suggest something ‘gone’. We designed the cover, text, illustrations and assisted with copy and picture editing. We also designed the accompanying exhibition, including display graphics and promotional materials. The complete book can also be viewed online here.

Teaching Citizenship is the journal of the Association for Citizenship Teaching, the professional membership association for those involved in Citizenship education. Citizenship is a statutory subject which equips young people with the skills and knowledge to exercise their democratic rights and engage in political processes.

Following our redesign of their brand identity we were asked to overhaul ACT’s magazine and pitched it between a trade title and an academic journal. We were responsible for cover and text page design, as well as illustration and picture editing; alongside editorial input.

An open-ended study of works and thoughts by the Korean-American multimedia artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951-82). Her structuralist film pieces, scripts, synopses and performance documents present a fragmented image of the complex identity behind her work.

First published to accompany an exhibition at the Korean Cultural Centre and events at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London in 2013 – this catalogue is a testament to the growing interest in her work and repositions her within the canon of postwar art.

It featured a wraparound poster cover printed in two colours, which sampled and montaged elements of Cha's work. The typography was inspired by the stencil and typewritten lettering which Cha also used. The whole catalogue can also be viewed online here.

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400 Years of History

An extensively researched, comprehensive study of Asians from the Indian subcontinent in Britain. Spanning four centuries, it tells the history of the Indian community in Britain from the first recorded baptism in 1616 and the servants, ayahs and sailors of the seventeenth century, to the students, soldiers, professionals, MPs, entrepreneurs and suffragettes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The cover features a fusion of the British union jack flag and the Indian tricolour, replacing the British red and blue with the Indian orange and green, illustrating the idea of Asians in Britain very directly and simply. This is combined with a photographic portrait of an Anglo-Indian family of the 1920s, supplied by the author. The distressed type and effects give a sense the long history of Asians in Britain.

This book explains how the higher education assessment system works, how to avoid common errors and how to succeed in written assignments. It shares the experiences and perspectives of both students and tutors.

The book was printed in just two colours – blue and black (plus a fluorescent orange for the cover). Each chapter starts with an illustrated title page, but since there was no budget for photography this was achieved purely with vector illustrations throughout.

Oversized numerals add further visual interest to the text pages and aid navigation. The numerous quotes in the book were pulled from the main copy and placed in outer columns alongside the text. We also had considerable editorial input for the publication. The whole book can also be viewed online here.

Critical Analysis from Karl Marx to Amartya Sen, edited by Douglas Dowd

Combining contributions from seven leading economists in a critical assessment of the relationship between economic thought and the dominance of capitalism, this book traces the growth of the capitalist system over the past two hundred years and how economic theory has, in fact, become capitalist ideology.

For this cover design, the actual barcode of the book is used on the front cover as an illustration. The barcode and the ‘S’ of ‘capitalism’ (stylised as a dollar sign) suggest the consumerist nature of capitalism. This dollar sign combined with the red, white and blue colourway further illustrates the dominance of the US in the capitalist world and also hints at the preponderance of US authors in this book. The lightbulb represents understanding; and works together with the dollar sign as a sort of logo for the whole book, as used on the spine. The design is printed in just two colours and the lightbulb is made up of overprinted red and blue inks, creating a third dark purple colour. Original photography of Canary Wharf and Citigroup towers were used for the background.

South East

In this first volume of a series, the distinctive and diverse South East London of the 1890s is revealed, using previously unpublished sources. Together with full-colour hand-painted ‘maps descriptive of London poverty’ the text provides a guide of unsurpassed detail. Charles Booth’s Victorian social researchers also categorised and colour-coded every street according to class and income, from ‘very wealthy’ to ‘vicious and semi-criminal’!

We designed a cover that presented the material in an engaging, contemporary way, rather than using a historical ‘vernacular’ approach. We also produced versions for paperback and hardback and devised a custom bookmark which enabled readers to easily decode the colours used in the map illustrations.

Revolutionary Iconoclast

Michael Spindler evaluates the usefulness and the limitations of Veblen’s views for an understanding of modern America by considering Veblen not just as an economist or a sociologist – as has been the case up to now – but as a seminal analyst and critic of American culture, whose importance has been underplayed and whose radicalism has been blunted by some postwar commentators.

For this cover design we focused on the American aspect by using a flag device, and also by giving the typography a traditional ‘American’ feel with its tight spacing and serifs. The playful treatment of the ‘A’ and ‘V’ also form a dynamic composition together with elements of the portrait of Veblen.

A journey into photography from the Indian subcontinent to the UK

This catalogue was published to accompany an exhibition we curated for Bombay Mix, held at the Viewfinder Photography Gallery in Greenwich, London. Featuring submissions from 27 photographers, the images were taken on journeys around the Indian subcontinent — as well as showing those that Asian cultures have taken from their traditional homelands to contemporary, urban and multicultural contexts.

Rather than use a single image to represent the whole show, we cropped sections from five different portraits, combining them on the cover. This also hinted at the show’s other themes of diverse personal narratives and multifaceted identities. The minimalist typography and layout encourages readers to focus on the imagery. Also shown here are a few spreads from the catalogue, as well as a selection of the images featured in the book and exhibition.

The Meaning of Revolution Today

The wave of political demonstrations before and especially after Seattle have crystallised a new trend in left-wing politics. These movements are fighting for radical social change in terms that have nothing to do with the taking of state power. This is in clear opposition to the traditional Marxist theory of revolution. In this book, John Holloway asks how we can reformulate our understanding of revolution as the struggle against power, not for it.

Hand-painted type conveys a feeling of spontaneous protest and the circled ‘A’ and the star in the ‘O’ reflect the book’s twin concerns with both Anarchist and Marxist traditions. The black and red colours also do this, just as green signifies the ecology movement. An original photograph of graffitied walls was used for the background. Despite initial reservations (“That's quite in your face!”) the publishers were eventually pleased with it, as was the author, “Everybody, without exception, who has commented to me on Change the World has said how much they like the cover. And I still like it immensely!”

A Modern Approach

Dispelling myths about markets, macroeconomics and globalisation, Robin Hahnel provides an ideal introduction to modern political economy, offering a critical perspective on our present system and outlining clear alternatives for the future.

“Genuinely liberatory in its implications... a contribution of very great value” — Noam Chomsky

We created custom type from children’s wooden building blocks, conveying the introductory nature of this title. Currency symbols on the sides of the blocks and the colour green are used to signify the importance of money to the subject matter. Custom small caps were created for the main title, reducing the leading and giving the type more character.

A youth culture magazine by and for the young people of north Lewisham. We worked together with groups of young people, aged around 11-16. We ran creative workshops and following their direction, we designed and produced this regular publication, which was then distributed freely in the local area. The project was the winner of the Philip Lawrence Award.