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Miscellaneous
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Company of Biologists Purchase Order form
Posted in Miscellaneous • 2 May 2011
'Ooh', I hear you cry, 'a form. How thrilling.'
Well, yes. All too often, designers don't think about how a form's to be used, and just knock the fields out. I prefer to think about what the form's actually going to be used for, and will often print it out and try to fill it in based on old data.
For example, on this form, the address box aligns with the window in a DL windowed envelope; the main body is then below the fold; the item fields are separated by horizontal dividers to make it really obvious which quantities relate to which items, and I've moved the dates to be prominently placed (under the logo).
Little things, but they do make a difference...
The Manor signage
Posted in Miscellaneous • 10 April 2011
Over the last couple of years, I've been working with The Manor, a Foundation School in Cambridge, producing print materials for them.
This year, they commissioned the fabulous Cambridge children's photographer Helen Bartlett, who spent two days at The Manor taking pictures of the students during lessons, break and games time.
The Manor has been steadily improving in results, and I refreshed their logo and visual identity as part of their ongoing efforts to promote themselves more widely. The image below is the sign, 8ft wide, which is featured at the front of their school. Watch this space for their prospectus, coming soon.
Cambridge University Press order form
Posted in Miscellaneous • 19 March 2011
Order forms are, by their very nature, Really Rather Dull; 40-page ones especially so. It can be easy for designers to get bored whilst designing them, and hence make mistakes.
I have to admit to being of a rather strange breed of designers which rather enjoys setting forms. So few people do them well - actually thinking about how they're going to be used - that it's good to do a pleasing job on them.
Cambridge University Press asked me to typeset their order form for their English Language Teaching list for 2011. They provided the text as an Excel document; I transferred it to the design software I use and styled it up.
They were expecting it to take a couple of days to do; four hours later it was done, thanks to a combination of scripting and clever use of find-and-replace wildcards.
Cambridge Chorale Salvator Mundi CD
Posted in Miscellaneous • 11 March 2011
Cambridge Chorale is a dynamic amateur choir based in Cambridge, with whom I sing Bass.
In the summer of 2010, Cambridge Chorale travelled to Roujan, in the south of France, to record a disc of sacred choral works. I was delighted to be asked to design the inlay and disc. After the usual process of careful editing and proofing, the disc (containing Frank Martin's Mass, Alonso Lobo's Lamentations and Herbert Howells' Requiem) is now available to pre-order.
I'd urge you to have a listen to it - for a non-professional choir, it's astonishingly good.
Araucaria's custom cryptic crosswords
Posted in Miscellaneous • 21 February 2011
A couple of years ago, I commissioned Araucaria, one of the greatest crossword setters, to produce a puzzle for my friends Matthew and Aly's wedding. The puzzle was featured in The Guardian on their wedding day, and their names were the first two across answers in the grid.
Since then, Araucaria has set up a business producing custom puzzles, and I've been working for him, typesetting his custom crosswords in the style of The Guardian, and sending back PDFs to his customers.
His output is astonishing; now aged 90, he has been working for The Guardian since 1953, and is their longest-serving correspondent.
