Prime sights

Writers

By Atelier

Client: André Deutsch

Atelier partner Quentin Newark: “It was the easiest design job of my life.” The image of writer Patrick McGrath was “so graphically strong” that the London consultancy did

“practically nothing” except fit it to shape. It’s one of a collection of 70 Sally Soames portraits of writers including Gabriel García Márquez and Martin Amis, published by André Deutsch last month. Atelier also designed the covers.

Paper: G & B Art featuring silk screen and duotone – an excellent and unusual combination, according to Newark.

Nation

By Graven Images

Client: Theatre production collectives from Glasgow and Belgrade

Graven Images designer Stuart Gilmour: “The brief was very open, almost a non-brief. The clients gave us a set of statements about the performance, including the words ‘disjointed’, ‘nationhood’ and ‘boundaries’.”

Paper: Coated matt cheap stock of no particular origin. Gilmour says: “We intended to use newsprint but in the end it came out on the cheapest, crappiest paper instead. The idea was for it to look like something Solidarity might have produced 15 years ago.”

The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov

By Pentagram

Client: Chapman Duncan Associates

Pentagram designer Alan Dye: “The task of the theatre poster designer is not to provide a visual précis of the plot, character and settings. It is to create a memorable and striking image that expresses the essence of the production. Three Sisters is about hearts in turmoil.”

Marketing consultancy CDA commissioned a series of posters to publicise the productions of Out of Joint, a theatre group that tours classics and newly commissioned related plays. The Three Sisters will preview in September.

Paper: 150gsm Blade, matt coated.

Coriolanus

By: Royal Shakespeare Company’s in-house design team

Client: Royal Shakespeare Company

Royal Shakespeare Company’s Chris Sare: “We asked designer Amanda Bostock to mimic and echo the cinema posters.” Cashing in on the Reservoir Dogs and Natural Born Killers “ultra-violence” debate, the poster for Coriolanus shows the play’s star after a hard day’s slaughter. Art direction was by Chris Sare and Andrew Canham, part of the RSC’s in-house design team. The poster, aimed at students and young people, is currently appearing on billboards around London.

Paper: Standard MG poster paper.

5th Anniversary

By Locofoco

Client: Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall

Locofoco designer Iain Mackinnon: “It’s the RCH’s fifth anniversary and it has an anniversary programme of events, featuring the work of a Japanese drum ensemble. So the message is: drum out the fact the RCH is five.”

Paper: The poster is on gloss art stock of no

particular origin. A related leaflet is printed on four sheets of tracing paper, two in full colour with a white opaque ink and two in single colour, all bound up by a brass eyelet.

Natural Born Liquor

By Graven Images

Client: Tom Moore whisky

Graven Images designer Stuart Gilmour: “To do what Jack Daniel’s should be doing. Using images which appeal to 18- to 25-year-olds, with a fairly street/illegal feel.”

Paper: MG poster stock for 60×40 inch posters and white matt art stock of no particular origin for A2 posters. Gilmour says: “Recent thunderstorms have made the fluorescent ink run which has accidentally created a rather good decaying effect.”

Sweet Bird of Youth

By CDT Design

Client: Royal National Theatre, London

CDT Design partner Mike Dempsey: “I read the script by Tennessee Williams in its original form and an image came to mind which I tracked down in the US. The brief from director Richard Eyre was ‘read the script’!”

Paper: No special requirements for paper, silk-screen printed.

Mahagonny

By CDT

Client: English National Opera, London

CDT partner Mike Dempsey: “We get to see the set designs in model form, and the producer talks us through his version of the opera. It is a very hot, very spartan stage, representing a desert city. We commissioned photographer Robin Cracknell, and slotted segments and scenes into a ‘hot’ backdrop.”

Paper: 60×40 inch and four-sheet posters for London Underground sites, printed on standard MG poster paper as LU requires.

Freedom Festival

By Locofoco

Client: Amnesty International

Locofoco partner Shona Maciver: “The brief was to convey self-expression, in contrast to AI’s more usual idea of highlighting particularly human cruelty. It’s about encouraging freedom of speech.”

Paper: Undecided, but the poster is expected to be printed this month. Locofoco is fond of unusual stock. –