Here is a selection of case studies, of my work. Some I have undertaken as an independent freelancer: other jobs have been under the banner of Acuity Design. Please click on the titles below, to see the full entries.
I will be uploading free stuff here, occasionally. These will often be assets useful to those producing material for the blind and visually impaired. However I may well offer other things that I want to share with the world. All Free Stuff is free to use, distribute and modify however you want to. However, I …Read More
Scheme For The Tactile Representation Of Colours It is rarely appropriate to indicate colour, by use of tactile means, in tactile and high contrast illustrations. Such detail tends to obscure the form and shape of the work. Where bright colour fill cannot be perceived by a user, they should at least benefit from a clear …Read More
A commission for Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) Claire Venables of Giraffe Corner was commissioned to design and create two new stands for the OUMNH, under the tile of Sensing Evolution. One stand was to feature Reptiles and Birds, the other was to feature Mammals; each to be divided into three environmental zones: …Read More
T.Rex: Tanx and Zinc Alloy 2014 Deluxe Edition Although Marc Bolan failed to make the same commercial impact in the USA, as he did in the rest of the world, he clearly loved the place. Having long had an almost scholarly interest in vintage Rock’n’Roll and it’s Delta Blues antecedents; he fell under the spell …Read More
This is a scheme of tactile floor plan symbols, for use in information panels; for the blind and visually impaired. The colour black represents raised elements, so that this would be inverted on machined metal panels; where the raised elements are white metal and the background is either black or a dark colour. Some of …Read More
23/08/14 Shane Slater from Wolverhampton needed graphic design and print for a flyer, for distribution around the Wolverhampton area. Fruity Monkey delivers freshly made sandwiches, baguettes and wraps to customers’ workplaces. Although he needed a logo designing, as part of the job, Shane had already decided that the existing business name should be the basis …Read More
Music review of Blues Pills’ debut album Marijke Koger-Dunham’s cover design for Blues Pills It must be around thirty years since I last purchased a newly released album, filed under the Heavy Metal section in HMV. Sure, I have replaced my old Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath recordings with the shiny new re-mastered …Read More
I am reviewing these two albums now because I have noticed that they have both recently dropped in price: this re-mastered version of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars can be found for just £7.26: while the similar version of Aladdin Sane (released just last year) is a little higher at £10.26. Purchased together, …Read More
16/07/14 (updated 21/07/14) Alastair Somerville and I (working together as Acuity Design) were contacted by Fraser Randall Ltd; with regards to a commission for their client, the Imperial War Museum. Acuity Design had been recommended as one of the few providers of accessible signage and information, for the blind and visually impaired/partially sighted, able to …Read More
A Short History of British Standard Colours Current BS 381C colours Founded in London in 1901, the Engineering Standards Committee was renamed as the British Engineering Standards Association in 1918. After receiving a Royal Charter in 1929, the organisation was again renamed; this time as the more familiar British Standards Institution (BSI). Setting voluntary – …Read More
Equipment Review Reference colour guides are essential for designers. Standard gear for graphic designers are a CMYK chart and Pantone swatches or fan-decks: I will go into more depth about these colour systems in a later Colour Systems blog. However anyone involved with design or commercial art, beyond the world of print, need charts or …Read More
A Short History of the British Colour Council Ribbon samples of colour from the Dictionary of Colour Standards The British Colour Council (BCC) was set up in 1931 and chaired by Robert Francis Wilson, a designer and subsequent author of Colour in Industry Today: A practical book on the functional use of colour (1960). The organisation …Read More
Software Review After over 20 years of being a Windows user; Microsoft decides to bring out an operating system that is unusable for me. The reason for this, apparently, is so that my experience of it would match my experience of using Windows touchscreen devices; if I ever used them that is, which of course …Read More
Hardware Review Strictly speaking this is not so much a review of hardware as a recommendation for a hardware supplier. My current Windows workstation computer was from the above supplier – and so will the next one be. Based near Preston, I first came across this outfit on eBay. I was simply gobsmacked at the …Read More
Sadly I missed the Bruce Pennington exhibition, in the autumn of 2013, in Brighton. I have been an admirer of his work since reading the Martian Series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which were the very first science fiction books I ever read. Although his cover illustration for A Princess of Mars, the first book in …Read More
Original masters: covers by Chris Foss, Bruce Pennington, Peter Elson, Peter Goodfellow and Bruce Pennington again (I think). Rearranging my book shelves the other day, I became happily distracted by the covers of my science fiction collection. I have always loved the genre’s cover art and from the age of about nine, it wholly …Read More
12/05/14 I was very saddened today to learn of the death of the Swiss artist H R Giger, at the age of 74, due to injuries sustained from a fall in his home. Hans “Ruedi” Giger studied architecture and industrial design in Zurich, before going on to become a surrealist painter. Although childhood nightmares are …Read More
Book Review Along with Bible stories and Aesop’s Fables, Greek myths form part of the cultural “primary colours” of Western Civilisation and for this reason I believe that every child in Britain should be given the opportunity to enjoy these fascinating stories. Its content quite suitably tailored to suit young children; Usborne Greek Myths For …Read More
Hardware Review The Kingston 64GB USB DataTraveler SE9H Flash Drive with Metal Casing has dropped in price, from £42.00 to £20.71. I suspect that this is because Kingston is about to put out 128GB flash drives in the very near future, if the usual price dropping pattern is being followed. I have been carrying around the …Read More
The RNIB withdrew support for the tactile MOON alphabet, some years ago. However it still has use for the vast majority of blind people, who lose their sight later in life and who never learn Braille. It can take years to become truly adept at Braille but this is an essential task, for any blind …Read More
A Beard of Stars and T.Rex The last Tyrannosaurus Rex Album – A Beard of Stars – and the first, eponymously named, album of the newly abbreviated T.Rex are very much a pair. Stylistically similar they both feature Marc Bolan and Mickey Finn as a duo; Bolan’s previous musical collaborator, Steve Peregrin Took, having departed …Read More
The purpose of my design, for a new disabled sign, was to address several perceived shortcomings with the existing form. As you will see from the comparison below, I have attempted to depict the wheelchair user in a more dynamic manner. Rather than sitting still and leaning slightly back in a rather passive manner, the …Read More
Book Review Penguin books set out to revolutionise the British public’s reading habits by publishing quality literature, at prices well within the reach of ordinary working people. It was not just the books’ affordability that ensured their continuing success throughout the rest of the 20th Century and beyond. Soon it was obvious, that to maximise …Read More
Book Review “How to think like a creative, act like a businessman and design like a God” – Although I can’t claim to have acquired a resulting godlike design prowess, I have to give this beautifully designed and bound publication an unreserved thumbs up. I figured that given its bold claims, great reviews, Drew de …Read More