Last term the Letterpress Workshop opened to the public for an exhibition of 1st Year Graphic Design student work.

Following a series of workshops with Alex and James from ‘work-form studio’, students produced a range of typographic responses using quotes from selected text. Using typographic design to explore interpretation of meaning. The outcomes were diverse, playful and thought provoking.

We asked 1st Year Graphic Design students Emma De Costa and Abbie Freeman to tell us a bit more about the exhibition and their experience on the course so far.

Could you tell us more about ‘Staging a Play’, what influenced the work you included in the exhibition?

Emma:

‘What initially attracted me to studying Graphic Design at Camberwell was the opportunity to use traditional processes, such as the letterpress, to influence our practice in the modern world.

When the “Staging a Play” brief was given to us, I was excited to learn how to use letterpress, so I carefully considered the text and chose a sentence where the meaning could be portrayed through the choice of typeface and the composition of the piece.’

Abbie:

‘After reading the text we were given for the letterpress inductions, I decided on creating a print that would be challenging. I wanted to use really small type as it’s something that I hadn’t seen anyone try yet, it also related to the segment of a sentence I chose.

It was really nice to have the freedom to choose fonts, sizes and colour but to have the limitations of the page size too. I think this is a skill that I can apply to my design work as we get set limitations and have to work around them. I will definitely be using the letterpress again whilst studying here.’

How do you feel taking part in exhibitions helps you develop your work as a designer?

Emma:

‘Exhibiting your work as a designer gives you the opportunity to see your work in a real context, in front of an audience. It also allows you to see the work of your peers, exposing you to different styles and alternative responses to a given brief.’

Please could you tell us a bit more about the work you have completed on your course so far – what has been your favourite brief/project?

Emma:

‘The course so far has been quite fast paced, and sometimes we have two projects on at the same time. Our longest, and my favourite, project lasted 2 weeks and it was to design our own typeface. I chose to base my typeface on engineering and blueprint drawings. What I loved most about this project was researching a topic that I had never explored before. Learning new things is a big source of inspiration.’

Abbie:

‘The course so far has been really interesting. I’ve been making some work that I didn’t think I would ever be able to create. I think so far my favourite brief is the current image making brief. It’s something that I have always been interested in – I love being able to make zines and huge posters.’