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Here are some highlights of what I've been up to . . .
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Off the back of my re-brand of Icon Books UK, Fighting Fantasy (one of their major contributors)
asked me to revamp their logo for their 30th Anniversary. Ian Livingstone OBE (a major figure in
the world of computer games and the name behind Tomb Raider) with Steve Jackson, originators
of the highly successful series, gave me an open brief to redraw their marque. Here is the result,
I look forward to seeing it on their anniversary material in 2012 . . .
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Last week I was lucky enough to judge the Book Design and Book Front Covers category at the
50th D&AD Awards at Olympia in London. The work was excellent, from student
through the to the Professional Awards.
Standout work included the Don Delillo series illustrated by Noma Barr and designed by
It's Nice That, which won a yellow pencil in the Cover category, all the way through to more
surprising entries such as a book that was in fact a remote controlled car!
I was also asked to stand in for our Jury Foreperson at the Black Pencil judging last Friday,
rubbing shoulders with legends like Bob Gill and Angus Hyland.
They all made me very welcome and I enjoyed it very much.
Please support the D&AD, they do excellent work . . .
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Penguin Puffin gave me the chance to work on a re-brand of ROALD DAHL, my favourite author of all-time.
The brief was to re-imagine Dahl's look globally, with particular consideration to expanding the readership and making them work
as thumbnails. I decided to go darker and more edgy with it, still using the brand-toolbox of Quentin Blake's illustrations but made
more of the tagline THE WORLD'S NO.1 STORYTELLER (because, well, he bloody well is). The slightly edgier typeface and brave
use of black, which is against the grain in a market full of bright covers, gives them a new feel, and the large additional illustrations
helped them have an identity at scale.
Alas, some other lucky designer has pipped me to the post but I'm still in awe of being asked to work on it.
Not bad for a night's work...
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After 11 months and 288 visuals, I'm very proud to present the Alexander McCall Smith backlist,
designed and illustrated by mecob for Little, Brown...
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New fiction paperback for Little, Brown. What a lovely story too -
told from the point of view of a young boy's Imaginary Friend . . .
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Penguin Viking asked me to look at the new Marina Lewycka hardback, Various Pets Alive & Dead.
Here is the result . . . Art Directed by John Hamilton, Illustration by Ben Newman, concept by mecob.
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There I was, working away in the Christmas rush and the holiest of holys in Design emailed me - the D&AD!!!
I am chuffed, proud, humbled and excited to announce that I'll be judging the Book Design category in the 2012
50th Anniversary D&AD Awards. Find out more HERE
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The Introducing Practical Guides family just keeps getting bigger!! Thanks Icon . . .
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Little, Brown kindly approached me to pitch for the repackage of Alexander McCall Smith
this summer . . . and I won the work! I'm chuffed to say that the new hardback look AND backlist
repackage, designed and illustrated by mecob, will be hitting the shelves early next year.
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection and the latest paperback The Saturday Big Tent
Wedding Party will both be available in March
The series look is based on African street signage, each featuring an animal and bespoke typeface
RAMOTSWE, designed specifically for the series . . .
Take a look at the Features section for an in-depth look at the process . . .
A BIG thankyou to Duncan Spilling at Little, Brown for asking me to be involved . . .
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New paperback for Penguin Viking, illustrated by mecob . . .
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I spent a great day at The University of the West of England, Bristol on 17th October giving a short professional practice talk which I really enjoyed. Thanks to
Colum Leith and the third year Graphics students.
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Here's the brand new hardback for Chris Brookmyre, thanks to Duncan at Little, Brown
for championing the new hardback look . . .
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The Rising Stars Essentials series (see below) will now be in association with the Guardian!!
watch out for the cover release in 2012 . . .
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ICON BOOKS REBRAND . . . Back in March, Icon Books kindly asked me to pitch for their rebranding.
6 months later, I'm extremely proud to announce that Icon have adopted my logo design which will roll out
across all printed and digital media associated with the company in the coming months.
The first major piece of print work is the first 2012 Sales catalogue which you can find HERE
You can find a more in-depth look at my work for Icon in the Features section
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Games company Hide&Seek approached me to work on the print design of their Hinterland project, ‘a poem you can play’
at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. Take a look at the Features section for some background.
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You may remember a cover I did for the British Association of Adoption & Fostering (BAAF).
in association with Fixabook.com last year. Here is the latest cover in the series, more coming later this year.
Thanks to Shaila Shah, Communications Director at BAAF . . .
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New Client Walker Books commissioned mecob to produce a YA/Adult crossover title for
major children's author Patrick Ness . . . the book is absolutely incredible . . .
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I was recently asked by W&N's Art Director, Natasha Webber to look at repackaging an old favourite of mine, Paul Torday.
Here are the results . . . alas it wasn't to be but a pleasure to do nonetheless.
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One of my top clients, Icon Books, asked me to repackage Brian Clegg's Inflight Science for paperback
and alongside it his new book, The Universe Inside You. Here are the results, beautifully illustrated by Tobatron
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I'm doing more and more Young Adult work, and I'm proud to say that I've repackaged major author John Marsden for his UK paperback covers,
released in 2012. They follow the success last year of Quercus movie tie-in edition of Tomorrow When The War Began . . .
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New client Faber and Faber, whose name and history in cover design needs no introduction, asked little old mecob to work on
two of their Young Adult titles by authors Natasha Farrant and Alexander Gordon Smith, two very different markets.
Rose illustration by mecob . . .
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New illustration for Short Books' paperback, The J.M. Barrie Swimming Society . . .
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New series design for Educational Publisher Rising Stars, for release later this year . . .
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New paperback classic issue of the classic Damage by Josephine Hart for Virago.
Anyone remember the 1992 Jeremy Irons movie? The accompanying book Sin also produced, take a look in the Fiction section . . .
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D&AD in-book nomination for Book Design 2011, for my Art Direction of The Good Man Jesus and
The Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman (Canongate), design by Keenan.
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10/3/11: The BBC and Little Brown asked me to produce a cover for Evan Davis' (of Dragon's Den Fame)
book Made in Britain, to accompany a new series on the British economy televised later this year. Illustration by Anthony Burrill
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New Penguin Viking paperback . . .
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New Orion Publishing Group Imprint Swordfish, launch title The Operators. Illustration by mecob . . .
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New hardback for Penguin Viking . . .
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UPDATE: 3/3/11: Guest post for Fixabook on the BAAF cover, Adopting a Child from last year. Read it HERE--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: 7/3/11 – HarperCollins, US to take Die for Me design. Mecob's first cover as a freelancer into the U.S!
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UPDATE: 22/2/11 – Hanser Publishers, Germany to take Periodic Tales design. Mecob's first cover as a freelancer into Europe!!
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Some new illustration for Short Books . . .
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A new Summer Reading paperback for Short Books . . .
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Little Brown asked me to package a trilogy of new Young Adult novels by Amy Plum,
what a challenge as they wrote the book on it after the Stephenie Meyer covers.
The amazing pattern was illustrated by Aberdeen Illustrator Johanna Basford . . .
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Icon Books asked me to design and illustrate their June-December 2011 catalogue, below is the front cover.
This look will run through their website and some literature too.
Check out the Catalogues section to see more . . .
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Here's a job I did for Penguin Viking recently, the book gives you the cultural background of each element,
from the Zinc that lines your coffin to the Phosphorus you can get from distilling a bucket of wee...
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Introducing: The Practical Guides . . . a series of 200 books for London independent publisher Icon Books.
Small format guides for life on everything from Psychology to Science . . .
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7/2/10: A while back, a lovely lady called Julia at fixabook.com asked me to work with the British Association of Adoption and Fostering,
on redesigning their non-fiction backlist to be more approachable.
Here's the first of hopefully many, BAAF are a pleasure to work with . . .
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13/1/10: Illustration tutor at Telford College, and successful illustrator Kim McGillvray asked me to do a talk to his HND Illustration students on 13th January.
We talked about commissioning, and some of the realities of illustration for Book Publishing in today's market.
Very interesting, I hope to work with them again soon . . .
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22/10/2010: Where The Bodies Are Buried by Christopher Brookmyre, Little Brown . . .
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NOVEMBER 2010:
I've been teaching 3rd and 4th Year students on the Graphic Design programme at Edinburgh College of Art,
with a few MFA students in the mix too. Great to see ECA turning out more talent this year, be sure to catch this year's degree show
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2/12/10: the amazing people at Whitespace asked me to speak at the first TALKSPACE event, alongside Illustrator Johanna Basford and
Glasgow School of Art tutor Neil Maguire. Poster and click HERE for the Vimeo. Some chat about it at welovedesignetc
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20/10/10: Quercus Publishing. Illustration by mecob
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10/10/10: Stockbridge café identity and interior, opening 2011. More soon . . .
New client Birlinn & Polygon, Edinburgh, lead paperback for release in the summer . . .
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