Speed read: Start is a 2 part Art Exhibition centreing in artists at the start of their art careers. My task was to design a logo, flyer and poster for the shows on a shoestring budget and time scale.

In detail: A photographer / curator friend Aaron Tebano approached me regarding a two part art show he was in charge of organizing in Southampton. The concept of the shows was to celebrate local artists starting their careers in the arts. The first show used selected work from students who where undertaking pre-graduate study and the second show post graduate.

My brief was to design and create a logo, flyer and poster which served the relevant information and embodied the spirit of the shows. The natural starting point was the logo which was the key in giving the shows a strong identity and had to be easily applicable ac- ross a range of materials. The range of work in the shows was going to be broad so my logo couldn’t lean toward any medium in particular.

With this in mind I decided to create a simple graphic which is a little abstract yet connects with the idea of diverging from a central point. This I thought summed up the idea of Start, which had essentially taken different people, doing different kinds of work, and put them all in one place. Where they end up is unknown. I then applied colour to heighten the feeling of diversity, and used a relatively neutral sans-serif with extra kerning between ‘st’ and ‘art’ to strengthen the association of the logo with art.

The posters and flyers use a graphic sampled from the logo with all the relevant information plotted around the reaching lines. As we were dealing with two shows with two sets of information I decided to duplex print the flyers; one side for the first show and the reverse for the latter. Printing this way tied in with the idea of a 2 part show. Each is similar but different at the same time.