Semi-frequent blurb on graphic design and various website miscellany for you and yours

“Fat Man, you shoot a great game of pool”

The Hustler Poster

A line from one of my favorite films of all time – THE HUSTLER.

Paul Newman, George C. Scott and Jackie Gleason star in this 1961 Movie of pool and money. Well worth a watch. The Move posters never did this Robert Rossen directed picture justice in my opinion. Watching the film again recently reminded me of far too much time spent in smokey pool halls!

Which brings me on to the Clean Canvas Pool Table. Not an American Pool Table which I would have loved but sadly due to space we couldn’t fit it in. As it is, it only just fits! One particular shot we have affectionately named “the Kitchen Shot” as you are squeezed this way and that. When you are next visiting, game on.

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The gorgeous letterpress

Wedding Invitation Design

The thought of a vast array of paper-stocks, fresh inks letterpressed with movable type sends shivers down my spine. Type is a passion of mine, just missing the typesetting generation and having grown up on Macs I can only but admire past letterpress beauties. Letterpress is beautiful in every respect, from the machining of the presses down to the impression into paper. Thankfully there is a growing revival of this art. There are several letterpress studios out there, and from what I can gather the US are pioneering that revival. I stumbled across Boxcar press a fantastic letterpress studio in New York.

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A few minutes stroll in the sunshine…

7-waverley-farm

Many websites showcase work environments, but they’re usually showcasing the office space, not what’s outside the windows. We’re fortunate enough to have found great surroundings, home to our converted barn graphic design studio, in the grounds of Waverley Abbey near Farnham in Surrey. It’s a real pleasure to drive in and casually look left over the pond, to the ruins of Waverley Abbey, an English foundation house of the new Cistercian order of the monks, built in 1128. Every morning the scene is different: fog, mist, daybreak, rain, ice/snow but always a friendly ‘hello’ to the resident heron, ‘guardian’ of the pond.

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Born Free

John Barry

John Barry, the film composer, who won five Oscars and is best known for creating music for the James Bond movies, has died of a heart attack. He was 77.

He’s among the best in film theme composing for me, and was the inspiration that drove me to create my own orchestral take on the Lord of The Rings (some years before the films!) – the only music I’ve ever had commercially produced. John was a major catalyst in my desire to create theme music that played a huge part in pushing storytelling deep into the soul. I was nowhere close to creating the emotion that Barry seemed to ooze so effortlessly, but I spent many months studying his music, trying to unlock the secrets of emotionally engaging a listener and then remaining, unforgettably, in their minds.

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New Year, New Website

Clean Canvas Fresh New Ideas

Just in case you hadn’t noticed, things have changed around here a little. The website has undergone a change. If you’re a regular visitor, then things will look a bit different. If you’re new – well… hello and thank you for joining us.

The result is that we can better showcase our work, in a simple and clean format. Right up our street.