Final spreads from the book, from the section ‘Speculative Narratives’, which were short write ups about David Bowie’s voice and role about issues and changes in society that his work and persona would have resisted, or given voice to. The titles of the pieces were his songs that resonated with the content.
The content of the book was generated on the model of co creation. We looked at using design tools and trend forecasting tools to come up with ideas for the content - in order to overcome the hurdle of the publication being a mere biography or collection of essays.
We organized a workshop in the Victoria and Albert Museum in Kensington London, and invited designers, artists and curators to come and contribute their creative ideas in a participatory session.
Collaterals for the event
We used different techniques and design methods in order to get the audience thinking. “Oblique Strategies'“ and “Back casting tool” were the main design and visual aids which were used for the workshop after an introductory session on David Bowie.
From the beginning of the project we all agreed that we wanted our publication to be visually striking; primary colours, bold type and engaging imagery. As part of our desk research we sourced inspiration from independent zines known for their expressive visuals. For instance: Dirty Furniture, Disegno, and Dazed and Confused. We created a Pinterest board to ‘pin’ and archive editorial and visual inspiration that we could later incorporate into our publication’s design.
The entire magazine was printed and put together in London College of Communication, in the Digital as well as Print studios. We used different methods of production like risograph printing and foiling along with digital printing
You can view the entire publication here.
‘The In Us Series’ takes our initial idea of forming speculative narratives beyond Bowie into working with other artists who have left behind a cultural and musical legacy such as Amy Winehouse and Prince. This website will move our project to the next phase of delivery and form the basis for new collaborative models of engagement, co-commissioning and co-creation.
You can view the website here.
This project was done in collaboration with Leanne Manfredi, Aljoud M Hanno, Point Ravirujiphun, Emillie Hames and Ashlyn Chak.