Portfolio: Print

Over the years, Argument from Design have created special high-quality printed design for higher education & business. Whether you’re looking for someone with experience in the creation of book covers, magazine illustrations, promotional posters, exhibition material, brochures, maps or something else, we’re likely to have done it. This is a sample of our work.

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Argument from Design have created many posters over the years, primarily for academic clients. These often take the form of promotional items for conferences. Some examples include the conferences for the AHRC Innateness & Culture Projects at the University of Sheffield—see the 2004 & 2009 posters. The participants at these conferences discuss which capabilities are innate & which are learned—babies are an especially relevant for them (plus, people are inherently drawn to photos of babies). The Folk Psychology Conference poster uses psychedelic imagery from one of the biggest recent revolutions in culture, the 60s. And the poster for the Constructivism in Practical Philosophy series plays upon the early 20th-century art-historical Constructivist movement.

The Gender, Body & Objectification Conference plays upon objectification: since it’s all about treating people as things, Argument from Design took the curse off the subject by playing with imagery of mannequins & making the entire poster look like a playbill for a Noel Coward play.

Academics also require posters to publicise one-off items, like a special lecture series. Usually created under tight deadlines, these works test our ability to draw in the viewer.

Academics also use posters to advertise Visitors’ Days & programmes to attract new students. Attractive posters advertising the landscape around the University of Sheffield emphasise life beyond the classroom while still evoking images such as Rodin’s “Thinker”. Other posters use the University’s buildings as abstract shapes & emphasise modernity, while degree programme posters use striking design to attract readers.

Brochures are needed by those who depend upon people walking by—at trade shows or for services associated with something a bit beyond impulse purchases.

Argument from Design have made two-sided, folded A4 brochures for Atlas Retail Consultants. These brochures are handed out at trade shows & to prospective clients. Striking use of the company’s colours & the logo’s arc line help direct visual interest towards imagery showing the company’s success with big-name fashion clients.

Deco Health & Beauty offer their clients a raft of services designed to make them feel & look better: a wide variety of massages, several beauty products & assistance for those with specialised health needs (such as pregnant women). Deco’s brochure is light & is based upon the company’s cream & gold colour scheme; the rococo border echoes the company’s furnishings, and the company’s art deco mascot graces the front. Insets are in cream, gold & black.

Working with Oxford University Press, Argument from Design has designed compelling covers for a series of books of philosophy. We pared down the designs to basic essentials: intriguing photographs related to the books’ points-of-view & top-notch typography.

These covers use photography to underscore their respective books’ messages. For the book cover of Simple Sentences, Substitution & Intuitions, we used a photo of a phone booth, complete with someone’s glasses left behind, commenting on one of the central examples of “simple sentences” in the book—the relation between Clark Kent & Superman.

For the book cover of Feminism: Issues & Arguments, we used a lightly-tinted photograph of a woman & man dancing—underscoring the author’s primary point in her book: that women’s rights are inherently tied up with basic human rights & any discussion of women’s rights must also take into account men’s rights.

Alternately, we also use typography to achieve a striking look. The cover for this Critical Thinking book shows what we can do with carefully-considered typography & colour.

Unusual photographs have a more commercial purpose as well: we use intriguing photographs because by piquing potential buyers’ curiosity about the covers, they are more likely to purchase the book.

Argument from Design also create illustrations & advertisements for print. For the University of York, designer Ray Drainville has created illustrations for in-house magazine Keynotes. An article concerning the University’s budget allocation showed the Pound Sterling symbol shattered into dozens of pieces; an article on the Microsoft antitrust trial shows the corporate behemoth’s Internet Explorer icon penned in by the DoJ & the EU. In addition, Ray has designed maps for the University.