Off the Page
This is where we write about the things that led to the drawings in the first place — the history behind a design, the process of getting an illustration from sketch to card or print, and the odd details that make one edition worth collecting over another. Expect notes from the studio in Norfolk, the old covers and reference books we can't stop collecting, and whatever's currently pinned above the drawing desk.
The Art and Design of VHS Boxes
Blank VHS tape packaging held almost no information — a brand name, a running time, a format — and that emptiness is exactly what made it such strange, brilliant graphic design.
The History of Marmite
How Marmite started as brewery waste, ended up shaping vitamin research, and built one of Britain's most famous ad campaigns out of the fact that people hate it.
Edition Marks, Artist's Proofs, and What the Pencil Marks Actually Mean
What "12/50" actually means, why prints are signed in pencil rather than pen, and what A/P, H/C and BAT stand for on a limited edition print.
The Art and Design of the Postage Stamp
From the Penny Black to the most reproduced portrait in history — how the postage stamp became one of the smallest, most fought-over pieces of design in the world.
A Short History of the Infographic
From a Scottish engineer's bar charts to Florence Nightingale's rose diagrams — where the infographic actually came from, and why the format hasn't really changed.
A Spotter's Guide to Spotter's Guides: The Odd History of the Field Guide
Where the field guide came from, why illustration beat photography for spotting things in the wild, and why the format hasn't really changed since 1937.
What "Giclée" Actually Means (and Why We Use It)
What "giclée" actually means, where the word came from, and why we print our own limited-edition prints this way instead of the cheaper alternative.
