Print Roundup: August 2020

Every month, we put together a roundup to showcase all the different ways our creative customers use newspapers. Below, discover 10 projects printed during this very unusual summer — from a pocket-sized guide to hand-lettering to a portrait series celebrating the humour and resilience of Londoners in lockdown.

Lettering Lessons

After Mark Caneso had to cancel his in-person workshops because of the pandemic, he turned his lettering lessons into a mini newspaper.

“This booklet will leave you feeling confident to draw bigger and bolder and more beautiful letterforms than you ever dreamed you could,” says Mark, whose clients include Adobe, Adidas and Facebook. “People are loving the piece and printing digitally allows me to update my inventory as needed.” Printed on salmon newsprint.

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Powerful Posters

In June, designer Amanda Jane Jones launched a poster project to raise funds for Black Lives Matter causes. Each digital tabloid poster showcases work by a Black artist, who also selects a charity to receive profits from the sale. 

This poster, the third in the series, features an image by Chicago-based visual artist Paul Octavious. It’s a portrait of his mother, Agatha, “who sees all the beautiful colors I’m made of,” he writes.

Money raised will be split between 2 organisations: Black Archivist, a project Paul founded to help put cameras into the hands of Black people, and the Okra Project, a collective that serves Black trans people. Poster available from Define Magazine.

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House Party

Photographer Alan Powdrill documented Londoners in their Sunday best for "All Dressed Up for the NHS,” a series of doorstep portraits that illustrate the humour and resilience of the nation in lockdown. The project, part of a fundraising campaign for the NHS, was turned into a poster series displayed in Hackney and published in this 52-page tabloid newspaper designed by Jason Vinny Vinciguerra.

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Intimate Interviews

The Journal is an exploration of design, intimacy and home as seen through the relationships people have with objects. The latest issue features interviews with the actor Deric Augustine and Chicago-based educator and stylist Mycall Akeem Riley.

“We wanted to give people something they could sit with, explore and digest without the pressure of digital consumption,” says creative lead Felton Kizer. He adds that the best thing about using our tabloid newspapers is “the large format imagery – iconic.”

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Skin Deep

Based in Brighton, Draw is a social enterprise running flexible and affordable life drawing classes and art workshops. This is the first edition of their lockdown publication, The Draw Journal. The mini newspaper, designed by Megan Snyders, collects writing and images centred around 4  aspects of the body explored in their 2019/20 terms: Skin, Hair, The Body as a Whole and The Body as Parts.

“The idea of being able to connect through a tangible physical object feels especially relevant since the coronavirus lockdown,” says head tutor Jake Spicer. “We hope this publication inspires readers to think about new ways to view the body at a time where we must find connection with one another without contact.”

Headway Hello

Headway East London is a charity supporting people affected by brain injury across 13 London boroughs. Since lockdown in March, they’ve had to close their day centre doors and move all face-to-face services online.To keep in touch with members who don’t have access to email or Headway’s online activities, they’re sending copies of the Headway Hello printed as a tabloid newspaper. 

“The newspaper format is engaging and accessible for our members,” says Headway. “We also include pictures and artwork from the community, which helps us all feel a little bit more connected whilst we're apart.”

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Editor's Picks

“The original intention was to create an outlet for my unsolicited podcast or movie recommendations,” says photographer Daniela Spector about launching her newspaper, Parsing. “But it’s evolved into a space where I can explore themes I've been interested in more thoughtfully.” 

With 4 issues so far, recommendations have included the podcast Okay, Now Listen, “taking shelter in a doorway during a summer downpour” and Eric Rohmer’s 1967 film La Collectionneuse. 

“It's been fun to see how people interact with something that doesn't feel as precious as other types of print media,” she says of the mini newspaper format. “Some people curl it up when they're done or a baby gets ahold of it, while others have started collecting them and displaying them in interesting ways.”

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Headlining Homes

London-based home design studio Day True uses a broadsheet newspaper as a “modern, trendy newsletter,” which they deliver to clients’ homes and businesses and use in-store. “We liked the modern meets traditional angle of a newspaper and the scale of the broadsheet means you have to take notice of it,” says co-founder Tony Robson. And he says feedback from clients has been positive: “They like that it’s not too sell, sell, sell!”

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Extra Extra Fast

If you're missing watching the Olympics this summer, a new documentary from Rabbitwolf Creative may be just the fix you need. It follows a handful of elite marathoners as they prepare for the 2020 United States Olympic Trials in Atlanta, and Rabbitwolf is promoting the film with this tabloid newspaper featuring photography and interviews with athletes and coaches.

“We wanted to create something for the team and their fans to commemorate that time in their life,” says director Ryan Sterner. “Each athlete contributed to the newspaper and we used photographs from throughout the production to create something they'll hopefully hang onto for a long time.”

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Photo Fundraiser

Over 70 photography alumni, students and faculty from the Hartford Photography MFA programme donated work to From Hartford with Love, a photo print sale fundraising for the NAACP.

This 64-page digital mini, designed by Solenne Pagès, showcases all the donated prints. “Everyone is loving the design and the tactile aspect of the newspaper,” says creative director Mico Toledo. “Who doesn't love a newsprint zine?”

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