For 2019, Glasgow-based visual arts organisation The Common Guild presented a programme of talks by artists, architects, curators and cultural producers. The title of the programme is borrowed from the subtitle of a text by Swiss artist Rémy Zaugg, The Art Museum of My Dreams (1986), and is suggestive of a request for something that we should demand. The talks explored the needs, expectations and possibilities of the space for art today, and were held in a range of venues across Glasgow.
Our design draws upon the graphic language of protest and the manifesto, and also references the visual style of Zaugg’s artworks – bold, uppercase texts on rectangular canvases, in bright colours. The title of the programme is set in Baton, whose narrow proportions and eccentric shapes combine the character of vernacular typography with the simplicity of modern sans serifs. The flyers are riso printed in a complementary palette of colours. We also developed a simple, adaptable signage solution using boards, which were installed without fixtures within the various event venues.
We also designed a small publication to commemorate and document the series of talks, featuring an essay by Tom Jeffreys responding to the themes explored within A Place for the Work and the Human Being; this piece of writing presented a journey through and a reflection on the ideas that arose throughout the programme. The publication design builds upon the identity we developed for the campaign, inverting the colour scheme on the cover and using the same typefaces throughout. It features a wraparound cover printed in white ink on purple paper, and contents pages on newsprint.
