ICM - Leeds Design Agency

I absolutely love looking at maps. I can spend hours casting my eyes over grid lines, boundaries, contours, footpaths and bridleways. Maybe its because the map crosses over the various boundaries of my hobbies; mountain biking, landscape photography and graphic design, that leaves me gazing longingly at those folded sheets.

It was on this day in 1791, Ordnance Survey was born when a request of the Master General, the 3rd Duke of Richmond, to purchase a three-foot Theodolite and is now generally accepted as the founding action of the Ordnance Survey. That theodolite, and subsequently many others, were used to map the south east coast of Britain for fear of invasion by the French, and from that day to today’s world of GPS, Ordnance Survey has played a constant role charting the changing face of the nation.

The presence of the Royal Engineers harks back to Ordnance Survey’s military origins, where that fear of invasion promoted the Board of Ordnance, the Ministry of Defence of the day, to order a survey of the south east – hence the rather unusual name.

The great art of map making subsequently played a major role in both World Wars, with Ordnance Survey staff being dispatched to map the trenches throughout The Great War, whilst during World War II some 342 million maps were printed for use by the Allied forces. By 1944 maps were off the presses and in the hands of men at the front within 24 hours.

Years later and we take for granted the great work done by Ordnance Survey for such a long time.

Personally, I have great fondness for the 1:25000 Leisure maps (the orange ones). Every part of England, Scotland and Wales is covered by 403 maps that include National Trails, Recreational Paths, picnic areas, viewpoints and selected places of interest. In addition, there’s Rights of Way information for England and Wales.

Call me old-fashioned but I’d still rather be up a mountain with a big sheet of map in my pocket than a handheld GPS device. So here’s to a great British institution and long may it contin…

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I do seem to be making a habit of writing posts about things I would very much like to own, and this Penguin series of 20 books is no exception.

The stunning design combined with the fascinating content are right up my street. The Great Food Series brings together “the sharpest, funniest, most delicious writing about food from the past 400 years,” according to Penguin. The cover designs by Coralie Bickford-Smith feature ceramic designs which reflect the period the book was written in, complemented by lettering artist Stephen Raw. The style is further enhanced by embossed lettering and spot varnishes picking out the details of the illustrations.

Cover for Love in a Dish and other pieces by MFK Fisher. Cover design based on a pattern from a Century side plate by Eva Zeisel for Hallcraft, 1957

So, if you’re reading this Father Christmas, please add these to my li…

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This week marks one year back at work for me. After giving birth to my daughter back in June 2009 I took a 52 week maternity break and rejoined the team on the 15th May 2010.

I was nervous about my return to work but I soon settled back in and before long it was like I had never been away. I was worried I would forget how to do the work but my fears were unfounded as over 10 years work experience verses one year off, there really is no competition.

Here are some of the projects I have been lucky enough to work on over the past year:

Local Government Yorkshire and Humber

This was my first project upon my return to studio. A great creative pitch to get stuck into. I also worked on the final artwork alongside Maria.

Boxer Chocolate Massage Kit & Love Potions

I loved working on these. I have a huge soft spot for packaging generally but these really were unusual projects to work on. Both of these projects were worked on by me and Richard.

MPS

Sometimes we get the chance to work on projects with very tight guidelines and fantastic templates. The geek in me really enjoys working on these.

Unlock Your library

We were approached by Leeds School Library Service to design a brochure to make schools more aware of their entitlements and the services that Leeds SLS can provide. The main thought for me while designing this was I didn’t want it to get lost amongst all the other brochures the head would receive. I worked on this project with Maria and with her initial copy and content break downs followed by design tweeks I think we created something extremely easy to follow and enjoyable to look at.

LeedsCard Magazine

As a LeedsCard holder I have been lucky enough now to work on the initial design pitch with Maria and Matt and the last two final printed issues. I get to know what’s happening in Leeds first and where all the best discounts are.

GI Sales & Hire

When we were asked to design a brand for GI Sales & Hire Richard and I both produced initial ideas. Richard’s was finally chosen but I still loved all of the concepts produced.

As we all work as a team at ICM I have been involved in many meetings and putting together lots of ideas for other clients too. Even if the finished result isn’t my handy work, at some stage we have all discussed, suggested and considered new ideas.

2011 will mark my 9th year at ICM. I wrote a post about my 8 year anniversary with lots of old pictures. I had to use a scanner for the older ones! I still love working here and all the people I work with…

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