The West End Show by Brand Nu
For his first self-intitiated solo show, graphic designer and illustrator Radim Malinic has taken the multifarious, vibrant and frequently taxing area of London’s West End as his inspiration.
'I wanted to do something that was different, conceptual and intriguing - it’s a place that’s been very inspiring for me. It’s the heritage - the narrow streets, the buildings, the glitz and glamour. It’s got a heartbeat’, explains Malinic. He adds, ‘Once you look behind the history it’s got an enormous amount of legacy. People now take the area for its face value, it's a place to go shopping and getting annoyed by huge crowds at Leicester Square.’
The show, cleverly titled West End show, will present ten posters, each dedicated to one West End area, such as Soho, Covent Garden and Fitzrovia. The ornate, bold designs capture the vibrancy of the area, with a healthy smattering of the gaudy neon and glittering lights that festoon its streets.
Each poster also features an 8 line poetry, also written by Malinic, that provide a context for the area and the design. The Holborn poster was influenced by Malinic’s discovery that the current Sainsbury’s site in the area was once a beautiful restaurant, with the visuals referencing to its logo. ‘It used to see so much fun and it so sociable’, he says. ‘Now it’s a concrete building with huge glass windows - there doesn’t seem to be much laughter there any more. Just a line of self-checkout and mist of orange bags’
The project proved quite a leap from the usual commercial illustration projects that Malinic usually works on. ‘I wanted to do something with a lot of substance that really stood out’, he says. ‘Graphic design should have a purpose. It was more challenging than I thought - a self-initiated brief creates interesting benchmarks for self-critique. ’
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Written by Emily Gosling for Design Week on 25 January 2012
For his first self-intitiated solo show, graphic designer and illustrator Radim Malinic has taken the multifarious, vibrant and frequently taxing area of London’s West End as his inspiration.
'I wanted to do something that was different, conceptual and intriguing - it’s a place that’s been very inspiring for me. It’s the heritage - the narrow streets, the buildings, the glitz and glamour. It’s got a heartbeat’, explains Malinic. He adds, ‘Once you look behind the history it’s got an enormous amount of legacy. People now take the area for its face value, it's a place to go shopping and getting annoyed by huge crowds at Leicester Square.’
The show, cleverly titled West End show, will present ten posters, each dedicated to one West End area, such as Soho, Covent Garden and Fitzrovia. The ornate, bold designs capture the vibrancy of the area, with a healthy smattering of the gaudy neon and glittering lights that festoon its streets.
Each poster also features an 8 line poetry, also written by Malinic, that provide a context for the area and the design. The Holborn poster was influenced by Malinic’s discovery that the current Sainsbury’s site in the area was once a beautiful restaurant, with the visuals referencing to its logo. ‘It used to see so much fun and it so sociable’, he says. ‘Now it’s a concrete building with huge glass windows - there doesn’t seem to be much laughter there any more. Just a line of self-checkout and mist of orange bags’
The project proved quite a leap from the usual commercial illustration projects that Malinic usually works on. ‘I wanted to do something with a lot of substance that really stood out’, he says. ‘Graphic design should have a purpose. It was more challenging than I thought - a self-initiated brief creates interesting benchmarks for self-critique. ’
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Written by Emily Gosling for Design Week on 25 January 2012
West End Show was shown from February 2 - March 2
at Nancy Victor Gallery, 6 Charlotte Place,
London W1T
More information: thewestendshow.co.uk
Art direction, concept and typography: Radim Malinic
DOP: Nathalie Gordon
Animation: Alex Donne-Johnson
