The School of South African Studies

An experimental design project for a magazine commissioned by the School of South African Studies. I was tasked with designing a magazine spread for the Nigerian printmaker Bruce Onobrakpeya. To display the skills of Bruce Onobrakpeya, I utilised print techniques within the type design, and also tried to convey this same aesthetic with photo editing.

To create the title, I used paint and ink to illustrate Bruce’s name in a manner that was similar to his work. Here I played with the weighting of the typography to create difference, but also emphasis.

The second stage of the process involved making the spread fit the personality of the artist and his art. A key aspect of Bruce’s work involved riots and protest within Nigeria, and to display this power, violence and the severity of police brutality I landed on a red print. I then overlayed images of his own artwork. The two elements combined created a magazine spread that would make the user stop and read.

Alongside the main magazine spread, I had the opportunity to create some posterzines that would be used to advertise the event and magazine. This allowed me to push my experimentation even further, and use alternative imagery.