| NICK BELL DESIGN
What is Nick Bell Design?
Nick Bell Design is an independent graphic design consultancy. We
work on local, national and international projects with public and
private organisations active in both corporate and cultural fields.
We are visual communicators designing for print, three dimensional
environments and the digital realm.
Who are we?
Nick Bell Design is a limited company owned by one director –
Nick Bell. We are a small, select team in a big spacious studio
– this allows us the flexibility to become larger as and when
projects require. At present we are a team of eight. We are in frequent
contact with a pool of highly regarded specialists with whom we
collaborate regularly.
What do we do?
We have designed print matter, environmental graphics, animated
moving-graphics and interactive digital screen-based graphic interfaces
for the following purposes: exhibitions, events, publishing, marketing,
wayfinding, signage, websites, corporate communications, corporate
identity and branding.
How do we do it?
Our approach to visual communication is driven by our close attention
to context. We believe that design can only be original and relevant
if it finds inspiration from (and specific to) the conditions and
circumstances out of which it is required. This means every design
project begins with us asking lots of questions. Visual communication
is essentially a social process that can only proceed appropriately
through collaboration with those people who ask for it and need
it. We prefer to work with people and not just for them.
Who is Nick Bell?
Nick Bell is founder director of Nick Bell Design (established in
1988). He was Creative Director of Eye, the international review
of graphic design, from 1997 to 2005 and is now Special Consultant
to the magazine. His experience on Eye has enabled him to develop
a
more curatorial method of editorial design – one he has adapted
very successfully for the design of exhibitions.
Where might you have come across him?
At the tender age of 26, with his career only just begun, the American
magazine Emigre devoted an entire issue to his design, thinking
and teaching. Since then, his design and writing has been published
in the leading design magazines around the world – notably
Eye and Idea. His work was featured in Communicate, the seminal
exhibition devoted to British Graphic Design which he designed.
He has lectured widely in Europe, the US and Asia and was a selector
for the global graphic design survey Area (Phaidon ‘10x10’
series, 2003).
What does he do?
Nick Bell uses design to help organisations communicate what it
is about them that makes them what they are. Recently, he has been
doing this for Manchester United and a Russian property developer.
He does the same thing for museums, galleries and publishers –
helping them to make the most of their assets through exhibition,
magazine and book design.
What does he care about?
Doing his best to ensure that real exchanges of knowledge and information
do actually take place – ones that hopefully are beneficial
for everyone. His motivation is fuelled by an understanding of design
not just as a tool for business but also of it as a cultural force
with implications that extend beyond its specific applications.
Who have we worked with?
Atlantic Books
Barbican Centre
British Council
Chris Boot
Four Corners Books
Haymarket Publishing
Hayward Gallery
Horus Capital
Imperial War Museum
Laban School of Dance
Laurence King Publishing
Manchester United
National Portrait Gallery
Newcastle University
Phaidon
The Royal Mail
Science Museum, London
Taschen
Tate Publishing
Tate Britain
University of the Arts London
Universities UK
Victoria & Albert Museum
Virgin Classics
The Wellcome Trust
Where has his work been exhibited?
- Communicate:
Independent British Graphic Design since the Sixties:
a touring exhibition of British graphic design organised by the
British Council, 2004-06: UK - Barbican, London; China - Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chongqing (opened by Nick Bell), Beijing;
Switzerland - Zürich.
- Lost and Found:
Critical Voices in New British Design: a touring exhibition of British
design organised by the British Council. Toured Europe from 1999
to 2000.
How long have we been doing this?
Nick Bell's London-based graphic design studio was founded in 1988.
From 1998 to 2004 Nick Bell Design was known as Una (London) designers
when it was associated with Amsterdam based Dutch design group Una.
Nick Bell studied graphic design from 1984 to 1987 at the London
College of Printing (LCP, now called the London College of Communication,
LCC).
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EYE:
Nick Bell is now Special Consultant to Eye,
the international review of graphic design.
Eye 57, autumn 2005 was his last before resigning as creative director
after eight years in the post.
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PERMANENT EXHIBITIONS:
Churchill
Museum
Permanent museum at the Cabinet War Rooms, London
for the Imperial War Museum. Opened 11 Feb 2005. Designed in collaboration
with Casson Mann.
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THREE DIMENSIONAL EDITORIAL DESIGN:
Nick Bell design has an established reputation for exhibition graphic
design. The portfolio includes:
The Heart, Wellcome Collection, June to Sept 2007
Che Guevara, Revolutionary & Icon, The Story
of an Image, V&A, June to August 2006
Communicate: Independent British Graphic Design since the
60s, Barbican Art Gallery, Sept 2004 to Jan 2005.
Art of the Garden, Tate Britain, June to August
2004.
Posh, a worldwide touring exhibition about the
transformation of traditional British brands, British Council, 2003-2004.
Making Portraits, National Portrait Gallery at
Bodelwyddan Castle, Wales, permanent exhibition
opened 2003.
Sparking
Reaction (for the Science Museum, London)
at BNFL’s visitor centre, Sellafield, Cumbria, UK.
An installation that opened July 2002. Designed in collaboration
with Casson Mann
Gainsborough, Tate Britain, 2002.
Martin Parr retrospective, Barbican Art Gallery,
2002.
This was Tomorrow, Barbican Curve, 2002.
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BRAND IDENTITY DESIGN
Horus Capital
During the last 18 months we have been developing a new brand identity
for Moscow based property developer Horus Capital.
Brand consultation for Manchester United
In 2007 we guided Manchester United through an audit of their brand
identity. Working with brand strategist and social media expert
William Owen we interviewed key members of the commercial team,
analysed United's complex brand and sub-brand architecture and delivered
a workshop to help them create a 12 month brand implementation plan
and define their brand values.
See articles on brand identity written by Nick Bell below...
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WRITING AND TALKS BY NICK BELL:
The D&AD Ampersand columns, 2006/07
The last of Nick Bell's three design columns for D&AD's Ampersand
has just been published. Here are all of them in order of publication:
1. Ideas are overrated.
Winter 2006
2. No limits.
Spring 2007
3. The designer is
dead. Summer 2007
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Nick
Bell Pecha Kucha
20 images x 20 seconds each, a quickfire presentation format from
Japan. Nick Bell gave his Pecha Kucha in Manchester for D&AD
on service design. November 2006
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IDENTITY:
Brand
Madness – Eye Forum No.1 'Burning Issues'
A five minute contribution to spark debate delivered November 2006
at the RSA in London
Unfurling
artwords; a review of the new visual identity
designed for the Walker Art Centre in Minneapolis, MN, USA in issue
59 of Eye magazine
Footnotes
about identity; graphic design is no
substitute for good quality products and services; on the Eye
website
The
Steamroller of Branding: the discipline
of branding is diminishing the experiences offered to us by our
national cultural institutions; on the Eye website
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AWARDS:
--2007
FX Awards 2007
Finalist, Exhibition Space, for The Heart
--2006
D&AD Global Awards 2006
Yellow Pencil:
Exhibition
Design category for the Churchill Museum.
Nomination:
Digital
Media category for the Lifeline at the Churchill Museum.
Design Week Awards 2006
Museums/galleries/visitor attractions – Winner
For the design of the Churchill
Museum.
Interactive Media – information – Winner
For the Lifeline table at the Churchill Museum.
Creative Review Annual 2006
Graphic design category:
Churchill Museum – Best in Book
Churchill Lifeline – Best in Book
The 2006 Council of Europe Museum Prize
Has been awarded to the Churchill Museum
The AHI (Association for Heritage Interpretation) Interpret
Britain and Ireland Award 2005
Has been awarded to the Churchill Museum
The THEA Award for Outstanding Achievement (Los Angeles,
California)
Has been awarded to the Churchill Lifeline
Wallpaper* Design Awards 2006, Best Books of 2005:
For Louis I Kahn, Robert McCarter, Phaidon.
--2004
Higher Education Information Services Trust (HEIST):
Gold Award for best prospectus for London College of Printing.
--2003
D&AD Silver: Sparking Reaction for the Science
Museum.
For the most outstanding Exhibition Design.
D&AD Silver: Sparking Reaction for the Science
Museum.
For the most outstanding Environmental Applied Graphic Design.
Art Directors Club of Europe Gold Award.
For exhibition design for Sparking Reaction.
--2000
Design Week Awards 2000:
Winner Print category for British Council tablecloth.
--1999
High Design Quality awarded by Design Centre Germany:
For Eye magazine.
--1998
International Society of Typographic Designers Awards:
Certificate of Excellence for LCP prospectus design.
--1992
American Typographers International Association:
Gold award for design work for BBC Schools Television.
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CREATIVE SURVEYS:
Listed in the top 20 of Design Week's Creative Survey league table
published November 2007
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TALENTED, EXPERIENCED GRAPHIC DESIGNERS WANTED:
We are always on the look out for talented graphic designers. Whether
young or experienced to work on a variety of projects both cultural
and commercial. We are interested in designers who are as comfortable
designing for three dimensional environments as they are for print.
As at ease designing exhibitions as brand identities. Confident
and articulate with an enquiring mind and the capacity to learn
quickly. We like designers to have an editorial brain and be able
to grasp the big picture whilst having an aptitude for detail.
Maybe that person is you? If it is, you will have typographic flair,
know what you want images to do and have an intuitive sense of layout.
Most particularly however, you will have a keen awareness of narrative
and be an organised person who can structure a coherent visual proposition.
Allied to these skills you will have good people and project management
skills. You will be as comfortable working in a team as you will
be working autonomously. It goes without saying that you will be
fluent in all the major computer software programmes. Lastly and
most crucially you will share our passion for rigor in design and
communication.
If this really
does sound like you, and you think you would be committed to developing
this role longterm, we will be very happy to hear from you. Please
email Julie Rumsey with your cv and
a selection of your best works in a pdf no larger than 4MB (julie
at nickbelldesign. co.uk). No agencies please.
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