Communication Design School of Design

Abigail Allen (She/Her)

Sanguine Lemonade

I am a multi-disciplinary graphic designer working primarily with identity and editorial design. Integral to my work is a strong consideration for detail, materiality and making across both digital and physical media. I am conceptually driven and often explore themes around gender and domestic life in my work. Collaboration has informed my practice this year; I enjoy working on multi-dimensional projects which recently has spanned across branding, animation, exhibition and packaging design. Throughout my work I have an inquisitive approach to research and an iterative process of crafting a solution to best suit its audience.

Contact
abigailallendesign@gmail.com
A.Allen1@student.gsa.ac.uk
@_abigail.ea
Website
Works
Sanguine
Errand’s
PLOT Literary Magazine
WIP Show Identity
Sanguine Lemonade

Sanguine

Sanguine is a playful, hypothetical lemonade brand that celebrates the origins of its natural ingredients. Basing the brand in Murcia, Spain, we have drawn on research of the area to connect the product with local narratives that adds character. The storyline of the animation aims to highlight the use of real fruit juice as a way to communicate the honest values of the brand. Working with illustrator Tintin Lindkvist Nielsen, this project has involved packaging design, art direction, product photography and campaign creation for Sanguine to be promoted in-store and across digital channels.

 

Sanguine Stop Motion Advertisement by Abigail Allen and Tintin Lindkvist Nielsen

Screen printed labels. Logotype and typography by Abigail Allen, illustration by Tintin Lindkvist Nielsen.
Sanguine Label, backside
Sanguine Label, backside

Errand’s

This project deals with the marketing language of domestication by focusing on how gender roles have been portrayed and utilised to influence decision making. Using German and Swedish advertisements from the 1950s as a starting point, we were intrigued by the juxtaposition of neutrally designed products with a heavily gendered marketing strategy; using the man as a signifier of knowledge whilst the woman signified the consumer who needed to be taught. In our fictitious shop ‘Errand’s’, the products expose sexist marketing language derived from adverts of the 1950’s to act as a reflection of the messages that everyday-objects carry, and influence us in our daily life. Whilst being stereotypical, we ask: is marketing neutral today?

In collaboration with Leonie Hiller.

PLOT Literary Magazine

PLOT is a literary magazine that explores how place shapes narrative, imagination and the understanding of a region. Through a curated selection of reviews, essays, interviews and other writings that are prominent of the region, the magazine aims to oscillate between the real and the imagined to find the core of what informs the semiotics that characterises a given location; the societal conditions, cultural phenomena and human behaviour.

For my publication project I chose ten books and put them in the context of editorial design. My focus has been to create a solid identity that can shift as the magazine shifts location, whilst remaining recognizable to the readers. For the first edition, Scandinavia, the content and the colour palette have been influenced by Scandinavian Noir as a literary and film genre.

 

WIP Show Identity

In collaboration with Mark Burgoyne and Leonie Hiller, together we have designed the visual identity for the Communication Design Programme’s Work In Progress show. The task was to create a flexible identity to work across print and digital whilst translating into a multitude of uses – varying from captions for the exhibition to digital assets for social media.

Inspired by the idea of getting back to the physical studio after a year at home – most relishing the opportunity the facilities provide, to produce work using analogue techniques and processes – represented through the mechanical process of the punch card. The initial idea is to represent the digital process driven work that was the majority of our projects last year and have it as a background to a bolder gesture, something that emerges into the physical world, beyond screen and into form.

The result was a series of posters working that could be arranged in multiple variations – allowing the identity to shift whilst remaining recognisable.

 

Five meter banner in the Reid Foyer, letting the identity gain a strong presence within the space.
WIP Identity, vinyl

WIP Identity, vinyl

WIP Identity, vinyl
Caption design in the shape of punchcards, folded upwards for a comfortable read.