Open Practice

✨ TONIGHT ✨ from 7pm at @jumbipeckham we are holding the special edition of @itsfreezinginla launch party. To celebrate, we are sharing few snapshots from our collaborative publishing process. When devising the approach for ‘Visible Signs That Something Isn’t Right’, retrofitting became the leading design method. We started off by analysing, deconstructing and reformulating previous 9 issues of IFLA! as a strategy to examine type + image hierarchies and form new layouts. Our aim was to honour and ‘build from’ the existing material rather than come up with something entirely new; a sister publication. Collaboration was at the core of this iterative process – sharing references, ideas and ‘culture jamming’ them together in meetings and conversations allowed for design and editorial voices to support one another. Slides: (1) Format testing: little sister, twin sister, big sister. (2,3) Sharing references. (4) Happy accidents and new relationships; mix-matching previous layouts. (5,6) Culture jamming in search of a title. (7-10) Developing the cover. Thank you to our collaborators and fellow publishing chefs, Art Editor @ninarosiekelleycarter , Creative Director and Designer @matthevvlevvis , Editor @martha__dillon and Deputy Editor @jackson.howarth  for their trust and support throughout the project.

Ahead of the @itsfreezinginla special edition launch party next Wednesday @jumbipeckham , we’ll be sharing some of the design details of the issue, starting with the signs and symbols used throughout. In keeping with the previous 9 issues of IFLA! each article is supported by a visual representation, some literal others more gestural or abstract. These come together on the back cover contents and are spliced throughout the issue (slides 1,2,3,5). The concept of retrofitting underpinned our design approach, so instead of drawing a new set of icons the team searched for signs that could be repurposed. Research sources included Henry Dryerfuss’ ‘Symbol Sourcebook’ (slide 4), Ernst Lehner’s ‘The Picture Book of Symbols’ (slide 6), and more which are referenced in the publication. Thank you to our fellow symbol and sign hunters, Art Editor @ninarosiekelleycarter and Creative Director and Designer @matthevvlevvis , and to the wider IFLA! Team, Editor @martha__dillon and Deputy Editor @jackson.howarth for their trust and support throughout the project.

❗️ORDER NOW❗️ We couldn’t be more excited to announce a special edition of It’s Freezing in LA! is available to order now. Penguins and polar bears, floods and fires – the climate movement is littered with increasingly tired images and symbols; the tokens of corporate inaction, sluggish conferences, and an environmentalism that often leaves people, politics and justice behind. So what images, stories, sounds, and performances might be more effective? ‘Visible Signs That Something Isn’t Right’ is a collection of creative responses to the climate emergency, and has been created in collaboration with @openpractice_ Mixing creative writing, images and essays, this new publication explores how different types of imaginative work can grapple with the ecological, justice and political challenges we face. 🗓️ Released 21 June 2023 🔗 Order now, link in bio 📖 Print magazine: £9, digital magazine: £4.50

(1) Poster designed by Peter Binns at The Poster Workshop, 1968. (2+3) A short extract from our contribution to the ‘Transnational Journeys: An archival exploration of feminist posters that transcend borders @thefeministlibrary ’. An online exhibition which ‘intends to highlight how different radical feminist movements have shaped each other through intersectional praxis and deepened our understanding and need for solidarity-based resistance. These posters (...) demonstrate feminisms that organised their ways of being and belonging through community’. (4) You can find the other posters and text responses from @anahi_saravia , @restingupcollective_ , @emilygracewalters , @anitainw0nderland , @hollidayholdsworth , @indipind , @vivivigliar , and more on the FL website. Posters photographed by Harry Blanchette.

The first issue of Shape of Words was delivered from the printers this week. We’re excited to share more news soon. Designed and photos taken by: @studiogroundfloor (@alicesherwin_ + @harold__bennett ), @emsjudd Edited by: @openpractice_ (@gabrielam_m + @kleevans )

We’ve taken some time today to think about what the summer is looking like for us as a studio. As a partnership it feels important to us to now take time to rest independently, as well as make space to document and assess the work we’re doing together. We’re hoping for more moments shared like the Summer Event opening a couple of weeks ago. Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate the summer solstice with us. We will be keeping you updated on the programme, with more events happening in the months ahead, with @carlosromomelgar , @johnphilipsage , @v___rm , @hls.da and more. Slides: (1) To start the proceedings we gathered around our sundial-like site. Photo Michela Zoppi. (2) We joined another solstice event and participated in a walking meditation within a Labyrinth. (3) Incense burned at its centre. (4) Flowers were gathered. Photo Yuhao Chen. (5) They were secured and pressed into fabric. Photo John Phillip Sage. (6) The tablecloth will be used at the closing event, a dinner at autumn equinox. (7) The third and final ritual was a burning of things we’re leaving behind. Written on paper, these were thrown into a container, set a light and jumped over. Photo John Phillip Sage.

A group will come together to open United Practice’s Summer Event during the summer solstice, from 4pm on Tuesday 21st June in the Middlesex Filter Beds Nature Reserve, London. Located near the River Lea within Hackney Marshes amongst the fairies, the concrete circle covered in grass marks the spot. At this meeting point, the former industrial area turned wildlife haven, will transform into an ancient sundial, acting as our mystic compass. Join us here, as the earth tilts towards the sun, on a hopefully sun-filled day with blue sky. If there are clouds and glitter-like raindrops—that are not moved by wind or followed by rainbows—the location will adapt according to the elements. All are welcome to the festivity and ritual, which will celebrate the coming together, and reflect on the happenings leading up to the longest day of the year. This first event is one of many that will take place between the summer solstice and equinox. Summer, the period during this solar transition in the northern hemisphere, often signals a distinctive break. Time away is sought after, due to this time lying between the institutional framework followed by schools and universities, and, due to this planetary positioning, it is often warmer. As a collective and as individuals we (@carlosromomelgar , @gabrielam_m , @johnphilipsage , @kleevans , @v____rm ) use this space to organise the events as propositions for forms of cooperation. We invite you to take part, as we and others continue to manifest, heal, sparkle, rest, reflect, discuss, move through, and sit with things that are informing our practice as beings (first) and designers (second). The Summer Event is an annual series of activities, coordinated by United Practice, a studio space and support structure in Bermondsey, shared by Open Practice, V–RM and Spreeeng. For further information and updates on the growing program visit summer-event-2022.common.garden. If you would like to participate by running an event please get in touch, we are open to many perspectives and possibilities. Some of last year’s events included; workshops, poetry readings, hotlines, group discussions, and talks.

This time last year, @peterdriverstudio was fund raising for the public programme Beyond Otherness. We’re pleased the project went ahead in July 2021 at @openhandopenspace and sites across Reading, and showed the work of a group of emerging artists. Informed by their various experiences as African, Black, POC, Muslim, Trans, and Queer artists, the participants curated and presented work that pushed beyond ‘otherness’ and its externally-imposed expectations. To share the programme we worked with the group on the printed materials and microsite, developed with @matthewlukestudio .

In 2021, we designed the visual language and website for the University of Westminster School of Arts’ degree show. Some key considerations were (1) updating elements of the university’s existing identity, as well as (2) the accessibility of the website and the students’ journey for uploading work. The display font Petit-Serif, designed by @mcnonpareille (@205tf ), is inspired by lettering created by Percy J. Delf Smith for 55 Broadway, located in Westminster. Website built by @matthewlukestudio Documentation by @safiyegray Project management by @tadejvindis

In 2021, we were invited as advisors to the fifth issue of A Line Which Forms a Volume (ALWFAV), a critical reader and symposium of graphic design-led research, which is written, edited, designed, and published by participants of @magmdlcc . To start, we designed and facilitated the ‘Forming Support Structures’ workshop, where participants shared readings and references in a series of exercises. From this collective position the editorial approach of leaning (leaning on, leaning with, leaning into) emerged. Through the building of these physical and conceptual support structures, the team asked ‘who are we, and who do we care for?*’ Thank you to @amy_m_henry , @ilariagolin , @dasha.lugovkin , @reuxn_yao , @yuan.g_22 , @_st0le , @victoire.colliou , @jaeeunbialee , @chenxiuww and @grafigs . Special thanks to @martatorrasmoreno and @jacinth_xiang for your documentation throughout the project. This is our third time being involved in the publishing of ALWFAV together, following our editorial roles in issues 1 and 2 while we were studying. * Davis, C., Paim, N. (2021) ‘Does Design Care?’ @futuress_org .

We will be sharing some recent projects soon, but in true Open Practice style, here are our post-2021 reflections. Like many others, last year we’ve collectively and individually been through the natural, but difficult, life cycles of loss and illness. We’re not sharing this for pity as we’re grateful to have strong supportive structures in place, including each other. We’re sharing this because in the process of moving through, some familiar feelings (and demons 👹) have come up, that are tied to and tangled in our work: — There’s the most unhelpful and self-indulgent, the guilt for; (1) needing to take time away and off, and (2) knowing that we are in the fortunate position to share this practice that we are not financially dependent on, as we are supported by our teaching, editing, and other work. — There’s pangs of disappointment surrounding the fact that our ‘productivity’ and ‘output’ has slowed down. We’re not loving using these cold-y capitalist-y words, but they’re ones we often hear, as ‘prolific legacies’ (vom vom) are still sought after and celebrated in our field. Balancing optimistic aims with realistic expectations and sustainable working hours is an ongoing practice. — There’s still some shame mixed with nervousness, particularly with our mental health, that in ‘sharing’, our boundaries will be pushed and tested. This isn’t to say we don’t want to talk openly – we’ve cherished the conversations we’ve had publicly and privately through this platform. But we’re beginning to gauge that part of these reactions stem from moments in professional environments where boundaries were broken… (continued in comments)

Open Practice and the caretakers of A Line Which Forms a Volume 5 invite you to the live streaming of ‘Forming Support Structures’. On Friday 16th July we’ll be going through a series of exercises with the aim to build on ideas surrounding Care, interconnectedness, support structures and emotioning, in relation to making design research public. Joining us in the physical studio space will be @magmdlcc ALWFAV 5 participants; Amy, Bia, Dasha, Ghia, Ilaria, Jiaxuan, Victoire, Marta, Reuxn, Sarah, Wendy, and Yuan. This workshop is part of the United Practice Summer Event programme organised by @carlosromomelgar , @johnphilipsage and @v____rm and us, for more details visit: summer-event.common.garden. Display type, kindly lent to us by @nblett ,@digs_h , @laraluk_ , @bennybennben , Paul Petritsch, @alicerea.design and @meganricca . It was originally developed for their project ‘Re-Jig’ – a supportive structure which provides collectives with an adaptable space. Title borrowed from shared reference ‘Support Structures’ by Céline Condorelli, Gavin Wade, and James Langdon, published by Sternberg Press, 2009. Slide 3: Buckminster Fuller holds up a Tensegrity sphere. 18th April, 1979.