An exhibition to celebrate Birmingham’s 1886 Exhibition of Local Manufacturers and Natural History.
Following a lot of consideration, I've decided to close Studio Makgill.
During the past 15 years, we have worked with so many wonderfully talented and creative individuals and designed for some incredible brands. Hand on heart, I couldn't be more proud of what we've achieved together on this journey.
This decision is deeply connected to the state of the world right now. Whilst our industry is seemingly coming around to its role in aggravating and sustaining the social, environmental and economic crises we face, it's acting too slowly. Currently, to thrive as an agency without causing harm (let alone do good) is too difficult.
I want to be involved in the challenges we face as we urgently find ways towards mutuality, equity and ecological flourishing. However, I no longer feel that an agency is the right vehicle for this.
This isn't the moment to discuss where this decision is taking me (though, feel free to reach out if you want to ask me or share your views on what I'm doing). This is the moment to say thank you. Thank you for choosing to work with us – either as part of the team or as a client. Thank you for being interested in us and hopefully taking some inspiration from the work we created. Just a beautiful and simple… thank you.
Love
My deepest gratitude goes out to these incredibly talented souls who joined me on this journey: Ollie, Alvaro, Myles, Gary, Charlie, Roxy, Gus, Alexis, Laura, Charlotte, Dixie, Rebecca, Nathan, Oli, David, Wai, Miles, Alberto, Stephen, Alison, Gareth, Ryan, Charlie, Harry, Guy, Peter, James, James, Dave, Josh, Gareth, Paul, Roy, Lutz, Tudinh, Anthony & Edd, Martin, Lawrence, Luke, Arran, Rich, Will & Alex, Paul & Russ, Tom, Ed, Carrina, Oscar, Isla and everyone else who I have failed to mention.
An exhibition to celebrate Birmingham’s 1886 Exhibition of Local Manufacturers and Natural History.
By diving deep into archival material, our solution looked faithfully at the original 1886 exhibition; taking the lead from the typography and architecture to respond sensitively to the content.
The hand-painted signage from the exhibition inspired the project’s custom display typeface, Central Avenue. This level of personalisation allowed the design to resonate much deeper to its subject.