To round off the previous academic year, London College of Communication (LCC) celebrated the latest generation of creatives to pass through the College with Shows 2024. Running from 16 May – 19 June 2024, each Show represented one of the Media, Design and Screen Schools at the College.
Christian Schmitz, a 2016 graduate from BA (Hons) Graphic and Media Design, was the creative responsible for the identity for the Shows. As part of his work, Christian created logos, vinyl and more to bring the Shows to life.
The Shows 2024 identity focused on the idea of growth and Christian said that the identity was created with a view to the “typographic celebration of the transformative journey undertaken by these year's graduating students.”
“On a visual level, the scaling of the typographic anatomy communicated an idea of growth as well as hinting at the College's loudspeaker-abilities that bridge the gap between the students and the industry. Through animation and a vibrant colour palette, we aimed to accentuate the sense of collectivity and energy integral to our concept.”
Once the Shows had concluded, we caught up with Christian to learn more about his time at LCC, his influences and what it felt like to return to the College to create the Shows 2024 identity. He also discussed the difference between LCC and the ‘real world’, and filled us in on how his graphic design career has been progressing.
Originally from Spain, Christian moved to the UK when he was a teenager and cut his teeth on the first aspects of design. An interest in graffiti turned into a love of stencilling, and that love extended itself to lino cutting. “That was kind of a different way of stencilling, so it just felt like it was the same language,” Christian reflects. “I wanted to go to the place where the best screen-printing installations were – it just felt like the right place.”
During his foundation year, Christian developed a strong fixation for the screen printing facilities at LCC, which naturally led him toward a degree where he could explore graphics without moving away from the workshops. “At this point a career in graphic design was far from being obvious to me and this seemed like a smooth transition from graffiti which channeled into a passion for printmaking,” he said.
Some of Christian’s best memories as an LCC student involved long, dark days in a dimly-lit corner of the screen printing studios and his final year exhibition, but he is also very fond of his third year as a student – a placement year with studios like Folch Studio, Atlas and Mucho.
“All the accumulated experience between a few years of exploration and a year of industry experience came together to allow for a very exciting research-based year with a 360-degree perspective of ‘the life out there’,” he said.
Christian was quick to speak about the College’s approach to learning during his time there. “I think there is a very long exploratory – in my case introspective – experience,” he explains. “That's where you accumulate the experimentations. You get to try things, make mistakes without any pressure.”
“But then there's a few moments on every Degree Show, on every final major project that's turned into an exhibition – where there’s external guests coming in, where you can bridge the gap between industry and the College. I think there's an intention for you to stand out – as much as that's each student's responsibility to take it upon themselves to do so. I think that the opportunities are there.”
Since graduating eight years ago, Christian has started his own studio in East London, where he works with artists, businesses and cultural institutions. “We have a focus in brand identities, publications, web design, packaging and exhibition design,” he says. Christian’s aim one day is to take his studio internationally, with ties between the UK and his native Spain.
Having heard of the opportunity through a fellow graduate, Christian relished the chance to return to LCC to design the Shows 2024 identity. “Having focused in exhibition and identity design for a while now and with the experience taken from college, I was excited about bringing something back to the place where it all started,” he said.
He talks about the smell of inks, presses and old processes and how all those sensory inputs brought back memories of LCC. “It’s an interesting feeling of recovering the freedom to be playful but also knowing that you can contribute with all those layers of the experiences that you've accumulated outside of the College.”
As part of the process of creating the Shows 2024 ident, Christian first discussed his proposal with key stakeholders at LCC. “It was funny because we ended up arriving at informal pitch and it was a room with 20 people. Which was the first surprise – because I'm used to structures of 4 to 6 people around the room.”
The brief challenged Christian to think of design solutions with “sustainability at the forefront”. “The idea of making the most out of the printing facilities was for me a no-brainer as an ode to LCC’s tradition,” he said. Our aim was to go beyond the usual environmentally-friendly ‘kraft and wood’ aesthetics and try to elevate the materials whilst still acting as a proud ambassador of the college’s traditions and workshops.”
From there, Christian took some time to consider the different aspects of his proposal. He looked inward to understand how he could blend the 3 Schools of LCC – Media, Design and Screen. “Obviously Design has a very specific aesthetic, Screen has very specific outputs and then Media is also quite different. Identifying that point in the middle that satisfies all three Schools that was the main part of the process.”
The main theme of the Shows 2024 identity that Christian created revolved around the idea of type specimens. “I think the whole idea of the typographic specimens can lend itself to the idea of all the different specimens that will come out of there that year,” Christian says.
Naturally, a lot of Christian’s research revolved around the letterpress: “We explored old type specimens and catalogues as a strong visual reference and a technical format that showcased researched and carefully crafted work — very much like student’s final major projects.”
“Our approach was like: ‘OK, the concept and the tradition that we're taking this from is potentially a bit more specific to design in terms of the references and the aesthetic sensibilities.’”
Christian was excited to blend the idea of type specimens – a very Design School-focused concept – with principles from the other 2 Schools at LCC, Media and Screen.
For example, working with motion graphics and animation: “We really like the idea of how the silhouettes of the text and the behavioural elements of growth and expansion lend themselves into these sound waves – almost like the different layers in a film reel. There are all these subtleties that you could associate with all three Schools.”
Feeding into the overall goal of sustainability for the identity, Christian decided to create the exhibition guides in the print-finishing workshop – working with technical specialists Scott House and Tony Yard to make the most out of the lithographic plates that were used to print the guides. “3 guides were printed out of one plate, while we extended the plates’ lifespan by using them as the surfaces for the exhibition wayfinding,” Christian explains.
“Finally, there was the screen printing workshop in order to print all the pertinent information on the metallic surfaces, covering a big portion of the identity over 2 floors of the college.”
As a former student, creating an identity for the Shows allowed him to tap into his years of study – and compared to client projects, there was a lot more certainty about his ideas. “Because you've spent some time at the College, you've experienced what the students have experienced, you've experienced the school for a very long time… As a result, it's easier to identify what's potentially missing and what can be exciting to offer that maybe hasn't been offered in the past.”
The resulting identity was displayed all throughout LCC for the Degree Shows and will continue to be displayed until the beginning of the new academic year . For Christian, having been a student at LCC, what was it like seeing his work displayed at the College?
“It took a couple of days to process to see having seen so many different identities come and go from studios that I admire,” Christian admitted.
“It felt great to see it all come to life. It's been a long process, so I guess the day that it was all finally up there was a sense of pride – but also a sense of closure as well. There's something cyclical about the whole thing that’s beautiful if you think about it.”
It’s an experience that Christian would highly recommend to other students coming through the BA (Hons) Graphic and Media Design pipeline.
“It's not only a way of extending your history with UAL and LCC and building a relationship – which I think is always nice – but it's also an opportunity that the College gives you once again to shine,” he says.
“I think it's very clear from the very beginning that the College would want you to enjoy the experience of the process and create something for you to be proud of. It’s something you can show, and something to push your career into the next step. I think that’s something that any graduate can make the most out of.”
For any students looking to graduate soon from BA (Hons) Graphic and Media Design, Christian recommends getting as much experience as you can. “I guess for me it has always been very useful, the idea that each experience that you get is going to shape you,” he explains.
“Even if on paper, it’s a bit intimidating not to have something locked down that’s a whole-year contract, or something that’s going to be with you for the rest of your life. I think doing is the best way of learning.”
Finally, in a world of trends and influences, Christian says that one of the most important aspects of his practice is concept driven decision making and curiosity.
“Research and solid concepts often help to keep you relevant and curiosity will aid to flex from moment to moment. To have that ability to keep questioning things with a consistent way of thinking throughout. It can be the guide to the whole process.”