Francisco Laranjo Graphic Design
Article (Susan Boyle or SuBo?)

Article published on the Portuguese Visual Culture blog Reactor on the relation between speed and the TV Show Britain’s Got Talent. To read in Portuguese click here and to read in English click under the image for full text.

Posted on: June 2009
Categories: Writings

Susan Boyle or SuBo?
Speed is not so much a product of our culture as our culture is a product of speed. 1


Everything happened fast. The British TV Show Britain’s Got Talent was talked all over the world during the last month and a half. This achievement is due to Susan Boyle, a Scottish singer that surprised the globe in this contest searching for talent.


Only a few hours after her audition, some Hollywood stars (Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher) were already complementing her on Twitter. A few days on, the video of her performance was seen more that 10 million times, reaching now 150 million views. After 5 weeks, Susan had become a world celebrity.


Amongst hundreds of newspapers around the planet – including Portuguese – this phenomenon also reached the Design Observer. However, after reading the article, it seems that it also uses the power of the brand “Susan Boyle” to promote a work of crochet. By convenience, or perhaps not, the name of this singer was transformed into the brand SuBo. If we search on the internet for SuBo, we can easily (rapidly?) have access to more information related to Susan. This form of branding is widely used in the music world, where amongst many, it is possible to mention the example of Jennifer Lopez (JLo), applying a logo to its activity and exploring the market with merchandising, perfumes and clothes.

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All Aboard (Spitalfields Market)

Poster for the event “All aboard”, consisting on a routemaster bus that becomes a performance venue, exhibition space and a living archive. Poster co-designed with Karen Lacroix. Dimensions: A2 + variable.

Posted on: June 2009
Categories: Poster

All Aboard (view 1) Click to see more.

  
Butterfly (exhibition catalogue)

Booklet and exhibition graphics for “Butterfly”, an exhibition of book art and botanic illustration by Catrin Morgan and Rachel Pedder-Smith. Client: Fulham Palace. Dimensions: A5, 24pp.

Posted on: May 2009
Categories: Book

butterfly 1 Click to see more.

  
BEAP - Poster Series 2009

Commission from the Bishopsgate Institute to design a series of posters for the 2008/09 concerts. These posters follow a commission to design the identity of BEAP - Bishopsgate Emerging Artists Programme. Posters in collaboration with Karen Lacroix. Dimensions: 50 x 70 cm.

Posted on: April 2009
Categories: Poster

Poster #3Poster #2 Click to see more.

  
Imaginaid/ Recycle

New year card and limited edition of a 50 x 70 cm poster for Imaginaid Gallery. The illustration has 365 different typefaces and is printed on 100% recycled paper.

Posted on: December 2008
Categories: Illustration, Poster

Imaginaid - Christmas postcard Click to see more.

  
Antipersonnel/ Mine Ban Conference

Commission from Imaginaid and the Swiss Confederation to design a poster about 3 artistic events around the 9th Meeting of the States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, held in Geneva, Switzerland, in November 2008. The three events included a photography exhibition, a dance performance and an urban installation.
The poster was displayed in Geneva, Basel and Zurich, Switzerland. Poster 70 x 100 cm + A5 booklet + A5 invitation, 2008.

Posted on: November 2008
Categories: Book, Poster

Poster: streets of GenevaPoster: streets of Geneva Click to see more.

  
BEAP/ Emerging Artists Programme

Logo for BEAP - Bishopsgate Emerging Artists Programme. BEAP highlights the work of the next generation of cutting edge musicians and composers.

Posted on: September 2008
Categories: Identity

Click to see more.

  
Fulham Palace: Autumn/ Winter Booklet

This booklet compiles all the events taking place at the Fulham Palace, from music, to talks, guided tours, art and museum exhibition, amongst others. Dimensions: A5, 32 pp., 1 colour.

Posted on: September 2008
Categories: Book


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Graphic Design Criticism

Exhibition view, Royal College of Art, 2008
Posters + video projection

Introduction: If anything has changed in the world since 1977, when philosopher Paul Virilio wrote his first book on speed, it is that everything has become even faster. Graphic design is no exception.
Economy and technology impose an hallucinating rhythm to society, to culture, to design. This forces the designer to have less time to think and far more areas of art and design to embrace, thus stretching their boundaries.
What remains is the imminent need to move simultaneously in every direction, to move on, to continuously flood cities (and design) with movement. In this sense - while losing its identity - graphic design is, more than ever, a nomadic discipline. There is no time to consider history, only to produce, to deliver.
Inevitably, fastness equals superficiality.

Posted on: June 2008

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Proximity and Abstraction

Proximity and Abstraction, an exhibition of photography and film by Mikael Gregorsky and Abbe Leigh Fletcher at the Fulham Palace Gallery.
A5 catalogue, A5 invitation which unfolds into an A2 poster and exhibition graphics.
Client: Fulham Palace Gallery, 2008.

Posted on: March 2008
Categories: Book, Poster

Click to see more.

  
 

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