East coast radicals

UK – Radical Essex is to present a series of exhibitions and events celebrating the county’s contribution to modernism.

The project was created by Focal Point Gallery and will run for 18 months from April 2016
The opening exhibition is The Peculiar People, an investigation into communal living featuring work by Jeremy Deller, Alfred Hitchcock and Cedric Price

Fraser Muggeridge Studio was commissioned to create a website and identity whose ethos matched the project’s radical revision of the county.

The visually orientated website features little text, instead focusing on images that scroll across a psychedelic, Netstalgia-inspired background. The photographs depict archived scenes from Essex’s past, portraits of local heroes, studies of landmark modernist buildings, maps, posters and road signs. This is all overlaid by an animated wordmark based on a gradually deconstructed sans serif font.

Radical Essex’s opening exhibition, The Peculiar People, will provide an ideological context for the ideas explored in the project’s future events, such as a forthcoming Architecture Weekend that will position the county as the cradle of architectural modernism in Britain.

The Big Picture

Counties, cities and towns are increasingly asking graphic designers to redesign their identities in an attempt to dispel outmoded preconceptions. See our Town Rebranding microtrend for more.