Baseline shift
A series of talks, events and workshops helping students expand and redefine their understanding of what a designer is, and what design can do. Here’s the schedule for this term.
Marie Boulanger: My life through letters
21 December 2022In the final week of Autumn term, we were joined by Monotype’s Marie Boulanger. In this session, Marie described her experiences in type design and… Read more
Alumni talks: The beauty of letters and digital design
21 December 2022In week 10 of Autumn term, we were joined by three alumni of the Department: Font engineer Norbert Krausz; Sky Creative Designer, Aanand Tank; and… Read more
Feedback jam: Real jobs and typeface design
21 December 2022In week 9 of Autumn term, a Feedback jam was held to help students gain additional feedback from tutors on their current projects. Gaining feedback… Read more
Rob Waller: Information, and why it’s designed
14 December 2022In week 4 of Autumn term, we were joined by the President of The International Institute for Information Design, Rob Waller. In this session,… Read more
David Pearson: Book design as a language
5 December 2022In week 8 of Autumn term, we were joined by Penguin book cover designer David Pearson. In this session, David exhibited a wide range of… Read more
Nick Sexton: UX and a user’s journey
5 December 2022In week 7 of Autumn term, we were joined by Nick Sexton, a Reading graduate whose design career includes working as a freelancer, digital designer… Read more
Time management with Rachel Warner and Gerry Leonidas
9 November 2022In week 5 of Autumn term, we were joined online by our Department’s own, Gerry Leonidas and Rachel Warner. It is an annual talk, giving… Read more
James Hunter: Boardgames are beautiful
9 November 2022In week 3 of Autumn term, we were joined by editorial designer and co-founder of Senet magazine James Hunter. In this session, James talked… Read more
Malcolm Garrett: Anatomy of album covers
9 November 2022In week 2 of Autumn term, we were joined by Creative Director of Images&Co and well-known album cover designer Malcolm Garrett. In this session, Malcolm… Read more
Baseline shift returns
5 October 2022Our student-curated series of guest lectures returns this week, featuring live in-person sessions for the first time in two years. Read more
Career journeys of Reading Alumni: Kelly Batchelor and Peter Wright
4 April 2022In the penultimate week of Spring term, we had the honour of being joined by two Reading alumni: product designers, Peter Wright and Kelly Batchelor.… Read more
Life after Reading: Oliver Tomlinson
4 April 2022Oliver Tomlinson, Reading graduate and user-centred information designer, spoke at Baseline shift on how users interact with their environments and objects in daily life. Read more
Lucinda Scholey: Freelancing and Launch Studio
2 February 2022Lucinda Scholey is founder and designer at Launch studios. She offered us ‘Six things to know before taking the freelancer leap of faith’ Read more
Life after Reading: Mecca Pictograms with Joan Zalacain
2 February 2022Joan Zalacain discusses his career in wayfinding and pictogram design, and his Mecca wayfinding project in particular. Read more
Aseil Amgheib: Design Wolf Studios
23 January 2022Aseil Amgheib, the owner of Design Wolf Studios, provided insights into launching a brand design business in a 21st century crisis. Read more
I am, we are … Different By Design: Manifesto
18 January 2022On this week’s Baseline Shift, the University of Reading’s Different by Design team, currently consisting of Lamar Kaki and Minh Nguyen, joined us to give… Read more
Feedback jam: Magazines & packaging
8 November 2021Rob Banham and Mattew Lickiss joined us in one of our feedback sessions. Our feedback sessions are dedicated to helping students get additional feedback from tutors on a particular project of theirs. We… Read more
Motion and branding for Sky Sports: Katarina Duvnjak
2 November 2021This week, the Baseline Shift team welcomed Katarina Duvjnak for a talk about her career in motion and branding for Sky sports, and her experiences after graduating from our… Read more
Alumni talks: Human centred design and setting boundaries
2 November 2021This week, the baseline shift team organised another Alumni Talk session. This week, we welcomed Jonathan Saunders and Luke Carter. Jonathan and Luke had plenty of well-meaning advice to give… Read more
Arjun Khara: Design philosophies to live by
18 October 2021With a fresh start to the academic year, Baseline Shift hosted its first session of the year online to welcome Arjun Khara, PHD student and… Read more
Studio FourPlus
22 June 2021Top 10 tips from Ivalo Nedkov, a co-owner of Studio FourPlus, which is located in Sofia, Bulgaria. The studio specialises in branding and motion design. Read more
Alumni talks: strive for progress
22 June 2021In week 10 Baseline Shift welcomed back some graduates from the department who talked to us about their journey after graduation and current positions. Lined… Read more
Design Print Bind: Working together
22 June 2021Flaminia Rossi and Samantha Whetton, owners of Design Print Bind talked to us about running a small studio, what it’s like as a freelancer and… Read more
Seniz Husseyin: Shaping careers into the third sector
22 June 2021In week 5 of the Spring term, Baseline Shift welcomed Typography & Graphic Communication graduate Seniz Husseyin who talked to the students about her experience… Read more
Achilles Gerokostopoulos: Design as a team sport
22 June 2021In week 4 of the Spring term, Baseline Shift had the pleasure to host a talk by Achilles Gerokostopoulos – a graduate of the department… Read more
Baseline shift animations 2020-21
25 May 2021Background Baseline Shift is a series of design talks, events and workshops organised by a team of students for students at the department of Typography… Read more
Baseline shift: organising, promoting and hosting a series of design talks
24 May 2021Baseline shift – our series of design talks – is student-led. Find out what this entails. Read more
Feedback jam: graphic instructions, leaflet designs and designing for screen
24 March 2021Week 9 Baseline shift presented a feedback session by our tutors. Here are super useful tips for all designers! Read more
How to manage your time
4 March 2021Time management is an elusive skill that tricks even the best of us. Here are some useful tips that our lecturers gave us to help… Read more
Book design: from between the covers and behind the binding
5 February 2021Bryn Walls shares his experience and knowledge with extraordinary book formats and originality in binding designs. Read more
The world of font design
28 January 2021Want to learn more about how typefaces are designed? read this blog post to understand how designers master them! Read more
Joan Zalacain: Life after Reading
28 January 2021what is wayfinding? Joan Zalacain shares his experience and process of a big wayfinding system project Read more
Carl Middleton on design, type and letterpress
4 January 2021Carl Middleton, award-winning designer, graphic artist and print-maker, talked to us about his professional design practice and his letterpress work. Read more
From MA student to UX designer: Edward Liu
14 December 2020This week’s Baseline Shift welcomed Edward Liu, an MA graduate now working as a UX Designer, to talk to us about his unexpected start in… Read more
Feedback jam: app design, editorial design and the user
30 November 2020Our tutors, Gerry Leonidas and James Lloyd, and some Part 3s, were on hand to provide students with informal feedback on any project. The resulting… Read more
I am, we are… different by design
30 November 2020This week’s Baseline Shift welcomed our student-led diversity team – I am, we are… different by design – to organise a workshop and a talk… Read more
Laura Chamberlain on children’s book illustration
16 November 2020Laura Chamberlain, a 2017 graduate of our BA course, returned to Baseline shift to tell us about the process of children’s book illustration. Read more
Designing for social change with Greg Bunbury
2 November 2020Award-winning Graphic Designer Greg Bunbury spoke to us about his career in design for change and gave us some tips. Read more
Feedback jam: logos, hierarchy and what to do when you get stuck
25 October 2020Baseline shift provided students from all years with a chance to get informal feedback on their work from a variety of tutors, and to share… Read more
A message from the future: you will be okay
20 October 2020Week 3’s Baseline Shift marked the return of Alumni talks this year, welcoming graduates George Bevan, Racheal Paris and Sacha Harding to talk to us… Read more
David Pearson on book cover design
12 October 2020David Pearson, acclaimed British book cover designer, returned to Baseline shift this autumn term to tell us more about his latest work. Read more
Assessment and feedback in our department
7 October 2020James Lloyd, our Part 1 tutor, outlines the key things to know about assessment and feedback on our course. Read more
Student-run Department Social Media accounts
10 June 2020Real Job: Our students asked if they could build and manage an Instagram account for the Department. https://www.instagram.com/uortypography/ @_timwatkins @UniofReading Read more
8×8, a day of arcade game typography with Toshi Omagari
5 February 2020We themed a day of events around Toshi’s new book. Read more
The Counter Press: utilising letterpress in contemporary practice
22 January 2020David Marshall and Elizabeth Ellis, founders of The Counter Press, continue to make use of letterpress in the modern day. How, and why…? Read more
How our students are promoting diversity in the creative field
17 January 2020The ‘I am, we are… Different by design’ team present their latest work: the second edition of their zine, and workshop at the Tate Exchange.… Read more
Wayfinding and cross-cultural design with Joan Zalacain and Zofia Szostkiewicz
17 January 2020Highlights and insights from Joan and Zofia’s all-digital signage project in Mecca. Read more
A visit from DK
16 January 2020Karen Self (Art Director), Michael Duffy (Managing Art Editor) and Kit Lane (Designer and alumni of the Department) joined us for a day of workshopping,… Read more
What is creativity?
21 November 2019James Lloyd gave us an insight into expanding student skills in creativity and ideation. Tldr? Learn stuff, and mix it up. Read more
Good essay writing: techniques, tips and characteristics
11 November 2019Rob Banham explains what is expected of a high quality essay for Graphic Communication and Typography BA, and how university essays are different to A-level… Read more
UX insights from visiting graduates
7 November 2019Graphic Communication and Typography graduates, Carmen Martinez, Neil Linford-Relph and Aman Verma, share their experiences of UI and UX design. Read more
David Pearson: What makes a great book cover?
7 November 2019David Pearson’s experience in real life book cover design, and how his experimentation with different design methods helped create exciting and unique book covers. Read more
Ravensburg ’19 and the D&AD awards
21 March 2019Our collaboration with DHBW Ravensburg saw 40 German students join us for a day of presentations centred on the D&AD New Blood awards. The exchange also… Read more
Lauren Towner: The life of a professional illustrator
21 March 2019Lauren Towner came to speak with our undergraduates about the experience of creating illustrations on-demand, on-brief and on-time, and what designers can learn from the… Read more
Making work experience pay: Introducing the Reading Internship Scheme
27 February 2019Claire Mack and Holly Forsyth outlined the opportunities for paid graphic design internships, co-funded by the University. Read more
‘It’s never right the first time’
22 February 2019Alison Black led week 3’s Baseline Shift talk on approaches to academic writing. She focused on the emotional experience of writing, the barriers that stop… Read more
Paul Luna: a very short introduction to typography
25 January 2019‘It’s not all about fonts!’ At a special Baseline Shift session, our former Head of Department stressed the importance of design for reading. Read more
Typography alumni talks: a look at our future
10 December 2018Typography graduates from the past 15 years returned to give us an insight into how their careers have progressed since graduating. Read more
Creativity, Ideation, and Process Workshop
29 November 2018Wendy Mclean, a Teaching Fellow in Studio Art at Reading, led a fun and interactive workshop about creativity, ideation, and process. Read more
IBM iX: design thinking, processes and opportunities
27 November 2018Milly Longbottom and Will Trickey, alumni of our department who now work at IBM, came to talk to Part 1 students about UX design process… Read more
David Pearson: Flowers, Football & Fonts…
16 November 2018David Pearson began his talk to Typography students at the University of Reading citing three things that sum up what really interest him – the… Read more
Research introductions
14 November 2018Alison Black, Jeanne Louise Moys, Sue Walker, Gerry Leonidas and Eric Kindel showcased a range of research projects, past and present, to give Part 1… Read more
The basics: a guide to good writing and referencing
1 November 2018In Typography at the University of Reading, a huge importance is placed on having a good academic writing ability. Week four and five of the… Read more
Making a ZINE: ‘I am, we are… different by design’
30 October 2018Our second Baseline Shift session was run by Camara Dick, Seniz Husseyin, Malaika Johnson and Martha Macri, members of a group of students who have… Read more
DK at the University of Reading
17 October 2018Our first Baseline shift Wednesday morning session kicked off this week and Typography students were lucky enough to receive a visit from two members of… Read more