I'm a mature, conscientious designer specialising in print and digital editorial design. With a passionate interest in grassroots activism and social change, my work often explores the ethics of design and the application of design as a tool for creating social change through education and empowerment. Often elevating the importance of function over form, my typographic work in particular seeks to constantly explore the relationship and juxtaposition between aesthetic and legibility and between creativity and accessibility.
I have worked with a number of global companies including IKEA, Unilever, HP Enterprise and SiG in the field of corporate responsibility reporting as well as with a variety of other studios, charities and individual clients on pro-bono and Social Design projects.
Concrete - Dispatches from the Frontline of the Anti-Gentrification Movement
A culmination of responses to the AXIS academic brief, 'Concrete' is an exploration of DIY/Radical publishing and conscientious journalism through the lens of controversial events both past and present in the borough of Southwark.
Proposed as a series of publications each with a different geographical focus, 'Concrete' explores the motivation behind the individuals and groups who are fighting back against ruthless property developers and corrupt councils in the struggle to protect low income areas and social and affordable housing from the ever increasing trend towards gentrification and the commodification of public space.
Designed for and printed entirely on a Riso printer, the project explored a method of taking the concept of publishing away from commercial print companies and into the hands of the author, achieving a well-designed and well-produced publication on a DIY budget.
AXIS | Process Book
A process book detailing research, analysis and development of responses to the AXIS brief.
Voyager | The Grand Tour
A response Stage 01 of the VOYAGER academic brief, this project was seen as an opportunity to explore editorial design through digital publishing in an effort to incorporate audio-visual material to enhance the immersive, sensory experience of exploring the Voyager mission.
Building on elements of the emerging medium of immersive online storytelling, this ePublication made bold use of InDesign's digital publishing tools to create interactive and audio-visual material within an editorial eBook format.
The ePublication will be published at rickysimmonds.co.uk in July 2018.
Voyager | The Grand Tour | An Exhibition Proposal
A response Stage 02 of the VOYAGER academic brief, this project allowed me to explore an emerging interest in Exhibition Design and its potential for creating positive social change through communicating critical causes.
The proposed exhibition, inspired by audio and visual material produced by the Voyager mission, seeks to inspire the audience through the use of isolation and projection to mimic the unprecedented planetary encounters experienced by the Voyager probes.
Seeking a departure from the static, uninspiring space exhibit at London's Science Museum, the exhibition uses a very particular, minimalist layout that transforms the exhibition into linear journey of experience and understanding.
Voyager | Project Process Book
A process book detailing research, analysis and development of responses to the VOYAGER brief.
Industry Practice: Experiments in Visualising Critical Data Process Book
This process book details responses to the Industry Practice academic brief. Rather than build on my existing skillset, I used this brief as an opportunity to explore an area of the design industry that is growing in relevance and popularity, identifying data visualisation as a field largely absent from my skillset.
Through my research I analysed an area of industry that is plagued by an over saturation of superfluous work lacking purpose and valuable function and conducted a number of experiments in response. Using the theme of climate change, the project used a range of modern techniques both physical and digital (3D printing, Laser-cutting and Animation) to explore experimental methods of visualising data.
