Brand identity, logo design, typographic palette and poster design.

An arts venue within a church needed a bit of a branding overhaul. My approach was to create a colour palette and series of symbols from stained glass window details and architectural elements.

The new identity (still in progress) respects the unique setting of the church while also bringing a contemporary, playful approach to the graphic design at large.

I was recently commissioned by the Tate galleries in-house coffee roastery to produce bespoke hand-marbled prints for their packaging. Colour and pattern were used to illustrate not only the coffee's tasting notes, but also the story of each producer, each farm and each region.

I wanted to celebrate how special it is for an art institution to roast its own coffee, and created a collection of marbled papers that reflect each individual roast.

Marbling was the perfect medium because it shares many traits with coffee. Both the printmaker and the roaster enjoy the balance of control and chance in their craft. There are visual similarities in the way milk spreads in a cup of coffee, to ink in a marbled bath.

Four designs were chosen for the four seasonal coffees currently being roasted by the Tate, and another two have just been selected for two limited edition roasts to coincide with the Olafur Eliasson exhibition at Tate Modern.

Breastfeed in Peace was a successful campaign to update the law and protect and empower breastfeeding mothers in public.

I designed the Breastfeed in Peace visuals to be eye-catching on social media, to be reminiscent of but not overtly breast-like, and to use a palette of skin tones.

The issue was taken up by MPs Stella Creasy and Jeff Smith, and went on to gain cross-party support in the House of Lords.

The campaign had extensive national and regional media coverage - I spoke with BBC Woman's Hour, BBC Breakfast, BBC News, LBC, The Guardian, Manchester Evening News and ITV Granada.

The petition on change.org to the Ministry of Justice on change.org gathered 30,000 signatures.

On January 4th 2022 the Minister for Justice announced that taking images of breastfeeding without consent was to be made a criminal offence.

Success!

Brand concept for a flower and stationery design studio.

Inspired by psychedelic, feminine florals, Gucci 2016 and early 20th Century autochrome photographs.

I was approached by production company Nutopia to create abstract marbled effects for upcoming Netflix documentary series ‘Babies’.

A series of psychedelic, shifting patterns represented how babies taste in the womb.

The series is due to be broadcast in Spring 2020.

Logo design for an integrative counsellor and psychotherapist, inspired by old botanical woodcuts and the Victorian Language of Flowers.

The Victorians believed that the hawthorn symbolised hope, and I illustrated the plant in partial bloom to suggest growth.

Sketches of a journey by bicycle from Rye to Dungeness in the summer of 2018.

This part of the country is known for its expansive, monotone vistas. We had the rare treat of summer-flowering plants and the odd blue sky to brighten the landscape. I loved the contrast of the vibrant black and red hut against the shingle and wind-beaten grasses, and of course Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage.

The whole cycle route from Rye to Dungeness was lined with red poppies. It always amazes me how resilient those thin, papery flowers are against the British coastal winds.

The brief was to create a coherent identity for wedding stationery, invitations and signage that reflected both parties. The wedding was planned for the spring, and both the bride and groom are keen ramblers and naturalists. Full disclosure - I was the bride.

I used cyanotype printing, a printmaking method used by 19th Century botanists to “preserve” and capture the flowers and foliage we collected on a ramble.

Using willow charcoal in a loose illustrative style, I created botanical imagery for the wedding invitations and reception signage.

Since I was becoming a ‘Cooper’, the name traditionally given to makers of beer barrels, the invitations were printed on G F Smith Gmund Bier paper stock, a creamy flecked paper which is made of the waste material of the beer brewing process.

Petals were collected from the English countryside for confetti, and cones were hand-marbled using the wedding colours.

Logo designs in progress for a DJ duo based in Berlin. They play 60’s and 70’s vinyl in bars across the city, and wanted their logo to appeal to vinyl enthusiasts and people from their underground scene.

The brief was to create a modern yet retro, playful logo that wasn’t too floral and feminine. The logo is to be used on social media, posters, and on their own merch such as stickers.

I’ve created an eye-catching series of logos in a 60’s colour palette, with a focus on the rounded and bouncy typeface. Where there are florals they are slightly wonky and distorted; a nod to the mind-bending psychedelia of the era.

Bespoke hand-marbled papers.

I have worked on commissions for bookbinding, gifts, packaging and editorial.

I sell a selection of unique marbled papers in my shop.

When poet Frank o’Hara worked at the MOMA in the early 1960’s, he would write short poems on his lunch break. A collection of these were published in 1964, titled ‘Lunch Poems’.

In response to this, I created a series of ‘lunch patterns’, visually inspired by mid-century modern book covers, such as the Fontana Modern Masters by Oliver Bevan. Each artwork was quickly made on my lunch breaks using Photoshop.

2016

Record sleeves and art direction for London kraut/experimental rock band Casual Nun. The aesthetics are as varied as the music itself.

Collage, illustration and graphics. All design and artworking by Julia Cooper.

A visual identity for vintage homeware company Moonbow, based in Yorkshire.

Photographs courtesy of Moonbow.