Export Radio Journal Entry #5

Dougal Verinder Gedge

April 26th, 2021

Hello! Welcome back to another journal entry from the Export Team. This month has been one of graphic design. For those that don’t know, my main role in the Export group is to lead the art direction \ graphic styles for the posters, identities and products we create. Looking forward to the summer, the Export team have been busy working away at our sonic yearbook. This is a document which will contain conversation, sound and best-bits from the past year of broadcasts. For me, it’s a great way to dip back into my previous BA (and obsession) skills of type design, promotional design and composition.

To assist me on this adventure is our freshest member Michelle Devlin. She’s a great help and will be joining the RCA next year. I can faithfully say that the future will be safe in her hands! That also reminds me of the task of the radio show. We aim to hand it down to the next cohort, and I honestly can’t wait. When you’ve been tasked to create the identity, soul and vision for something, it’s hard to not get attached! But I feel like after the yearbook is finalised, I’ll be able to rest easy.

Ha!

As I’m sure you’ll see in the upcoming weeks and months on our Instagram (800 followers!) the styles and themes have changed over time. We used to have a strict style of orange and grey, with Editorial New as our workhorse typeface. But as the global pandemic weighed in from all corners, we decided to let loose and indulge in other modes of visual stimuli. This is best presented when observing the 24-hour-broadcast theme. Colourful and fragmented. Loose yet oddly structured. Exciting and liberating! We are working hard to create something REALLY LOVELY which can stand as a totem for years to come at the RCA. We also welcome William Vellinga and his graphic design wizardry, to help assist me on some of the more typographic and design heavy work, such as the booklet which’ll go inside the Export Record Sleeve. It’ll be a teardown of most of the designs I have made over the past few months, as well as experimental type for the journal entries, and reviews etc. It’s going to be fun!

Expect lots of Smiley Faces and Neon…..

To finalise, we’ve been good over here at Export. We are a powerful trio and are SO excited to show you what we’ve been up to. I guess you’ll have to wait and see!

best,

D