Part 04 – 1970s My First Major Client

Income before politics

I enjoyed working on the (sizeable for a one-man-band) NUT account at a time when teachers’ unions were engaging with the new Minister for Education – Margaret Thatcher. The work was varied and there was plenty of it. I was able to use my illustration and photographic skills, hand producing all the artwork myself.

National Union of Teachers calling for a bigger slice of the salary cake.
Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions fighting for better terms.

Pre-scanning photography

In an era prior to scanning, producing the separations for colour printing required four separated negatives to be made, each exposed with a special filter to isolate the cyan, yellow, magenta and black.

Any retouching was carried out working directly on the negative film.

ATTI campaigning for skills training.

The move to transparency

In the 1970s, transparency film became more popular, superseding colour negative.

Specialist processing houses grew up to satisfy the demand for fast turnaround film processing and ‘R-type’ and ‘Cibachrome’ prints.

Companies such as Quicksilver and Ceta Colour ran bikes all over London and operated a round-the-clock service to design studios and agencies.

My journey as a graphic designer, an introduction

Part 01 – 1960s In the Beginning: Undergraduate work

Part 02 – 1970s The Royal College of Art & The Advent of Colour

Part 03 – 1970s Starting Out in the Real World

Part 04 – 1970s My First Major Client

Part 05 – 1970s More Than One Man

Part 06 – 1970s Striking It Lucky

Part 07 – 1970s Embracing Ground-breaking Techniques

Part 08 – 1980s Changing Roles for Designers

Part 09 – 1980s Our First Technology Client

Part 10 – 1980s Growing Through Recommendation

Part 11 – 1980s The Dream Client

Part 12 – 1980s Moving into Corporate Design

Part 13 – 1990s Ramping Up the Workload

Part 14 – 1990s Graphic Design goes Global

Part 15 – 1990s A Steep Learning Curve

Part 16 – 1990s Working for The Nation’s Favourite

Part 17 – 1990s The Challenge of the Future

Part 18 – 1990s Picking up the Crumbs

Part 19 – 1990s Vested Interest

Part 20 – 1990s Setting the Standard

Part 21 – 1990s Still Growing after All These Years

Part 22 – 1990s New Business from Old

Part 23 – 1990s Keeping up with Demand

Part 24 – 1990s A Full-Service Consultancy

Part 25 – 1990s Into the Unknown

Part 26 – 2000s Learning New Tricks

Part 27 – 2000s Lifestyle Publishing Moves on

Part 28 – 2010s and Now…