Design for Books and Annuals
The Matchbox Club.
Originally known as MICA – The Matchbox International Collectors' Association – The Matchbox Club was an organisation with members all over the world. As well as being an incredible source for everything to do with Matchbox Toys, the Club had regular conventions held all around the world, for which limited-edition models would be produced, complete with their own original-style boxes. I had the privilege of designing and producing the liveries, transfers and boxes for many of these models – a couple of examples are featured below.
Between 2008 and 2013, a 100-page 'Annual' was produced and sold around the world. In addition to all the news about the latest models, and collectors' tales about finding rare models in obscure corners of the world, this soon became an important historical resource as former workers at Matchbox Lesney's factory recalled their days of working for the company. The crowning jewel was an interview, after decades when no-one knew if he was still alive, with Rodney Smith, one of the co-founders of Lesney. Featured below are a few covers and inside double-page spreads as examples of the kind things each annual contained.
Sadly, The Matchbox Club was sold to a new owner after 2013, and subsequently specialised in just producing new versions of old display units for Matchbox Collectors, before subsequently disappearing without trace.
The Collectible Golf Balls Directory.
For Kevin McGimpsey, a longtime friend and former owner of the above featured Matchbox Club, I had the privilege of designing the four Folios of The Collectible Golf Balls Directory. This was a four-volume follow up to his seminal work published in 2004, "The Story of the Golf Ball", the definitive book on Antique Golf Balls as recognised by collectors, auction houses and the most prestigious Golf Clubs around the world.
The four Folios published cover 100 years of golf ball production, and feature 5,225 individual golf balls (Folio I, 550, Folio II, 1,200, Folio III, 1,175 and Folio IV, 1,500). They are explained in detail, what they look like, what type of cover patterns are associated with them, who made them, when, their original characteristics, sizes and weights and each and every ball is valued.
Below are some double-page spreads from the four Folios, including wrapped and unwrapped golf balls, cover designs and patterns, boxes and packaging, contemporary adverts and images, and the definitive spreadsheet which features in each folio. For further information, visit: https://www.golfballbook.co.uk/
Book Covers.
For SB Publishing Limited of Stratford-Upon-Avon, I was commissioned to design the cover and flyleaf for a new book by Professor Mary C. Lacity and Dr Leslie Willcocks, world authorities in their field, entitled Service Automation: Robots and the future of work. While a main cover image - a selected classic work of art - would be provided, my brief was to design a background, layout and type-style that would reflect the subject whilst not distracting from the main image.
The first publication was so successful that it lead to an additional print run, and further publications resulted, for which I was asked to continue to develop the themes that had helped the first book be so well received.
