Vintage Ladybird

For its 100 years celebration, Ladybird reached out to London College of Communication (LCC) to collaborate with its diverse and talented students to explore, reinterpret and celebrate Vintage Ladybird’s rich heritage.

The students were encouraged to link Ladybird’s unique history with design creativity. The brief was opened to different courses of the Design School including BA (Hons) Graphic and Media Design, BA (Hons) Illustration and Visual Media, MA Graphic Media Design, MA Illustration and Visual Media, and MA Graphic Branding and Identity. Ladybird gave the students unrestricted access to their incredible artwork archive for the first time, enabling them to see the original illustrations firsthand, in addition to having full access to the online archive.

The students produced designs in print, digital, 2D, 3D, animation, interactive and spatial design. The selected works were exhibited as a part of the 2015 London Design Festival and were a part of Ladybird’s centenary celebrations throughout the year.

LCC’s former Dean of the School of Design Professor Lawrence Zeegen also wrote a book, Ladybird by Design, which portrays a unique slice of Britain’s social and design history, as seen through the eyes of Ladybird. Accompanying the book was the Ladybird by Design exhibition at House of Illustration in Kings Cross, London, which ran until 21 September 2015.