Central Saint Martins x Hammerton Brewery - our new beer design
- Written byInternal Communications
- Published date 20 June 2022
Central Saint Martins has collaborated with Hammerton Brewery to create our own beer to be served in the College Platform Bar. As part of the project, our students were invited to enter a competition to design the can. We caught up with Graphic Communication Design alum Tooey Jones about her winning design, featuring UAL Chancellor Grayson Perry!
Can you tell us a bit about your time at Central Saint Martins?
I studied BA (Hons) Graphic Communication Design and moved between the Narrative & Voice and Experience & Environment platforms. I really enjoyed my time on the GCD course because of the freedom we had to try out different disciplines; also the focus tutors had on experimentation and an intuitive design process. The intention of my work is always to be inclusive and to drive positive change, whatever that may look like. For my final project I explored themes of happiness, play, and the boundaries between public and private.
What was the inspiration for your design of the CSM x Hammerton beer can?
The brief asked us to communicate the spirit of both Central Saint Martins and Hammerton Brewery in our can design. I knew I wanted my design to encourage playfulness and conversation between visitors to the CSM shows by using illustration with a lively colour palette and interactive composition. I also kept in mind Hammerton Brewery’s recognisable brand style and researched UAL’s core values. Strategically, I looked at past winners, which had been conceptual and minimalist, and decided to try something different!
After LOTS of sketches and experimentation with ways to encourage users to manipulate a can in unusual ways, I landed on an idea inspired by the surrealist game Exquisite Corpse. Participants play by taking turns drawing sections of a body on a sheet of paper, folded to hide each individual contribution. The outcomes are often strange or comical creatures. My initial idea was that it would be fun to give customers the opportunity to combine lots of legs and torsos in different ways to build caricatures inspired by the wonderful CSM community. However, I had to think about what I could realistically achieve in the time given, so I refined my design into a single label that could stack on top of itself to create a Grayson Perry cartoon.
I chose Grayson Perry, the English contemporary artist, writer and broadcaster, and the Chancellor of University of the Arts London, as my subject because I believe he embodies our university core values of creativity, diversity and collaboration. I called my beer The Moxie, which means someone with “a force of character, determination, or nerve” because I think it is a good reflection of Grayson Perry, as the inspiration for my design, but also the CSM student body overall. I also like how it sounds!
Are you pleased with the outcome?
Yes! This project is one of my favourites. I entered the competition just for fun and felt confident about doing something playful and experimental because there was no pressure if it didn’t work. It’s also really cool to see my work for the first time as an actual real printed thing!
What did you learn from completing this project?
This project definitely exposed how little I knew, at the time, about Adobe Suite and how to set up files for printing. I really appreciated working closely with the CSM tutors and Hammerton Brewery team to tidy up my can design before going to print; I learnt a lot of shortcuts from them! I also gained valuable presentation experience and learnt how to respond to feedback efficiently in a professional setting.
What have you gone on to do since graduating?
After graduating from CSM in 2021, I enrolled on the Drawing Intensive course at the Royal Drawing School. This was an invaluable experience for me as I improved my drawing and printmaking skills and began to understand my practice better as an artist as well as a designer. Since then, I’ve completed some freelance illustration jobs and helped to organise a number of exhibitions with fellow graduates. I have started looking for a full time creative role but in the meantime I am working in cafe and keeping an open mind to what might come next!
Where can we see more examples of your work?
My Instagram handle is @tooeyjones or you can visit my website at tooeyjones.com. Please get in touch if you want to collaborate!