British Art Medal Society’s Student Medal Project

The Student Medal Project, run by The British Art Medal Society at the British Museum, encourages and promotes the art of making medals throughout art colleges in the United Kingdom and from international partners. Each year over one hundred student medals, from as many as fifteen art colleges, are submitted for judging for prizes and selection for exhibition.

The Project acts as a forum for students and academic institutions to contribute to the ongoing discourse on the creative medium. Medals are often cast in bronze and submitted from sculpture students and those studying metalwork and jewellery but, the Project is open to other disciplines and creative interpretations of the form as well.

In 2021 we were asked by the Director of the Project to refresh the design of the catalogue—‘to better reflect their current and emerging audience base’.

The design uses a strong foundation of typography with Bureau Grotesque, designed by David Berlow, for headings set in all caps, mixed with Signifier, designed by Kris Sowersby, for the body text. 

To support the ambition for a brighter, fresher publication, bright contemporary colours were selected to add vibrancy and punch. Working with our photographer we developed a way in which the background colour could be switched out, whilst maintaining the shadows—important for describing the physicality of the objects— and allowing us creative freedom in how the medals are presented.

Commissioned by the British Museum
Edited by Marcy Leavitt Bourne
Photography by Stephen Dodd with retouching by Paul Mounsey
Typeset in Bureau Grot by David Berlow and Siginifier by Kris Sowersby

Consultancy
Strategic Positioning
Digital Communications
Catalogue Design
Art Direction
Project Management