andbr e a t h e

Dear Sheddists,

I had an absolutely fantastic time yesterday doing some product shots for my eldest daughter's partner.

Rich is an immensely talented art and design consultant who works predominantly in the not-for-profit sector. His clients include schools, charities, local authorities, health trusts, youth offender institutes and community groups.

Rich is clearly very gifted in what he does but what impresses me most is his passion for making a real difference to people's lives. He goes way beyond just producing a superb technical result and here are just three examples of the practical impact his work has had...

• a health and well-being campaign that gave a bullied girl with learning difficulties her confidence back to ride her bike again in her own street;

• a visual arts project that helped a young offender realise his creativity was the way out of criminality and into a better life; and

• a mentoring project that enabled young amateur performers from across the Black Country to learn from and perform with internationally renowned dancers, street artists and gymnasts. 

Yesterday I photographed two of the books Rich has designed, a toolkit for civic engagement, an amazing leaflet to promote a local arts festival and a series of posters to promote use of local museum facilities.  You can see all of these on other posts in the Shed.  However, the very best piece of work I saw was of such supreme simplicity it took my breath away - it's pictured above.

Rich was asked to design something to give away to people seeking help with mental health issues. This small cardboard box contained a stress-ball equivalent in the shape of a cloud, two or three tea bags and a series of cards with practical tips on reducing anxiety levels.

Take a look again at the imprint on the box. The bold silvered lettering gets thinner as the letters spread out across the surface. Rich has taken the two words, 'And breathe', turned them into a visualisation of what it looks like to do just that and in doing so evoked the feeling of taking a deep breath and letting go slowly.

In my humble opinion, pure genius!

Yours as ever,

electrofried(mr)