Bloody Hell Zine

I'm really pleased to have published my first solo large scale print run project: Bloody Hell. Its a zine all about menstruation. This project was a lot of hard work to orchestrate on my own but in turn was really rewarding. The pieces in this zine were submitted from a variety of people who menstruate. I launched a successful crowd funding campaign (with a lot of help from friends in promoting it and getting the coverage which meant it ended up in national newspapers and featured everything from The Guardian to Cosmo). It's be a really privileged to work on this non-profit project and share some amazing stories with this zine. You can see more images here: www.soofiya.com/bloody-hell

Just a note, the remaining copies of the zine will be sold at zine fairs in and around the UK.

All the colours!

Colourful clothes, paper and fluoro tape inspired my current project on Zines. Here's a little preview of the mess of ugly colours which await.  

Book Design MA

In the past few weeks I started my MA in Book Design at Reading, which at times feels like both the best and stupidest decision I've ever made. There have been some really exciting lectures so far including some from Michael Tywman who, every Monday, delves into the typographic archives and brings some amazing gems to share and talk about. I snapped a few photos from the first lecture which in no way do the ephemera justice but you sort of get the idea. Oh, and on Thursday's we hit up the Museum of English Rural Life to touch books which are centuries old,  how cool is that? I was having a little read of Euclid's The Elements this past week. Aside from the historical mind-blow there's two projects on the go too, one called Complex Text, where amongst other books we have typeset War and Peace (yes, actually War and Peace). As well as a Book Jacket project with Fraser Muggeridge and David Pearson: which should be good fun. All in all a very busy few weeks ahead and equally busy year overall for this MA.

A Book for Two for the Creative Review Annual

Pleased to announce the new and improved A Book for Two, which we've entering into the Creative Review Annual. Finger crossed all of this pays off. But in the meantime here's the new website and a few photos:

A Book for Two Photoshoot

I'm planning on entering A Book for Two into the Creative Review Annual this year which is why I'm working with photographer Meara Kallista Morse to get some great shots for the entry. Here's a few snaps from the initial shoot this Friday where we tested colouring and lighting etc. With the final shoot happening Tuesday, I've got a busy few days ahead of bookbinding.

A Book for Two

I'm currently investing most of my time into exploring, creating, prototyping and more on A Book for Two. It was recently reviewed by Lucy Smith at the Publishing Lab and I cannot recommend reading her article enough. She's really understood and wonderfully articulated the concept behind shared reading experiences.

Publishing Lab Article

Also the A Book for Two website has had a revamp too: abookfortwo.co.uk

Open Quote Initiative

Contuined from The Open Quote Initiative The book encapsulating the discoure of the gender imbalance within the design industry. After a long night of binding the project is really coming together.

A Book for Two Talk

On Tuesday I had my first ever design gig/talk at Geeky. I talk fast normally and twice as fast when I'm excited. Despite the talk being at light speed, I really enjoyed it. Partly because I'd describe the whole thing as a massive constructive-design-ego-wank; an experience I throughly recommend for all to try at least once. But more importantly I had some great feedback and a platform for my project (A Book for Two). Now, feeling ridiculously inspired to take it further, I've made a to-do list:

1. Nail the format for Jeykll and Hyde, I'm talking size (teeny tiny bit smaller and a change of the supporting typeface
2. Make a book for two for The Picture of Dorian Gray
3. Make a book for four for Nineteen Eighty-Four
4. Do a massive chunk of user testing
5. Make changes learnt from that testing
6. Get it out of the prototyping stage, make a few and send a few out and about.
7. Buy a cat

A Book for Two

In 21st Century we share everything from tweeting our train journeys to Instagramming our lunch, yet one thing which remains a solitary experience is reading. A Book for Two is a book which you cannot read alone, everything from size, format to content and typography is made for sharing. (This was a Uni project for ISTD.)

The Dogfoot Project

I'm currently working on a book  (working title: The Dogfoot Project) with a fantastic spoken word artist. She's going to be at Edinburgh Free Fringe Festival in July so here's a quick look at how her posters are coming along: