Review: Book Clubs by Tommy Sauce
Tommy Sauce is a UK based graphic design company headed by business partners Andrew Woods and Ben Evans. Their latest project has seen them produce a series of prints titled ‘Book Clubs’.
In terms of the inspiration for the idea, the partners had been playing around with various pastiches of classic Penguin books, when it suddenly occurred to them that the ingenious colour-coded tricolours on the Penguin and Pelican covers, designed by Edward Young in the 1930s, would lend themselves to the world of football. So, they began by filling in the panels with colours, say claret and blue, and then coming up with a line from a song or a reference understood by the club’s fans. This was then inserted as the title of the book; in West Ham United’s case ‘Fortune’s Always Hiding’. This struck the partners as being a poignant memoir detailing the story of a football team. Woods and Evans deliberately avoided current, time-sensitive references and just went for classic, literary-inspired titles. In addition, the well-recognised markings of the six-yard box and centre-circle were added to the panels; with the print completed by the inserting of the wording ‘First Edition’, which signified the year the club was formed.
Currently, the prints available include English Premier League clubs such as Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool and both Manchester teams, Scottish clubs, Celtic and Rangers and other English teams such as Bradford City, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Stockport County and Wolves. However, the company does custom orders so if your favourite team isn’t available, the option can be discussed with them.
The response to the design and product has been astonishing and it has been featured across all forms of the media, including magazines, newspapers and blogs, with a celebratory purchaser from a regular presenter on Match of the Day 2.
These prints work because they are an excellent example of the saying, “…less is more…” with a simple, clear and innovative design. They manage to capture both a retro feel, acknowledging the 1930s Penguin influence, yet a modern edge with the clean minimalist style. Tommy Sauce has combined the football and literary worlds with a classic, arty and inventive idea to produce unique prints.
A good read will always leave you asking questions. If your club was a book or a novel, what would it be called?
Find out at Tommy Sauce designs by following this link.