Gemma Dutfield's A Geological Time Scale book (see below)

D&AD's New Blood was huge. And hot. Very hot. But it was well worth it. Here are the some of the best projects I saw when I went round on the last day of the show. A second installment of good stuff follows tomorrow...

One of the first projects that stood out was this silkscreen print of Ganesh by Poonam Mistry from the University of Hertfordshire's Graphic Design and Illustration course:

Here's a detail:

Poonam also showed this lovely book:

Another Hertforshire student – whose work seemed to be all over the stand – was Matt Bromley. Images of his Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum book and Gnar Bunga! comic are shown below, complete with three 'heads' used in the animated version of the story:

Sarah Winter on the Graphic Design and Visual Communication course at the University for the Creative Arts Maidstone showed a series of type/quote posters. Here's one:

Rizwana Hussain's vibrant poster (below) hinted at high-speed spacecraft re-entry (that's one small planet, though). She's on the Graphic Design course at Nottingham Trent.

The University of Creative Arts Maidstone had another strong Illustration show this year (there was lots of good work at last year's New Designers). Here are three pieces that caught my eye, by Mayuko Matsunami (penguins); Tom Legge (black and white image); and Samuel Capell (signage project):

Jarring isn't it? That's because Mayuko's poster is misregistered slightly, like this:

Here's one from Tom Legge's dark, atmospheric series:

And this is Samuel Capell's large format book that featured imagery of (I think) deconstructed signage. He also showed a large abstract cut-up piece made up of, among other elements of signage, the speed camera icon:

From Middlesex University's Graphic Design course, two projects were finished and presented particularly brilliantly. Virtually impossible to make out in my photo, Daniel Bartha's framed image of an electric razor has "Good design is as little design as possible" printed very subtley on top. Yes, it's one of Dieter Rams' ten principles of good design.

And Harriet Lyttle and Kristy Beaumont's poster for Fedrigoni provided a cheerful counterpoint to Bartha's print. Each tiny item of clothing pictured is made out of a folded piece of coloured, presumably Fedrigoni, paper.

Similarly conveying the tactile qualities of nice paper, Danielle Self on the Graphic Design course at University of Northampton created this appealing multi-leafed poster where each grey colour in the series was cut to a different size, with a left-leaning oblique "A" printed on top:

Here's a detail:

And how's this for a link: from levels of paper to levels of strata? This beautiful creation is a book by Gemma Dutfield of Staffordshire University's Graphic Design course. It's called A Geological Time Scale. I like that the bookmarks might reference chapters on different layers in accordance with the formations printed on the edges. It might not be geologically sound (though correct me if I'm wrong Gemma), but it's a lovely concept:

Lucy Smedley, also from the Graphic Design course at Staffordshire, created these interesting designs from circuit boards (detail of the butterfly shown, below):

On to some work from Norwich University College of the Arts' Graphic Design students. Matthew Lurcock's cracking piece (featured in my post on D&AD's Best New Blood selections yesterday) deserves another airing in case you missed it before. It's apparently a poster for Shoot: Military photographer of the Year at the V&A Museum:

And these book covers are by Norwich students Emma Beaumont (A Very Short Introduction series) and Marc Spicer (Shakespeare series). Sorry to both for the quality of the pics:

Marc Spicer's Shakespeare series featured designs for Anthony and Cleopatra (left) and Hamlet:

So after a battery re-charge, another water and a quick 'up-shirt' session in front of one of the Truman Brewery's Enormo-Fans, it was round again. I'll show the photos from that leg tomorrow Thursday morning...

Free Range is on until 26 July at The Old Truman Brewery in east London.