During graduate show season, Computer Arts release a special edition of the magazine that focuses on new talent in the design and illustration world. The D&AD New Blood contest asked design students and recent graduates to submit entries for their interpretation of what the cover for issue #243 should be. This issue revealed the winner, who based their ideas on select themes and incorporated ideas for creative finishes into their concept that would be finished by Celloglas.

This year’s themes included ‘fresh talent’, ‘rising stars’ and ‘getting noticed’. The winner was Glasgow Clyde College student, Julia Frances. Her design was displayed at the two-day Shoreditch exhibition at the D&AD New Blood Festival amongst 12 shortlisted designs.

The cover features a ‘talent terrarium’, harvesting an illustrated designer, light bulb and plants that symbolise ideas and growth. A clear diffraction glitter foil was applied to the ‘glass’ area. A diffraction foil was used in order to achieve a reflective effect. The cover lines and name plate at the bottom of the terrarium were finished with a satin silver foil, applied on an SBL foiling press. An emboss was used to highlight one of the cover lines, the terrarium and the name plate.

Steve Middleton, Sales Director at Celloglas, commented, “This issue’s cover design for Computer Arts really allowed us to get creative with our finishes. We used a clear diffraction glitter foil, an unusual finish that’s something we don’t do very often. It was great to show Julia all the finishing possibilities and how a design can be brought to life when using finishes that complement it so well.”

Editor of Computer Arts, Nick Carson, said, “After spending the last couple of months looking for our new talent competition winner, we were so pleased when the selected cover design allowed for such innovative finishing. The combination of finishes really enhanced Julia’s illustration and we are really pleased with the outcome.”

In this issue, you can also take a look at the designs of those who were shortlisted for the contest and read about the ideas and thought processes behind them. In addition, the magazine takes a look at logo design secrets and how to be a better team player at work.

Computer Arts is a Future Publishing title sold through subscriptions and various retailers.

You can watch the video of Sales Director of Celloglas, Steve Middleton, meeting this year’s cover contest winner, Julia Frances, to get an insight into how the finishes were applied.