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BAGGY PANTS & BUTTER PAPER


Publication Design | Brand Identity | Website Design | Social media | Print Production

Client: Self + Design Assembly + Salient Magazine + Victoria University of Wellington

CREATIVE DIRECTOR & GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Hamish Besley
interviews: Bella Alexander-Kemble, Amelia Best, Lane Blundell, Xanthe Copeland, Sophie George, Evie Howard, Guillaume Martel, Gabby Pittar, Rhys Taplin, Renati Waaka, Hamish Wilson

media: Design Assembly | Victoria University


Baggy Pants & Butter Paper is a two issue publication collecting my interviews with design and architecture students from Victoria University. A publication ‘for students by students’, BP&BP aims to facilitate student to student dialogue about the realities of undergraduate design programs. The task was to create a brand identity, publication design, and publishing strategy that reflected the grassroots nature of the project while facilitating student-to-student dialogue about the realities of undergraduate design programs.

The brand identity draws inspiration from artefacts of the design student experience. The name itself references the large reams of butter paper students use as a cheap alternative to tracing paper, while "baggy pants" nods to the stereotypical student uniform. I employed a brown sepia duotone, echoing historical underground publications that used sepia ink for its low cost, allowing liberal publishing. Issue Two, reinforced the student craft aesthetic by using Zeta paper as the main stock and tracing paper for the outer cover. The design system successfully captures the DIY spirit of student publications while maintaining a professional appearance, resulting in a product that has gained recognition and distribution beyond its initial scope.

The marketing strategy leveraged both digital and physical channels. I developed a purpose-built website designed to mimic a stack of magazines, providing easy access to digital copies. Physical copies were made available for order through Instagram. To expand reach, interviews from Issue One were published by Design Assembly New Zealand, and selections from both issues were reprinted by Salient Magazine. Since 2020, Issue One has been distributed by the Victoria University student outreach team.
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