Despina Kannaourou

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Portfolio
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Background

Despina at first studied graphic design at the

Stroganov University in Moscow – graduating in 2003
from an institution that previously cultivated Russian
Constructivist art. She then returned to her home
town in Cyprus where she worked in a design studio
for a year, before moving to London. On her first year
in London she worked at the design museum while
maintaining professional ties with Cyprus. A year
later in 2005 she begun her studies at Central Saint
Martins where she studied on MA Communication
Design and specialised in Typography. After her
graduation she worked at a small design studio in
Shoreditch, as well as worked on several freelance
projects.

FONOTAIP/ feUnetaIp
MA DEGREE PROJECT (Completed in June 2007)

The title of this project consists of two words – pho-

netics and typography. I link the two disciplines and
use the Roman alphabet to illustrate the sounds of
the English language, in particular British accents.
Fonotaip is a system that attempts a typographic in-
terpretation of phonetics through illustrating and de-
scribing the theoretical assumption of speech produc-
tion. The aesthetic quality of the letterforms derives
from a grid system that represents a cross-section
of the mouth. The system indicates the articulatory
features that are believed to determine the quality of
spoken vowels and consonants.

BOOK 1: Introduction to the FONOTAIP SYSTEM

as well as basic phonetics.

BOOK 2: Spelling and pronunciation. Index of

word pronunciation in different cities.

POSTERS: Detail from posters ‘Mapping two

speakers’ (first) and ‘The System” (second)

LEAD BETWEEN THE LINES (Published in April 2007)

Published in 2007 by Gaffa Ltd, with the help of the

ISTD ‘Lead Between the Lines’ is a publication that
offers a platform for discussion about the usefulness
and necessity of academic and practice-based
research in the field of typography. In this book, I took
part as one of the key instigators and designers of the
project, as well as being one of fifteen students who
contributed with research.

RESEARCH: The following images show spreads

with ‘fonotaip’ in stages of research.

GREEK RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH (MA 2006)

The designed pixel-vowel system attempts to pin-

point the ‘place of articulation’ in Greek, Russian
and English. This investigation has been visualised
through a series of poems that have been inspired by
phonetics. Such where some poems by Mayakovsky,
Khlebnikov and their Futurist contemporaries, or the
Jaberwocky, by Lewis Carol.

MENU (Proposal for monthly publication. BA final project 2003)

MENU is a design proposal for a magazine that

covers different themes monthly. A flexible but
homogenous grid is used throughout the issues,
bringing the incorporation of new type-faces and
colour to work with the new subject area, The identity
of the magazine remains recognisable even with
subjects as different as art, fashion and sport.

ARCHITECTURE: Starters, Main, Deserts

FASHION: News, Main, Deserts

HACKNEY STREETS AHEAD (November 2007)

This book was designed for ‘Invest in Hackney’ with

the intention of attracting new businesses into the
Borough. The book is separated into 7 sections which
are colour coded by the area. The titles for each
opening page, are composed from photographs of
letters taken from shop fronts of the area, to reflect
the distinctive feel of the streets.

Other Work
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nadiakazolides.com (under construction)

she-me.com (2008)

Identity for photographer Nadia Kazolides (2007)

Proposal for identity and packaging of Fiji sparkling juice drink (Bumblebee, Cyprus 2004)
juice with a sparkle
lemon kiwi
SERVE ICE COLD

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***Photos