citylikeyou — Stafford / Ben Anslow

Ben Anslow is a designer and illustrator working mainly with print, specifically in book design. Since graduating from Staffordshire University last year he has gained recognition from a variety of design publications, including Wallpaper*, Digital Arts and the London Design Festival. In 2011 Ben was awarded a D&AD Best New Blood and an ISTD membership for his typography. He is currently doing illustration work for Penguin Books.

http://benanslow.com

Designer Illustrator

Current city: Stafford

benanslow.com

Stafford / Museum

The Shire Hall Gallery is in the central area of Stafford town and is an exhibition space, library and cafe rolled into one. Recent exhibitions have included paper-cutting artist, Rob Ryan.

Stafford / Architecture

The village of Brocton is well known for having a number of timber-frame houses, but this house just stands out to me in particular. It was built in 1911 and is one of the most atmospheric and characterful houses you could possibly come across, in what is otherwise a quintessential English village.

Stafford / Place

Well known as being J.R.R. Tolkien’s inspiration for ‘Middle Earth’ in the Lord of the Rings books, Cannock Chase (colloquially ‘The Chase’) is somewhere that friends and I have frequented for many years. If you go to a part called Broc Hill at just the right time, you can literally just sit there and watch the sun disappear behind the horizon, and witness some stunning gradients in the sky. Also a great place for running and photography—you even get to see the odd few deer just bounding around. Cannock Chase is officially listed as one of England’s ‘Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ (AONB).

Stafford / Lake

In 1936 George Orwell described Rudyard Lake in one of his diary entries as ‘very depressing’. Today though, I can confirm that it really is a lovely place, with a fascinating display of lakeside cabins and boathouses—more reminiscent of something you’d see in New England than the Midlands. The most popular thing visitors do is set themselves the goal of walking full circle around the lake, which is about 4-5 miles and takes around 2 hours.

Berlin / Designer

Designer and Developer

Athens / Graphic Designer

Filippos Fragkogiannis is a freelance graphic designer and art director, based in Athens. He holds an MA in Visual Communication, and a BA in Graphic Design from Vakalo College and the University of Derby. Having collaborated with acclaimed graphic and type designers, on April 16th 2019 he established his own practice. His research-based approach is rooted in semiotics, symbolism and the mechanics of visual language. His projects center around visual identities, posters, and print collateral, and he regularly enhances type foundries with bold imagery. In 2018, he founded Certain Magazine, an independent curatorial platform that chronicles contemporary graphic design and celebrates handpicked design projects from around the world.

Salamanca / Designer

Graphic designer from Salamanca, whose work reconciles classical motifs with the global concourse. After studying at Central Saint Martins, London, and with experience in New York City and Barcelona, Xavi now works from his hometown, a medieval city of golden stone located in the mid-West of Spain.

London / Designer

Partner at Spin.

London / Designer

Matteo Fogale is a london-based designer specialised in furniture and product design as well as interiors, installations and strategic consultancy.

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