Welcome to Aspect Design, Malvern
Aspect Design was established in 1978 by partners Allan Smith and Phil Brown. It is still run by Allan Smith, together with his wife and partner, Sue; their son, Daniel; and employee, Paul Sykes. Sue's grandfather was C. E. Tucker, the founder of the Mumbles Press (pictured right), so you could say that printing ink runs in the family's veins! For more information on the Mumbles Press click on the link below:
We are based in Malvern, Worcestershire. The Midlands area has a long tradition of producing excellent printers, one need only to consider the presence of the Birmingham School of Printing to understand why this may be. The school produced over five hundred different titles under the tutelage of Leonard Jay, and exerted a huge influence over a whole generation of typographers, setting the standard for print education worldwide. Phil Brown, the founding partner of Aspect Design alongside Allan Smith, was one of the last generations of printers to be taught at this prestigious school and the firm was set up with the ambition of being counted as an inheritor to this tradition of excellence.
In 1989 Paul Sykes came to us on work experience – and has never left! Paul studied at Worcester School of Art and Design, specialising in Graphic Design. In 1992 Allan and Sue Smith became the sole partners of the business. Allan was a student at Swansea College of Art and Design on their Fine Art and Print-Making course, he was taught by Rome scholar Bill Price and the renowned lithographer Andy Charlton and was a contemporary of Hanlyn Davies (click to view his website). Daniel Smith joined the business at a young age helping with the finishing work. Having grown up in the business, Daniel understands how a design will look when it is printed and finished, an aspect of graphic design which is often over-looked. Daniel is passionate about book design and is conversant with the reigning conventions as laid down by such venerable authorities as OUP's Hart's Rules and the Chicago Manual of Style.
We take pride in the work we produce and believe that we always provide an excellent job at a fair price. The firm started life as a lithographic offset print shop; later, we were one of the first printers in the area to see the potential of Desktop Publishing when we invested in the then relatively unheard of Apple Macintosh computers. At the turn of the century, Aspect was once again at the forefront of the technological revolution when we invested in one of the earliest digital print production machines. We are always experimenting with different creative processes, such as integrating hand-drawing with digital technologies.