People of Print’s Gradspotters programme spotlights emerging graduate talent working in print and image-making. Our latest prospect is Joel Allen, a First Class Graphic Design graduate from the University of Portsmouth, ISTD member, and passionate advocate for letterpress, screen print, Risograph and the enduring relevance of tangible, tactile formats.
Joel Allen graduated this year with a First Class degree from Portsmouth and immediately set about making the case that the physical is not finished. His practice combines screen printing, letterpress and Risograph with digital tools, projection mapping and vintage CRT televisions, not because the combination is novel but because each medium has something specific to offer and he wants to know what that is. His work is research-led, experimentally driven and rooted in a genuine love of print ephemera, old technology, and 70s and 80s electronic music.
His major project, A Manifesto for Change in Ten Tapes, is the fullest expression of that ethos. Ten cassette tapes, each paired with a five-panel foldout J-card and a ten-minute audio tape featuring interview clips, music and narrative fragments, together form a manifesto for physical media and the kind of human connection it enables. The ten tapes cover creativity, happenstance, human connection, politics, social revolution and the future, each subject approached through curiosity, research and hands-on experimentation. Joel interviewed people in the cassette community, studied packaging, adverts and documentaries and ran experiments that interrogated the format itself. Four of the tapes include fold-outs printed on 60gsm paper, chosen specifically for its translucency: when folded, the layers show through each other, and the four panels can be arranged in multiple interchangeable configurations, encouraging the viewer to handle and explore the physical object rather than simply look at it.
The project was displayed at the Portsmouth graduate show and D&AD New Blood on a vintage 1990s boombox with a CRT television showing an animation exploring the craft of making a mixtape: the time, effort, love and creativity involved in choosing music for someone else. The argument running through all of it is not nostalgic. “We remain, fundamentally, analogue beings,” he writes. “As we adapt to a society entrenched in social media and screens, we must search for ways to reconnect with physical media, in turn building on our individualities and strengthening our connections with each other.”
His second major project, And Now, the Shipping Forecast, was developed in response to the ISTD brief 2026. The publication explores how a practical maritime weather report broadcast on BBC Radio 4 three times daily became a national cultural treasure, using experimental typography to visualise the rhythm and pace of the spoken word. The book is structured across three interwoven narratives: a history of the forecast, a full transcript set experimentally across the spreads inspired by concrete poetry and the work of Edwin Morgan and Guillaume Apollinaire, and illustrated graphic shapes representing the maritime areas named in the broadcast. The design holds a deliberate tension between the calm, measured vocal delivery of the forecast and the violent seas it describes.
Joel is now looking for industry experience and ways to maintain access to letterpress, Riso and screen printing outside the university context. He is an ISTD member and exactly the kind of graduate who has already developed a coherent design ethos and needs the right opportunities to apply it.
Website: joel-allen-design.uk Instagram: @joel.allen.design
Ten Tapes is one of the most fully realised graduate projects we have seen this cycle. The depth of research, the materiality of the outcomes, the audio component, the interchangeable fold-outs, the CRT display at the graduate show: every decision is considered and every decision serves the argument. The Shipping Forecast project demonstrates that the same rigour applies to typography. Joel has a clear design ethos, strong technical craft and the kind of intellectual curiosity that makes for a sustainable creative practice. The challenge now is finding the studio access and professional context to keep developing it. That is exactly where Gradspotters can help.
Applications are open
Gradspotters is People of Print’s programme for emerging graduates working in print, image-making and visual practice. We are looking for the next generation of printmakers, illustrators, designers and artists who are ready to take their practice beyond graduation and into the world.
Entry costs £20. Every applicant receives visibility on the People of Print platform. Selected prospects receive a full feature, mentorship, and practical support with building their practice and career. If you are a recent graduate, or know one who should be on our radar, this is the programme worth applying to.
Apply at peopleofprint.com/gradspotters
