New Work: ‘Beat IV’

Angus Hyland and his team at Pentagram have designed Beat IV: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; a fully illustrated edition of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s epic poem published by the Heart Agency to showcase the work of their roster of illustrators.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is famous for its illustrated editions, most notably Gustav Dore’s engravings of 1870. In response to this heritage, Hyland based his design concept around the idea that Heart wanted to produce a contemporary rendition of a classic, creating a design inspired by the graphic language of old books.

Heart’s edition of Coleridge’s supernatural tale spans 82 pages, with each of Heart’s 36 illustrators producing a double-page spread to accompany sections of the text. The illustrators were provided with classically inspired page layouts involving empty picture frames to incorporate into their artwork. The dust jacket has the appearance of an old book which has been defaced by Jimmy Turrell, the cover artist. Heart made the decision to keep agency branding to a minimum and the masthead was subtly blind embossed onto the front cover.

This is the fourth issue of Beat, following on from previous editions with such varied themes as gypsy dream definitions and a collection of extracts of well-known writing about London and New York – home to both Heart’s transatlantic offices.

Beat IV is featured in the September issue of Grafik Magazine.

Project Credits:

Editors/Art Directors: Helen Osborne, Darrel Rees (Heart)
Design Director: Angus Hyland (Pentagram)
Designers: Masumi Briozzo, Kyle Wheeler (Pentagram)