A self initiated project at the Royal College of Art, the Billboard Survival Guide was produced in response to the large numbers of billboards in the urban environment.

The guide contained a set of screenprinted vinyl stickers designed to be ripped out and applied to billboards. The stickers contained text collected and edited from the marketing and press material of billboard and outdoor media companies. The idea was to show the cynical and manipulative way in which these companies referred to people (units, modes, lifestyle types etc.) was the most effective way of undermining the seemingly benign world of billboard advertising.

The guide also contained carefully researched, useful information on the sociological methods used to target billboards at various audiences, and your likely legal status if caught applying stickers to billboards.

Printed in an initial run of five, the Guide was screen and litho printed, then staple bound.


I later adapted the visual style of the project for the design of electro artist FC Kahunas’ Machine Says Yes album camapign and artwork on City Rockers Records.