Simon C Page celebrates the International Year of Chemistry

Simon C Page came to our attention in 2009 for a series of geometric posters created for the International Year of Astronomy. Now he's returned to the arena of science for a new series celebrating 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry (as recognised by the UN).

As with the previous set, the prints combine beautifully simple use of colour and geometry, mixing stylised diagrams of atoms with playful use of everyday forms including an eye and a football. We sat down with Simon to find out more.

DA:Why did you want to create prints for the International Year of Chemistry?

SP: "I was contacted by a bunch of scientists who had known about my work from the International Year of Astronomy and had requested that I get involved. [it was] initially to design a Marie Curie documentary screening poster (below) and it kind of grew from there. As with the Astronomy work, this got approved as an official set – which is something I am really happy about. It's always nice to be able to make something effectively for fun with no art direction and have it turn out to be more than just 'fan art'."

Emission (Marie Curie)

Elements (Dmitri Mendeleev). Mendeleev was a Russian chemist who is credited with creating the first Periodic table.

DA:Many of them seem designed to look at chemistry in a way that's relatable to your 'average person'. Was this something you had in mind when creating them?

SP:"Very much so, I have tried to make the art as accessible as possible so you don't need a PhD to understand or appreciate them. Ideally, I would of liked to of created all the prints like the Revolution one (below). To most people this is one of the most attractive designs visually, but it's also is a replica of the carbon layers that make up Graphene – and so it's very much science meets art."

Revolution (Graphene)

Striking (Buckyballs). Buckyballs are spherical fullremes (molecules made entirely of carbon). Their nickname comes from the geodesic domes of futurist Buckminster Fuller.

DA:What did you want to achieve with these that's different from the International Year of Astronomy?

SP:"With this series, each piece has details about the scientist or discovery which has inspired it – which is something I wish I had done with my Astronomy prints. This is a nice way of people relating to the work rather than it just being something pretty to look at and a print number."

DA: How has your own style progressed since 2009?

SP:"I always find that a difficult question. I have definitely been trying more things and refining the way I work. However, something I like about these prints is that people have commented that they instantly recognised them as my work."

Atomise (John Dalton). Dalton was the English chemist and physicist who developed atomic theory.

Ions (Lorenzo Avogadro). Avogadro is best know for Avogadro's law.

DA:Science seems to very much underpin much of your work. How does it guide what you do?

SP:"I think science be it fiction or fact can be a great inspiration to everyone. I, as I am sure others, find it much easier to design work that I have an instant resonance with and science is one of them."

DA:What typefaces did you use and why?

SP:"Garamond. I felt these prints needed more of a classical serif type and have been wanting to use this typeface for some time. When I am designing multiple posters, I always leave the final typeface choice to the last minute to make sure that they fit every design. Garamond was more than flexible enough for the job – it is a really impressive typeface."

Prints of the designs can be bought from Simon's website.