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The Graphic Design House

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The Graphic Design House

We create remarkable designs that deliver campaign results you can measure. Curious? Let's start a conversation!

With experience across arts and culture, education, sport, charity, and corporate sectors, The Graphic Design House (TGDH) is a full-service design agency committed to building brands and driving results. We deconstruct design, reimagine your brand and find intrigue in digital and social media design.

06/10/2026

A visitor brochure has two jobs.

Before it can persuade someone to visit, it has to persuade them to pick it up.

That first moment shaped the A5 brochure we designed for Compton Verney. In a busy leaflet rack, it would be competing with plenty of other attractions for attention.

Rather than trying to show everything on the cover, we deliberately held something back. A die-cut window reveals only part of the photograph beneath it, not the whole image, just enough to encourage a closer look.

Once opened, the brochure rewards that curiosity.

Instead of presenting every reason to visit at once, we structured the content so that people could discover Compton Verney gradually, building a broader picture of the art, house, grounds and wider day out as they moved through the pages.

That balance shaped the brochure: intrigue on the outside, useful information within. The die-cut isn’t a finishing touch; it begins the experience that the rest of the design continues.

Our full case study explores how we created a visitor brochure designed around the moment someone first encounters it.

Explore the full project: https://bit.ly/4yYK2Kj

01/10/2026

Some of the most important design decisions behind Alleyn's School's new prospectus were made using blank pieces of paper.

A screen can show you how a layout, typeface or image will look. It can’t fully tell you how a publication will feel in someone’s hands, how a pocket will sit within the cover or how different materials and finishes will behave together.

That’s why their new Senior School prospectus and admissions guide were developed through stock samples, foil references, blind paper dummies and production prototypes as well as artwork.

The paper dummies allowed us to test the 245mm × 172mm format, refine the cover construction and make sure the separate admissions guide sat neatly within its capacity pocket. The stock samples and foil references were reviewed separately, allowing the individual materials and finishes to be considered before the smooth uncoated stock, die-cut cover, mirrored blue-tint foil and more subtle white foil were brought together in production.

Each decision had to balance visual impact with something practical. The compact format helped reduce paper waste during production and made the prospectus easier to carry at open days, while separating the admissions guide gave the main publication a longer useful life.

It’s a reminder that designing for print doesn’t end with what appears on the page. Size, stock, construction, binding and finishing all shape how someone experiences the finished piece.

Our full case study takes a closer look at how those decisions came together in the Alleyn’s School prospectus and admissions guide.

Explore the full project: https://bit.ly/4AEZsFd

29/09/2026

What happened this year and why does it matter? A well-written and designed annual report should make the answers clear.

One clear infographic can make a year’s progress easier to grasp. One well-chosen case study can show what that progress meant to someone.

These are the choices that help an annual report hold a reader’s attention. Performance, finances, governance and future plans all need their place, but they don’t all need the same amount of space or the same treatment.

If your next report is due early next year, now is a good time to decide what you want each audience to take away from it. That will help you choose which stories and figures deserve prominence. Layout, hierarchy, white space and data visualisation can then guide attention, create pace and make a complex report easier to explore, digitally and in print.

Our latest guide looks at the practical design decisions that can turn a detailed annual report into a more engaging and useful communication tool.

Read: https://bit.ly/4AT7EC6

22/09/2026

Our studio is only a few steps from the factory floor at Bishops Printers. For projects like this, that closeness really matters.

At the centre of our latest brochure for Compton Verney is a die-cut window. The brochure will often sit in a leaflet holder alongside plenty of others, so the idea was to reveal only part of the image beneath and give people a reason to pick it up, look closer and see what was behind it.

It’s a creative idea, but also a production challenge.

The shape and position of the window, the image sitting underneath it and the detail visible through it all have to work together once the cover is printed and cut. Decisions about production tolerances and how the finished piece will behave are therefore part of the design, not checks to be left until the artwork is complete.

Working alongside the Bishops production team meant we could develop the idea with a clear understanding of how it would be made. These photographs capture the brochure moving through that process and the design beginning to take physical form.

Inside, bold typography, photography and changing graphic shapes continue the invitation to arrive curious, discover different perspectives and take a closer look.

Not every brochure needs a specialist finish. But when a finish can help communicate the idea, it should be considered from the beginning rather than added for decoration at the end.

That’s why, for us, design and production aren’t two separate stages. The strongest printed pieces develop through a conversation between both.

16/09/2026

‘Once again’ - two small words that say quite a lot

We recently completed the latest season brochure for The Radlett Centre and received this lovely feedback from Greg Dexter:

“Once again you have surpassed yourself and we couldn’t be happier with the result. You have completely represented the brand that we are trying to achieve, and the creativity that you have sprinkled all over it makes it a brochure we can be really proud of.”

Positive feedback is always appreciated, but being invited back to work on the next edition means even more.

Recurring publications give us the opportunity to build on the work that has come before. We can carry forward the knowledge gained through previous editions while bringing fresh creative thinking to the latest programme.

It’s an ongoing process rather than a completely new beginning each time, and one that becomes stronger through familiarity, open conversations and trust.

Thank you to Greg and everyone at The Radlett Centre for asking us to work on the brochure once again and for taking the time to share such a lovely response.

10/09/2026

How do you develop a design language that could only belong to one venue?

For Jacksons Lane’s new What’s On Guide, we started by establishing the overall creative direction. Our moodboards explored strong production photography, vibrant colour and playful shapes, but this was only the starting point. The next step was turning that broad visual inspiration into something distinctly Jacksons Lane.

We looked closely at the venue itself, drawing new colours from its interiors and identifying shapes and forms within the architecture. Rather than reproducing those details literally, we simplified and developed them into a flexible set of graphic elements.

Through our early concepts, we tested how those forms could frame photography, organise information and work at different scales across the brochure. We also explored how the new colours could sit alongside Jacksons Lane’s existing palette, signalling a new chapter without losing the connection to its established identity.

By the time we reached the final design, every element had a purpose. The shapes gave very different production images a consistent framework, the colours created rhythm across the content, and the fold-out format allowed the visual language to continue across the entire piece.

It’s a good example of why the development stage matters. The idea wasn’t simply to apply an interesting style to a brochure, but to take inspiration from Jacksons Lane and develop it into an ownable, practical system that worked for both the venue and its varied programme.

Swipe through to follow the journey from moodboard and exploration to early concepts and the finished printed guide.

08/09/2026

When you’re briefing a design agency on a publication, at what point do paper, binding and finishing enter the conversation?

If it’s only once the layouts are finished, some of the most interesting creative opportunities may already have been missed.

For the latest edition of ONLINE, North London Collegiate School’s alumnae magazine, the physical specification became part of how the content was structured and experienced.

Across the 112-page main text, two throw-outs open beyond the regular page format, giving selected content more space and introducing a deliberate change of pace. A perforated section allows part of the publication to be removed cleanly, giving that content a practical life beyond the magazine.

The material choices were considered in the same way. The 100gsm offset paper creates a natural, tactile reading experience, while the cover combines soft-touch lamination with selective gloss UV. The contrast between the two finishes allows particular details to catch the light against the softer surface.

Each element changes how the reader encounters the content.

That’s where our close connection between design and print makes a difference. Our designers can think beyond what appears on the page, working with the production team to consider format, materials, binding and finishing while the creative is still being developed.

Because a publication shouldn’t just be designed as a series of layouts. It should be designed with the physical object in mind.

03/09/2026

Does your brochure have to be A4 or A5?

They’re popular formats for good reason. But if you choose one simply because it’s what you used last time, you could be overlooking a useful design decision.

Format can affect how your content is presented, how the brochure feels in the hand, how easy it is to post and even how much impact it has when someone picks it up.

A different size, orientation, fold, paper stock or binding might be a better fit for the job.

The point isn’t to make a brochure unusual for the sake of it. It’s to choose the format based on what you need the finished piece to do.

Our latest guide looks at common brochure sizes and binding options, and the practical and creative considerations to help you choose the right one.

https://bit.ly/4gHcNUo

26/08/2026

Seven years of working together. More than £30 million raised. And a partnership that continues to give us new challenges to get our teeth into.

We’re incredibly proud of our relationship with Exeter College, Oxford, not just because of the work we’ve created together, but because of the trust that sits behind it.

When you work with a client over a number of years, you build up an understanding that goes far beyond a brand guideline. You get to know the organisation, its ambitions, and how it needs to communicate visually across its materials and touchpoints. That knowledge becomes part of the creative process, helping us ask better questions, challenge ideas where needed and create work that feels right for the client.

Our latest project has been a new legacy brochure, bringing Exeter’s wider campaign identity together with a subject that requires real sensitivity and clarity. We’re now turning our attention to the College’s next fundraising priority.

For us, this is exactly what a great client relationship should become: less about individual projects and more about a genuine creative partnership that gets stronger with every piece of work.

A huge thank you to Adale Bennett from Exeter College, Oxford for the kind words and for continuing to put their trust in us.

19/08/2026

Yesterday, we welcomed Matt Ford from GF Smith into the studio to spend some time with some of our design team, sharing the latest stocks, colours and possibilities in paper.

The more our designers understand about the materials available to them, the more they can design with those materials in mind from the very beginning. A particular colour, texture or weight of paper can influence the direction of an idea, change how a piece feels in someone’s hands, or open up a creative route that simply wouldn’t exist if stock was only considered at the end of the process.

That’s why keeping close to what’s new matters to us. It gives our team a wider creative toolkit and means that when we’re talking to a client about how their brand or campaign could come to life in print, we’re able to bring informed ideas to the table, not just design something and then find a paper to put it on.

A big thank you to Matt for coming in and giving the team plenty of fresh inspiration (and some very nice paper to obsess over).

Address

Walton Road, Farlington
Portsmouth
PO61TR

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	9am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	9am - 5:30pm
Thursday	9am - 5:30pm
Friday	9am - 5:30pm

Website

https://www.tgdh.co.uk/

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