25 Years of Laurence King Publishing
For the past decade, Angus Hyland has served as a consulting creative director at this British publishing house. On its 25th anniversary, we review its journey from a specialist house to a mainstream player publishing over 100 titles per year.
Laurence King Publishing's Spring and Autumn catalogues and an invitation to its 25th Anniversary Party at the V&A
For the past ten years Angus Hyland has worked as a consultant and Creative Director for Laurence King Publishing, an independent publisher that is celebrating its 25th anniversary. During this time, Angus has been part of the house's exponential growth and its transition from a niche offering to a mainstream player.
Angus’ relationship with Laurence King Publishing began in 1996 when he designed 20th-Century Type (Remix), a decade-by-decade analysis of the issues that have shaped the history of typographic and, latterly, graphic design. In 2001 he authored his debut book for LKP, Pen and Mouse: Commercial Art and Digital Illustration, the first-ever survey of computer generated contemporary illustration from around the world.
Since beginning his tenure as Creative Director, Angus has continued to design select Laurence King Publishing books and has authored a number of its graphic design and art titles including: The Purple Book, which won the 2013 Book of the Year Award from the British Book Design and Production Awards; Symbol; C/ID: Visual Identity Branding for the Arts; The Book of the Dog; and The Book of the Bird.
‘20th Century Type (Remix)’, designed by Angus Hyland
‘Pen and Mouse’ was the first book that Angus Hyland authored for Laurence King Publishing
The award-winning ‘The Purple ’, authored by Angus Hyland
‘Hand to Eye’, authored by Angus Hyland
Angus Hyland's ‘Symbol’, alongside ‘Logo’ and ‘Logotype’
In recent years, the publisher has found its biggest success in adult colouring books, including Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden and The Enchanted Forest which have sold 16 million copies globally. The extraordinary popularity of this series cemented Laurence King Publishing’s mainstream appeal and marked the beginning of its purposeful move into the gift-related product market.
LKP's continued success in the adult colouring and gift market is largely due to its beginnings as a publisher for students and graduates of the visual arts. This history has helped the house retain its design-led ethos, leading to high-quality, detail oriented publications that are desirable objects in themselves.
“To compete with digital alternatives, books need to be as ‘bookie’ as possible,” says Angus. “To do this they need to function better as a physical object than a digital experience, they cannot just be bland carriers of information.”
Johanna Basford's ‘Secret Garden’ and ‘The Enchanted Forest’
Laurence King Publishing's adult colouring books include ‘Floribunda’, ‘Matthew Williamson: Fashion, Print and Colouring’ and ‘Birdtopia’
The adult colouring book titles cater to a number of interests, like cycling.
‘The Great British Colouring map’ - developed with the Ordinance Survey - and ‘Toolshed’ are two of the publisher's recent adult colouring options
Laurence King Publishing's ‘Dreamday Journals’ have introduced colouring to the stationary market
LKP started as a specialist publisher for the visual arts, releasing titles like ‘Read This’, a two-part straight talking guide to taking great photos
‘This Is..’ a series of illustrated art monograph that aims to show readers art history as they've never seen it before
At present, Laurence King Publishing is diversifying its products by expanding its children’s book list. This move follows the landmark and award winning Let's Make Great Art series by Marion Deuchars.
Marion Deuchars' interactive colouring and activity series ‘Let's Make Great Art’
A selection of titles from Laurence King Publishing's newly launched children's list
A huge congrats to Laurence King Publishing from all of us at Pentagram, here's to another 25 years!
