Annie Lohan

Annie Lohan

Graphic designer

Research-led graphic design with a strong interest in culture, sensory experience and community engagement - combining curation, publication design and participatory methods to create thoughtful, layered projects.

Work

Abbey Reel Pt1 photo book, open at a spread with a red note pinned over a black and white Irish landscape Abbey Reel Pt101 Gravy, Edge, Hill publication pinned to a wall among layered photographic prints Gravy, Edge, Hill02 A hand holding a halftone printed poster for The Button Museum The Button Museum03 The Common Thread pink booklet cover with black star motifs The Common Thread04 Close-up of a Pearly King suit covered in mother-of-pearl buttons The Pearlies05 Halftone plaid pattern layered with an archival family photograph A Love Letter to Manchester06 A Sense of Reality, a palm-sized publication held open mid-read A Sense of Reality07 Hands holding an illustrated prompt card from the Map the Moment walking workshop Map the Moment08

Abbey Reel Pt1

Publication

A photo book inspired by Jill Freedman and traditional Irish folk music, structured around the song Abbey Reel Pt 1 by Sean O’Riada.

Spreads from the Abbey Reel Pt1 photo book: black and white photographs of the Irish landscape and pub musicians, with a red note from Jill Freedman
The Playboy of the Western World record sleeve by Sean O Riada beside early ink drawings visualising the music
Further spreads from Abbey Reel Pt1 pairing landscape and session photography

Gravy, Edge, Hill

Publication

A publication documenting what the character Robert Baker sees from his favourite bench. The imagery is a visual poem of his daily life, where his observation meets imagination and gets shaped into something just beneath the surface of language.

Wall of layered prints for Gravy, Edge, Hill: a park bench, pressed leaves and textured photographic studies
Spreads from the Gravy, Edge, Hill publication
Detail spreads from Gravy, Edge, Hill

The Button Museum

Social media mockup
Tickets
Three posters
Map

An identity for The Button Museum, inspired by a historic button factory in Birmingham. The visual language celebrates the tactile beauty of buttons and their rich social history.

Two halftone exhibition posters for The Button Museum featuring Pearly Kings, one black and one orange
The Button Museum identity applied to tickets and social media
Poster series and map for The Button Museum
Further applications of The Button Museum identity

The Common Thread

Publication
Social media mock-up

A booklet, bound using a sewing machine, comes with a workshop guide and a quilt square pattern, aiming to make textile participation accessible to a wider audience. Accompanied by an Instagram mockup, acting as a digital quilt.

The Common Thread: pink machine-sewn booklet with black stars, and its translucent quilt-pattern wrap
The sewing pattern folding out and the booklet being unfolded
Spreads from The Common Thread workshop guide
Instagram mockup acting as a digital quilt for The Common Thread

The Pearlies

Photographic series
Short film
Exhibition catalogue
Prints

A photographic series that explores the Pearly Kings and Queens tradition. It documents the complex dynamic between their personal identity, borough representation, and collective belonging.

Close-up photograph of mother-of-pearl buttons stitched onto a Pearly suit
The Pearlies - short film
Exhibition catalogue and prints from The Pearlies photographic series

A Love Letter to Manchester

Exhibition display - MCRBCN

Exhibition display for the event MCRBCN, organised by StudioDBD. A personal response to the brief, drawing on my great-grandad’s lost shirt and pyjama factory, reassembled through family photographs as a patchwork of memory and history. Selected to represent Manchester at the international exhibition in Barcelona.

Exhibition cube for MCRBCN faced with halftone family photographs and the F. Dignan factory mark, on a green ground
Plaid pyjama material and the stamp on the back of one of the family photographs

A Sense of Reality

Publication

A small publication that fits perfectly in your palm. It contains a series of texts that communicate the value of traditional graphic design techniques in the digital age. The tactile paper and legible typeface creates an engaging experience for the reader.

A Sense of Reality, a palm-sized publication, held open
Experiments visualising tactility, and hand-binding a booklet with paint-covered hands
Spreads from A Sense of Reality

Map the Moment

Video
Social media mock-up
Photographic series

A participatory mapping workshop with a walking group, documenting fleeting moments and personal perceptions, often left unrecorded in traditional cartography. The prompts reveal how individuals uniquely experienced the same route.

Participants' hands holding prompt cards from the Map the Moment walking workshop
Photographic series and social media mock-up from Map the Moment
Map the Moment - video

About

I am a research-led graphic designer with a strong interest in culture, sensory experience, and community engagement. My work combines curation, publication design, and participatory methods to create thoughtful, layered projects.

I graduated with a First Class BA (Hons) in Graphic Design from Kingston School of Art, following a Foundation Diploma in Art, Design & Media Practice (Distinction), also at Kingston.

Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro & After Effects · Figma

Selected experience

  • La Mercè Festival, Barcelona 2025
    Selected to represent Manchester at the international exhibition organised by MCR BCN - a collaborative cube exploring the city’s cultural identity through visual storytelling.
  • Tate Modern Offprint Fair 2025
    Arranged and curated a selection of photographic prints for sale, engaging with the current publishing and photography scene.
  • Pearly Kings and Queens Society 2025
    Photographed members of the Pearly Kings and Queens, building relationships and documenting their traditions.
  • Ariadne’s Thread 2024
    Worked with a local textile workshop to inform the publication The Common Thread, later developing and running my own workshop in response.
  • The Felix Project 2024
    Created a hand-drawn animation for the charity’s marketing campaign, combining storytelling and design to appeal to potential sponsors.
  • Sarah Finan, Illustrator 2021
    Assisted with client-focused postcard packaging and mailing.

Workshops facilitated

  • Map The Moment 2025
  • The Common Thread 2024

Exhibited

  • MCRBCN, openbcn STUDIOS 2025

Contact

annielohan29@gmail.com

@anniesgraphics_