“I hope I did the beautiful cars justice!”: Apparel of Laugh’s Jude Coram on his work with British Motor Heritage

Jude, it’s been a while since we chatted – can you give us a quick update on your recent projects and portfolio?
They say variety is the spice of life, and I certainly believe that to be true in my day-to-day work. Being freelance, I’ve been able to work on loads of interesting and exciting projects for myself and with others over 2024. My t-shirt business, Apparel of Laughs, has gone from strength to strength with a few new designs added over the year. The highlight being an appearance of one of our Wallace and Gromit shirts being worn by Luke Poulton on BBC Breakfast!

I’ve also been able to work more locally with a couple of authors, an upcoming Kickstarter, a charity and a sports medicine design agency to name but a few… I also have a few personal projects simmering below the surface – like my own book about British charity shops – and a couple of board games in development. As you can tell, I like to keep myself busy within work hours and way outside of them!

Absolutely! Looping back to your work as a freelancer designer and design agency – now you’re more established, what are some key lessons you’ve learned about making that side of what you do thrive?
I’ve made a concerted effort to do more hourly work in the last couple of years, which allows me to plan my workflow much better. Instead of having a couple of projects that take up more time than I’m expecting, I’m able to account for each hour of each project. This makes it easier to have more than one client at a time. I’ve been much more open to new opportunities this year too. It might seem a small or unrelated piece of work, but you never know what might come of it. I was invited to help tutor a lady in Adobe InDesign and a few months after I was hired by them for a large-scale website illustration job. It never hurts to do the small things because sometimes big things come with them down the line.

As a younger designer, who has found success working independently is there any advice you would give to design students looking to develop their careers and build a portfolio?
I’m going to go against the conventional wisdom of others in the industry, but when you are starting out, don’t be afraid to try everything. Lots will tell you to develop a style and let it pay the bills… And if you have a style, go for it – but try everything else you can. If you only do vector illustration, that will be all you will do. Try a website design, try t-shirts, try board games, try books… See how far your skills will take you and learn along the way. Pigeonholing yourself early can work wonders, but it can also stop you flourishing creatively. Especially with the rise of AI that can mimic styles easily, it’s important to make sure you have more weapons in the arsenal. I’m very fortunate that I can design t-shirts and websites and social media marketing, so I don’t need to pay anyone else to help with Apparel of Laughs.

“I had good fun looking through old catalogues for the famous models and illustrating each car as they would have been back in the day.”

Another bit of advice that goes along with this is not being afraid of giving something a go. If you have spare time, the worst that can happen is you make something awful, but in that process you have still made something. Don’t let the fear of failure put you off. Sometimes the little ideas you have early into your career might be the thing that defines your career in 10 years time.

Good advice. And speaking of trying everything, I notice that you design a lot of Christmas cards – including some for very prestigious companies and organisations.
Designing Christmas cards is something I really fell into. I’d never considered it until I was volunteering at Exeter Cathedral and they asked me if I could design a Christmas card for them. That card sold very well in the shop and made some good money for the upkeep of the building. This started a run of five years where I designed a Christmas card for Exeter Cathedral. I realised this could be an interesting avenue to go down so started contacting other cathedrals around the country. This led to me also designing a card for Newcastle Cathedral, as well as the iconic St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. To work with such an iconic landmark like St. Paul’s was a great joy. That illustration was put to use again as the cover of the annual London Air Ambulance Carol Service programme in 2024. I also have done similar designs for local businesses to send out to their clients.

What makes a good Christmas card design?
My designs are fairly modern in comparison to most Christmas cards I see. But they still celebrate the season. I think a good Christmas card takes regular elements and highlights them in a new and exciting way. Most people get a lot of cards over the festive period – most fade into the background and add to the decorations. I think a good card will stand out amongst the generic ones. If people are going to spend money on a card, and again to send it, they want it to be special. I believe that more personal cards will be part of the future. At the cathedrals, someone would rather buy a card in the shop with a local landmark on to send – it gives more meaning to the recipient than a more generic one that could be bought anywhere.

Thinking about the wider heritage market, what tips would you give to heritage operators in regard to product development and design?
I’ve been able to see first-hand how heritage operators are able to use their shops to raise money from visitors. Often most purchases are souvenir items which represent the place the visitor has been. These shops are also increasingly seen as high-end gift shops with larger high-ticket items. It’s hard for these two styles of shop to co-exist… Selling small cheap souvenirs alongside pricier items can put people off both. That’s why strong branding is needed across all products.

If your items complement each other, you can sell any item you like rather than disparate items fighting for attention. Most historic buildings or locations will have wonderful motifs that can be used across all branding, like windows, carvings, silhouettes and colour palettes. Make it look like things have been thought about, rather than the same design slapped on anything that can be printed.

You mentioned that 2024 was a good year for your online t-shirt business Apparel of Laughs. I noticed you work with British Motor Heritage now. How did that partnership come about?
Our aim is to provide the best place to celebrate British culture, British characters, and British comedy. This has led to over 600 t-shirt and hoodie designs featuring all sorts – from Devon scones, football stadiums, and of course Wallace and Gromit. Working alongside Aardman pushed our site from a hobby to a viable business with customers all over the world. We’ve had some great success working with licences like Wallace and Gromit and Rebellion Comics, so in 2024 we decided to add another license to our roster.

We attended Brand Licensing Europe in 2023 and looked out for future collaborators. Fitting in perfectly with our ethos, we started working with British Motor Heritage and created a wide range of t-shirt designs celebrating the classic cars from brands like MG, Triumph, Austin and Morris. They complement our other shirts wonderfully and allow those who loved these old classics to relive the glory days – or reintroduce them to new audiences!

I had good fun looking through old catalogues for the famous models and illustrating each car as they would have been back in the day. I wanted them to be dynamic but also reflect the style of the era they came from. I made sure I made all designs available on the t-shirts that matched their original paint colours best too. It was a great pleasure to work with such recognisable brands and I hope I did the beautiful cars justice with my drawings.

Speaking of Aardman, what did you think of the new Wallace & Gromit film Vengeance Most Fowl?
I remember very fondly hearing about the upcoming Matter of Loaf and Death while still in primary school and being super excited. I didn’t think it would be another 16 years before I got to see another Wallace and Gromit adventure, but it was certainly worth the wait. I loved it from start to finish. It made my Christmas Day for sure. I loved the fresh approach, but still the many references and nods towards the old films. It was a joy to see Feathers McGraw back in action again too! Not that Wallace and Gromit had ever slipped from British culture, but the new film has certainly put them back at the forefront again. I’m so glad so many people watched it too!

We’re speaking right at the start of the year – so it’s prediction time! What design trends are you seeing come through that might be popular this year?
I can see one thing happening for sure and maybe something else as a consequence of the first… I’ve mentioned in interviews before about the rise of AI art. Even in the time since chatting, the technology has improved even more to the point where AI art is hard to distinguish from real art. I believe we will see much more of this artwork appearing on our high streets. I personally have seen Christmas decorations using AI art, and I can imagine it will only build from there…

Whether bigger clothing shops will attempt using it, or whether there would be a backlash, I’m not sure. Some might use it ironically? I think as a result of this more superficial trend, others will look in the opposite direction wanting more homemade items. The public will prefer items made with love and not machine. Items that have been thought about and planned rather than regurgitated by code on a computer. Whether the public accepts AI art or rallies against it remains to be seen… I believe 2025 will be the year we find out. Will we see a return to an arts and crafts style era with people shunning new technology to create new and exciting things? Or will that technology be embraced despite the consequences?

“Will the public accept AI art or rally against it? 2025 will be the year we find out.”

Reflecting on last year, was there a particular product launch that you thought was special design-wise?
I read online recently that music had been a real cultural force in 2024, much more than previous years, and I’m inclined to agree. With such segmented culture it can be hard to really tap into the public pop culture these days, but one album was everywhere during the year and that was Brat by Charlie XCX. I will admit, I haven’t heard much of the album, but I have seen hundreds if not thousands of iterations and memes of the album.

Looking at the stats on Spotify, not a single song from the album was in the top 50 streamed songs of the year in the UK, and yet if you were to ask people to name an album from this year, most could name Brat and probably describe the cover. The sheer arrogance and simplicity of the cover took it outside the music world entirely and into the cultural pantheon. When my auntie – who’s in her fifties – was telling me she was having a brat summer I really saw how the album had permeated the public consciousness!

The cleverness of the design of the album allowed it to be parodied and mimicked by people online and that gave it a much longer shelf life. It’s mad how the most basic design of the year will probably be its most definitive. As lots have people have said, I could have done that… But you didn’t, and I didn’t, but Charli did and that’s why it was a hit. I mean, very few albums are represented via the London New Year’s fireworks!

Jude, thanks for this. I have one last question… You hold a Guinness World Record – tell us more…
Ha! Yeah this was good fun. Back in 2021, still in the grips of covid and with plenty of time on my hands, I decided to fulfil my dream of getting a World Record. Running a t-shirt site, the one I went for was the Largest Display of Origami T-Shirts. It took me three months to fold 4,036 origami shirts and another couple of weeks to organise and display them in the MakeTank on Exeter High street. They were on display for another month with lots of publicity thrown in for good measure. Articles about the record appeared in local papers, as well as papers in New York, Malaysia, Ireland and Iran. I also had a couple of interviews on BBC Radio Devon.

The best accolade I got was being featured in the following year’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Book! I also received the official certificate which is still in pride of place in my office space. Sadly, the record has been broken since by a trio of people in India who have 20 origami records between them, so I didn’t really stand a chance! The whole escapade was great publicity, and fulfilled a childhood ambition too.

Terrific! Thanks again Jude.