First 11 Labour Prime Ministers

The annual Labour Party Conference 2024 took place in Christchurch in November. To help with fundraising during the event, the Labour Party needed fresh new merchandise ready. I was asked to design tea towels and mugs with Labour logos past and present, as well as something that would celebrate the 11 previous Labour Prime Ministers of New Zealand: Michael Savage, Peter Fraser, Walter Nash, Norm Kirk, Bill Rowling, David Lange, Geoffrey Palmer, Mike Moore, Helen Clark, Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins.

The biggest challenges were time and budget; I had to move quickly and make fast design decisions in order to meet our production deadlines for the event in November. My initial plan was to trace each person in a line-art style, but when I wasn't fully happy with the result and thought we should do something more colourful, I pivoted to a minimalist posterised style inspired by the artwork of Tom Whalen, challenging myself to stick to a palette of just three screenprinting inks: Labour Red, purple and peach.

The final First 11 design went on sale at the November 2024 conference in Christchurch and online. The products were a big success, with strong additional online sales, and the artwork was used as illustrative event signage around the conference venue.