Inside the Big Issue: Trainspotting turns 30

Mark Blamire was working for design agency Stylorouge in 1995. Then 26, he had never made a film poster before. There was a film coming out the next year based on a book. Left to right: Robert Carlyle as Begbie, two fingers up and cig in mouth; Kelly Macdonald as Diane, teeth bared; Jonny Lee Miller as Sick Boy, finger guns to the camera; Ewen Bremner as Spud, bent over and light bright in the sunglasses; Ewan McGregor as Renton, buzzcut, tight T-shirt and soaking wet.

With three colours – black, white and bright orange – and the Helvetica typeface, Trainspotting was announced to the world. “It was the first film poster I’d ever designed, so I wasn’t bogged down with cliches or visual metaphors. I think that’s why it was refreshing and new,” Blamire says.

We are now 30 years on from Trainspotting’s release and Blamire – known in the art world simply as Blam – is curating a star-filled exhibition, Trainspotters #T30 which marks the anniversary. Buy this week’s mag for an exclusive preview.

What else is in this week’s Big Issue?

I’m happy to pay for uni, but I’ll never clear my debt’

More than 2.6 million people in the UK owe £50,000-plus in student debt. More than 150,000 people have student loan debts of more than £100,000. For years, graduates have complained about the scale of their student debt. But recent weeks have seen a fresh wave of coverage. What’s going on?

Guy Martin’s Letter to my Younger Self

The former motorcycle racer’s parents taught him the value of working hard, and those 78 hours a week in the garage put him on the right road.

“At 16, I was just obsessed with engines and motorbikes,” he tells Big Issue. It paid off.

Zen and the art of motor traffic maintenance

Due to their ubiquity, we view road signs as little more than a form of unremarkable shorthand telling us something, but not thinking of how it tells us this. Road works ahead. Reduce speed now. No entry. But they can be art.

Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinneir are arguably two of the most-seen but least-known artists in the UK, having conceived and designed many of the pictograms and typefaces that still exist on many roads around the UK.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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