Samphetamine®
2022
Personal work
2022
Personal work
A groundbreaking new form of medication providing fast-acting relief from modern day existence.
Whilst appearing like a legit pharmaceutical drug, Samphetamine® is actually the title for a collection of performance pieces written by a young theatre writer called Sam, who happens to be my younger brother.
Each of the works is rooted in the experience of chronic depression, for which he was diagnosed at age 17. For that reason, this project is deeply personal to me. Some of the pieces have been performed to a live audience, others have not.
He hadn’t realised it before, but medication – and all the things that result from it – is a constant theme across his writing. This sparked an idea that I couldn’t resist… to publish the work as a medication, complete with pharma-style packaging (1–4), a 186-pg fold-out insert (5–6), plus a corporate website in which to shift the product (7).
** fact fact: Stripe payment systems temporarily blocked access to the site as it ‘violated their policy on the sale of controlled substances’. Access was only re-instated after I appealed the decision explaining that I was in fact a publisher and this was in fact a book! **
Now turn that frown upside down and go fetch yourself a copy here: www.samphetamine.uk
Author ︎︎︎ Sam Bird
Concept ︎︎︎ Tom Bird
Design & Art Direction ︎︎︎ Tom Bird
Web Design, Build & Copywriting ︎︎︎ Tom Bird
Illustrations ︎︎︎ Gabriel Carr
Printing ︎︎︎ Jubels [NL]
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Whilst appearing like a legit pharmaceutical drug, Samphetamine® is actually the title for a collection of performance pieces written by a young theatre writer called Sam, who happens to be my younger brother.
Each of the works is rooted in the experience of chronic depression, for which he was diagnosed at age 17. For that reason, this project is deeply personal to me. Some of the pieces have been performed to a live audience, others have not.
He hadn’t realised it before, but medication – and all the things that result from it – is a constant theme across his writing. This sparked an idea that I couldn’t resist… to publish the work as a medication, complete with pharma-style packaging (1–4), a 186-pg fold-out insert (5–6), plus a corporate website in which to shift the product (7).
** fact fact: Stripe payment systems temporarily blocked access to the site as it ‘violated their policy on the sale of controlled substances’. Access was only re-instated after I appealed the decision explaining that I was in fact a publisher and this was in fact a book! **
Now turn that frown upside down and go fetch yourself a copy here: www.samphetamine.uk
Author ︎︎︎ Sam Bird
Concept ︎︎︎ Tom Bird
Design & Art Direction ︎︎︎ Tom Bird
Web Design, Build & Copywriting ︎︎︎ Tom Bird
Illustrations ︎︎︎ Gabriel Carr
Printing ︎︎︎ Jubels [NL]