CLARE ISLAND is a photo journal documenting a journey to Clare Island from a personal perspective. The photography part of this publication was shot on Clare Island between 15th - 17th of March 2025 on film. While on the island a personal journal was kept to take notes, which was then included as part of the contents and informed the visual style of titles, notes and chapters.

The content inside the publication, include geotagged data information that accompanies every image taken with a time-stamp, GPS coordinates and approximate elevation. This data was gathered with a GPS tracker carried while on the island and cross-analysed with features inside images, features on satellite images, and my memory against a trail point log to approximate were and when I took each analogue photograph.

The publication is hand-bound within 35 signatures of 2 folios each, with a coptic stitch to be able to lay flat open and thread ends left hanging symbolising the ferry ropes. Laid into a bespoke red cotton cloth clamshell box of the same colour as the ferry that brought me to the island.

A visual representation of the photographic expedition to Clare Island. Translating numerical coordinate data into plotted graphics.

The design draws influences from orienteering, topological map legends and way-finding signage on the island. A clean simple design was prioritised to keep information concise. Further separation of information into individual layers uses parallax to aid legibility of overlapping areas.

A journey to Clare Island during the St. Patrick's holiday weekend, to capture the adventure of exploring the beauty of the famous home of Grainne O'Malley hidden in Clew Bay, county Mayo. A sentinel of tradition and Irish history, Clare Island is the perfect place to wander and soak up the adventure spirit. Following in the steps of pioneers in scientific research, visiting the island more than a 100 years ago for a multidisciplinary survey lead by world famous Robert Lloyd Praeger. Get up close to a megalithic tomb, a pirate queen's castle, remains of the Napoleonic wars and many more. This journey of a fresh adventurer and photographer Patrik Zacek joint by his dad and sister-in-law aimed to explore what an adventure is and how it can look like. Plans lead to unexpected turns.

Things gone wrong. Reflections happened. Have a peak into what an adventure looks like and plan your own adventure to experience the world. In any way you want.

The Glory Hole explores the glory hole as an object within its erotic context, aiming to dismantle the taboo surrounding this sexual practice through education. The topic offers a unique look at a form of sexual engagement that reduces full-body interaction to a hyper-focused exchange between two body parts—penis and mouth—while maintaining partner anonymity.

To inform the project, functioning glory holes were documented, including a visit to a sex shop with a working darkroom and an informal interview with staff. A notable finding was the irregular, oval shape of the holes—formed by user height and movement—which inspired expressive typography echoing this organic form.

An experimental iteration that lead to the final publication the glory hole.

With its design, this iteration explores the physical space of the darkroom in more literal terms—drawing emphasis on the the glory hole stall doors. Working through problems of the mechanisms of the publication, it is testing many new techniques to bring to the final version.

Explore diverse ways of seeing the world, designed for accessibility and inclusivity, considering visual impairments. The legible typeface is paired with braille inside and on the durable plastic jacket. The 240 pages are hand-bound with open coptic stitching, featuring a minimalistic white cover with a letter-pressed title.

Seeing is a broad concept, both technical and philosophical. This book explores various ways of seeing and perceiving the world around us.

This book was shortlisted in the British Book Design and Production Awards 2023 under the Best Student Book category.

Visual identity concept for NCAD Zooms In Instagram page – a weekly talk platform curated and hosted in-house by NCAD Communication Design.

Visual identity for Jake's optimistic and charismatic personality incorporates key aspects of their life, including love for water sports, fashion, and their fine art media profession.

A playful approach to bring the logo alive in the form of a colourful claymation.

A letterpress poster underlining a symptom of the anthropocene. The microplastics in the human body. Teamwork with Isabel Duignan.

The process took many conversations; the final one lead us to ambiguity and subtlety of how this 'symptom' appears in our food, our water, our life, we harnessed it and pushed it to closely emphasize the problem.

Learn more about the exhibition

Designed and printed by hand. Meticulously typeset and positioned on a type machine. Every iteration tested on paper, 0% computers used.