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Elly Ross

elk_ross@outlook.com

Elly Ross is a graphic designer specialising in typographic and print design. During her time at London College of Communication, she has nurtured a passion for design for film, collaborating frequently with students in the screen school to make props for their films, as well as working externally in film art departments. This has fed into an interest in vintage and historical design aesthetics. She has also grown an interest in book arts during the course, supported by the excellent workshops at the university. Her research has also been an important part of her university experience. Writing a thesis on the subject of queerbaiting in television prompted a great enthusiasm in studying fan culture and representation. This interest has culminated in the self publication of her thesis as a hand-bound hardback book.

The Woman

The Woman was designed using typography inspired by glitching television screens, as it aims to disrupt the typical discourses on female representation in television. It contains commentary from a range of online sources, and was risograph printed and hand-bound.

Curio: The Deduction Game

As a self-initiated project, I looked into my fascination with the graphically designed object and its use in narrative. My outcome was a proposal for an interactive exhibition based on the Sherlock Holmes stories, to be set in the Sherlock Holmes Museum. The visitors will walk through a series of rooms containing clues which together help them solve the case. A video introduces the experience and reveals the solution. The exhibition puts graphic ephemeral clues centre stage, exploiting the appeal of designed objects and their ability to tell a narrative.

The Elephant In The Room: Authorship, Queerbaiting and Sherlock

In my thesis I discuss the practice of queerbaiting in relation to BBC television series Sherlock (2010-). I examine Sherlock’s writers’ misconceptions and stereotypes of fandom, consider how the writers’ lack of respect for fan transformations leads to a perceived hierarchy of authorship within the Sherlock Holmes fandom, and propose that Sherlock Holmes canon is owned by fandom as collective custodians. I reflect on the queer precedent of this fandom in reference to queerbaiting and authorship theories to explain how media producers can be unequivocally proved to have queerbaited their audience, leading to my conclusion that producing media with understanding and consideration of fandom could lead to a more positive media landscape.

The design of this book aims to promote the idea of collaborative media production - this could not have been written without the support of those in the fan community, or any of those who contribute to the Sherlock Holmes characterisation conversation. The cover is filled with signatures of those who have added to the Sherlock Holmes fandom discourse; authors, actors, directors, and of course, fans.