It's only too easy for a designer to pull a trick out of the nostalgia hat, but unless that trick is pulled off with genuine talent the results don't stay fresh for very long. This weekend the typographic conference at the St Bride Printing Library celebrates the very best in revivalist aesthetics, in all aspects of design, typography and printing. "When reviving brands, you have to ask yourself if it is even worth reviving," says Kath Tudall from the Johnson Banks design studio. "Our favourite was the one for the amusement park Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The original logo had a mascot called Mr Fun Shine!" Another participant is the freelance Russian illustrator Yulia Brodskaya (whose work was previously published on Dazed Digital), she is a firm believer that you should only re-interpret the past if you can do so with a unique twist. "You don't want to live in the past," she says. "It really wasn't any better... we're all just nostalgic."

The 8th annual St Bride Printing Library Conference takes place this weekend.

www.stbride.org