Description
The following interview first appeared in Issue 01 of Eight:48 Magazine.
Can you tell me how you became a Designer?
I initially became interested in design through an unhealthy obsession with graffiti in my early teens.
At the time I could probably tell you more about the graff scene in NY than I could about any artist or designer (but growing up on a south London estate could also have contributed to this). I gradually followed a fairly standard route through the education system – a BA in Computer Illustration at Portsmouth, later followed by an MA in Communication Design at Central Saint Martins.
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Could you tell us about your working process?
Ideas are key – method follows later. Not knowing how to achieve something should never put us off trying. It’s vital to know where you want to go, then worry about how you’ll get there afterwards.
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Do you manage to mix your personal work with your commercial work?
I have no definition between personal and commercial work anymore. There are definitely projects undertaken primarily for commercial purposes, but generally the two tend to feed each other and overlap. I have always intentionally tried not to draw a boundary between the two in the hope that one would not consume the other.
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What role does the computer play in your work?
It is the key component in allowing me to achieve an end result. At every stage of a project some form of Mac hardware is never far away. Although pen+paper and our trusty photocopier are also utilised, they are meaningless without a computer becoming involved at some point. This isn’t something I’m particularly proud or ashamed of, it’s just a reality of the way we work.
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Where do you get your inspiration from?
Unfortunately, one of the downsides of being a designer is that it’s often very difficult to switch off and stop looking for inspiration. Therefore it can often derive from the most unlikeliest of sources, in the strangest of places. I think being able to control and manipulate the flow of inspiration is the Holy Grail for many designers, but I sometimes worry that the proliferation of visual bookmarking sites has clouded the experience of filtering inspiration for younger designers. It may sound obvious, but I think it’s vital to remain inspired by a very broad experience and to define and discover things for ourselves.
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How important is the tactile nature of the work you produce?
I design things to be held and touched, so how they feel is an essential part of the process. Traditionally,
for me this has meant obsessing over the printing process and knowing far more about paper stock
than is probably natural. However, as we’ve become increasingly involved in product and clothing design, I now often find myself drooling over silicone and cotton thread counts instead.
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How can the humble book survive the digital revolution?
By giving us qualities not delivered by pixels. I think the experience of reading newspapers and magazines could eventually be enhanced by digital devices such as the iPad, but many of the pleasures gained from reading a book stem from its physical attributes, such as format, paper, ink and, perhaps most importantly, smell. I don’t see any of these being replicated by technology any time soon. But then again, I seem to remember arguing that people would never use their phones to listen to music or watch films – something I now do on a daily basis – so what do I know.
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What do you think about the current illustration/design scene?
Today, the opportunities to collaborate and connect on a global scale are far more exciting than any localised London scene could ever be. I’m interested to see more designers moving away from the traditional route of just servicing a client and producing work that can be self-published and distributed. It’s very inspiring to see home-grown entities such as It’s Nice That challenging what a designer should be and promoting a culture of collaboration.
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In your opinion, what that has been designed within the last few years will stand the test of time and prove a lasting legacy for this generation of creatives?
I think it would be very easy to say the iPhone, as it’s a design that’s completely changed the way I work, and will inevitably be viewed as a turning point for mobile technology. But, from the area of graphics I (try to) operate in, I believe the body of work created by Julian House will, and should, represent the current – and maybe last – generation of record sleeve designers for years to come. I couldn’t choose one particular project, but in a time of great change and uncertainty within the record industry he has continued to produce great sleeve art that is still relevant away from just being a 72 dpi packshot on screen.
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The end of print: ‘Good riddance’, ‘a cause for sadness’ or ‘people will always want books’?
I remember having the same debate at college over ten years ago, so I guess the answer is still the same, whether we like it or not, people will always want books… well, I will anyway.
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If you could save one book from your shelf, what would it be?
To remind me of where it all started, probably my battered copy of Subway Art by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant. I have since been fortunate enough to experience many great books, but I don’t think any of them have been used and abused quite as much as this one.
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