Design by Anthony Lui, No Allegiances and Morrissey Photography by Jake Walters Band Photography by Travis Shinn
There has been a brilliant trilogy of LPs by Morrissey in this last decade, each featuring our fella pictured with a curious object - coveting a tommy gun, playing a fiddle in Rome and this year, left holding the baby. It plays nicely against his past image of celibacy and controversy. But it's more than just a great image: rather than dashing off the typo in a lazy flourish of Helvetica Neue, Anthony Lui drew inspiration from the decorative latin typography found on old Herb Albert LPs.
Morrissey's humourous use of photography can sometimes be over-looked. The campaign for this record featured several shots which play around with the image of his band, sometimes role playing in matching outfits (birthday suits pictured below). It's a detail I like. Seek out the inner sleeves to his previous three singles. I guarantee they will make you laugh out loud.
Any way, entertainment. Here's Moz playing this year at Great Yarmouth Pier. If you look closely you may see my nose.
Bubbling under, these covers also caught Studio's eye:
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
The XX
Iron and Wine - Around the Well
That's your lot.
Studio would like to thank all of our clients, friends and collaborators for making our 2009 such creative fun. Happy New Year - all the best for 2010.
Here's a sneak preview of the Studio Results booklet.
Well, the cover anyway. Lovingly printed on GF Smith's Colorplan stock (pristine white with Morocco embossing, yum). The outer and inner cover feature shots taken by Andi Sapey in Tokyo of the Tori Gates.
Meanwhile, the text pages (printed on Naturalis Soft White) are boxed and ready to be dispatched for hand-stitching in the new year.
Finally, here's a shot of the glamorous, though reclusive Jane Carter - whose support on this project has been tremendous. In fact, on most of the stuff that Studio has done this year. Thanks Jane x
Mark Farrow is one of my all-time favourites designers, so I may be biased but this design was a beaut.
Earlier this year Studio attended the D&AD President's Lecture by magazine editorial design legend David Hillman. When host Patrick Baglee asked David for an example of what is currently best in design, he chose this record sleeve and nothing from publishing. And why? Because it communicates a simple idea clearly and in a style which is entirely appropriate for the artist. And David likes ideas based design.
Plus, it gets round that challenge of how a record sleeve looks good when reduced to an icon in itunes.
Studio also recommends the re-issue of Spiritualized 'Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space'. Again, a simple lateral concept which packages the CD as a sealed pill. Even the sleeve notes read like instructions accompanying medication - 'Do not operate machinery' - that kind of thing. Clever copywriting always improves a design 100%.
The rest of Farrow's work for Pet Shop Boys is superb too and a genuine masterclass in graphic design (sorry, I can't help myself).
Designed by Ian Anderson and Jarvis Cocker Photography by Rankin
Music is an obvious passion and sleeve art definitely influenced my desire to go to art college. Record sleeves have to work hard for our attention, define the attitude of the artist. And if they're lucky, capture the mood of the culture at that moment when the music is coming out of your speakers.
To kick-off this short series of Studio favourites of 2009 is this fantastic LP cover by Jarvis Cocker - dressed as that cool but pervy history tutor, Rankin's use of white space accentuates Jarvis' lanky figure and his desire to move, dance and get frisky. it's unmistakably him. And as a cool contrast, the typography is black, fat, bloated and rounded. I like it a lot.
Here's the video directed by Stephanie Di Giusto which builds on the theme.
It's a complicated boogie (and we don't know any better).
Another unmissable event in the D&AD President's Lecture programme and provocatively entitled too. But it was all part of the fun and refreshing to know that while Neville Brody takes his role seriously as a designer in society, he can see through the facade of being regarded as a design celebrity.
The other widely reported quirk to this evening was the usage of twitter and its invitation for everyone to participate and ask questions with the all important hash-tag. Our host for the evening, the ever-readable Adrian Shaughnessy, keeping Neville on topic and occasionally browsing the tweets for those emperor-baiting questions.
And Studio intern Scott got the first question! He asked:
A valid question and one that perplexes most students, frustrated by choice. Neville stroked his chin and answered that "you can never have enough chairs" or "everyone should have their own font". For a designer famous for creating his own fonts, he would hardly restrict himself to his favourite three. Plus, mostly his letterforms are hand-drawn, like his recent title sequence for the film 'Public Enemies'. He gives good font does Neville.
The work exhibited was all recent examples from his Research Studio. Which was cool considering he could easily rely on the legacy work of the 80s - The Face and Arena magazines pretty much define the era. And here is where the theorizing began and much more chin stroking. Neville really needed a whiskey to complete the picture. He feels the decline of popular culture and societies use of design began with Thatcher, Reagan and Haircut 100. Seriously, this must have amused and befuddled the youngsters but this stuff could help your Critical Studies. For the record, he remains deeply suspicious of the Tories and fears the worst if Cameron gets into No.10 next year.
He is also frustrated by the way design is taught at art college. That there is too much focus on aiming for a career and not enough time to nurture creativity, stating, "college is to nurture your soul - your convictions". OK, but the times haven't changed that much. I went to art college to learn a trade and obviously graduates want jobs. But I do agree, there are too many graduates competing out there. But like all great thinkers, there was an element of self-contradiction. Neville thinks there should be 100% creativity and 100% skills. So, learn flash.
After Adrian branded a heckler a wanker it was our time to vote. The audience was all given voting cards, each to hold aloft in Apprentice style. And like a suited Dermot O'Leary I can reveal the result. From my seat it was 65% Genius / 35% Wanker.
When The Clash first visited New York, they said when they looked out the car window it was like seeing a movie. And as a kid raised on American cop shows in the 70's, I can understand that (favourite show: Hill Street Blues). But what about the influence of NYC on graphic design?
As most Graphic Communication students may tell you, I bang on a lot about european design; I think of myself as very much a european designer. But what about american design? Well, when ever I imagine the design consumed by the cast of Seinfeld or the officers in blue on the Hill, it was always the work of Paula Scher (with great respect to Milton, Bob and Paul). I was really excited to hear Paula talk about her work, especially in her irresistible accent. And she did not disappoint.
This will please fans of The Beatles - her earliest influence was the cover of 'Revolver' and its swirly illustration by Klaus Voormann. And that is significant as she describes her work as decorative and the exact opposite to the precision of 'boring' swiss design. Although her talk was mostly a greatest hits resume of her career, I liked the fact she is not defined by her earliest work, when she was fancy free in her twenties. And she designed record covers back then, freely admitting that while designing 150 covers a year for CBS - she only felt six truly represented her true potential. But she found the creative freedom and confidence to create good work at Pentagram.
Paula likes BIG type - it literally shouts of the page. Her poster work for The Public Theater is jammed with information. But just as designing simply is more difficult than it looks, going for typo overload also takes great skill and control.
She has a hang-up about helvetica. Her design communication is guided by a social and political conscience. But let's hear from Paula herself. Environment is also important - here she is on NYC:
Paula is constantly going forward and excited at the prospect of what she will create in her sixties. So there's hope for all of us woeful late developer's out there.
The rain may have poured but it was all sunshine and good vibes inside the Tate Modern. It's currently staging the exhibition 'Pop Life' and boy did it put me in a good mood.
Featuring the selected works of Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Takashi Murakami it was all feel-good colours, fun-loving and very saucy too. Pop Life takes the Warhol quote 'good business is the best art' and reveals the crafted persona of these artists as brands. There's even a Pop Art Shop in the middle of the show - with a great disco. But mostly, I thought it was all just good fun. From Warhol advertising TDK to Jeff Koons getting fruity as a viril adonis - you can't help but shyly smile.
The best for me (and the most fun) was found in the final room and it was like stepping into a Japanese playroom, only imagined by Takashi Murakami. Look up at a vibrant 50ft high manga character fitting perfectly into the streets of Tokyo. Then you hear the mad pop music - is that Spider-man's girlfriend? Yes, it's Kirsten Dunst in a cyan wig singing 'Turning Japanese'. Delightful. And what better excuse than to post lots of pictures of Kirsten.
Firstly, big apologies for the delay in updating the Studio blog. It's been a busy few months. And I'm not just saying that. But one confession - I have been distracted by twitter.
Loads of news, but where do I begin?
In August Studio took on the tenancy of Rigby's Court which was very exciting and I immediately treated the new Studio space to one Charles Eames and a Wassily chair for visitors. Plus, our new intern Scott Robinson began work here and instantly settled in. A recent graduate from the Norwich University College of Arts, Scott is keen to explore digital work. The NUCA internship scheme is worth supporting and gives graduates their first valuable step on the ladder toward employment.
Late September, I was re-united with the tall, curly haired Andy Campbell and gentleman of the industry Selwyn Taylor and together plotted the first term of the Graphic Communication course at NUCA. But first we sought to be creatively enriched by the D&AD Xchange conference. Must say, in the beginning the atmosphere was a bit sombre with too much talk of recession and not enough positivity to inspire us to work smartly despite it. Plus, the over-used term '360 degree skills base' really grated on me.
I got over it. And working my way through the numerous tea breaks, the fun began with Damon Murray and Stephen Sorrell of Fuel. Quite an arty pair these guys (their next door neighbours include the Chapman brothers, Gilbert & George and Tracey Emin) and not your conventional graphic designers but still love to work with image and type. Publishing their own magazines, their strange leftfield view of the world was soon appropriated by the ad industry with commissions for Virgin and Diesel jeans, which funded more ambitious projects. They love creating books, whether it's documenting Russian criminal tattoos or post war football programmes.
What I found the most rewarding was hearing about a different way of working; creating inter-grated brand campaigns which embrace social networking to sustain public interest, way beyond the casual impact of a poster or advertisement. It got me thinking, 'is conventional design dead?'. I got over that too. Ed Elworthy of Nike walked us through a superb campaign, dedicated to urban five-aside football, its objective to nurture brand loyalty and a love for the sport. Encouraging local enrollment and ramping-up regional rivalry toward a championship event. Interest was stimulated by crude youtube movies featuring Wayne Rooney being 'nutmegged' by a teenager:
If football is not your thing, I'm sure Mark Chalmer of Perfect Fools could interest you in his Nokia Unloader, which promotes a business phone for a cleaner working life. What these dutch guys did was amazing and would have made Heath Robinson proud. Creating a fascinating contraption, which exists somewhere in Stockholm and within your reach online. Visit their site to upload all your useless documents and then watch them being destroyed in real-time. Thoroughly useless or useful? - you the consumer can decide. But how can you resist not to find out? www.the-unloader.com
That was ages ago - now back to my own design reality.
I'm currently planning the first Studio portfolio booklet which will be available in the new year. Featuring selected results from our first two years and lovingly printed on GF Smith papers. Details to follow. Anyway, I promise to keep the blog updated - the next month will see Studio attend the D&AD President's Lectures, featuring Paula Scher and Neville Brody. And let's not forget The Specials at Hammersmith Apollo and Paul Weller at the UEA.
It was one of those more quirky meetings. Having been requested to gather in the Registry reception at the University of East Anglia, Studio soon learnt that our client wished to redecorate and get something more interesting on the walls. "It hasn't changed in twenty years, we have a good budget – have you got any ideas?". Not 'alf.
Anyone familiar with the University can instantly recall the grey concrete, so my first suggestion was to paint the reception white and turn it into a proper gallery space. With big photography. In five minutes everyone was agreed and Studio was then charged with making it happen. By July 31st please.
Although loving a challenge and a deadline, for this project to be successful it would have to be a collaborative endeavour. And talking with friends and colleagues I could only describe my own brief as being 'Tate standard'. It was the main reception at the University, so it had to be perfect. Andy Crouch, photographer, Who fan and fellow Studio dweller recommended Spectrum Photographic in Hove, Sussex. They could produce our prints at a massive size and 'Tate' like too.
And they were great. We researched various print formats, my fave being a C-Type print with a satin finish and mounted onto an aluminium base. Costly but cool. But finally the client settled on canvas as it was cost effective to produce new prints in the future thus keeping the Registry fresh.
I opted to work with Andy to resize the original images, colour balance and the other stuff that photographers do (they speak their own language, don't they?!). I worried about getting my measurements right. And Klair at Spectrum managed the project her end from production to delivery. Only trouble was that the courier lost them between Hove and Norwich. That caused a few heart stopping moments, I can tell you. But thankfully, they magically turned up on a sunny Monday morning. Sweet relief.
So here they are. With thanks to Klair, Helen, Andy and David for signing the cheques.
Studio has been recently commissioned to produce trophies for Rapid Enterprise Competition 2009. And here they are.
We are very pleased with the outcome. Studio also created the branding, work books and certificates for an event which is similar to The Apprentice but for budding entrepreneurs in schools. Over 100 students took part from 8 schools and were mentored along the way by product designers and various work shops at Hethel Engineering.
The awards ceremony is at the Open venue in Norwich, Friday 10th July and Studio is looking forward to seeing the work of the winning schools. Nice to know that no one has been fired though.
Photography by Andi Sapey. (With thanks to Spinal Tap for the post title)
This is a cool part of the job. Having worked with our client on their latest design project, finally seeing it on press for one final approval is a thrill.
And the project in question is the 'Made in the University of East Anglia' booklet - from briefing, presentation, design and sign-off, it's been a pleasure to work on. You can tell that Studio is pleased with it. This was a good opportunity to document its time on press. No special finishes like varnishes or embossing - just good old CMYK, thus saving our client money to get it printed on a cool stock like Naturalis. The final booklet has a feel of lasting quality.
It's great to hear the loud print presses and the smell of the ink in the air. We maybe in the early years of a new age of digitaI, but I think print will always have a place, because we like to engage with an object and experience what the designer and client intended. In years to come it will occupy the same place in our hearts as vinyl records and will continue to surprise.
The Private View at Norwich University College of the Arts is always a buzz. And not only one of the highlights of the summer but the culmination of the work of the graduating students.
We arrived early for the Principal's reception and it was great to catch up with a few old faces. But it was seeing the student's work that we're here for, which was a criticism from one of my colleagues. It was too crowded to see it - and they were right, perhaps in future there should be a few hours set aside for industry to stroll around and see the work unhindered. Much like the set up at D&AD's New Blood private view. I think I've gotten used to the chaos over the years, because it's a delight to see the relief and satisfaction in all the students.
Studio had a great time this year working with the third year of the Graphic Communication course - We wish you all the best for the future - do well. Next stop for twelve of them: D&AD New Blood at Olympia.
There are only a few bands that are defined not only through their music, but by their design too. One example of this exclusive gang are the american band Pixies and the graphic designer Vaughan Oliver.
His work, together with photographer Simon Larbalestier was instantly recognisable and stood out in the record racks. In fact Oliver's design practise became a style in its self – decorative typography, sometimes three dimensional, imagery that was surreal, macabre or just odd - take a look for yourself and discover men with hairy backs, eyeballs, breasts and heavenly monkeys.
Oliver is now tasked with doing it all over again, with the new Pixies boxset 'Minotaur' and it's huge. Literally. Vaughan is a lecturer now at the University College of the arts in Epsom and together with a team of selected students, are re-designing the entire Pixies back catalogue. Please take the time to see this film on its making - it's inspiring to see designers working like artists - hands on, getting dirty, using film, drawing - and not a mac in sight.
Minotaur is available from June 13th - more info from www.ainr.com.
I found out at his recent lecture at the Royal College of Physicians.
Firstly, I have to say what great shape he's in considering that the chap is 81. And quite a gentleman too. The tall, silver haired dutch design legend talked about his hugely influential work while being entertaining and free from ego. Even referring to his famous 'new alphabet' font as being unreadable. I came across it when Saint Peter applied it to the front cover of Joy Division's 'Substance'. And it looked like the future, or how I imagined it might be. What was in the water in the 1960's? As we know, the invention and creativity was incredible which still resonates today.
And despite creating illegible fonts, he was an advocate of readability and functional design. And he loves a grid system, so much so he was nicknamed 'Gridnik'. Inspired by Bauhaus and swiss design, he was buzzing when he discovered the font Akzidenz Grotesk (Helvetica's Big Daddy) telling us that it was unavailable in the Netherlands, so he would cut it out from magazines. On the way, he tipped his hat to Univers and Fruitger, to finally exclaim, "I like the Gill". In a dutch accent.
Working on macs makes the design process so easy for us today. I marvelled at how on earth Wim created his work. Just take a look at his posters for the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, which are a triumph of simplicity of structure, colour and modernist typography. Each of these projects fed directly from an encouraging yet honest relationship with the client, who once remarked, "Gridnik – this is automatic". Wim favoured strong criticism at the conclusion of a project, enabling you to "keep your lessons" for the next job.
Studio had the pleasure of meeting the man afterwards in the Dorchester Library. Introducing ourselves as first generation mac designers, he surprised us again when he told us that he had been designing on macs since 1993. I was cheeky enough to ask whether he would speak at NUCA – but his lectures are rare. But he did have this pearl of wisdom - if a school has good architecture – something good will come out. For sure.
And to answer the question – "System and grids make me GO". What a superb evening.
Secret squirrel photos by Jason Hyde. More info on Wim Crouwel this way.
