'Build is an award-winning creative agency with an international reputation for creating strong visual narratives. Utilising art direction and graphic design, we create brand identities, websites, packaging and books for design-led clients around the world.'
Michael Place came as a visiting professional to LCA to deliver a presentation on his journey as a Graphic Designer. I always find these really interesting as they are a positive reminder of how many opportunities have to be taken and embraced before the full-time Graphic Designer job title can be obtained.
Michael was talking about how when he was younger, Iron Maiden, Motörhead and Saxon wheels of steel were all music artists with album covers and visual identities that he really appreciated and took a lot of inspiration from. He can now appreciate that with time they have become very dated and some of the type does not work as well. I took this comment as a reminder that I need to be open with my inspirations and not only focus on one style or trend as these do change with time and so I will also be expected to adapt to the changes or my work will not be recognised and appreciated.
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| Fig. 1 |
He also explained how much of an influence 'Letraset' (fig.1) was on him and the confidence that he developed within the world of typography. The sheets worked by being rubbed so that the type would transfer onto the paper, allowing people to practise making graphic artwork without a computer. It meant that anyone could have a go and people often made fanzines as their passion could be displayed in a visually professional way.
Calypso (fig. 2) was his personal favourite typeface to use when he was younger, a typeface he can now recognise to not be very compatible with the type of work that Studio Build now produces.
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| Fig. 2 |
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| Fig. 3 |
The idea of not becoming a slave to existing graphic design styles was a constant theme throughout the talk, highlighting the importance of experimenting and mixing all the styles together to create something new. The graphic designer Neville Brody is a prime example of how successful this can be, with the design of 'The Face' magazine being something completely new when it was released back then.
The Underground was an important influence on him as a young designer, so 'Creative Review' set up an interview for him and the art director of the magazine, Rod Clark. Underground was an independent music magazine that wanted to release something that appealed to the target audience of 15-18 year olds. The designers thought that 'The Face' was 'too slick' and i-D was 'too fashion'.
In regards to design, the magazine was trying to move away from what the music press had become - tedious. Fig. 4 and 5 show the experimental layouts that have been used for the magazine, representing the expressional nature of music itself.
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| fig. 4 |
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| fig. 5 |
Trevor Jackson is a successful DJ, but known for his electronic music record sleeve designs. The 'Stereo MCs' project (fig. 6) was the first time that he was able to meet the band and get to know them on a personal level, potentially impacting on the positive result of the design work that he produced. Trevor Jackson was influenced by 50's art, design, illustration, cartoons, comic books and tried to incorporate as many of these elements into his design work as possible. He only liked to do record sleeves for music that he liked as he was likely to be more passionate about it and as a result would be able to generate better and more personal ideas. Michael Place was a fan of Trevor Jackson's work, so decided to ask him for a job in London and ended up working with him for a year.
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| fig. 6 |
"Let your interests feed into your work. It makes it richer"
Another piece of advice that he gave was that rules and constraints are important. They allow you to deeply investigate and explore something in particular, rather than touching on lots of things. The constraints will give you a purpose and something to focus all of the energy into. This can help you to build a more complex concept, making the design work much richer and more valuable.
BREATHE.
A lot of people have mentioned to me that the intensity of the creative industry can cause you to feel overwhelmed and uninspired at times, it is important to take a break so that you can come back feeling reenergised and motivated again. Michael said that is likely that the long hours and intense deadlines may make you burn out. To solve this problem when he faced it, he went travelling for a year and came back with a fresh headspace and feeling inspired.
Studio Build work that I like:
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