THE BOOK OF
ILLUSTRATOR
&
TYPOGRAPHER
“
THROUGH SUBTLETIES LIKE A SLIGHT SHIFT IN LINE WEIGHT, THE ELONGATION OF A TAIL OR THE ARC USED, A LETTER CAN GO FROM CONTEMPORARY TO TRADITIONAL OR HAPPY TO SAD IN A SINGLE STROKE
the artist
e t p a h C
er
1
LU E
K LU A C S
Born in 1976, Melbourne, Australia. Luke Lucas is a creative, art director, illustrator, designer and typographer. He is considered one of the best typographers in the world, not through a stroke of luck, but through working tirelessly day and night on what he loves best, Creating unique and inspiring typographic design with a ton of character. From the tongue twisting type of the Big Mouth Project logo to super fine serifs, Lukes work has been featured in everything from magazines in Melbourne to billboards in New York.
Co Founder/Creative Director of Lifelounge Lifelouge has taken on many forms over the last 12 years but the fundamental values that we were bound by during my time there was the genuine desire to create and represent the kinds of things that people like ourselves can be entertained or inspired by. Among other things, through Lifelounge
1966
1999
Co-founder/Co-Creator Fourinarow Magazine Together with buddy and all around rad guy Jamie Driver, half way through the first year of art school we started publishing an inline skating magazine called Fourinarow. At the time we had very little knowledge about the publishing industry, our design and our business skills were super basic but our drive and passion for creating something that represented a culture that meant something to us was unstoppable.
we created one of the longest serving online creative portals website, 14 editions of the contemporary culture print magazine Lifelounge (2005 - 2011) and a multi-award winning creative agency. The time recently came for myself and Jamie Driver to move on which has lead to...
2011
NOW FREELANCE CREATIVE PROFESSIONAL AWESOME DAD
Life is Good
the interview
chapter
Q1.
WHAT INSPIRED YOUR PASSION FOR DESIGN AND WHO HAS BEEN THERE SUPPORTING YOU FROM THE BEGINNING?
My inspiration has come from a variety of source of the years but in terms of my original interest in design I would have to say that growing up as a skater in the 80s had an enormous effect on me. I used to spend hours pouring over skate magazines, and couldn't get enough of the graphics created by the likes of Jim Phillips and VCJ.
Q2.
HAVE YOU ALWAYS ASPIRED TO BE GRAPHIC DESIGNER, OR DID YOU EVER DREAM OF FOLLOWING A DIFFERENT PATH?
I'm not sure it's something that I ever necessarily aspired to be. Although I had an interest in graphics and design growing up I don't remember ever consciously thinking I would eventually have a profession in the field. It's something that I just sort of fell into. While I was in art school in the mid 90s, together with my best buddy we started an inline skating magazine (which we eventually went on to produce 8 editions and distribute around the world) but at the time knew very little about design theory or even how to use the tools. It was more about representing a culture in a way that made sense to us more so than it being about design.
Q3.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE YOUR INDUSTRY TODAY?
I think it's an incredibly interesting time.. never before have we had so much access to information and inspiration and through technology the vast array of tools we have at our disposal to assist in communicating our ideas we could never have dreamed about a decade ago.
Q4.
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF FIVE YEARS FROM NOW?
It's tough to say. I'd like to think that I continue to have the opportunity to work on interesting projects and have the ability to collaborate with talented people. I would like to spend more time overseas if possible but at the very least I hope to remain inspired and happy.
IS THERE ANY WORK YOU ARE CURRENTLY WORKING ON THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO TELL US ABOUT?
Q5.
There's a few bits and pieces. I'm working on the design and theme details for a venue fit out for an upcoming event in Sydney, a LP cover design for an upcoming exhibition to be held in Melbourne later this week, a front cover typographic illustration for a magazine out of Chile called Joia and another illustration for a german Art Director's magazine called Sushi 13.
AS YOU ARE STARTING OUT IN YOUR CAREER, WHAT STEPS DO YOU PLAN ON TAKING TO REACH YOUR GOAL?
Q6. I don't know that there's anyone in particular that I've dreamt of working with but I do get a buzz out of collaborating with others.
I don't know that I necessarily had a goal outside of responding to each brief that I receive in a way that I am proud of.
WHO HAVE YOU ALWAYS DREAMT OF WORKING WITH/FOR AND WHY? HOW WOULD YOU GO ABOUT
Q7.
Q8.
HOW MANY YEARS WERE YOU FIGHTING TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY? AND WHAT WAS THAT TIME IN YOUR LIFE LIKE?
The first 3 years we running the mag I remember us taking it in turns to sleep under the layout table while the other one crafted or chased up advertisers, wrote articles etc.. We'd literally be working 18+ hours a day pretty much 7 days a week. it was tough in the way that sleep deprivation can make you a little nutty but at the same time when you're driven by a passion in something those hours never felt like work.
FROM YOUR EXPERIENCE SO FAR, WHAT HAVE YOU FOUND TO BE MOST CHALLENGING? AND HOW ARE YOU DEALING WITH IT?
Q9.
I still think that my proudest career was receiving the very first edition of our very first magazine. Even though in retrospect the design was crap and we had no idea what we were doing, the level of satisfaction of being able to hold and flick through that physical magazine made all those long hours worth while.
Q10.
SHARE WITH US YOUR PROUDEST MOMENT IN YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
By far the biggest challenge has been switching off and managing my downtime. If you're inspired to do something , it'd hard to let it go before the idea is realised but it's also important to have a balance between work and play. Managing my downtime so that I don't work too much is even more of an issue now that I've a 1 year old son that I want to spend time with. In terms of switching off, meditating twice a day has been the answer for me, and it also has worked wonders for managing the way I respond to stressful situations.
IT’S A LITTLE HARD TO PIN POINT WHERE INSPIRATION COMES FROM THOUGH. SOMETIMES IT CAN BE SOMETHING QUITE OBVIOUS LIKE THE WORK OF A PREVIOUS MASTERS AND OTHER TIMES IT COULD COME SOMETHING LESS OBVIOUS LIKE MUSIC, A SMELL, A MEMORY OR THE ENVIRONMENT.
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www.lukelucas.com
BOOK DESIGN BY Aline 1601249116