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3 DEEP Interview with Brett Phillips
3 Deep is a branding and communication agency, who create extraordinary brands for extraordinary people. Their relationship to branding, design and communication started more than 15 years ago and ever since, they have been creating value and building demand for their clients. Their commitment to what they promise is evidenced in their continual investment in three defining areas of the business: Strategic and creative process, their work with the vanguard, and living and participating in the markets on which they focus. They have worked for brands such as Madonna for Louis Vuitton, The Australian Ballet, Toni Maticevski, John Wardle Architects and Harrolds. Here I spoke to Brett Phillips, the Founder and CEO of 3 Deep, to find out more about the working process behind one of the most innovative and creative businesses in the world, and to ask his opinions on what it means to design for the high end today.
Kirsty Hair | Design Context
How would you describe the work produced at 3 Deep? Compelling. Where did the name ‘3 Deep’ come from? It came from humble roots. 3 young designers sitting 3 Deep at a small desk in a residential apartment in Richmond. What makes 3 Deep unique? Our people. How do you work? Do you prefer to make
things with your hands, take photographs or manipulate imagery on screen? We work in whatever manner is appropriate for a project. Some projects call for a hands on artisanal approach and others a more mechanical and digitised process. It really depends on what we are looking to achieve and what the objectives of the project are. Some polar examples are probably the following two projects. The Laminex stand is a great ‘hands on’ example where we hand wove 12 meters of timber whereas the Harrolds process is almost entirely digital. How do you usually start a project? With approval on the budget! On a more serious note, our process through a project can be summarised as follows; 1. Establish objectives 2. Establish brand strategy 3. Undertake design development 4. Implementation 5. Management & consultation How many people work in the studio? At present there are 13 creative souls. What inspires you and keeps you focused? Paying the bills keeps us focused! :) Many things inspire us or influence us
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day to day. Our staff, our approach, the possibilities and the opportunities of any given project. The partnerships that we establish and the experience of working with amazing people. There are so many challenges, so many complexities to design that I don’t know how one couldn’t be inspired. Having a number of businesses also affords us the opportunity to engage with a vast amount of art, architecture, fashion and image making from all around the world. We are also very fortunate to be able to collaborate with talented people in contemporary dance, poetry, art, music and fashion, this is very inspiring.
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What’s happening now in design? Is there anything you love or hate? I love new approaches to old problems. I hate designers not willing to challenge their clients. What recent trends have you noticed within design for the luxury sector? Perhaps that creatives are finally understanding that luxury is no longer about status, wealth or exclusivity and more about how people choose to define their
experience of the world. We see luxury now as a term used to describe a nexus that connects us to the most engaging, innovative and vanguard people and experiences of our time.
People often view it as something that they should be thinking about in addition to the creative process, we see it as something to always address as part of our creative process.
What excites you at the moment? The launch of our new site and the strategic change in the direction of our business. It is opening doors that have previously been locked.
You have a pretty amazing set of clients. How do you attract new? We attract clients by being involved and interested in what they do and who they are. Our work is not simply done at a distance and removed from our clients. We immerse ourselves in the culture of fashion, performing arts, etc. We subscribe, we contribute, we attend, we make, we participate and we learn.
What studios or designers do you admire? Anyone who contributes to the discourse on creativity and design and invents new models for communication. The mediocre or average is of no interest to me. How do you balance the creative and commercial side of the job? They go hand in hand. If the commercial landscape for a project isn’t right then you will never be able to produce great outcomes. Each defines the other. How important is being environmentally conscious when creating high end design? I think its important when creating any kind of design.
Do you have any last words of wisdom for a graduating creative? Think long and hard about what has come before you, what your contribution is going to be and if you have the energy and passion to make one. If you don’t have a clear understanding of where you want to be ten years and how you can move design forward then perhaps consider something else. The time will fly and you need to be prepared to stand up and be counted, anything less is just a waste of your time.
“We create extraordinary brands, for extraordinary people.”
Images taken from: www.3deep.com.au
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WORDS ARE PICTURES Interview with Craig Ward
At thirty years old, Craig Ward is currently enjoying his third life. The first was spent growing up in a retirement village in the North East of England, while the second took him to London, where he worked as an art director and designer at a handful of advertising agencies. His third life finds him in New York where he lives with his wife and cat, consulting and creating pioneering, award winning typography and art direction for a diverse range of clients from fashion to advertising and editorial. A contributor to several industry journals and former ADC Young Gun, Craig’s work has been shown, awarded and documented globally in countless books, publications and exhibitions. I spoke with Craig Ward, to find out more his working process, his fascination with type as image, and how he sees high end design today.
How would you describe the work produced at Words are Pictures? Experimental but always relevant typographic solutions for design and art direction across the advertising, fashion, editorial and publishing industries. Punchy right? How do you start a project? I give myself time to think and sit down somewhere with a sketchbook. I’ll read and re-read the type I have to work with and sometimes visual treatments come to mind immediately, sometimes not. I like to try and really get the meaning and the emotion from a piece of text through as opposed to thinking of some tricksy treatment. If it ends up requiring a ton of photography or collaborating with a
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scientist or whatever then cool but I don’t seek out solutions like that intentionally. After that I’ll return to the client with some first thoughts and the project evolves organically from there. How do you work? Do you prefer to make things with your hands, take photographs or manipulate imagery on screen? As much as I can I try and do for real. There’s nothing you can’t render or create with CGI these days but I just find that work boring and unsatisfying. This love of the handmade comes from my time working with letterpress - which is all I used to do. If a project hasn’t seen your hands you can’t really claim to have ‘created’ anything I don’t think.
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A lot of design within the luxury and fashion sectors is photography based with minimal, legible type to let imagery of the product speak for itself. You seem to like pushing the boundaries and putting more emphasis on the type. How do you recognise when something is working and when you have taken things too far? I don’t stop until I’m told to. I think, there’s always a point at which you realise that this is no longer communicating but I think my tolerance for that is higher than other people’s. I have no problem with making people work for information. I think if you engage people in the right way, present them with information in an ‘appropriate visual manner’ (Vignelli), then they’ll want to read it and do the work required. What’s happening now in design? Is there anything you love or hate? There’s a ton of old fashioned shit which I hate. Calligraphic, ribbon typography, pastel colours… it’s all so twee and 1950s, really not relevant to anything today but it’s everywhere. I like that there’s a lot of small studios popping up here and there. I feel like that’s the new model; working with people on a project by project basis which works for me as that’s how I like to run things. What studios or designers do you admire? I’m kind of moving away from the design scene,
not intentionally but just because of the work that’s come my way. I have a lot of respect for studios that do just good, clean, well executed design work but they all kind of merge into one for me unless I really get to thinking about them. By and large I like people who don’t follow trends but I’m more drawn to imagemakers like Tom Darracott, Jonathan Zawada, Nick Knight, Carl Burgess and Jo Ratcliffe amongst others for their ability to come up with solutions I would never have dreamed of. Was there any kind of inspiration or focus that led you to your current working style? I was weened on the work of Carson, Sagmeister, Tomato and Vaughn Oliver who, in the 1990s we’re doing things I’d never seen with type. Tearing it up, showing you the insides, messing it up… and, arguably they went to far but it was the zeitgeist. We were all angry and listening to Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins back then so it worked for the time. I mentioned earlier a great quote by Massimo Vignelli - that ‘Graphic design is the communication of information in an appropriate visual manner’. That’s something that underpins all my work; I want the energy and excitement and viscerally of the 1990s design style but I want it to be relevant too, so I never do things for the sake of it. What recent trends have you noticed within design for the luxury sector? I couldn’t say, I try not to pay attention to trends. I think people just respond to what they’re spoon fed by blogs and such. It’s really important that you curate your own inspiration streams. If you just look at what other people are doing you’ll never get anywhere. What excites you at the moment? Spare time! I quit my full time job last year to start the studio as my sole focus and it’s going great but, I’ve been so used to juggling two jobs effectively for the last 7 years that I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have spare time. It’s great to be in New York and be able to explore again and I’m looking forward to a 2 week, 1100 mile, 3 state road trip out West in a couple of weeks time. Work-wise I’m working on my first music video which I’m shooting over 4 days next
week in Philadelphia. Massively excited to be working with Jason Tozer again and I don’t think we can fail to create something beautiful with what we’ve been working with... How do you balance the creative and the commercial side of the job? I don’t, I’m really bad at focussing on anything and am always ignoring paying briefs for some stupid experiment but both are equally important. Right now I’m keeping it about 60% commercial, 40% personal. One really informs the other. Without my experimental stuff I wouldn’t keep getting hired and without getting hired I couldn’t afford to do the experimental stuff. What inspires you and keeps you focused? See above; I’m pretty bad at staying focussed which is why I like to have 2 or 3 projects on at a time so I can flit between them. I think I may have Attention Deficit Disorder. I’m inspired
just by being proud of what I create. I don’t seek out awards anymore or public approval for my work but it does seem to attract attention which is a sign I’m doing something right I suppose. Dying and getting old motivates me. Seriously. I hate the idea of standing still or the thought of getting to a point in my life where I can’t create something and wishing I’d done it when I was younger, so I try and realise every idea I have. How important is being environmentally conscious when creating high end design? It is important at all levels, especially ones that the public takes notice of. I’m pretty good and run basically a paperless office; I don’t even have a printer so it’s annoying when I need to use one but I’ll find a way around it. Finally, do you have any last words of wisdom for a graduating creative? Hah, don’t listen to me! I’m here by accident!
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Images taken from: www.wordsarepictures.co.uk
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FOUR IV
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Interview with Andy Bone
FOUR IV is a leading London based graphic and interior design agency. It is the creative agency behind some of the worlds most exciting and commercially proven retail and leisure luxury brands. The company has been established for 22 years and was founded and is jointly owned by Chris Dewar-Dixon and Andy Bone. The team is made up of strategic thinkers, graphic designers, interior designers, architects, project managers and support staff selected for their creativity, experience and innovative skills. I spoke to Andy Bone to find out more about the working processes behind this unique agency and to ask his opinions on design for the high end.
How would you describe the work produced at FOUR IV? FOUR IV works with brands that want to stand out, often in the luxury sector. Our work blends a passion for creativity with an understanding of luxury styling and ensures this is always delivered in a commercial context. It is clean, understated, detailed and textural. Where did the name come from? When we started the business we were 4 individuals all working together. We wanted an
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How many people work in the studio? 30 What makes FOUR IV unique? Our creative and luxury styling understanding combined with a commercial nonce. Secondly our structure enables us to deliver brands and environments simultaneously. To devise a new and relevant positioning for a brand and see it through to production. Moving from vision to commercial reality. What excites you at the moment? The quality of British design is still recognized and sought after throughout the World. This is exciting, however the growth of home grown design in emerging markets will bring very strong competition over the next few years. Finding ways to stay ahead of the game is the most exciting challenge. What’s happening now in design? Is there anything you love or hate? I think that as more and more is generated through the Mac, two things will happen. A rise of new crafts coming from the new technologies and a resurgence and new
interest in the old crafts and techniques like letterpress, handwriting, engraving, illustration, woodcuts, etc. How do you start a project? It depends on the project, but generally the key thing is to understand and challenge the brief, secondly understand the client and what they want, what they needs and their budgets and appetite to create. Then listen, question and share ideas. At the beginning there is no such thing as a bad idea. Research, preparation and bench marking is a good start. How do you work? Do you prefer to make things with your hands, take photographs or manipulate imagery on screen? All of the above, although a lot of the on screen manipulation is done through other people. What recent trends have you noticed within design for the luxury sector? Within fashion the influence of the Asian consumer and the endless demand for brand and expressed detail is becoming dominant. Authenticity is a key trend, the need to feel relevant to leverage a heritage. However this should be done with contemporary relevance. What inspires you and keeps you focused? Travel, variety and strong team of individual talents
and personalities to bounce off. And the need to pay the mortgage. What studios or designers do you admire? Pentagram (particularly John Rushworth), Baron and Baron NY and Studio NB. How do you balance the creative and the commercial side of the job? By communication and understanding that designers perform a commercial role through creativity and not creativity through commercialism! We are a business not an artist studio. How important is being environmentally conscious when creating high end design? It is becoming more and more important to understand the impact of everything we do on other people and our environment. High design has a strong role to play – often choice of brand now will be as much to do with moral judgments as visual design. Do you have any last words of wisdom for a graduating creative? Listen, absorb everything, work hard, inspiration is on your doorstep as well as afar. Have a vision, be willing to learn and get as much experience as possible. And make sure you use your emotional intelligence. Success in design is 10% creativity, the rest is hard work and persuasion.
Images taken from: www.fouriv.com
abstract name to stand out. A combination of our own surnames would have sounded like an ad agency – names with design or creative, etc in them sound naff, a little obvious and lack creativity.
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GBH SLS Luxury Hotels, Beverley Hills
Kirsty Hair | Design Context
GBH are a multi- award winning Design and Advertising agency based in London, solving communication problems within brand identity, literature, TV and print advertising, retail, environments and online. They work with clients in the UK and internationally, including Allard Palaces, Arts Council England, Flos, Land Securities, Mama Shelter, Puma, Royal Mail, SBW Entertainment, Yotel and Virgin Galactic.
SLS Hotels is a new brand aiming to redefine the international luxury hotel market. As Los Angeles isn’t known for its history, GBH Design was challenged to create a logo that would feel instantly authentic, traditional and elegant but also embody the brand’s subversive difference. GBH designed the identity, sub-branding, stationery and all room collateral for this mischievous and baroque slice of European culture, right in the heart of LA’s Beverly Hills. The identity’s monkeys surprise and delight guests in every detail. At first glance it looks like a royal crest adorned by beasts, but on closer inspection it is in fact a chandelier that is being vandalised by monkeys. In addition to the main logo, GBH created a library of monkey engravings and paintings to be used across various media channels. The brand identity was spread across of a range of collateral from hotel interior and exterior signage, stationary, lampshades, headboards, statues, tour guides and even down to the names of the meeting rooms, which are named after famous monkeys. Another treat that ties in nicely with the concept are the moving painted images in the bar and lounge areas that slowly see a man change into a monkey.
Images taken from: www.gregorybonnerhale.com
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Andrew Woodhead is a freelance artistic director and graphic designer who works around typography, music, fashion, publishing and corporate areas. He takes inspiration from his Parisian surroundings by consistently managing to make each typographic project truly elegant. Whether it is a logo or a full typeface, there is a running theme of experimentation and sophisticated stylistic choices that create Andrew’s cohesive style.
Words and images taken from: www.andrewwoodhead.com
ANDREW WOODHEAD
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GENERATION PRESS
Kirsty Hair | Design Context
Generation Press are one of the leading lights in the print industry, setting standards not just for their beautiful prints but also for running their business in a clean, ethical and wholly sustainable way. From using 100% recycled FSC paper stock and vegetable based inks to minimising paper waste and even composting their food waste, they really are leaders in the field of sustainability. These guiding principle are beautifully encapsulated in their own set of custom icons, which they now use on all of their printed stock:
From Art Print to Look Book, address labels to travel brochure, high-end to everyday-each project is treated with individual care and attention. Even on jobs they could do with their eyes closed, they look carefully and always aim for the highest standards. Here is a selection of work they have printed for various clients, covering a range of print processes including: colour edging, duplexing, letterpress, die cutting, foil blocking, screen printing, litho printing and thermo-chromic ink.
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“We are both modern and 0ld. We make print. We are Generation Press. Four generations of thoughtful business.”
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Angela Cheung; an outstanding branding from Eigth Day Design. Their client, a local interior designer based in the village in which our family printing business started; Hurstpierpoint-less. A novel use of different papers, including cast coated one sided paper.
Design: Eigth Day Design Client: Angela Cheung Printed by: Generation Press
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Words and images taken from: www.generation press.co.uk
Thermo-chromic Ink Process - this has been a real favourite over the years, always really effective and gets loads of great feed back, this really does engage the recipient. I think this is best left to your imagination, the only thing to add is the ink is very matt and we have learnt to always use a barrier over this ink, a laminate or a spot UV varnish! this will prevent any unsightly scuff marks.
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An& TIPS Generation Press came and did a talk at Leeds College of Art, bringing with them their adopted Northerner, Anand - a previous student at LCA - who left us with some great design tips to remember when designing for print:
Do NOT print tints at 50% - instead use 40/45% or 55/60%
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brush-up on as many skills as possible, including photography
Use metallic silver (instead of white) when printing on black stock
Always have enthusiasm for detail - be a visionary
BE AWARE ABOUT printing pantone on coated and uncoated numbers the same can come out completely different on different paper stock
When editing photographs, do no more than 3% adjustments in RAW and then use the curves tool
always shoot iN CAMERA RAW
Pantone books are printed on a smooth ice white so printing swatches on different stocks can turn out different.
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Like most graphic design, newspaper and magazine design is an exercise in combining technical detail with artistic flair. The core components of editorial design are text and pictures, so a keen understanding of typography, layouts, grids and composition is essential. In fact, magazines perhaps more than any other format show how the many elements of graphic design can come together in one place: images, illustration, photography, logos and mastheads, information design, paper stock and so on. What is perhaps a little different from other areas of graphic design is that editorial design demands constant reinvention, as Jeremy Leslie of magculture. com explains: ‘Editorial design uses and fuses two key elements of graphic design. It uses templates and sets up rules to follow, which is the technical side, in terms of understanding structure and limiting your choices to make certain statements. But it’s also about taking the rules that you have set up and making something creative from them. Unlike most areas of graphic design, editorial design is an ongoing project. It’s not a one-off, like a piece of packaging or a poster, where you get it all set up and then hit the print button; it needs to develop. So you’re looking for graphic designers to come up with a strong functional basis and rules, but you’re also looking to bend those rules on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. There has to be a balance between the familiar, so people recognise the magazine they bought last time, and surprise, to let them know it’s a new issue.
Words taken from: www.designcouncil.org.uk/about-design
Esquire covers under art director David Curcurito are very type-led
The Face, Neville Brody, art director 1981-1986
Editorial design
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ALEXEY BRODOVITCH
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Alexey Brodovitch was an influential editorial designer in the 1950s. He was an artist, graphic designer and photographer. However, he was most famous for his art direction, primarily for the magazine Harpers Bazaar. He was an aesthetic entity whose permanent influence was perceived along the entire visual arts. His style of combining elegantly set typography with new and experimental trends in photography became widely popular in the 1940s and 1950s, helping to keep the magazine at the forefront of its field in a swiftly changing world. Brodovitch was the first art director to integrate image and text. Most American magazines at that time used text and illustration separately, dividing them by wide white margins. Brodovitch
cropped his photographs, often offcenter, brought them to the edge of the page, and integrated them in the whole. He used his images as a frozen moment in time and often worked with succeeding pages to create a nice flow through the entire magazine. This brought a new dynamism in fashion layouts. The typeface he preferred was Bodoni, but when needed he switched to Stencil, Typewriter or a script. He matched the typeface with the feeling or with the need for an appropriate effect. Legibility was not his primary concern and his layouts are easily recognized by his generous use of white space. Colleagues at other magazines saw his sparse designs as truly elegant, but a waste of valuable space.
This spread from 1935 shows the integration of all graphic elements. Brodovitch accentuates the fluidity and movement of the images by using repetition and diagonal and horizontal stress. He uses the contacts like frames from a film and creates the illusion of movement and spontaneity across the lefthand page. The strips of film overflow onto the opposing page, as if the dancers have twirled across the spine of the magazine. The enlargement on the righthand page depicts the grand finale of this dance number.
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Words and images taken from: www.iconofgraphics.com/alexey-brodovitch
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12 Lessons In 12 MONTHS Twelve things you might learn in your first year as a designer, by Craig Oldham 12IN12 Endorsed by D&AD D&AD is very pleased to be involved with reproducing 12IN12. We believe it’s what every graduating creative needs to know and complements to work D&AD already do: helping creatives strive to be the best.
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Understand what Graphic Design means to you - Define creativity, and what you value as good design, then you’ll know what it takes to achieve it.
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Graphic Design is just a job. But being a designer is different.
Be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses - Know what you are best at.
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A portfolio is for life, not just an interview The portfolio is never finished, treat it like an ongoing project and update it ever time you do something different.
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Participate with other people and share your ideas: Two heads really are better than one.
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Placements matter: do them - Get stuck in and give ‘em a go. After all “It’s better to have lived and lost than never to have loved at all.”
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The design industry is small: Everyone knows everybugger else.
If you don’t fail then you aren’t trying. Make mistakes. It’s the only way you’ll learn. Life and work exist outside of London. Designing is, probably, only 20% of your job. That’s it. The rest of your time is spent away doing this, meeting with them and answering that.
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Have a life outside of design. Let your life inspire your design.
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Work hard and be nice to people. You scratch my back I’ll scratch yours.
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DEVELOPING A BRAND CONCEPT LOGO There are a few things that should be considered when developing a brand concept logo, and a few questions that should be addressed, to ensure the resolution will reach its full potential and requirements.
Who are you communicating with? Students, teachers, people with lots of time, someone passing by? Once you have what the most important thing is, how are you trying to say this? Are people familiar with what you are presenting? What is the history of the people/thing being presented?
What tone or attitude do you want to convey? What is the emotional connection and how do you make it resonate with them? What do you want people to think of the ting being presented? Where will this be represented and how can you make it stand out form other things presented in the same way? What is in it for the demographic?
Words taken from: www.conceptgenius.com/brand-logo-concept-development
What is the most important thing you want to say about what you’re going to present?
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SILNT
Kirsty Hair | Design Context
SILNT (pronounced as silent) is a design practice based in the Republic of Singapore. Established in March 2005, the studio is made up od two partners, Felix NG (B.1982) and Germaine Chong (B.1985).
Words and images taken from: www.silnt.com
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WHY NOT ASSOCIATES
Kirsty Hair | Design Context
Why Not Associates is a British Graphic Design company with global reach, designing for clients in business, government and the public sector. For nearly twenty five years, Why Not Associates has been creating innovative work for clients large and small. Their team works in many different media, on many types of projects, including corporate identity, digital design, motion graphics and television commercial direction, editorial design, environmental design, publishing, and public art. This breadth of experience means that they can orchestrate complex campaigns for global brands such as Nike, First Direct bank, Virgin Records and the BBC. They also cherish smaller locally based commissions such as public relations for regional government and public art installations for specific communities.
Envy Corporate identity, for London based post production facility. Showing the identity running across a range of deliverables: including letterhead, business card, compliments slip, cd packaging, note books, bellybands, video labels and packaging, tags.Â
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Pigeons & Peacocks Third issue of the magazine created for the London College of Fashion.
Words and images taken from: www.whynotassociates.com
Pigeons & Peacocks Quarterly fanzine for London College of Fashion showcasing students work.
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GRAPHIC DESIGN FOR FASHION
Kirsty Hair | Design Context
There is a simplicity to the most effective branding that belies its underlying complexity. More than an identifiable logo, branding is considered a promise, an experience and a memory. The message must communicate the ambition of the label and the personal and social benefits of association. The nature of fashion elevates aspiration above authenticity. Competition is fierce and growing: the consumer is bombarded with hundreds of branded messages every day. The challenge lies in controlling these very intangible elements with very tangible means.
Entry to the catwalk show is only granted for a select few and, as such, invitations to these events are restricted and signify the exclusivity of the fashion industry. Beyond the practical details of the event, this is an opportunity to stimulate the interest in the presentation - for the audience, the experience begins with the invitation. The invitation must be relevant to the collection but it must be abstract to avoid revealing too many details. Usually very few invitations are produced, providing the graphic designer with the chance to explore specialist production techniques. Ambitious, creative solutions inevitably hang upon last-minute date and time confirmation. Everything must come together in the tightest of all fashion deadlines. The most successful invitation transcend their brief purpose and become cherished mementos of the event.
Whether a purely functional vehicle of catwalk images enclosed by a logoemblazoned cover or a conceptual extension of the collection, the look book is first and foremost a practical tool. Highly covetable and with limited distribution, the seasonal booklets are free and feel more like a personal gift. Not available to the general public, the look book speaks to a select group of press, stylists, buyers and photographers inside the fashion industry. With a target audience of such collective creative
awareness, the expectations for the graphic designer are high. Recent technology now facilitates almost immediate transfer of images directly from the catwalk to the internet. With this instant distribution in conjunction with digital archiving, the basic function of look books has been challenged. Rather than marginalize the practice it has generated every more innovative creative responses that extend the catwalk experience.
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Words and images taken from: Hess, J. (2010) Graphic Design for Fashion. London: Laurence King.
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“Unless you can begin with an interesting problem, it is unlikely you will end up with an interesting solution.”
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- Bob Gill
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“Products are created in the factory. Brands are created in the mind.”
- Walter Landor
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“The first draft of anything is shit.”
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- Ernest Hemingway
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“Make new things familiar - and familiar things new.”
- Samuel Johnson
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“Luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends.”
- Gabrielle Coco Chanel
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