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The thing that excites me the most about graphic design is not really graphic design itself, but communication.The process of language, understanding language, encoding language. This is something that constantly needs managing because it’s changing‌
Neville Brody
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‘The Death of Typography’, Touch, 1986
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Advertising, price tag and clothes label for Demob, 1982. (Also seen on front and back cover)
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Becoming a Graphic Designer “Only decision I really had to make was whether I wanted to become a fine artist or a designer. The reason I entered into design is because I thought that fine art was fairly dishonest as an industry... ...It pretends to be about culture, but it’s really about money. Design is much more honest about it’s commercial contexts and can also reach a lot more people than fine art.”
NEVILLE BRODY IS ONE OF THE MOST famous graphic designers and art directors from post-modernism. He is best known for his record cover designs and magazine designs. Brody is a British designer from Southgate London. He studied fine art throughout grammar school. After, he went on to study at the London College of Printing (LCP). When he was a student a lot of his work was considered ill-favorable because he was not a traditional designer. He felt that his time at London College of Printing was “repressive” and “stultifying”. His professors often told him his work was “uncommercial”.
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Nick Knight, Issue No. 70, The Face Magazine, Febuary 1986
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“I was feeling that within mass communication, the human had been lost completely. I wanted to understand the everyday images that were around me at the time. And the process of manipulation particularly within commercial art. By understanding the mechanism at ground level, I hoped to produce the opposite effect by turning them on their head.�
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George Darko, ‘Highlife Time’, Records, 1984
“I felt that if you wan anything, you had to totally, but the LCP g grief. Punk hit me fas confidence I need.” 71
Breaking The Mold
DURING THE LATE 70’S, punk rock had heavily affected the London lifestyle. This was the perfect stimulant Brody needed for his design. With the punk rock movement came Brody’s inspiration to push boundaries that had not been touched in the design world. The punk scene taught Brody to “pursue an idea, do it, stop, then go on to the next one.” During his time in school, he was inspired most by Ian Wright and Boccioni. Despite the disapproval from Brody’s professors over his design choices, he still believed in pushing his idea of using design and typography to communicate to the public in a way that has not been done.
nted to react against learn about that thing gave me nothing but st, and it gave me the 82
Mike Laye, Issue No. 57, The Face Magazine, January 1985
Jamie Morgan, Issue No. 51, The Face Magazine, July 1984
Jean Paul Goude, Issue No. 69, The Face Magazine, January 1986
Triumph BRODY’S WORK ATTRACTED A LOT of attention while he was working for “The Face” magazine. Some of Brody’s most successful pieces were done for “The Face”. Brody was considered a “pioneer” in the graphic design and brand strategizing fields. He has changed the way that the public approaches and interacts with the material/medium. Brody has designed over 20 different type faces throughout his
career and counting. He has also founded the Brody Associates, an international innovative and creative agency that concentrates in digital typography and identity. He has opened studios in London, Paris, Berlin, and Barcelona. Brody and his company continue to excel in the design and the art direction field. Some of their most recent work consist of on-screen graphics for companies such as Paramount Studios, and web-design for companies such as Kenzo.
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Greg Gorman, Issue No. 54, The Face Magazine, October 1984
Jamie Morgan, Issue No. 55, The Face Magazine, November 1984
Steve Meisel, Issue No. 58, The Face Magazine, Febuary 1985
“I’ve never isolated myself with just graphics or any single field for that matter. I’ve always worked across the board: branding, printing, digital, environmental design… The context is society.”
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Wozencroft, Jon. The Graphic Language of Neville Brody. New York, NY: Rizzoli International Publications, 1988. Wozencroft, Jon. The Graphic Language of Neville Brody 2. New York, NY: Rizzoli International Publications, 1994. Butler, Andy. “Interview with Graphic Designer Neville Brody.” Designboom. October 10, 2014. http://www.designboom. com/design/interview-with-graphic-designer-neville-brody-10-10-2014/. Designed and written by Bianca Williamson Composed in Plantagenet Cherokee, Abadi MT Condensed Extra Bold, and Blur specially created by Neville Brody Printed from Toshiba onto Hammermill 80 lb Copyright © 2016 Bianca Williamson, Portland, Maine. Maine College of Art
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