Anthony Burrill Creative Report

Anthony Burrill

Anthony Burrill

Anthony Burrill Graphic artist, print-maker and designer Anthony Burrill is known for his persuasive, up-beat style of communication. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York and has been exhibited in galleries around the world including the Barbican Art Gallery, the Walker Art Center and the Design Museum, London. Burrill is perhaps best known for his typographic, textbased compositions, including the nowfamous “Work Hard and Be Nice to People�, which has become a mantra for the design community and beyond.

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The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

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Anthony Burrill

Anthony Burrill

Do you believe in a difference between funny graphic design and witty graphic design?

When work is trying to be too selfconsciously funny, it can be a bit naff.

But work that really hits the nail on the head and is interesting, rather than just a piece of stand-up comedy. It can be a fine line as different people find different things amusing. It’s got to be right for the audience and get the message across well.

I’m naturally drawn to work that’s amusing. Using wit and humour in communication and design, especially graphic design, is quite a rare thing. In my work I’ve always enjoyed engaging with people through humour and making people laugh. It’s an extension of my personality. I like to be quite amusing with people in real life, so it appears naturally within my work.

I like it. What is it?

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The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

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Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

Give the joy back

Anthony Burrill

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Anthony Burrill

Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

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Anthony Burrill

Nothing comes from nowhere

Anthony Burrill

Who are you what do you want?

I get bored quite easily. I’m always trying to push things along and think of new ways of doing things. I work in a very specific way. I’m continually trying to rethink how I do things and the way I work with clients. By just applying thought to stuff. I want to make memorable work that stands out with a specific tone of voice and character and make work that all comes together as a complete body.

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The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

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Anthony Burrill

Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

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Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

Book smart

Anthony Burrill

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Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

Book smart

Anthony Burrill

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Anthony Burrill

Anthony Burrill

Hans Bricker budget hotel

How do clients engage with your proposed ideas and does self-parody, as seen with your Hans Bricker hotel work, ever become a problem for the client?

It depends on who you’re working for really. Hans Brinker came out of relationship of Erik Kessels had with the client. He had very close relationship with Hans Brinker, so that’s how it worked. The client has to trust you to understand what you’re trying to do, it was one of the first campaigns of its type to be anti-advertising in a way, being brutally honest. Using the facts that the hotel was awful to kind of tell a story about it.

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The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

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Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

Hans Bricker budget hotel

Anthony Burrill

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Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

Hans Bricker budget hotel

Anthony Burrill

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Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

Hans Bricker budget hotel

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Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

Hans Bricker hostel

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Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

Hans Bricker hostel

Anthony Burrill

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Anthony Burrill

Anthony Burrill

You have clients who call on you especially for your whimsy, why is that the case?

Hans Bricker hostel

I suppose they buy into my profile as a designer. I present myself and my work in a very particular way. They buy into that and the way I do things. I bring my sensibility to a commercial project. But sometimes I work on the commercial project and just work as a designer, so there’s a variety in that really.

If you match the work with the right client you can make interesting projects together. If you’re given the freedom to do your own work but still be in the commercial context, that’s what we aim for.

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The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

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Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

Hans Bricker budget hotel

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Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

Hans Bricker budget hotel

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Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

Hans Bricker budget hotel

Anthony Burrill

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Anthony Burrill

Anthony Burrill

Taking liberties

Do you have a philosophical reason for using wit in your work?

I think I’ve got a broad philosophy about everything I do that I try and kinda make it as honest and truthful as possible. I try to make my work human and concerned with making connections through the work. There are honesty and human elements to everything, I’m always keen to get that in, and present things in a clear and simple way that engages people.

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The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

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Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

Taking liberties

Anthony Burrill

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Anthony Burrill

Is there such thing as pure design wit?

Maybe it’s a use of language. Saying things simply.

In my personal projects where I’m making my own statement posters. That’s when it’s in its purest form.

Within that, I just try to amuse myself. If I’m amused by things it shows through the work.

Must everything you do evidence the wit of its maker?

It’s important to have that connection with the work. Every project I work on I try to steer it to my particular way of doing things, and I think that why I get work, because of my certain style.

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The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

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Anthony Burrill

Anthony Burrill

Your posters of Oil and Water Don’t mix are very witty but have an engaging ethical topic. How powerful can graphic design be when coupled with wit and ethics?

Oil and water do not mix

I think you have to think of new and interesting ways of communicating. This poster was very specific about the gulf of Mexico. It was talking about environmental issues and there is a whole sort of visual language related to that. But you have to do things unexpected and in an intelligent way. Trying to avoid pictures of a seabird covered in oil would be the cliché way of doing it. But you’ve got to be clever in the way you do things. Keep that directness about the work and not get too polished or professional. People are interested in the way things get made and the story of how they get made.

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The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

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Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

Oil and water do not mix

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Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

Oil and water do not mix

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Anthony Burrill

The Importance of Graphic Wit

The Importance of Graphic Wit

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