PastPresentFuture: Recent Episodes
Design Manchester
PastPresentFuture brings you recordings from leading designers around the world talking about creative influence, places, practice and ideas.
Graphic designers are asked three questions: firstly, can you remember the first piece of graphic design you saw; when and where was this? Secondly, what are you working on right now, and thirdly, do you have any advice for today’s graphic design students?
PastPresentFuture was conceived and curated by John Rooney, Malcolm Garrett and John Owens — a Design Manchester production.
Emily Wood is Course Leader for BA Graphic Design, Camberwell College at University of the Arts London. Specialties: Identity and brands, marketing materials, web design, publications, packaging and exhibition graphics for small to medium-sized businesses, charities, cultural organisations and the public sector.
Christoph Grünberger is a German illustrator and designer. He is active in the fields of corporate, interactive and spatial design, with a strong focus on exploring the limits of interaction and desktop applications. Together with Stefan Gandl he is co-author of the book Neubau Modul and collaborated on the exhibition NeubauIsm at gallery MU (Eindhoven/NL) in 2008, which was opened by Wim Crouwel. For the video installation Wutbürger, a co-operation with Andreas Lutz, he received the excellence Award in the Art section at the Japan Media Arts Festival in Toyko in 2015. His works as a freelance designer have been awarded nationally and internationally.
In 1991, after finishing a BA and MA at Central St Martins in London, Graham Wood co-founded Tomato with Steve Baker, Dirk van Dooren, Karl Hyde and Richard Smith (Underworld), Simon Taylor and John Warwicker. He has worked with agencies worldwide including Wieden and Kennedy, Leagas Delaney, Goodby Silverstein, Crispin Porter, Lowes, TBWA, Chiat Day, Abbot Mead Vickers, Saatchi, Dare, Cheil, SapientNitro, CHI and Dentsu. Exhibitions include V&A and MOMA Permanent Collection, MOCA (San Francisco), BFI collection, onedotzero, The Barbican, Whitechapel Gallery, Parco Tokyo, LaForet Tokyo, Moderna Museet (Stockholm), Jacobson Howard Gallery New York, LEA Gallery London, Scarlett Gallery (Stockholm), AIGA Design Archives etc
Harry Pearce is a graphic designer, accidentalist, eternal optimist and photographer. He studied at Canterbury College of Art. Before joining Pentagram as a partner in 2006, he co-founded and co-ran Lippa Pearce Design for 16 years.
Pearce has worked around the world devising identities, installations, posters, packaging, books and talks for clients as diverse as Liberty, Thames & Hudson, Camden Art Centre, WITNESS, The John Lewis Partnership, Waitrose & Partners No.1, the Royal Academy of Arts, Abu Dhabi cultural quarter, Berry Bros & Rudd, Phaidon Press, Pink Floyd Records, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lloyd’s of London, Shakespeare’s Globe, PEN International, Science Museum and the UN. For Ai Weiwei and Anish Kapoor, he created identities for their major retrospectives at the RA. His work has been exhibited in New York, Paris, London, Toronto and Naples.
Since 1993 he has been an active member of the advisory board for WITNESS, a human rights charity founded by Peter Gabriel. He is also a committed member of Alliance Graphique Internationale and has spoken at design conferences across the globe including Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, USA, India, Holland and Costa Rica.
Pearce is the author of two books, Typographic Conundrums (published in 2009) and Eating with the Eyes (published in 2015).
Katy Cowan is a Manchester-based journalist, writer, and the founding editor of Creative Boom, one of the UK's leading platforms dedicated to the creative industries. Launched in 2009, the site delivers news, inspiration, insight and advice to seven million creative professionals every year. By exploring creativity through the online magazine, podcast, and the entire network, Katy and her team honour the platform's original ethos: to celebrate, inspire and support the creative community, particularly the underrepresented, offering an inclusive space where everyone feels welcome.
Nigel Aono-Billson is a graphic designer, author and design educator. He has run his own design studio, been a partner in another, and worked for a number of established design studios/consultancies with National and International clients. In the early 90s, he worked as a staff designer at the seminal Dutch design studio, Hard Werken, in the Netherlands.
Alongside his design career, Nigel has taught on a number of BA and MA level, Graphic Design and Visual Communication courses in the UK, America, Finland and Thailand. Plus, contributed to the establishment and validation of several Graphic Design and Digital Design Undergraduate courses within the UK and given talks on his creative practice.
He continues to work with a small range of client/commissioners working primarily within publishing and visual identity sectors, here in the UK and Japan. His current clients include Strangers Press and The Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures.
Caroline Archer-Parréis Professor of Typography, Co-director of the Centre for Printing History and Culture at Birmingham City University, and Chairman of the Baskerville Society. With an interest in typographic history from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, Caroline has published widely. She is the author of three books, including The Kynoch Press 1876-1981: the anatomy of a printing house (British Library, 2000), Tart Cards: London’s illicit advertising art (MBP, 2003) and Paris Underground (MBP, 2005). With Malcolm Dick she has co-edited John Baskerville: Art and Industry of the Enlightenment (Liverpool University Press, 2017) and James Watt, 1736-1819: Culture, Innovation and Enlightenment (Liverpool University Press, 2020). She contributes to numerous journals and writes regularly for the trade and academic press.
Stephen Mallinder is a founder member of pioneering electronic act Cabaret Voltaire, who are regarded as one of the key influences on contemporary electronic and popular music culture. Stephen has recorded and toured extensively in Europe, USA, Japan and Australia. He continues to record and tour as part of Wrangler, alongside other recent releases under other names Creep Show, Hey Rube, Kula, and Cobby & Mallinder. He has collaborated with a host of artists and musicians including Afrika Bambaataa, Marshall Jefferson, Adrian Sherwood and worked with poet John Giorno and with William Burroughs at the Final Academy in the 1980s.
As an academic he has published a number of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and holds a PhD in popular culture. He is currently at the University of Brighton teaching on various arts and humanities courses and managing projects in the arts. In addition he does key notes, panels and guest lectures at a number of universities in the UK and conferences around the world.
Mark helps big companies think like small ones and small companies think like big ones. He works on innovation of products, services and business models; he works on sustainability and company purpose; and he coaches businesses and individuals. He has saved his clients in excess of £140 million per annum through environmental improvements, has increased sales of products by 8000% by introducing circular economy business models and trained over 2000 people in sustainability. He has worked for Nike, SC Johnson, Schweppes, Papa Johns, Heinz, Patagonia, Sportsshoes, Interface, Coca-Cola, Seedlip, Unilever, Hotpoint, Samsung, John Lewis, Fenwick, Teapigs, Bacardi, Diageo, Mars, Thorntons, 3M, Amazon, Panasonic and hundreds of funky little businesses like Propercorn, Teapigs, Hiut Denim, and Ugly Drinks. He was a lead for the RSA Great Recovery programme of Circular Economy and was once the Head of Environment for ASDA. He is a Founding Partner of the Do Lectures and author of two books Do Disrupt, change the status quo or become it and Do Present, how to give a talk and be heard. He is a coach, workshop facilitator and Qi gong teacher. Mark is also part of the reasons to be cheerful team, which he co-founded in in 2020.
Lotte Lawson is a Glasgow-based graphic designer. Originally from North Yorkshire, she lived in both London and Japan before settling in Scotland. Graduating with a First Class degree in 2020, she was also awarded a Commendation from ISTD in the same year.
A designer from a wide and varied visual background, she has a degree in History of Art and was previously a florist, running an internationally acclaimed floral design studio for ten years before deciding to pursue her interest in graphic design.
Lotte is currently working for Studio Texture in London.
Born in 1956 in Sheffield. Formed the Human League in 1978. Formed multimillion selling act Heaven 17 and British Electric Foundation in 1980. As record producer and artist has featured on recordings totalling over 50 million sales worldwide during a 43 year career to date. Heaven 17 and BEF continue to tour and thrive.
Martyn founded Illustrious Co. Ltd. with Vince Clarke in 2000 to exploit the creative and commercial possibilities of their unique 3DAudioScape immersive sound technology in collaboration with fine artists, the performing arts and corporate clients around the world. He lectures extensively and is Principal of Tileyard Education MA courses, and curates, produces and presents a wide range of world-class arts events. He also hosts a popular podcast series Electronically Yours with Martyn Ware. Martyn has DJ’d his electronic and funk influeneces in sets all over the world.
Martyn is a Visiting Professor at Queen Mary College, University of London, a member of BAFTA, and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts. He is an Honarary DSc at University Of London and is the first ambassador for In Place Of War.
Martyn is proud to be an international activist, helping to fight for the rights of creators and under represented people worldwide.
Graham is Creative Director and Partner at D8, a strategic creative agency with studios in Amsterdam and Glasgow. During his career he has held senior roles at a number of leading international agencies, collecting numerous awards for his work. Graham is active in the international creative community as an awards judge, collaborator, guest speaker and mentor for emerging creative talent. A passionate advocate of Dutch design, he hosts an ongoing series of interviews with some of the countries greatest designers called ‘Dutch Design Heroes’.
Eddy Rhead is a Writer, Magazine Publisher and Social Manager. He is co founded the Manchester Modernist Society in 2010 with the aim of promoting 20th Century architecture in the Manchester region.
Bruno Maag began his career with an apprenticeship as a typesetter at Tages-Anzeiger, Switzerlands largest daily newspaper. He then studied Typography and Visual Communcations at Basel School of Design under Wolfgang Weingart and Andre Gürtler amongst others. After graduating Bruno emigrated to England to work for Monotype where he established their ‘custom type department’, creating fonts for the New Yorker magazine, and others. Recent highlights are fonts for Rio2016, multilingual type for Nokia and HP, and a lovely serif font for luxury hotel brand Faena. He is currently investigating type and emotion, with a special interest in the physiological aspects.
Carl is an award winning filmmaker, photographer, musician and designer with an international profile. He is a producer/ writer and director, and has produced and directed over 30 documentaries for broadcast television, including a RTS nomination. He has also directed award winning short films. He directed the Bill Nighy feature film, Sometimes Always Never (2018) that premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and has received critical acclaim and in the UK, Australia and the USA picking up rave reviews in the LA Times, Washington Post and the New Yorker. In 2020 he directed the award winning short film More Than Time (2020).
Rian Hughes is a British graphic designer, illustrator and comics artist, noted for his work on 2000AD, where he illustrated ROBO-HUNTER, TALES FROM BEYOND SCIENE, REALLY AND TRULY and DAN DARE, among others. His work is highly distinctive, wearing its design influences on its sleeve, daring to be two-dimensional and bold in its use of large expanses of flat, bold colours. This stood out particularly during the early 1990s, when British comics were leaning ever more towards fully painted art. Unusually, Hughes preferred to be his ownletterer, and designed several unusual fonts for this purpose.
Since leaving comics illustration, Hughes has become a successful advertising artist, graphic designer and font designer. He runs his own company, Device, with clients including Virgin Airways, Penguin Books, DC Comics, Eurostar the BBC and a range of magazines and newspapers
Beck is a designer, educator and researcher. Her practices are connected through design approaches in typography and print processes, each one informs the other and there is continual play, networks forming and reforming through the experimentation with analogue and obsolete technologies. She is currently a lecturer on the MA Visual Communication programme at Birmingham City University and founder and director of Print Club Birmingham.
Jim fry is a Musician and Photographer. Working in television, music and the arts, and commissioning photography, picture editing and art direction across the media in print and on all contemporary digital platforms. Jim was also a member of World of Twist, Earl Brutus and the Pre New.
David is Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head of Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon colleges. David was previously Dean of Manchester School of Art, at Manchester Metropolitan University. He has an interest in semiotics and has written for a number of design journals and published a number of self-authored books. This includes three editions of ‘Visible Signs: an introduction to Semiotics’, now a key text in the USA and UK, and 'Left to Right: an exploration of the cultural shift from Words to Pictures’.
Andy Butler grew up in Oldham, Gtr. Manchester where an obsession with sports and music lead him into a career in graphic design and writing. He is currently the Creative Director at Deduce in Mexico City, which develops branding and communication for international brands in the sports, lifestyle and entertainment industries.
Sarah Hardacre is a visual artist and printmaker living and working in Manchester. Through collage and screen print her works investigate the legacy of Modernist architecture and post-war social housing, viewed through the lens of documentary photography and the public history archive, while questioning the experience of women within the urban built environment, the complex relationship between female bodies, architecture, and space and the construction of sexuality within the man-made world.
Sarah is represented by London based gallery Paul Stolper and her works are included in the collections of the British Museum, British Council and private collections including Damien Hirst’s Murderme and Luciano Benneton’s Imago Mundi collections.
Pioneering interactive media and emerging digital technologies since 1988. Currently focused on engaging consumers at out-of-home locations via context-aware, mobile-optimised apps, web services, wearables, non-visual user interfaces and Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence predictive assistants. Past personal highlights include web/mobile projects for Boeing, Apple, Universal, Creative Review, D&AD, Contagious, Cannes Lions, Apollo's Children [with Professor Brian Cox] and design/build of web, mobile and on-location media for BT London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games. Creatively recognised by BAFTA, D&AD, Creative Review, Time Magazine and Campaign. Voted into the Drum's Top 50 most influential players in Mobile. Regularly seen at Podge. Alasdair is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and a fellow at the Royal Institute.
Andrew Renton is Professor of Curating at Goldsmiths. He is interested in the different languages and registers that might be possible in response to the work of art. As a curator his recent concern has been with the ethical encounter with the object, its physicality and context. He has extensive experience and research in contemporary collecting practices.
Roberta Piqueras is a creative and social educator and is the Spain-based curator of the Sustainable Development: Gender Perspectives in Fashion programme jointly produced by MODA-FAD in Barcelona, Design Manchester and the British Council.
Since the age of 21, Roberto has been questioning the foundations of fashion, surviving the mechanisms of the industry made for the masses and creating connections between different continents. In 2015 he left his residence in East-London to return to his hometown, Sabadell, to forgive everything he hated during his childhood and to expand his academic training in social education.
Theo Inglis is a freelance graphic designer, writer and design historian based in Manchester. Currently he is Acting Senior Designer of Granta magazine and lecturing in Graphic Design at the University of Salford. His debut book Mid-Century Modern Graphic Design was published by Batsford in 2019.
Andrew Ibi is a designer, artist and educator. He is currently the programme leader for the BA Fashion: Design & Communication course at Liverpool John Moores Univeristy. Awarded Graduate of the Year at Middlesex University in 1996, starting his career at Joe Casely-Hanford, Ibi went on to head up menswear design for Burlington and Club Monaco, before launching his own labels. In 2008, Ibi launched the concept space, The Convenience Fashion Store, stocking high-end, luxury womenswear including Rick Owens, Gareth Pugh and Maison Margiela. As co-founder of BOLD (The Black Orientated Legacy Development Agency), Ibi works in partnership with the BFC and the IPF on numerous initiatives focused on inclusion and diversity, intent on changing the narrative around Black British fashion and its contribution to British culture.
Jo Hogan is an Irish graphic artist and designer based in London. She works on a broad range of projects across music, art, fashion and culture. Past commissions include NME, EMI, Urban Outfitters, Toni&Guy, Artrocker and Rough Trade Publishing. Her artworks have been exhibited at Design Manchester, Guinness 5th Gallery, Jealous Gallery, The London and New York Art Fair and in 2020 at ‘Yours Truthfully’ in the virtual world of Lost Horizon. Jo studied Design at DLIADT Dublin and University of Salford. Jo has an MA in Typographic studies from the University of the Arts London. She has also taught studio practice at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her work is described as “dynamic and innovative, with a unique visual aesthetic” (Liz Farrelly, Onehundredat360°: Graphic Design's New Global Generation).
Paul Hanley was the drummer in the Fall between 1980 and 1985. Since leaving the group he has played and recorded with former Inspiral Carpets singer Tom Hingley and Brix & the Extricated. Hanley's first book Leave The Capital, a treatise on the rise of Manchester's recording industry, was published in 2017. His second, Have a Bleedin Guess, which describes the making of The Fall's Hex Enduction Hour, was published in 2019. In 2021 Paul and his brother and fellow Fall-member Steve began hosting the Fall podcast 'Oh! Brother', interviewing ex-members and fans about their relationship with the group.
James Brown began his professional life as a staff writer on the NME, he went on to create the mens mass market magazine genre with loaded, he has edited GQ, FFT and others and works now as a writer, broadcaster and adviser to media companies. His music and magazine memoir is out September 22.
A northern-gal emerging into the design industry based in and around Manchester. Founder of Proper Talk, a platform which aims to amplify emerging creatives within the design industry, sharing motivational advice and useful resources to inspire them on their career path.
Roy Sharples is the founder and CEO of Unknown Origins, a creative design studio on a mission to save the world from unoriginality by unleashing the power of creativity. Providing brand creation, creative strategy, storytelling, and envisioning solutions for artists, businesses, educators, and entrepreneurs. Author of "Creativity Without Frontiers: How to make the invisible visible by lighting the way into the future." Curator of the community-driven storytelling platform that provides everyone access to insights and content from creators worldwide. https://www.unknownorigins.com/
Raissa Pardini is an Italian-borned, UK multi-disciplinary designer specialised in Digital Typography, Graphic Design and brand focus. She has been working for many of the most interesting music artists, labels, art and culture projects around the world. She has been curved her design passion between Milan, Berlin, London and finally, Glasgow. Her work have just been added to the V&A permanent collection. She mixes old-school typography and colourful details with a contemporary eye and critique.
Studied mechanical engineering at Manchester University (1982-85), then trained in graphic design. An internship at the Manchester studio Johnson/Panas led to meeting Peter Saville in 1991 and a life-changing invitation to work under his direction for Factory and the Haçienda. Later worked independently as a designer for clients including the British Council and Fedrigoni.
Lea Linin is a self-taught illustrator based in Vancouver, BC. She is often inspired by the themes of wandering, solitude and life’s simple pleasures. Working predominantly digitally, she creates meditative and whimsical illustrations for editorial and products
Scott King is an artist, graphic designer and writer.
King worked as art director for i-D magazine, creative director for Sleazenation magazine, and is a contributing editor to Arena Homme+ magazine. From 2013 to 2016, King was Professor of Visual Communication at University of the Arts, London.
He has produced graphic design work for the Michael Clark Dance Company; Malcolm McLaren; Pet Shop Boys; Róisín Murphy; John Grant; Saint Etienne; Earl Brutus; Suicide and New Order amongst many others.
King’s work has been exhibited internationally, in both commercial galleries and institutions, including Institute of Contemporary Arts, Barbican and Studio Voltaire in London; Museum of Modern Art and White Columns, in New York; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Portikus, Frankfurt; and Kunstverein Munich.
Andrew is a Designer and Senior Lecturer in Industrial Design & Course Director for the London South Bank University Bsc Product Design program. He currently divides his time between Academia and is principal designer for the research and development studio for a German medical device manufacturer.
He studied at Central (St Martins) School of Art and Design and graduated from the renowned Industrial Design Engineering course in 1990, Prior to his tenure at LSBU Andrew worked in the design and development industry working on a broad range of product typologies.
He has worked for some of the most respected design consultancies such as IDEO London, was a design and development consultant at Concord:Marlin lighting and collaborated with disciplines as broad as DJ’s, ergonomists, teachers, graphic designers, typographers, architects, engineers, ‘marketeers’ and entomologists.
Andrew currently collaborates with Susana Soares on the 'Insects au Gratin' project and they have recently presented their project 'The future of Carnism' exhibited online https://climate-2021.com/iwwdn-climate-exhibition/
Creative Director @ www.tuimedia.com and practising digital artist, see: www.britaintakeabow.org. My work explores the perceptions and realities of life in Britain, going against the grain of the hyper-charged stereotypes and assumptions that populate the national discourse.
Brian Cox is a professor of particle physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester and The Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement in Science. He is best known to the public as the presenter of science programmes, especially the Wonders of... series and for popular science books, such as Why Does E=mc²? and The Quantum Universe.
Mat Bancroft is an independent curator, archivist and art director specialising in 20th century pop culture. His curatorial projects include Use Hearing Protection - The Early Years of Factory Records at Science + Industry Museum - Manchester, Use Hearing Protection - Fac 1-50 / 40 at Chelsea Space - London, Patrick Procktor – The Last Romantic at Arts University Bournemouth and True Faith - an exhibition looking at the artistic legacy and influence of Joy Division and New Order for Manchester Art Gallery and Manchester International Festival. His archival work focuses on the stabilising, formalising and valuing of pop culture archives for transfer to institution and preparation for exhibition. Mat has been art director for Johnny Marr since 2012.’
Dr Harriet Atkinson is a historian of art, design and culture, with a particular interest in the uses of design for propaganda and protest, nation building and diplomacy, from the 1930s to the present day. She leads the research project '"The Materialisation of Persuasion": Modernist Exhibitions in Britain for Propaganda and Resistance, 1933 to 1953', which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and will result in two books, a film and a podcast series. She co-leads the research strand on Graphic Design Histories at University of Brighton's Centre for Design History.
Muiz is an artist, designer and art director specialising in bi-lingual Arabic and Latin type, branding and publication design. His practise develops radical new aesthetics that are inspired by the centuries to millennia old work of master crafts people, from calligraphers and potters, to architects and armourers across the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. Proudly born, raised and educated in Manchester, Muiz has represented his home town on the international stage, working with Bruno Maag, Erik Spiekermann, Huda Smithsjuzen AbiFares, and clients including Audi, Bloomsbury, Foreign Policy, Hermès, Qatar Museums Authority and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Wendy Wong is an illustrator, originally from Manchester, now based in London. She studied fashion textiles at the University of the Arts London, graduating with honours in 2014. Inspired by awkward body shapes, cartoons and her own life experiences, Wendy's illustrations could be described as silly, low-brow, sometimes irreverent but always full of joy, humour and positivity. Featured in: Pit Magazine, Refinery29, Digital Arts Magazine, Fuse Magazine, Popshot Magazine and Creative Boom.
Luke Tonge is a graphic designer, lecturer, and events wrangler in Birmingham. He specialises in identity & editorial work for brands, agencies and charities. As an introvert he finds it ironic to now spend most of his time on some sort of stage. He's a visiting lecturer at Birmingham City University and co-director of Birmingham Design, the organisation responsible for the Birmingham Design Festival.
Ian Swift is a graphic artist, typographer and designer who has become recognised for his pioneering and maverick approach within contemporary British graphic design. Swift was one of the first designers in the UK to embrace the Apple Macintosh’s potential as a design tool whilst studying at Manchester Polytechnic in 1985. This new digital approach attracted the attention of Neville Brody and in ‘86 Swift subsequently joined the design team at the eighties style bible The Face magazine before becoming art director of its sister magazine Arena two years later. He also was senior designer at Neville Brody Associates from 1998-1990.
For nearly two decades he was art director of Straight No Chaser (SNC) ‘the magazine of world jazz jive’, which became a vehicle for his hybrid design techniques and radical page layouts and later for his own bespoke font creations. SNC magazine became the centre of the emerging jazz dance scene and two decades on retains its global reputation as a black music journal, recently publishing its 100th issue.
In 1990 Swifty Typografix was founded in London’s Hoxton Square where his studio began creating logos, label identities and record covers for a growing client base including Talkin Loud, Island Records and MoWax Recordings.
One of the new breed of designers to embrace typeface design and the democratisation of font production, Swift launched ‘Typomatic' in 1997 as the UK's first independent Font foundry to showcase his font designs including Dolce Vita, Cut it Out and Coltrane. Typomatic will be re-launched this year with old and new fonts, remastered in ‘open type’ format.
‘The Graphic Art of Ian Swift’ (volume one) published in 2018, covers hybrid design work of the 1990’s illuminating his techniques, working roughs and mechanical artworks from the cut and paste days up to the millennium Volume 2 has just been released, with a focus on more recent and personal projects from the last two decades including clothing and apparel, paintings, wall art, print and silk screen editions.
Swift’s current practice reflects his enduring interest and commitment to type, typography, lettering and font design and a return to earlier experimental graphic processes fusing materials and techniques and combining analogue and digital skills to create innovative artworks and print editions.
Dani Molyneux is a typographic artist and designer. Her experience is extensive — she has worked for leading creative agencies across the country for a diverse range of clients. From corporates + mega giants to indies + arts orgs. She’s art directed international photo shoots and created award-winning campaigns. After working everyone else’s way, Dani wanted to work a different way. She launched Dotto® in 2017 to make meaningful work with good people. People who have something to say, and want to say it loud. Dotto is community, collaboration and taking up space. Powerful messages through playful type.
Johnny Marr first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of The Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has since performed with numerous other bands and embarked on a solo career.
Having released an album titled Boomslang in 2003 under the name Johnny Marr and the Healers, Marr released his first solo album, The Messenger, in 2013. His second solo album, Playland, was released in 2014, followed by a third, Call the Comet, in 2018. Marr's autobiography, Set the Boy Free, was published in 2016.
Voted the fourth-best guitarist of the last 30 years in a poll conducted by the BBC in 2010, Phil Alexander, editor-in-chief of Mojo, has described Marr as "arguably Britain's last great guitar stylist". In 2013, NME honoured Marr with its "Godlike Genius" award, hailing him: "Not content with rewriting the history of music with one of the world's greatest ever bands, the Smiths, he's continued to push boundaries and evolve throughout his career, working with some of the best and most exciting artists on the planet."
Neeraj Kainth is a Graphic Designer who works across a range of disciplines including Brand Identity, Print and Editorial. Neeraj is a member of his local design scene in Birmingham, organising and hosting various creative networks and events such as Birmingham Design Festival and Fuse Birmingham.
Mary Hemingway is a graphic designer and founder of platform DesignbyWomen. With a background in both surface pattern and graphic design, Mary’s work combines her love of colour and pattern with experimental use of layout and typography. She specialises in creating visual identities and editorial design for creative agencies, individual brands and public sector organisations.
After noticing how few women were celebrated in the design world at events and award ceremonies, she started DesignbyWomen in June 2020, as a self-initiated lock-down project. The platform aims to celebrate, showcase and inspire women, marginalised genders and gender non-conforming creatives currently working in the design industry. Through celebrating work and sharing insights and stories, Mary hopes to encourage collaboration, provide visibility and greater inclusion for women creatives at all stages in their careers.
Maxine Gregson began her career as a digital designer in one of the first digital agency in the UK, AMX digital, headed up by Malcolm Garrett. Working on projects for Universal Music, EMI, Barclays, Science Museum, ICA and D&AD. Over the last 10 years Maxine has worked across online and offline integrated campaigns for clients such as Mercedes, Nivea Men, Cadburys, & Experience design for Peugeot / Citroën DS and The Electoral Commission.
Mark Farrow was named Designer of the Year in the Creative Review Peer Poll in 2004, voting him ‘the most important graphic designer working today’. His career began in the early 1980s designing experimental sleeves and posters for Factory Records, and The Haçienda, This has since continued with a longstanding creative partnership with Pet Shop Boys, Spiritualized and Manic Street Preachers. His minimalist approach, and a rigorous, highly precise attention to detail defines his aesthetic, and appeals to a broad spectrum of clients, from museums and galleries to pop music and retail, product designers and architects, to restaurateurs and artists. In 2009 he was given the honour of Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) by the RSA.
Martyn is a product designer and design academic with 20 years research, teaching and leadership experience and is Director of Manchester School of Art. Interested in the strategic role that design commands in a variety of settings, his research explores the approaches designers use to conceptualise and communicate the future. With broad experience of design as future making, he has presented on this and related topics, nationally and internationally. He is a reviewer for a number of research councils and was appointed as a strategic reviewer for the AHRC in 2017.
I am an artist who works predominantly with textiles, reimagining objects symbolic of our contemporary culture from banners of high-street food retailers to keyring miniatures of iconic snacks.
The banners I create are exaggerations and parodies of things I love within mass/modern culture – the Lidl logo banner, created in collaboration with Matthew Challenger, translates the logo from a supermarket emblem to something almost nostalgic – my love for banners comes from an obsession with Trade Union banners and fellow banner maker and friend – Ed Hall.
Sarah Boris is an artist and graphic designer based in London. After working for over ten years for organisations such as Phaidon, the Institute of Contemporary Arts and the Barbican, she set up her own studio in 2015, with a focus on branding, editorial design and developing her art practice. In parallel to commissioned projects Sarah creates artworks during artist residencies and in collaboration with printmakers (letterpress, riso and screenprinting).
PastPresentFuture was devised with a simple premise: contributing designers were asked three questions. First, can you remember the first piece of graphic design you saw, when and where was this? Second, what are you working on right now, and third, do you have any advice for today’s graphic design students?
Patrick Thomas is a graphic artist, author and educator. He studied at Central Saint Martins School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London before relocating to Barcelona in 1991 where he founded the multidisciplinary studio ‘laVista’. In 2005 he published ‘Black & White’ a compilation of his work for the International Press. In 2011 Laurence King Publishing, London, published his second book ‘Protest Stencil Toolkit’, which sold out. He is currently working on the follow-up, due to be released in 2018.
In 2007 he established his first silkscreen press and decided to concentrate on releasing personal, uncommissioned work. Since then has exhibited his limited-editions across five continents, where many are now held in private and public collections.
He has given talks about his practice and held workshops worldwide, extensively in the UK, Spain and Germany. Between 2004–05 he was Graphic Research Fellow at Liverpool School of Art (Liverpool John Moores University) and since October 2013 he is a professor of visual communication at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design.
Angus Hyland is a graphic designer, author and creative director. He has been named one of the UK’s top ten graphic designers by The Independent, and has received over a hundred creative awards, including five D&AD silver awards.
Trevor Jackson is a multi-disciplinary creative with decades of experience and expertise in design, music, art and fashion. Collaborating with a diverse selection of clients from major international brands to smaller radical independents. His passion for producing bold and innovative work, along with active involvement within multiple significant subcultures has resulted in a highly respected career and an expansive body of critically acclaimed works.
The Office Of Craig Oldham is the eponymous practice of designer and creative consultant Craig Oldham (obviously).
Working across numerous disciplines, the studio creates brands, books, websites, films, exhibitions, and objects. We also teach, write, curate and consult. And we do this for clients, audiences, and sometimes just for the joy of it.
We are a young and intentionally small team of creative problem solvers, makers and doers. And with extensive industry experience, we’ve learnt that the better the relationship we have with a client, the better the work will be.
So far we’ve been recognised by Art Directors Club, D&AD, Design Week Awards, Creative Review, New York Festivals, Type Directors Club, as well as national and international press coverage and exhibitions. Last year, a book we wrote and designed was included in the 50 best in the world of 2013.
Harriet Richardson is a multi-disciplinary, London-based designer from Manchester.
She began her career at Turner Duckworth before joining Pentagram in 2017. She has since worked with many of their well-known clients including: Cubitts, Green New Deal for Europe, Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, Government Art Collection and the Best for Britain remain campaign.
Alongside working at Pentagram, Harriet freelances to create identities for ethical and ecologically conscious brands, most recently working with Extinction Rebellion.
Harriet also creates protest placards to raise money for a number of charities in her online shop.
Prior to taking up teaching, he ran a design consultancy working with a range of clients in the creative arts and music sector, including a 12-year creative commission with Tate Gallery Liverpool working on award winning art books, exhibition newsletters, international gallery and artist advertising campaigns web design work and motion graphic projects.
He has worked with Design Manchester as co-curator on the typographic exhibitions ‘I Shout for the Fall’ (2018) and ‘New Art School Rules’ (2019), and contributed images to ‘Orgasm Addict Reframed’ (2017).
In 2020, John completed a practice-based graphic design PhD. The research explored the role of place and formative design experience in the development of creative practice and a new visual identity. The project inspired ‘PastPresentFuture‘, an audio exhibition investigating formative creative identity and practice, co-curated with Malcolm Garrett for Design Manchester 20
Paula Scher is one of the most acclaimed graphic designers in the world. She has been a principal in the New York office of the distinguished international design consultancy Pentagram since 1991, where she has designed identity and branding systems, environmental graphics, packaging and publications for a wide range of clients that includes, among others, Citibank, Microsoft, Bloomberg, Shake Shack, the Museum of Modern Art, Tiffany & Co, the High Line, the Public Theater, the Metropolitan Opera, the Sundance Institute and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
John Owens has two roles, creative director of Instruct Studio, a branding and marketing specialist for the architectural and cultural sectors. The second is artistic director of Design Manchester, a not-for-profit organisation that celebrates creativity, collaboration and inclusivity across many sectors.
Jaheed Hussain is a graphic designer and writer based in Manchester. During his final year at University, Jaheed launched Fuse - an inclusive platform dedicated to elevating the voices and work of creatives of colour and pushing for change. Now he is working for Margie Studio as a Creative and Brand Designer.
Jonathan Gray has worked under the name ‘gray318’ for the past 12 years. He has designed book jackets for all the major publishers in the world and regularly undertakes editorial projects in the UK and US. His work has been recognised by the AIGA (NY) and D&AD (UK) and he has recently featured in exhibitions in Porto, Paris and New York. Jon is the co-founder of the Academy of British Cover Design.
Malcolm Garrett is Creative Director of Images&Co, a communications design consultancy based in London, UK. He is Ambassador for Manchester School of Art and co-founder of the annual Design Manchester festival. He is noted for his collaborative approach to design and his commitment to design education. Malcolm is widely regarded as a key influence on the development of contemporary British graphic design. As a punk at art school in Manchester in 1977 he founded the innovative graphic design group Assorted iMaGes, and subsequently created landmark designs for Buzzcocks, Duran Duran, Boy George, Simple Minds and Peter Gabriel.
Harris Elliott is a creative director, curator and stylist based in London. Elliott is renowned for his international cultural, style exhibitions Return of the Rudeboy with Dean Chalkley and Punk in Translation. The Harris Elliott Studio DNA, is based on visceral responses to untold cultural narratives, executed in various mediums. Over the past decade the studio has nurtured a consistent visual dialogue with Japanese brands, galleries and creatives which is now integral to the studio output.
Bryan Edmondson is creative director and co-founder of the multi-disciplinary design consultancy SEA. Edmondson’s work touches many disciplines from corporate identity and art direction to digital, packaging and information design. He has amassed a diverse and impressive client list and produced a wide range of acclaimed work for clients such as Matthew Williamson, GF Smith, EMI, Adidas, Porche, the contemporary furniture brand Beyon and Jamie Oliver.
Marion Deuchars, British illustrator and author, publishes beautifully illustrated children’s books and has created her own globally recognised style of hand lettering. Graduating with a distinction from the Royal College of Art in 1981, Marion went on to co-form an art and design studio. Her output has seen projects that span across corporate literature, publishing, editorial, packaging, advertising, web, brand development, craft and interior design
Mike Dempsey has been a graphic designer for over 40 years, after a decade in publishing, Mike formed the highly successful design consultancy Carroll, Dempsey and Thirkell in 1979, which he ran for 27 years. In 2007 he left to set up Studio Dempsey. Mike’s awards include the New York Art Director’s Club Silver Cube, the CSD Minerva Award, ten D&AD Silvers, the coveted Gold award, and in 2012 he received a special D&AD Black Pencil for most awarded designer in their 50-year history.
Rejane Dal Bello is an award-winning designer with a history of iconic work and a founder at Studio Rejane Dal Bello. She has 20 years of experience in graphic design and branding, including stints at renowned agencies such as Wolff Olins (UK) and Studio Dumbar (NL), and recently she wrote the ‘Citizen First, Designer Second’ book published by Counter-print.
Vicky Carr is a Co-Founder of Textbook studios, a graphic design studio focusing on image-making, visual identity and publication design for arts, culture and education.
Anthony Burrill combines a knack for simplicity that packs a punch with analogue craft skills and powerful, positive messages. After studying Graphic Design at Leeds Polytechnic he completed an MA in Graphic Design at the Royal College of Art, London. He now lives and works on the Isle of Oxney, Kent and works as a graphic artist
Jane Bowyer is a graphic designer and illustrator specialising in illustration, web design, branding and print. Her practice balances playfulness with purpose to deliver work that is both beautifully crafted and leaves a lasting impression.
Nick Bax is a British designer whose practice has spanned the fields of graphics, creative direction and art. He is currently working as a creative Director at Human Studios.
Since graduating in 1990 from Saint Martin’s School of Art and the Royal College of Art in London, Jonathan Barnbrook has developed a multifaceted practice that includes activism, graphic design, typeface design, industrial design and motion graphics. Barnbrook founded his design studio, Barnbrook, in 1990 and In 1997 he established his own font company VirusFonts after the sucsess of his typefaces for Californian innovators Emigre. In 2010, his most famous typeface Mason was released and later became one of the first digital acquisitions of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Additionally, his stone-carving is on permanent display of the 20th century gallery in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Barnbrook believes design shapes the way we perceive the world and can facilitate social change. In marking this responsibility, Barnbrook has art directed for the anti-corporate collective Adbusters and participated in the First Things First 2000 Manifesto published in 1999, signed by graphic designers, students and photographers who proposed a reversal of priorities in the way graphic design was used commercially.
With a honorary doctorate by Staffordshire University for services to typography, the award of Honorary Fellow by Central Saint Martins and exhibitions all over the world Barnbrook's contribution to the world of design in both the political and innovational way has been recognised and celebrated and he could offer a unique and experienced perspective of how to sucsessfully find and establish oneself in the world of design.
PastPresentFuture was devised with a simple premise: contributing designers were asked three questions. First, can you remember the first piece of graphic design you saw, when and where was this? Second, what are you working on right now, and third, do you have any advice for today’s graphic design students?
Chris Ashworth is an English graphic designer with over 30 years of experience in the field. Before becoming the Creative Director, Microsoft MLD&S Creative Studio he developed his expertise and unique and recognisable style as a designer through may unique positions and projects, from working as the executive global creative director for Getty Images and the art director of the magazine Ray Gun in 1997 to creating the brochure and promotional materials for the first MTV Europe Music Awards in collaboration with John Warwicker and Simon Taylor.
After graduating from the York College of Arts & Technology in 1990 with a degree in graphic design, in collaboration with some friends, he opened a design studio called Orange, which created black and white, easily photocopiable flyers for local nightclubs
Ashworth is inspired by Swiss design aesthetics, and refers to his own style as "Swiss grit". This style is characterised by hyper detail, barcodes, horizontal lines, and the use of multiple transparent layers.
Having worked with culturally impactful organisations such as MTV, Warner Music Group and Image Bank as well as counting 90.9k followers on Instagram in the current day Ashworth can give insightful knowledge into the industry, not only from years long experience but a relevant guide of navigating the ever-changing world of design in the current day.
PastPresentFuture was devised with a simple premise: contributing designers were asked three questions. First, can you remember the first piece of graphic design you saw, when and where was this? Second, what are you working on right now, and third, do you have any advice for today’s graphic design students?
It’s been more than 20 years since Tash Willcocks dipped her toe into the creative and design industry.
In that time she’s been an album creative for Elbow, designed skateboards with Linder Sterling, and was MA Communication Design Programme Leader at Salford University. Since 2013 she led design programmes at Hyper Island, helping students worldwide to discover new skills in digital management and digital experience design, becoming Director of Masters Europe in 2017. In 2020 was made the the first Honorary Fellow, as she left Hyper Island to form Snook “a design studio built to make the world more human”.
PastPresentFuture was devised with a simple premise: contributing designers were asked three questions. First, can you remember the first piece of graphic design you saw, when and where was this? Second, what are you working on right now, and third, do you have any advice for today’s graphic design students?
Ian Anderson is known worldwide for his original and influential designs. He continues to run The Designers Republic in Sheffield. When not writing or teaching he is also creative director (comms) of EXD in Lisbon and Sheffield’s International Documentary Festival. When the moon is full, he DJs as Pho-Ku Polluted Rockers.
PastPresentFuture was devised with a simple premise: contributing designers were asked three questions. First, can you remember the first piece of graphic design you saw, when and where was this? Second, what are you working on right now, and third, do you have any advice for today’s graphic design students?