Editorial design
Magazines, books and reports where the reading experience is the brief. Grid, typography and the pace of turning a page.
- Art direction
- Grid & type
- Layout
- Print liaison
Studio
A desk, a light table, time
An independent art director working across print, identity and the occasional screen. I take few projects and give each one an unreasonable amount of attention.
Studio
Small on purpose, slow by choice
I work alone, from one desk, on a small number of projects a year. That is not a stage before growth; it is the whole plan. The work I care about needs the kind of attention that does not survive being spread across a team of ten.
Everything starts on paper and ends at a press. I set my own type, I commission the photography, and I do the press check in person, because the difference between good and finished happens in the last ten per cent, and that is the part everyone else skips.
One desk, six projects a year
Print-first, from grid to press check
One typeface, used to its limit
Edited hard. The red pen is a design tool
6
Projects a year
14yr
Independent
9
Awards
1
Desk
How I work
Read, sketch, set, press
The order rarely changes. Most of the thinking happens before a single line is drawn, which is why the drawing goes quickly.
01
Read
Weeks with the material before a single layout. You cannot design a thing you have not properly understood.
02
Sketch
On paper, at speed, badly. Twenty rough directions to find the one worth taking seriously.
03
Set
The grid and the type, built once and honoured throughout, so the whole thing reads as one hand.
04
Direct
Photography and illustration commissioned to the idea, held to a standard, never bought off a shelf.
05
Refine
The unglamorous middle: kerning, widows, the tenth pass that nobody will consciously notice.
06
Press
On stock, with ink, checked in person. The design becomes an object here or it does not become one at all.
What I do
Four things, done properly
Editorial, identity and the direction that holds them together. I do not do decks, and I will tell you who does.
Identity
Marks and systems for people who make things carefully, built to age well rather than trend fast.
- Positioning
- Wordmark
- Type system
- Guidelines
Art direction
The eye over a project: photography, illustration and the standard everything is held to once the studio has gone.
- Direction
- Commissioning
- Shoot
- Sign-off
Print production
Paper, ink and finishing, managed to the press. The part where a design becomes an object, and where most of them are quietly ruined.
- Stock
- Proofing
- Press check
- Finishing
Practical
Before you enquire
Editorial and identity work generally starts around £18,000 and most land between there and £60,000, depending on extent and how much of the production I manage. I quote the whole thing, not an hourly rate, because good work should not be penalised for being done efficiently. Tell me the budget and I will tell you honestly what fits.