STEWART DAWES speaks to British graphic designer Dermot De Courcy Robinson, MD of leading edge design company MAXX Design about graphic design in the UK…
Is there a definitive British graphic designer approach, and if so, can you explain it to people from outside the UK?
I believe that here in the UK we have a business-oriented focus that links good design to an organisation’s bottom line through well applied consistent branding, creative mailer and digital ideas and well developed websites.
In the 1980-90s, champions of British graphic design boasted that British graphic designer, after a slow start, were the best in the world – is that a view that still has merit 25-30 years later?
To an extent. Other countries have upped their game but British design is still highly regarded. London is a global creative centre of excellence, seen by the number of creative agencies located there. However, many UK companies are now part of global concerns.
Do you have any personal heroes of graphic design, they don’t have to be English?
Roy Lichenstein, Milton Glaser, Neville Brody, Bob Greenberg
.
What design magazines would we expect to find on your coffee table?
Eye, Creative Review and Design Week.
When people talk about the most influential British graphic designers they mention Alan Fletcher, Neville Brody, Apple designer Jonathan Ive, Jamie Reid, Danny Brown or Michael C Place – all men – then it’s only when the question is asked about female designers, that names such as Margaret Calvert or Morag Myerscough appear. What’s your view on the issue overall, and the under-representation of women in such a discussion?
People come to the top of their profession through merit, chance and sheer hard work. Men and women are there dependent on these factors. Its as much a woman’s world as a man’s these days.
What’s the design medium outside of graphic design that you draw most inspiration from?
Title sequences within TV and film often showcase great typography, illustration and imagery. I often visit student shows and art exhibitions to see what’s happening in the world of design. I always leave surprised and delighted that inspiration is limitless.
Britain is a multi-cultural society – do you have a view about design influences from Asia or Africa which could now be seen as a part, even in a small way, of the British creative curriculum?
With the access to sources via the web, anything goes these days. We can draw from a million influences at the touch of a mouse, whether from Africa, Asia or downtown Sydney!
What’s a British design trend which is cliche, or reflective of British graphic design at its worst?
Excessive styles applied to a design because the Mac or PC allows a design to add them. Over complicated type. Too many background tones and tints or other effects.
Creativity vs the bottom line – where does your agency sit between these polar opposites?
Are they polar opposites? Its wrong to say this as a client’s bottom line can benefit considerably from a small amount of creative input. If there was a score scale we would sit above middle, verging toward creative. The outcome of a project is often determined by the type of client, the market sector or budget.
In your mind are there still sharp differences between graphic design and digital design, or creatively at least have the two modalities fused so that they are indistinguishable from each other except for the actual physical medium that they appear in?
We’ve worked hard to merge the design style of our graphic design and digital projects, to create a more seamless brand approach. As the web matures as a medium, what we can do has broadened and it is easier (if you know what you are doing) to merge the overall effect into one.
If you were to take a “design holiday” to go and absorb the design of another country, from urban streetscapes to the most reclusive art forms, where would you choose to go?
Hong Kong, New York, major European cities like Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Paris, or I’d go to the sources of Aboriginal art, Egyptian art, Nubian art, Arabic art, and while I’m at it I’d want to visit South American countries such as Argentina … or Scandinavian countries for clean design and image styles and typography.
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