This months guest designer is Ian Stevenson, whose designs are featured in our free card sample pack.
Every month we sit down with a favourite plastic card designer and get to know them and their designs. Read our chat below.
Be our next guest designer
If you’d like your designs immortalised in plastic, get in touch. We’ll interview you and who knows, your creations could be fantastic in our plastic.
- Designs featured in our sample pack, sent out to 100s of Oomph customers in all industries
- Spotlight feature on our Great Ideas page with a feature-length interview
- 500 free plastic business cards
- Friends with Oomph forever!
IAN STEVENSON
Tweet"Visually striking, there’s a twisted sense of fun – along with what can only be described as a ridiculous sense of menace - in the work of Ian Stevenson." - Gavin Lucas, Creative Review.
Ian’s commissions include; Tate Modern, Perrier, Paul Smith, MTV, E4 Music and now Oomph. We wanted to know more, cue curve-balls!
Twisted art without pomp, that’s how I describe your work, what’s your take?
Yes that sounds good, I like to cut through the shit and get to the point.
From where do you draw your inspiration?
Just by seeing things in my everyday life and reacting to them.
Which artist do you most admire?
There's this guy called Stevenson or something or whatever, I like his work.
Do you think you will ever been sectioned?
It is a possibility.
Which piece of your work is your favourite?
The more swear words the better.
Who has been the best client to work with?
Most clients let me do my own thing and let me run free through the sunny fields with a flower in my hair and that is brilliant.
Is there a message you are trying to preach?
Open your eyes.
Which question you’ve wish you’d been asked, but haven’t?
Would you buy your own work?
Where would you most like to see your work?
In the bin at Tate Modern.
What has been the reaction to your new Oomph business cards?
People like them very much and I've been giving them to strangers when I travel home after an evening of beer.
You can see Ian’s other work by visiting www.ianstevenson.co.uk
GARY MCGARVEY, HORSE
TweetHorse is an illustration and design studio based in Liverpool.
Gary has designed album cover artwork for a huge variety of artists including The Pixies, Bjork, Mogwai, The XX, Battles, Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, Chilly Gonzales, And So I Watch You From Afar, to name but a few. Possessing an incredible illustrative style, we wanted to know more about the man and of course the Horse.
What is Horse all about?
Horse is a graphic design studio specialising in music based design, primarily screen-printed gig posters and album artwork.
How would you describe your style of work?
I would say my work has evolved from vector based design to a style which is very much illustrative. Since starting to design screen-prints, I have become more conscience of colour as you're restricted to a certain degree, but I have started to appreciate the content and quality of an image a lot more. My work becomes a lot more detailed as I go I think, I'd like to think that with each piece of work I complete I grow as a designer.
How do you know when you've nailed it?
Each design I start I usually have an image in my head how I want it to end up, rarely does it end up this way though! Its not usually until I have all the elements drawn and start to put together the illustration that i can start to get confident about how it will look when complete. The type on the poster always plays a huge part, the best laid out illustration just wont work when its introduced and I have to start taking everything apart all over again. I tend to work in layers where a lot of elements of the poster are drawn separate and can be moved around easier on screen. That point when I think, yes we're getting there, is about 20 minutes before I finish the entire poster, there is always the temptation to over work it, the skill is knowing when to stop!
Where did you get the idea for our guest cards?
I have started to buy a lot more vinyl in the past year and think its something that should be supported, firstly to keep record stores open but also the keep bands on the road. I make it a point of buying a vinyl a week, but the odd week bills would have to take priority. If I had a card which I could add money to as I went which was solely for vinyl, my weekly trip would definitely happen. It would also be a great for birthday presents etc where people could just add to your balance instead of getting your 27th pair of socks!
What is your favourite font?
I go through phases, at the minute I use Bebas quite a bit, or base hand drawn type on it. I draw quite a lot of my type though too.
Whats cool in design for 2012?
Because Im part of it, Im buzzing off how gig posters are evolving, artists are creating pieces of art for each show and its getting recognised as credible art-forms!
You can see Horse’s other work by visiting www.youresomehorse.com
Vicki Young, Nalla
TweetNalla is a young creative agency based in Hoxton.
They are the designers behind The Riding House Café bar tab cards along with some of our showcase examples. We caught up with Nalla’s director Vicki Young to chat about Nalla’s ethos and what inspired the beginnings of Nalla Design.
What is Nalla all about?
Our ethos is "We make you look good" and that is true in everything we do. We concentrate on great design that lets our clients shine and stand out from the crowd.
What was your inspiration for the Riding House Cafe identity?
The client came to us with the name which was influenced from the restaurants location on the corner of Riding House Lane. We wanted to avoid the cliché horse imagery concept and instead focused on different things you can ride. The identity features various items you can ride on from roller skates to hot air balloons. The logo was made from getting a large rubber stamp made up and then generating a logo from that, so the texture is a true representation of the process. The identity was carefully constructed to reflect and complement the utilitarian and NYC chic vibe that the interiors provided.
You also designed our showcase cards, how did you get the ideas for those?
We were flattered when you asked us to design a set for you. The brief was open which was great. Designers are trained to answer a brief and it tends to throw us into a panic when there is not a brief to answer or problem to solve. I actually loved it, to have creative freedom is like a dream come true, but I guess that’s the artist in me!
So you believe that play is an important part of the design process?
Absolutely, exploring and playing is a solution to unique creativity. I think its important to research and check out what’s going on in the world on a daily basis but without time to explore ideas you’d end up just copying or replicating.
You can see Nalla's other work by visiting www.nalla.co.uk
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