Translation. That’s an odd word to use for visual communications. But one of the most interesting parts of my work is spotting a connection between two apparently-unrelated things and using it to invite people in to the words, or to an idea. Some of that work is subtle. Some of … Read More
I’ve run masterclasses on getting over a creative block. One of my top tips is going for a walk. Somehow, sprung from my desk, my view long, the ideas come to me that are not going to pop out of my screen, however long I stare at it. But I … Read More
Time travel. It wasn’t what I expected from my free-range Friday. But as I sketch walked my way from an exhibition recce at Springfield Park Café in Hackney, looking for a vantage point I found an information board about the geology of the view. On it was the logo I’d … Read More
Four days, two cities, a wintry beach and nerding out on Delft blue and the House of Orange… it’s been the latest leg of my project visiting places with colour stories. Delving into blue at the Royal Delft factory has turned up a story of resilience, adaptation and innovation. On … Read More
It’s not the most conventional of festive repeat patterns. But bear with me… I love a pencil shaving. I make a lot of them, on live sketching assignments and on my own work. In a circle, they can be baubles or snowflakes. They’re general enough to be relevant to the … Read More
I’m an accidental illustrator… This loose, linear strand of my work was once the workings-out of my design practice. Before that, it came from a love of bande dessinée illustration. I studied at a time of specialisation, when you could be a designer or an illustrator but not both; before … Read More
On the face of it, I have three strands of work: design, creative direction and sketch illustration. But I bring my design knowledge to illustration formats and materials and my reportage eye to my work on communication design and branding. Here, two strands of my work are drawn together – … Read More
Chip fork fish? DIY postcards? There’s been a field trip to the seaside for the latest episode of Studio Snack, a food podcast about design that I make with Narcis Sauleda. We were researching seaside snacks and for our grand day out, as well as my usual hand-bound sketchbook made … Read More
A by-product of writing a bio or summary information is the chance to wrangle the question I’ve often asked branding clients: “In one sentence, what do you do?”. On the face of it, my work has got more complicated as I’ve gone along. As I’ve gathered knowledge, graphic design has … Read More
A lemon top ice cream in Redcar. That hadn’t been the plan. Whitby had been my next colour trip, for jet black and the Old Norse for white, more of which later. But getting there turned out to be fiddly so I had designed a scenic route North, wiggling down … Read More