Posterzine - Anthony Burrill Interview
This interview is really thorough and concise majority of the questions asked in the the interview help me to write my essay and also consider his way of working for my own practice.
Some of the questions in the article...
How would you describe the relationship between the visuals and the messages in these posters?
When i am thinking of ideas for the phrases i am thinking of how the words look as well, how the letters are going to rest on the page. Because i am using physical, wooden objects to print these posters, you cant change things around too much. I am quite restricted in that sense and i think thats what gives them that slight awkwardness; I like that they're not too over-designed. Its quite difficult to get them to feel balanced and to work properly. The always have an in-built character, because youre using wood you've already got that as a starting point.
It gets harder and harder thinking of new things to say, and because everything is part of a single body of work as well, it has to work together. I couldn't just go off on a tangent. But when new ones do come along - i have done one recently thats says persistence is fruitful as soon as that came to me i thought, 'Yeah thats a good one'
I have heard you say you have an analogue mind - can you explain what you mean by that...
I think it comes from my age really! When I was in design education that was pre computers and when I was at the RCA there was a special computer lab, this hushed environment. I think i went in there twice.
I am hardwired to appreciate handmade things; its just how my brain works. I am also usually working on one thing at a time.
Do you bring that analogue way of thinking to your digital work?
The work I do on screen, I am always thinking about the print process. When something is purely digital its very perfect and its not satisfying enough for me. I like to work something up on the screen for it to go through a print process afterwards , whether thats working with wood inlay or a screen print.
What is it about the physical proscess of print you enjoy?
Its all about when you pull a draw open and see all the type there. You just appreciate the beautiful wood type and its particular patina and age, and then when you start putting it all together to form words it feels very satisfying , that these things have been crafted to produce typogragphy that has a very particular style. And you are using materials that are tried and tested - you can say anything with it and its going to look really nice.
The its about trying to do something with that which keeps it relevant, so its not just a measure.
A lot of your work is funny - do you thing the design world can be a bit po faced at times?
I went to Bangkok a couple of weeks ago for a typogaphy conference, it was not graphic designers there but hardcore type designers. It turns me into a teenage boy again, so i stood up on stage and said "Do we need any more typefaces, haven't we got enough?" I was joking but everyone was a bit taken a back.
People get into the whole graphic design lifestyle and its all very controlled, putting your socks in order in the drawer. I am quite OCD, I like things very near and tidy but I think its that way i was brought up to make jokes about literally everything, and to the absurdity in things.
Its about producing work that has personality and i think that gets designed out of so much stuff. I don't really know what its like in the working world because I am in my own little bubble which i have created myself.
You often talk about the importance of integrity in design - what do you mean by that and why is it so important?
Its about feeling comfortable with the projects you are working on and the asscoisations. When people ask me to do things they are asking Anthony Burrill to be involved that becomes port of the story go the projrvt. So its about whether I am happy with the way they operate their business. Thats why end up doing quite a bit of charity stuff but then I do also work with google who have quite a difficult relationship with have they are perceived.
Its hard to speak for normal graphic designers because I am not one. But the pressure of running a studio and having to pay the wage bill means you are going to take on stuff thats either not very interesting, or you are just churning out graphic design and communication thats doesn't really amount to antything. I was always quite conscious of producing work that i felt had a worth to it.
I found this interview really insightful into burials way of thinking and design process, Burrill mentions why he loves traditional print so much - loving the imperfections and the human error which shows the entire process.
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