me studio

after graduating back in 1988 i moved to cambridge and started my first real job as a graphic designer, this logo for a local photgraphy studio was one of the first things i made (at least the first job i’m prepared to show anyone these days) it really reminds me of all kinds of ‘things’ that were in vogue at the time (certain colour schemes and some very dodgy decorative fonts) more interestingly to me on a personal level is that i’m reminded of the fact that we had no computers at the time (yes kids there was once a world without macs) i remember drawing the whole thing on colour-separated acetate sheets, by hand… it was actually printed at considerable expense to the client in four pantone colours (how should i know? i just wanted to use lots of colours)

it is now also very clear to me what influences i was subject to at the time because many of them can all be found in this one logo, particularily dutch design…

the ‘f’ and dotted circle for example can be traced back to the ‘holland festival’ logo designed by studio dumbar a year earlier (see below) and at the time all over the place in UK design publications… the slanted rectangle was something i had seen a lot in the work of ‘total design’ whom i visited in amsterdam in that same year, the dark blue script font was a typical feature in the work of ‘vaughn oliver’ at V23 who was then (and now still) a big hero of mine…

so what’s the point to all of this nostalgia then? well nothing really except that looking back at old work can be quite revealing, if you dare to do it…