Another unmissable event in the D&AD President’s Lecture programme and provocatively titled too. But it was all part of the fun and refreshing to know that while Neville Brody takes his role seriously as a designer in society, he can see through the facade of being regarded as a design celebrity.
The other widely reported quirk to this evening was the usage of twitter and its invitation for everyone to participate and ask questions with the all important hash-tag. Our host for the evening, the ever-readable Adrian Shaughnessy, keeping Neville on topic and occasionally browsing the tweets for those emperor-baiting questions.
And Studio intern Scott got the first question! He asked: ‘what do you think of the amount of typefaces there are now? Pain in the arse or useful?
A valid question and one that perplexes most students, frustrated by choice. Neville stroked his chin and answered that “you can never have enough chairs” or “everyone should have their own font”. For a designer famous for creating his own fonts, he would hardly restrict himself to his favourite three. Plus, mostly his letterforms are hand-drawn, like his recent title sequence for the film ‘Public Enemies’.
The work exhibited was all recent examples from his Research Studio. Which was cool considering he could easily rely on the legacy work of the 80s – The Face and Arena magazines pretty much define the era. And here is where the theorizing began and much more chin stroking. Neville really needed a whiskey to complete the picture of contemplation. He feels the decline of popular culture and societies use of design began with Thatcher, Reagan and Haircut 100. Seriously, this must have amused and befuddled the youngsters but this stuff could help your Critical Studies. For the record, he remains deeply suspicious of the Tories and fears the worst if Cameron gets into No.10 next year.
He is also frustrated by the way design is taught at art college. That there is too much focus on aiming for a career and not enough time to nurture creativity, stating, “college is to nurture your soul – your convictions”. OK, but the times haven’t changed that much. I went to art college to learn a trade and obviously graduates want jobs. But I do agree, there are too many graduates competing out there. Neville thinks there should be 100% creativity and 100% skills, which is understandable given that we should all be ready to adapt and able to generate work which satisfies our creative and competitive ambitions.*
[*A reflection from 2019: looking back, I’m tempted to re-examine this viewpoint. Teaching throughout the last decade, I’ve observed the over-emphasis upon employability. Of course it is important, but the fear for me is art schools merely churning out graduates for ‘more of the same’ marketing and advertising. This approach can only create unchallenging and safe work. Young designers must be encouraged to experiment and push the boundaries of their practice. It always results in work which is exciting and imaginative. It is pure graphic design and typography explored with bravery that defines identity for meaningful communication. There is a bigger discussion here, but yes: 100% creativity and 100% skills, plus 100% curiosity]
After Adrian branded a heckler a wanker it was our time to vote. The audience was all given voting cards, each to hold aloft in Apprentice style. And like a suited Dermot O’Leary I can reveal the result. From my seat it was 65% Genius / 35% Wanker.
PS. Neville considers himself a genius because he is a Spurs Fan. And all you Arsenal supporters say… ?
