Visiting Professional - Studio Build

Build is an award-winning creative agency with an international reputation for creating strong visual narratives. Utilising art direction and graphic design, we create brand identities, websites, packaging and books for design-led clients around the world. Michael C Place [Founder + Creative Director] of Build came to give a talk about his practice and working in his studio.

At the beginning of the presentation, Place played short, flashing images of his work which was a really engaging way to introduce himself. This also kept the audiences attention away from him and on the presentation. This is something that I can utilise in order to make me feel more comfortable at the start of a presentation. 

• Music had a big influence on Place, and would arguably be his primary reason for pursuing graphic design due to the expressive album covers. 

• Learnt graphic design pre-computer, using letraset typography, inspired by the DIY punk fanzines, which is still an interest to him today. 

• Place introduced me to - 'The graphic language of Neville Brody' which reveals the motivations and meanings at the root of his designs. This would benefit me because I am intrigued how Brody's designs have been accepted, in a commercial sense, and how he justifies his experimental design decisions.

• 'Don't be a slave to Modernism.'

• Rod Clarke - Underground Magazine was a big inspiration due to the experimental approach and lack of consideration for the rules:

• Vaughan Oliver

• Trevor Jackson

• Designers Republic

• Place doesn't consider himself a good graphic designer, more an interesting one. He went on to say he looks at software for what it can't do rather than what it can do. 

• Produced the covers for Aphex Twin

• Focus on iconography - Strong geometric shapes create high impact communication

• Place collaborates with specialists out of his field of design such as web developers, illustrators, etc, rather than attempt something out of his specialist knowledge. This would also make managing time easier. 

• Build naturally tries to surprise their clients which makes them unique and desirable, however this can sometimes backfire depending on the client. 

• They take on around 6 briefs at the same time

• Place highlights how important a real passion is for design which studios will recognise and be attracted to. 

Place has opened my eyes to a method of design that I can relate to as I take a lot of inspiration from album art and was also part of the reason I wanted to get into graphic design and he has showed me how to imbed a passion into design. He also encouraged an experimental approach to design which suited the music clientele.