Richard Robinson

Interview

Richard Robinson's design skills are highly sought after and his reputation is well deserved. Each layout he produces tends to be simple, yet completely effective. He tells us why we should never forget our roots and how difficult it can be to allow individuality to creep into a commercial design brief.

R: I graduated with a Graphic Design degree and really wanted to work in the Music world. I knew that there were a few companies in London that offered this type of work so I applied to The Kitchen, Mark Farrow and The Vent. I managed to get a job with Vent, who at the time, were making ads and posters for artists like Radiohead. My first project there was doing a sleeve for a Beverly Knight album and really enjoyed it.

After a couple years, I moved onto a new company called Traffic, (who do work for BabyShambles & Razorlight) helped to build the business up but still felt that the whole thing wasn’t really mine. So I moved on again and worked with Output records, which allowed me to make many connections that eventually allowed me to work freelance when Output went under. I considered this period of time to be really important as many young Graphic Designers have great ideas but they just don’t have the contacts to make these ideas come to life. Fortunately for me, I worked hard for many companies and collected a lot of contacts along the way.

- How about any influences in our artwork; direct or indirect?

R: Mark Farrow has always been a huge influence on me and he also worked a lot with Peter Saville, who in turn, has definitely had an indirect influence as well. In the beginning, I would look at other sleeve designs and try to be influenced by them, but I now realize that this usually leads to you copying them to a certain extent. It is so specific to that framework and if you try to look outside the box and get your influences from elsewhere, then your work starts to look much better.

- How would you describe your own work to people who may not have seen it before?

R: I think I try to approach each project individually, I don’t want to have one unique style that I’m known for because it limits your range of projects that you might be able to do. Nowadays, most musicians are much more fussy as to what designs they want for their albums. You need to be flexible in your design skills in order to fulfill their briefs. Compromise is extremely important and developing a dialogue between the client and the designer is really important. If you are open and explain your range and type of work that is in your portfolio and ask for some trust, then they will get the best out of you.

- It seems to UKAdapta that you like to push the boundaries of Typeface in your work, sometimes it can be very minimal and at other times have very chunky lettering. What are your reasons behind this?

R: I like to create new typefaces as it is something that you can give to the client that it is completely new and original. If you are being paid to create something good, then you can stand out from other designers if you have that extra skill. It looks much better than creating an image and then using a pre-existing font with it. This is something that most junior designers can do and it isn't very original. I want my type to look very special and make people want to buy the album. It actually can help with agreement of the final design between the designer and musician as you know that you have tried your hardest and they know you have too, so the end product is usually beautiful.

- Could you describe the design process between you and your clients?

R: It depends who it’s for; all clients have different needs, deadlines, budgets and whether or not they have any pre-existing ideas. For example, I work a lot with a record label called Tirk. Sav Remzi, the owner will usually just give me some of the music to listen to and let me get on with it. This is a trust factor that you may not get with every client but is very important to develop if you want to work again with that same client in the future. However, it’s not always successful; sometimes they may not like the image I create and will give their comments and then I will go back and try to develop and evolve the concept more.

- How do you take criticism from others of your own work?

R: If it is justified, then that’s OK. I don’t expect everybody to like what I do, but I do expect to hear some reasons why the client may not like it. It really annoys me when they just come back to me and say that they don’t like it without giving me some justification.

- Any current projects that you’d like to share with us?

R: I have just finished some designs for Bugged Out, some CD’s for Boys Noize. This is part of an ongoing series I have been working on with the first release being for Simian Mobile Disco and Boys Noize being the second one. I used black and white photography to come up with something that is quite memorable and iconic.

I just had a design printed for Tirk, for an artist called Toob. Which will be for a 7”, 12” and CD when it comes out so will be a nice little set. This project was a good example of compromise as at first, we didn’t see eye to eye with the design, but after Toob sent me more references and images, we managed to create something that we were both really happy about. Finally, I just finished the album cover for an artist called Architeq, who is also on Tirk. Personally, I really liked this project as I really enjoyed the music, which motivated me more to create something that both Architeq and I would like. Luckily, Sam Annand (Architeq), already had quite a strong vision, in terms of the colour scheme, but the rest was up to me to try and develop and I think I have captured the mood of the music quite well with this design.

The type almost takes up the whole page and I really like it when type becomes the image, as it gives you more than just information, it becomes a piece of art as well.

Richard Robinson : www.richardrobinsondesign.co.uk

Written by Selph