Stuart Tolley is the the Art Director and Graphic Designer at TRANSMISSION, the new face for cool – dynamic visually – juicy and colourful Graphic Design of the moment. Stuarts direct connection to Renderyard is the visually crafted designed of the fresh and colourful logo and idents that will be representing this year’s Renderyard’s Short Film Festival 2009.
Render - I saw your design work 50 Things We Love that you created for the new youth culture magazine Disappear Here. How did you get involved in this project and what was your main inspiration for this great logo? I love that yellow.
Stuart – Disappear Here is a very interesting ongoing project. I was asked to art direct the magazine after an initial meeting with the editor, who wanted to build on a concept that was born out of an MTV show. He had seen my typographic work and designs for independent magazines such as the cult style title Sleazenation and wanted a similar playful approach for Disappear Here. The 50 Things cover was for our pilot issue and released at the end of 2008. I wanted something bright, bold and graphic to make a statement and commissioned Alex Trochut (www.alextrochut.com) to create a piece of bespoke typographic design. The magazine is free so we were able to break the tradition of an over reliance on coverlines, favored by mainstream newsstand titles. Instead we used Alex’s beautiful design as the main focus. The yellow is my favourite colour and as the magazine was released in Winter, it would brighten up the grey London days. (www.disappearheremag.com)
Render – The cover designs and illustrations that you design for books and magazines are visually very fresh and give to each of the covers a unique identity. What styles in graphic design and illustration have been your main influence?
Stuart – I have always been interested in the development of subcultures and the music, design and fashion that surround it. The colours and aesthetic of Punk and late 1960’s Psychedelia were definitely an influence while I was studying. The Milton Gaser poster for Bob Dylan really stands out, as does Jamie Reid’s artwork for the Sex Pistols. I like a lot of contemporary design for music, especially interesting packaging techniques. The Non-Format screen-printed designs for Loaf Records are brilliant.
Render – The poster design for the children’s charity event React and Ebay.co.uk/Charity had close collaborations with Vivienne Westwood, Zara Wood and others. What kind of events and organisations would you like to collaborate with through your designs?
Stuart – I was very lucky with the React poster. Zara Wood (www.zarawood.com) is a close friend and suggested I donate some of my screen-printed type posters to the auction. I did, but also asked about designing a poster to advertise the event. Luckily they agreed and I created a customized piece of typographic design, which was screen-printed onto metallic gold card and displayed during London Fashion Week. It was a great project and I am really keen to do more work with music or art events. Something like art directing the visual approach for Sonar in Barcelona or One Dot Zero in London would be amazing.
Render – In the typography design for The Show Below Exhibition you got inspired by the film Coming to America by Eddie Murphy. Do you find in films an important source of inspiration?
Stuart – I use the Show Below exhibition (showbelow.co.uk) as an opportunity to experiment with typography, so films often provide the words to play with. I recently saw Coming to America and forgot how funny it was. There are so many classic lines. So for a bit of fun I decided to base the whole exhibition on it.
Render – We are very glad that you approached Renderyard to work with us. What attracted you to do some design and audiovisual work for an international film festival like Renderyard?
Stuart – I work closely with Lynn at the studio, helping me find new business and contacts. I briefed her to contact interesting festivals that work with film, animation and music. Renderyard really appealed to us because it is independent and promotes experimental film. This is my first audiovisual project, so I was very happy for the opportunity. The visuals work as a stop frame animation, with each frame consisting of abstract photography, which was collaged in Photoshop. To make it move I collaborated with Uli Stein (www.ready2use.net) who edited my artwork in Final Cut Pro. I am really happy with the way it turned out and it has opened up my eyes to a new way of working. I will definitely seek more animation work in the future.
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