Mac to the future

I know I'm going to show my age here, but back in the day, when I was a young graphic designer, the tools of the trade included magic markers, spray mount, scalpels and long 'galleys' of typesetting. All artwork was manual, the process could be laborious, albeit considered. Many a long evening was had cutting and pasting the most intricate type layouts and calculating CMYK colour breakdowns for the printers.

Then, in 1986, I bought the latest, state-of-the-art Macintosh SE-30 from Apple. A massive 30mb hard drive! This revolutionised the way we worked – and from that day on I have used a succession of different Apple computers. Each time there has been an exponential increase in mega, giga, terra, ram bam a ding dong biteage (I'm not the technical type, as you can see).

But I hope that, despite the latest all singing, all dancing technology that comes our way, each brief and challenge has been met with the same considered eye as when we were hunched over a piece of artboard equipped only with a blue pencil, a scalpel and a desire to make engaging design that works.

Art and Design: blurring the divide

There's always been a debate about the distinction between art and design. Where does one end and the other start? Is it simply a matter of the designer being briefed, and producing work for a client, against the artist who is self-creating. But what about patronage of the arts? Artists are often commissioned, wheras I know as a designer, I sometimes produce designs for no particular purpose – simply because I am taken by a certain image or colour or font.

It's a bit of a minefield to categorise. Personally, I see myself as designer/artist. I produce designs, lllustrations, prints, drawings – some of which are to an external brief and some are self-commissioned. I try not to worry too much about the label.

I am currently partaking in a year-long part-time 'Defing Studio Practice' course at the Newlyn School of Art in Cornwall. This has helped me to produce a body of work around a certain theme. Hopefully, with the help of mentoring from practising artists, this will culminate in an exhibition sometime next year.

I have a small art studio in Macclesfield called Twentysevenb, which I share with two other artists and is my space for experimenting with, and discovering, new media in which to express visual ideas.

Vintage Metal

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Having a love of typography, I do hanker after the days when type was hand set and printed on a letterpress machine. We often talk about the need to 'make a good impression'. This comes from the traditional letterpress of handsetting metal (or wood) type, locking it into a block on the press and, when inked, a clear and crisp imprint is made into quality paper. Making a good impression. With this in mind I recently acquired, from Freecycle, a small 1950's Adana table-top typesetting machine with a range of metal type that had been collected over the years and stored in old Lego boxes and tins. It will need a lot of care and attention to get it back to its former glory, but could be a satisfying project.

As I walked out...

Being an early morning person, I sometimes like to take Barney the Spaniel out to nearby Macclesfield Forest. This particular day was an early Saturday morning and the trees were shrouded in mist. The rising sun was just beginning to breakthrough and burn off the gloom.