I ran into Simon’s work on a couple blogs a few months back. Never having seen his work before, it was so impressive that he immediately jumped into my top 10. The retro vibe, the custom typography, the subtle texutres… Unstoppable. “Dough” is hands-down one of my favorite logos out there.
Check out his flickr ///here///
I’m originally from England, now living in Austin, Texas. As a kid I listened to a lot of old-school hip hop, which got me interested in graffiti and letter forms. Finally, one of my early art teachers in college looked at my reproduction Funkadelic album cover and accused me of being a graphic designer, which was a term I wasn’t familiar with at the time. I think I resisted at first, but I soon learned to embrace the truth.
You use some amazing color combinations. Do you have a resource you like to use for inspiration on palettes?
I troll the blogs to jump-start my brain at every stage of the creative process, but mostly it’s trial and error – a sort of Zen process. The colors tell you when they’re right.
What’s your go-to source of inspiration outside of art or music?
I live in books and movies. I’m rarely on top of what’s going on in the world beyond those mediums – not really out of choice, but because I’ve always got my head in the clouds. A great story almost always inspires me to create something.
What ‘s your all-time favorite piece of art or design?
I dig the Ogden plumbing logo by Matt Everson. It’s a perfect logo. I hope I’m never approached to do a logo for a plumbing company, because my thinking will be stunted from the start. I’m also deeply enamored of Alex Trochut’s work, although I don’t think I could pick just one example.
What’s your current creative obsession?
Lettering – a return to my roots. It comes in waves, but I’m occasionally so obsessed with letter forms that I dream about them. It’s sad really. I’ve also been writing a lot lately, which I do mostly for myself but which has been really cathartic.
Thanks for your time Simon.