Page 34 - INTERACTIVE MAGAZINE

DESIGN N THINGS.
September/October.
34

CD: Maybe the first five years I felt that way. got accepted by a church newsletter. you bring in a new
I don’t feel that now I guess. My brother is a film director and I some- person they’re
It was the ideas behind design that first times liken art direction to film directing. gonna want to put
interested me rather than the formal stuff. They start with a script, basically just words their own stamp on
Graphic design – layout – seemed such a sur- on white paper, and they read it and start to it quickly.
face profession. I remember finding an issue imagine and visualise it. You can do it a thou- magCulture It wasn’t right
of Eye magazine in Canada and reading about sand different ways – if you take the same for the magazine
design as a tool for social means, and not just script to different directors they’re going to Team Creative director to head in a new
Jeremy Leslie has 30
a tool for capitalism. Tibor Kalman was in the visualise it in very different ways. years experience of direction, it had
issue [Eye 20] and I think he came at graphics In editorial design we do a similar thing. magazine making. really only just
from a non-design angle as well. You read a manuscript and it’s got a certain He has art directed settled down, so
After I graduated in psychology I was tak- mood to it, a certain tone, and we work to weeklies and monthlies that was basically
and spent the
ing classes in different things and I did pho- communicate that. You can pull out cer- noughties developing the brief: keep
tography. I remember thinking maybe this is tain words in the headline, or reduce the magazines for clients doing what we’re
the thing. I was shooting a lot and enjoying headline down to one word alongside a as diverse as BSkyB, doing and just
Nike, Virgin Atlantic
the classes. Then I did some illustration classes photograph and you get a tension between and Waitrose. He continue to evolve
and that’s what brought it all together. At the word and image. has written four it. If you look at the
Emily Carr Institute there were classes in art I like to try three or four different ap- books about editorial issues, at the end
direction and photography, art direction and proaches to a feature, emphasising certain design, most recently of each year a new
‘Independence’, and
illustration. And there was typography, and words or photographs that would change the regularly contributes to aesthetic would
editorial design, and I could see this was the meaning. We show these options to the edi- the creative press and take hold. We
one profession that accessed all those other tor and it’s always an interesting discussion. It’s lectures internationally. figured we would
He launched
things. You weren’t dependent on one. not a one-sided journey – seeing words and magCulture as a blog keep growing
That appealed to me, being at the centre images together enhances that process. It’s an in 2006, adding the that way.
of all these things with a team of people to iterative, collaborative process. design studio in 2010. JL: That’s one of
As well as his own
collaborate with. You’re not on your own – JL: Did you automatically get the design di- London practice he the advantages on
you have your skills as a graphic designer but rector position at New York? is creative director a weekly, you have
you’re building something, working with other for Maison Moderne more opportunity
people to develop ideas. That was a bit of a CD: No, I was put in charge temporarily. I had in Luxembourg, is an to gradually change
awarded member of
breakthrough, I think. a bunch of conversations with Adam about D&AD and an elected stuff.
JL: Did you really have no whether I was interested or not. Adam saw member of AGI. His CD: Right, and with
favourite magazines
it could be an opportunity but said take
interest in design some time and think about it. I’m sure are The New Yorker, it being a vehicle
before then? he thought other people might be out MacGuffin and mono. that could change
kultur.
CD: My mother did an there, but within a month or so we for a special issue,
we would regular
English masters and my came back together and I decided to
father taught theatre go for it and he offered me the job. ly develop a whole new design, then switch
direction. That was the JL: And then there was a big de- back to the regular design the following week.
At least once a month you could rebuild a
kind of household we cision to be made about whether whole section and try a different direction.
had. I was surrounded to retain the same design, the same And also you could experiment with the
by the arts but I don’t aesthetic, or develop a new direction cover, take a chance, and if something doesn’t
remember feeling any with things.
one part was mine. As a work you just move on to the next one.
teenager I was obsessed CD: I think one of JL: As well as your internal team, there were
with cartoon strips, the reasons Adam many external contributors: illustrators, type
and a friend and considered designers. Do you find you have to have re-
I used to keeping me in lationships with increasing numbers of peo-
draw classic the job was ple who contribute on very particular parts
four-panel that he knew of a project?
strips and I had helped CD: It’s the advantage of being on a magazine
submit build what people respect and like and are excited about.
them to was there, You can reach out to all these people from
maga- and he and different disciplines and have them contribute.
zines everyone We built a great team of people that did all
and really this work with us. Type designers developed
news- loved it at bespoke headline treatments for us, just the
papers. that point. headline, not a whole typeface. Matt Willey
One When was a regular typographic contributor.

Jeremy Leslie
| september/october