We were treated to an insight into the life and work of an Art Director, at tonight’s ‘Publishing, Experimental Photography & Art Direction’ lecture with Wallpaper Creative Director Meirion Pritchard at Auckland Museum…
Name: ACP Media Present Publishing, Experimental Photography & Art Direction
Location: Auckland Museum Auditorium
Date: 17 May 2012 6pm
Artists: Wallpaper Creative Director Meirion Pritchard, VII Agency Stefano De Luigi
It seems like a short time ago (15 years isn’t that long ago really) that I bought the very first Wallpaper magazine, so it was exciting to hear from their Art Director, Meirion Pritchard.
Wallpaper magazine has constantly pushed boundaries in art and design.
He has my dream job really, as a graphic designer. I would love the opportunity to work with the world’s best artists, and so does he. I have to admit at being more than slightly starstruck at the list of artists who have created covers for Wallpaper which flashed up on the screen. David Hockney, Ron Arad, Barbara Kruger have all worked on limited edition covers that are only available to Wallpaper subscribers.
What excited me as well, was not only the clean beautiful design inside the magazine but the way they have embraced publication on the iPad. The cover art that is static in print comes to life and becomes intricate animations to illustrate that each cover creation has a story and a process behind it.
Stefano sees himself as as documentary photographer. He loves to tell a story and take photos with social value. One of his latest projects has been to shoot with his iPhone, which when Meirion said "it’s a difficult camera because it’s so small" he shot back; "it’s a difficult camera because it’s a phone!"
By Rebecca Zwitser
Below: Ideas 2012 at Semi-Permanent with HOME, Metro and North & South.
ACP welcomed us there.
A panel of three local editors – Jeremy Hanson of HOME, Virginia Larson of North & South, and Simon Wilson of Metro – raised questions promoting discussion with the two international guest speakers Meirion Pritchard and Stefano De Luigi.
Skycrapers on the design awards cover.
Here are some highlights of the discussion I particularly enjoyed…
Jeremy Hanson to Meirion Pritchard: You’re a creator rather than aggregator of content?
MP: Yes, we do collaborations, and create original content. Wallpaper has a good relaionship with our publisher (regarding spending money on creative projects!) It’s a niche market magazine, with a targeted audience. Wallpaper has resisted becoming more commercial. Focus groups proved to us not to dumb down content, but to assume the readers are design-savvy.
"Artists aren’t the best people when it comes to deadlines."
Another highlight was the video clip about their trip to China, and shooting models suspended by wires as though their mass was actually weightless. I was blown away by the fact that Wallpaper flew the entire Editorial staff team to China and set up an office! What incredible devotion to content and originality.
By Megan Robinson
Below: Ashley Williams and Simone van Tiel from Open Lab based at Wellington’s Massey University.
Megan Robinson and Rebecca Zwitser
17 May 2012
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