It was a revelation to me, to discover his work. All of the videos he made brought these titans of design into my little studio in the west of Ireland and inspired me greatly when I started my own business. I’m deeply saddened by the loss. For those of you that don’t know him, please check out his work:

www.hillmancurtis.com

His videos are short and often sentimental but filled with humour and respect for the designers he documents. I strongly recommend the videos on himself, Lawrence Weiner, Stefan Sagmeister and Pentagram.

They’re all good though.

RIP, my thoughts go out to his family.

Mike's work as Design consultant and Designer for Michael D. Higgins Presidential Election Campaign 2011.

Ireland has a new President and Factory Edge Design is delighted to have been on the front lines (no pun intended, ha ha…), helping to make it happen. Starting in March 2011, I joined the campaign to have Michael D. Higgins elected president. Initially my role was driver/runner/general volunteer for getting the campaign on the road. Come June 2011 and Michael D. had finally gotten the Labour Party nomination for president and the work started to fly in.

After initial bouts of lengthy back and forths between printers and the campaign, I was called in to begin consultation on most design that went through the Galway Campaign HQ. This began with the personal Letterhead of Michael D and a suggestion for the typeface to use in the campaign. With the campaign getting underway, the next orders off the press were Business Card and Flyers (excellently designed by iSupply, Galway). My role in these was merely adjusting technical elements and proof reading / improving copy, but it demanded quick competence, making minor adjustments on behalf of the campaign committee and Higgins family. As the election progressed this became consultation on larger, more important pieces of design, all made by excellent Irish designers, who didn’t have the privilege of insight into the Higginses that I had – nor the one-of-a-kind training in political message writing that I received from Michael Higgins, Michael D.’s son.

And boy did I learn how to write copy. So much work had to go into the phrasing of every slogan, every piece of literature and every poster, we’d spend a weekend working on changing one sentence at times. The same was true for the design consultancy side, where designers were hired and unwittingly turned in work that just wasn’t right, just failing to catch the voice or spirit of Michael D. Working on that design consultancy side of the campaign is a lot about putting out fires. Sometimes I’d have to come in and say this work isn’t up to scratch, but then have to produce an alternative that afternoon to have it ready for review at campaign meetings that evening.

As the campaign moved along, I’d be told the campaign needs a newspaper ad or poster and I might not get the copy until midnight before the deadline, due to last minute discussions to ensure the ad was on-message.  Other times I’d have to come in and do up a critique report of work delivered by other designers, proposing alternatives and framing it in the language of the industry so committee members could communicate effectively with the designers. It was high-intensity, high profile work but the level of collaboration and spirit of teamwork in the campaign office made for a really satisfying and enjoyable environment to do it in. It was all worth it to be involved in designing at the centre of media and public attention in Ireland and I’m delighted for our new president and his family that he was able to claim the prize.

It’s been a busy few months! Almost all of our website is fully operational and content-filled now, barring some gallery updates and expansion to the services details. Have a look around and be sure to leave us a comment including any issues or suggestions. Projects including the Taste of Tuam poster and identity and Pres College Headford Identity and Prospectus redesign coming to a completion. Further projects include the ever-evolving Gilligan Meats Website and a new website to come online soon. Watch this space.

There’s new content for the illustration gallery, with more to come in remake / remodel Whitechapel submissions (uploaded). We’re still taking on clients but the roster is filling so get your project in to us now with our brand new order form. Thanks for stopping by.
- Mike

- Mike

Here’s the article on the lad’s facebook.

Didn’t have a whole lot of time to put into this one. It’s a little play on the IT crowd, as I couldn’t get it out of my head that the subject would have been driven a bit mental by his alien colleagues. The brief is on the first page of comments. This one combines a bit of graphic design and a bit of illustration.

As a patron of the show, I went to see it last night in St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam. What a production! Amazing set design by Eugene Finnegan, morphing seemlessly between the Grand Salon, the 1st Class, 2nd Class and 3rd Class Decks and Dorms, the Bridge of the Titanic and the Dock – and yes even an underwater Titanic.

The graphic design, by our colleagues at the Tuam Herald, was a fascinating play on the documentation of local Titanic passenger Andy Keane. The performances were all amazing with an inspiring mix of the old guard such as Declan Carroll, John Mulrooney, Frank Holliman, – and the new with Emer Kelly, Shane Kelly and Jonathan Walsh. The music was fantastic as always. The front of house were so friendly and helpful. Looking forward to their next production already. I was told the St. Jarlath’s Hall, which is possibly the least comfortable place to watch a show, was still full every night and deservedly so after the effort and the execution that was brought to the fore. Well done.