At the moment I’m reading a book about design studio
culture, edited by Adrian Shaughnessy and Tony Brook from Spin. The two
actually made a new publishing company called Unit Editions and ‘Studio
Culture’ is the firs book in line.
It is my natural interest to read about how design
studios organize themselves and deal with getting clients and paying the bills
while designing in the specific way they are famous for. But the book is
furthermore interesting as many of the studios in the book, is studios I admire
a lot, and I have followed their work a few years (Spin, Fuel, Build, Marian
Bantjes, Pentagram, A Practice for Everyday Life, Experimental Jetset and a lot
more). Most of them is based in London, and somehow, their work carry this
special feel, witch makes it really distinctive, and dead cool, carefully crafted graphic design.
In this book I get a bit of a sneak peak into their daily
life and how they make their business work while they are still doing great
work!? It reminds me of one of Adrian Shaughnessy’s books ‘How to be a graphic
designer without loosing your soul’, where the topic is somewhat the same.
On Unit editions website you can read a few of the
interviews in short form, and the fun part is, that design studios all over the
world is encouraged to send in photos of their own studios. A lot did, and it
is quit fun to see the different working environments.