Lovely to start the year with a feature in Computer Arts magazine. Thanks to Abi Bliss for the interview and Tony (the cat) for posing for the photo.
A HAND PAINTED AESTHETIC
Telegramme’s Robert Evans on his love of vintage signs, postal-themed products and the unstoppable rise of the gig poster
Robert Evans is co-founder and now the sole force behind London-based studio Telegramme. His upbeat designs have recently featured on gig posters for British Sea Power and Rolo Tomassi, and in iPad magazine Project. After losing his Mac to burglars in the autumn, Evans has bounced back with
a relaunched website boasting screenprints and one-off hand- painted signs for sale.
Computer Arts: How would you sum up Telegramme’s visual ethos?
Robert Evans: There’s a lot of typographic influence. Because I live in east London, I’ve become more and more obsessed with hand-painted signs that pop up everywhere, ghost signs on buildings and vintage typography. I also have the philosophy that design has a function, and I try to put that into my illustrations so they’re not just floaty aesthetics.
CA: Can you tell us about your own hand-painted signs?
RE: It’s something that I’m developing more and more. I’m trying to teach myself a physical way of making type – away from the computer. But I’m trying not to become a pastiche of traditional sign-painting. I want to take those elements but then play with them and make something new.
CA: Why do you think screenprinted gig posters have become so popular?
RE: I think it’s the record labels going, ‘Ah, we can’t sell any records anymore. What mcan we sell?’ Also, over the last couple of years it seems that there’s a lot more access to screenprinting. And promoters have finally cottoned on that these do actually sell and that people want them in their houses.
CA: What plans do you have for the relaunched website?
RE: I’m going to be commissioning other artists and illustrators to produce work, which is really exciting. There will also be some postal-themed products based around the name Telegramme, and in addition I’m going to continue my blog as well, where I’ve been developing an archive of hand-painted signs that I’ve seen around London.
Computer Arts January 2012
www.telegramme.co.uk
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