I started out in graphic design when the job meant T-squares, scalpels and a horrendous bill for colour photocopying. Thankfully, by the time I left university in 1997, Macs had arrived and I no longer had to spend hours queuing for the omnicrom machine.
From then I worked my way up from junior artworker to production manager and freelanced for practically every design agency in the north of England – or so it seemed. I’ve worked on everything from corporate logos, brochures and banking forms to nightclub flyers, websites and press advertising. I was even responsible for branding Doncaster Town Centre for a while. That wasn’t easy.
I’m obsessed by all things Icelandic, Rotherham United and George Orwell. It was Orwell who said: ‘good writing is like a window pane’ and I think this is true for design too. Good design shouldn’t be showy or ostentatious purely for the sake of it – it needs to do its job as effectively as possible. Sometimes that might call for something dazzling, sometimes it might call for something that just quietly works.
As well as designing for Zammerchat, I’m also writing. You can see some examples of short stories, scripts and features here. When I get the time, I’m also working on a non-fiction book about the south of England and, of course, the obligatory novel…
Email me at: mark@zammerchat.com
Follow me on twitter: @jarfr
