Earlier this month Notes on Design made a studio visit to UK based graphic designer – Lucy Brown. I was welcomed just in time for a quaint essential 4pm cup of tea and chat. Lucy Brown studio is situated in the leafy rural setting of North West England and within this studio snapshot Lucy talks about her studio build, inspirations and passion for the country life.

Notes on Design: Lucy, please enlighten us a little about where your studio is located, and how it came to fruition?

Lucy: The studio is in Cheshire surrounded by fields and cows. It’s a beautiful, peaceful place to work. I renovated the building, with help from family and friends, between November ’09 and March of this year. Much blood, sweat, paint and tears went into it, all hours of the day and night, and in the middle of winter it was testing on the finger tips at times! It was originally a stable building, then an office, and now a typographic curiosity shop of sorts.

The studio came into being over 5 years of experiences that taught me to know myself and how I work. It takes time to learn who you are, and time to build the courage to accept it in this industry. I studied graphic design/typography over 4 years at the London College of Communication. In first year, I thought I knew everything. In second year, I realised I didn’t but didn’t understand how I would ever get to a point where I did. In third year, I realised I knew nothing and wanting to learn just a portion of what would be a lifetime of learning. Read the rest of this entry »

Michael Cina - Cofounder, YouWorkForThem

Michael Cina is the cofounder of the renowned design studio YouWorkForThem and currently runs the Minneapolis, MN studio. He has experimented with many forms of design and is well known for his remarkable typographic work that can be found at youworkforthem.com With a current client list including EA Sports, Victoria’s Secret, Pepsi, and MTV, Michael’s passion for custom typography is changing the design landscape in which we all live.

In this interview, Michael gives us a peek into the dynamics of a successful design studio. He also explains why he works under a clay manufacturing building and reveals what, and who, inspires his work.

Notes on Design: Can you describe your studio?

Michael Cina: We work in the basement of a clay manufacturing building in NE Minneapolis. It is very industrial and no frills. It has a service elevator, room to grow, a loading dock and high ceilings. These were all the things we were looking for. Functionality plays more of a role than aesthetics. Read the rest of this entry »

Rebecca works her magic with a soup can arrangement in her favorite space in the studio: a harvest table that doubles as workspace and office desk.

Rebecca Cole thrives on creating unique floral, garden and interior designs with a rustic, natural aesthetic. She’s best known to the public as co-host of all 200 episodes of Discovery Channel’s “Surprise By Design” with fellow designer and studio neighbor, Robert Verdi. She continues to educate on a national and global scale through a weekly radio show, “On the House,” regular appearances on shows such as “The Today Show,” as a “guru” on Howdini.com, and as the author of 3 books. From her studio in Manhattan’s flower district, Rebecca Cole Design delivers her unique style to a growing clientele of New York area celebrities and aficionados. Wall-to-wall windows lend an airy greenhouse feel to the space overlooking W. 30th Street.

We stepped into the middle of the proceedings to find out what makes her space so inviting.
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Stefan at his favorite spot in the studio

Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister specializes in the unexpected. He is known for idiosyncratic and humorous work that always gives you the slight jolt of seeing something completely new. When it comes to his workspace, however, Stefan is a creature of habit. He has been living and working out of the same 700 sq feet duplex for the past 15 years. Sagmeister Inc. is located on the top floor of a respectable but not particularly fancy residential building on the border of the upscale shopping and nightlife area Meatpacking District in New York. While the space is low in square footage it’s big on light, air and scenery. The floor to ceiling windows open up to an impressive view of downtown Manhattan, making the apartment feel a little bit like an aquarium in the sky.

We were curious about why Stefan is so attached to this space and why he insists on staying there. So we paid him a visit to find out. Read the rest of this entry »