ArtBistro

Careers >> Browse Articles >> Graphic Design

Careers >> Browse Articles >> Featured

Corporal Identity: Interview With Vince Frost

Accordingly, in line with their ‘turn nothing down, anything is possible’ philosophy, Frost* Design have begun stretching beyond straightforward ‘graphic design’ into advertising, product design, web and multimedia. “It’s not about being precious, it’s about being open,” Vince believes. “Graphic design has moved on so much that I don’t think that’s the right term anymore. Some people say that we’re a multidisciplinary studio, but I think that sounds a bit wanky.”

Recent projects have included a giant inflatable stage and a full interior concept for Coast restaurant – which features a rippling wave of bright yellow Perspex, tracing the outline of the Australian coast. “It’s very beautiful. Nothing to do with typography, nothing to do with printing, but a fantastically fun thing to do,” he enthuses. “It cuts right through the restaurant and creates this amazing light effect.”

Another Perspex-based project – this time in neon pink – graces the entrance to the Frost* studio, the material twisted and contorted into a series of striking fluorescent letterforms. I put it to Vince that, even in his two-dimensional print work, the line between typography, imagery and the real world is consistently and playfully blurred. “I think we just have fun with it,” he grins. “I want to make it an interactive thing so it has impact. Everything we do, we want to give it an aura; a tangible appeal.”

A dancer hangs with perfect poise from a giant letter C on their poster for the Sydney Dance Company, for whose simple-but-effective logo Vince “added two letters to Sydney to make it dance.” The Last Magazine, a recent book project, played with the stat that half of all magazines end up as pulp by shredding fonts throughout the design, and stacking pull-quotes against shaped blocks of copy like magazines on a shelf.

And the Frost* identity for D&AD’s Ampersand magazine uses the simple cut-out motif of three overlapping circles, doubling as an ampersand and a thought bubble; the ultimate combo of collaboration, progress and ideas. Words become images and images become words, all part of the shared language of visual communication.

Ever-vocal about the pivotal role that great design can play in the fortunes of an organisation of any size, Vince enjoys taking on a tricky brief – after all, the lower the starting point, the bigger the difference you can make.

“Everything has potential to be better, so don’t judge things on what they look like now,” is his parting advice. “A lot of designers look at magazines and go, ‘Oh God, I’d like to work for them, they do nice stuff.’ Well if they do nice stuff now, they don’t need you.”

© Nick Carson 2007. First published in Issue 6 of TEN4 magazine

---