"I feel now that I am going beyond graphic design, because I’ve been doing it for twenty years. Now it’s more about reaching out to people, communicating. It’s about being social, as we all are."
Describing his style as simple, direct, honest and engaging, Anthony Burrill has become a distinctive voice in contemporary graphic design. Reflecting Bauhaus slightly, he uses primary colours, screen printing, and geometric shapes to communicate. Aiming to produce work that connects to the audience, he is known for his persuasive, up-beat and thought-provoking posters. His approach is to keep the visual elements of his designs as minimal as possible, living by the motto “less is more” and aiming to say the most by using the least.
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Burrill studied Graphic Design at Leeds Polytechnic, and completed an MA in the same subject at the Royal College of Art in London. Graduating university in 1991, he has never worked for another design firm, setting up his first studio at home on his kitchen table. This has left his signature style intact, though he has worked in loose collaborations with other designers, and institutions such as the Design Museum. His work is held permanently in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York and has also been exhibited in galleries around the world, such as the Barbican, the Walker Art Centre, and the Graphic Design Museum. He has become a renowned and influential designer whose style, while often imitated, still remains unique.
Words are important to Burrill’s designs, and it is his language and use of positive phrases that have left his work remarkably sought after, by not only collectors but also clients including Wallpaper* magazine, The Economist, The British Council and London Underground, where he composed an interesting and memorable new approach to travel safety. He has also created designs for charities, such as his 2010 work with Happiness Brussels, where he designed a screen printed poster, “Oil and Water Do Not Mix” with oil and sand collected from the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico disaster. All proceeds went to CRCL. Another one of his most famous pieces, “Work Hard and Be Nice to People” has become a mantra for all walks of life.
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“I was just in the supermarket where I always go, and that lady was in the queue and said the secret to a happy life: Work hard and be nice to people. And it was just one of those phrases. You know, I try to remember things that people say that have a nice ring to them, nice honesty, really.”
Growing up in the pre-digital era of design, Burrill was educated to make camera-ready artwork, and produce work using a photocopy machine. The aesthetic of hand crafted work has stuck with him, and even now prefers to use traditional techniques to create pieces. Explaining that he resisted computers for a while, “I thought I could carry on doing [his designs] the traditional way. It took a long time for me to embrace technology. But now, I still use technology with that analogue mindset.” He makes his prints using traditional woodblock techniques, feeling it gives warmth and humanity to the image, and explains that the audience can see that it's been produced mechanically. Preferring things that are physically produced, rather than on screen, Burrill believes that whilst computers are incredible tools, they lack the soul and quality that hand craft creates.
Burrill understands that technology is a great way to get your work seen. Depending on the situation, he splits his work between analogue and digital, and has accepted social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter to help promote his work. He believes it’s best to make the most out of each medium.
Working with a simple palette of colours, typefaces and materials, he keeps his personality in his work by using whatever tells the story effectively, aiming to create a deeper meaning. Having had a fascination with vernacular typography, hand painted signs and scrawled messages, he believes these have had the biggest influence on his work. He also draws inspiration from the real world, from being human: "everyone is an individual; we have our own way of doing things, our own history and perception of how the world is. It's about reaching those things that are universal."
You can see more of Anthony Burrill's work here, here, here and here.
