Studio Makgill Interview

Hi Tom

Thanks for getting in touch, we appreciate your compliments. We will try and answer your questions as best we can.

1. Your work consists of projects where a decisions into printing and finishing have been carefully considered. Has this element always been a part of your design process, or it it something you have considered more as your career has moved along?

 

We are a process driven design agency and it has always been an important part of our work.

2. How comprehensive would you say your knowledge of print is? By this I mean your understanding into the physical processes that are gone through to achieve the results such as how the machines work, what set up is required ect.

We have a good understanding of different print techniques and materials. We think its important to have a good understanding of the printing processes to help you communicate your ideas to printers and to be aware of the possibilities and limitations.

3. Do you work with a number of different printers, or a select few that you keep going back to?

We work with a number of different printers, each printer comes with its own benefits. We do have several favourites that we feel are of a very high standard and in an ideal world we would work with them all the time. Very often it comes down to costs and this will guide our decisions in terms of who we print with and how we print.

4. How important in your opinion is print and finish to the resolution of a brief in comparison to the development of a concept and other aesthetic elements such as layout or typography.

We think its hard to make a comparison between the importance of print and other design elements. When getting work back from the printers a bad print job can be a very disappointing moment when so much work has gone into perfecting all other elements. The quality of print makes an enormous difference to how a piece of design will look and feel. We think good design is the combination of all the elements you mentioned and a good print finish. A bad piece of design that is printed well is still a bad piece of design.

5. How have your experiences of working with printers been in the past? Have you worked closely with a printer and to a point collaborated on getting the best results, and have you been in situations where problems have arisen between getting the designs to the required result due to a lack of understanding on either party?

The best print jobs are achieved when working closely with the printers. We think there is always a degree of collaboration when working with a descent printer to get a specific result. A good printer will be happy to advise and collaborate to achieve the ideas that a designer puts forward, better still impart with his knowledge.

6. If you could change anything in general about printers, what would it be?

To general to say as each printer is different and there is a lot of great craftsmen out there.

I hope that has been helpful

All the best

StudioMakgill