David Hillman - A Living Legend
Words by Lou Macleod
Every young designer could learn a thing or two (million) from David Hillman. His legacy spans 50 years, producing more inspiring designs than you could shake a stick at, from the Sunday Times to groundbreaking magazines like Nova, it’s no wonder his expansive career is being celebrated at The Hub National Centre for Craft and Design, Lincolnshire. Like a moth to a flame I was on a train up to Lincolnshire and was not to be disappointed. What is so striking about the show is how his designs from years ago are still so fresh and relevant, and some so good they put some of today’s magazines to shame. I was lucky enough to talk to Melanie Kidd Head of Exhibitions at the hub, and also have an inspiring chat with the man himself.
Interview with Melanie Kidd:
Disappear Here: How did the show come about?
Melanie Kidd: The exhibition came about when the curatorial team at the Hub became aware of David’s change in direction - from working at Pentagram, to setting up his own practice, Studio David Hillman. We approached David with the proposal of a retrospective as we felt it was a fitting time to look back as his achievements over the last 47 years whilst also looking to the future with this relatively new era of his design career. David agreed! The Hub is the National Centre for Craft & Design and we were thrilled to be staging an exhibition celebrated the work of one of Britain’s most important and influential graphic/editorial designers. David’s work is well known, but his name (as with many graphic designers), perhaps isn’t as widely recognised. The concept of the exhibition was to reveal a little more about the man behind the work. Many of the text panels accompanying his various projects are quoted directly from David, and the exhibition film is literally ‘Hillman in his own words’ - David talking about his work and the people and places that influenced it.
DH: What was it like to work with David Hillman?
MK: It’s widely known that David is a man of conviction and of strong opinions - which he isn’t afraid to share. Needless to say, it was thoroughly entertaining working with him. The curatorial team spent many fascinating hours talking about the highs and lows of his career; about the people who inspired him and the people who… well, lets say, the people who convinced him he was right in the first place! When David proposed titling one section of the exhibition as ‘The Front Covers I Nearly Got Sacked For’ we knew it was going to be a great exhibition to work on. David’s passion for his craft is ever-present and his energy was infectious. Both David and his colleague Amelia Gainford worked tirelessly with the Hub team to produce an exhibition which was as comprehensive as possible, for which we a deeply grateful for. It was inspiring working with David and his team, and it became clear how he has achieved so much during his career - natural talent, a clear vision, dogged determination with a great dollop of charm.
DH:How did you choose the work from David’s vast career that went into the show?
MK: The content of the exhibition was primarily shaped by the conversations with David about his career. It was important the show contained the projects he felt most passionately about - whether this was the infamous 1988 redesign of the Guardian, or the lesser know projects for packaging and retail design which, although more discreet, had equal impact by altering the way in which we shop, and continuing to do so today. Through the exhibition we wanted to trace his career from the early days with the Sunday Times and Nova, through to him most recent collaborations with companies such as Wisbray Tea, and to touch on the many areas of his practice: newspapers, magazines, logotypes, packaging design, corporate identities and stamp design to name but a few.
Interview with David Hillman:
Disappear Here: How did you get started?
David Hillman: I studied at London College of Printing and as a student there, you were surrounded by great magazines, great international ones too. I trained as a graphic designers assistant but went in to magazines. I graduated in September and a new job came up in Sunday Times Magazine and I won the job. Mark Boxer was the editor and Michael Rand was the art director and both had the desire to do something different. At the time there was not a lot of competition out there but later there would be much more, however the Sunday Times stuck to its guns though serious reportage. There was a real collective desire for excellence within the team.
DH: Was it as amazing as I think it would have been working on a magazine in the 60s?
DH: There were lots of things happening, it was a time when we were sending men to the moon, fashion was changing, different materials were being introduced, architecture was changing, it really was a groundbreaking era. And young people were beginning to get noticed, in the 50s young people felt obliged to do what your dad did, but in the 60s it became more acceptable to go into the creative business.
DH: How did you choose the work that went in to the show?
DH: I decided by my favourites, then the directors would say ‘shall we put that in?,’ but it was also dominated by what I still had, I would have loved to put more of the Sunday Times work in but a lot of it was lost in a fire at the archives. I was also deciding from memory, then on seeing it, found it was not as good as I remembered, so left it out.
DH: What is most important lesson you’ve learnt in design?
DH: Fight for what you believe in, its too easy not to - I’ve have never done what I was told and that experience counts and I’m still learning.
DH: And finally Is there anything that you’d wished you could have worked on?
DH: Oh that’s a good one. I always had a deep ambition to redesign the Daily Mirror, at one point it was up for grabs
and I didn’t get it which pissed me off. A redesign is so much more than adding colour and changing the type you have to consider everything about it.
It’d be good to see it with tough hard-writing reportage and not just naked ladies on page 3, that’s not what a newspaper should be about.
‘David Hillman: In Print’ runs at the Hub Gallery in Lincolnshire until June 28
Posted Tue, June 02, 2009