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Graphic Design Icons (Kirsty talks about her working relationship with Emma)

Special Report

Graphic Design Icons

As a follow-up to our very successful Graphic Design Heroes piece in July, we decided to ask eighteen leading designers and studios to share their most iconic pieces of graphic design with you, the lucky Grafik readers. As usual it’s produced an amazingly varied selection of responses - some of which might not be strictly classed as graphic design, but now is not the time or place to get into that particular thorny debate (that’s one for later on, preferably when sat in the pub). A big thank you must go to all of our contributors for their fascinating and catholic selections and, more importantly, for giving us a precious glimpse into what makes them tick.

01 Kirsty Carter

A Practice For Everyday Life

To pinpoint a single graphic design icon is very difficult as influences and icons come in and out of our lives continuously, and your opinion of them can change and evolve over time. Some influences stay with you consciously and others unconsciously. As soon as you isolate one work, it suddenly seems very distant. I see a graphic design icon in a broader sense, as an ongoing influence, experience, process and relationship that is omnipresent. For this reason, I have chosen the experience of working with my collaborator, Emma Thomas.

Many people are intrigued by our partnership, and ask how we influence each other and what influences us both. What I enjoy and am constantly amazed by is not so much the final object (print, product, film, etc), but the story we discover getting there together - the research, thought and dialogue which form the work. I realise that the dynamic of working so closely is quite rare, continuously handing a project back and forth to create something that is ours, not Emma’s nor mine, and I relish the fact that our influences and ideas evolve over time.

We were working on a project for Channel Four, designing an invitation for a FilmFour party at the Edinburgh Film Festival. We talked about how we could create a simple object that would create a shared experience - that would have a life beyond simply inviting people to the party. Emma found this photocopy of some work by artist Howard Kanovitz. I did not realise initially who he was or really understand the context of the piece, but found it interesting not knowing the whole story. This find led to a conversation of how the ‘real’ and ‘imagined’ can share the same spotlight in a piece of work. Emma likes the idea that some images and places such as Kanovitz’s work and these planters in Streatham that she found can be sculptural and cut-out, making your eye continually try to refocus. She enjoys a sort of systematic, conceptual approach to realism. I was talking about how we can ‘quote’ details from the real world too, but then dislocate them from their original environment, creating a sort of ersatz surface or experience. We are both stimulated by the thought of something printed becoming an object, becoming animated, then almost taking on a character that people can experience. We went on to visit some amazing film studios in West London. Through our conversations together, we created a trompe-l’oeil film camera which could excite a feeling of playfulness in those who received a copy. We could create the opportunity for lots of people to have their own Panavision Film Camera.

The experience and narrative are something I look for in everything with which I surround myself, whether it is a piece of furniture or a piece of writing, and my ambition is that this comes through in the work we create together. Working so closely together is definitely about being in tune with each other’s imagination, emotions thoughts and idiosyncrasies. This working process makes Emma my favourite graphic design icon.

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