Design Your Life with Vince Frost – Details, episodes & analysis

Some people take a lifetime to find their true north, the thing they want to spend their days working on.

That’s not the case for Sean Perkins. Growing up in South Yorkshire in the 70s, it wasn’t cool to get good grades. Even though he was smart, he flunked almost everything. Everything, but art. From a young age he was exposed to, “the future, all this incredible visual culture”, by way of Japanese mementos his dad would bring back from work trips to Tokyo. And the fashion his mum would wear after disappearing to the fashion shows in Paris to stock her boutique in Huddersfield.

Today, he’s one of the most influential graphic designers of our time. He’s created visual identities for some of the world’s most recognisable brands with his London-based studio North Design. And the brands and clients relationships he builds — they stand the test of time. Some of his identity systems are still being used 20+ years after he and his partners Jeremy Coysten and Stephen Gilmore first created them. Think Tate Modern, Barbican Centre, West Kowloon Cultural District, ACMI. And perhaps most notably, the project that put his name on the map as a young designer, the UK’s most iconic roadside assistance company, the RAC.

Listen in as Vince and Sean discuss, growing up buying albums for the covers, learning from Gert Dumbar, and the highs and lows of running their respective studios. 

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Not every path to success is a straight one. Mike Tosetto knows this firsthand. From growing up in Sydney’s Inner West as a skate kid who took photos with a disposable camera of the local street art — or, as her calls it, ‘mad graph’ — to living out back for two years at Ayres Rock Resort, to playing didgeridoo on stage at the Glastonbury music festival. His path has been anything but direct.

After realising his job at a supermarket chain wasn’t going anywhere, he got a job at a publishing house, and started hanging around the graphic design department and tinkering with computers with the IT guys. But it was when he stumbled upon a University of Sydney open day that things really started to unfold in the right direction. He got into a digital media master’s degree, and his path was set.

Today, Mike runs one of the foremost animation studios in Australia. Creating motion branding for businesses like Samsung, Adobe, Adidas, Microsoft, Google, Binge and Bugatti, translating strategic concepts into motion.

Listen in as Vince and Mike discuss being burnt out and not being able to see the woods for the trees, the relentless pursuit of delivering great outcomes, and the future of motion design.  

https://neversitstill.com/ 

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There’s an art to bringing history into modern creativity as more than a reference. 

Sibella Court is adept at it. The creative director, author and interior and product designer has made a career out of creating with her love of history at the forefront. When you learn she grew up with two incredibly creative parents — a builder father skilled in transforming spaces and a mother who specialised in Central Asian textiles — her multifaceted creative career comes as no surprise. 

After studying history at university in Sydney, and getting a start at Australian Vogue, she spent a decade shooting editorial in New York. Since returning to Australia in 2006, she’s written and published six books, hosted a TV series, and designed the interiors for some of Sydney’s best-known restaurants and bars, including Mr Wong's and Palmer & Co. 

Listen in as Vince and Sibella Court discuss her lifelong love of history, working at Australian Vogue in the early 90s and the seismic impact the death of a parent can have. 

https://thesocietyinc.com.au/  

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In the second instalment of the exclusive Australian Made series, Vince chats to Saskia Havekes the founder of Sydney florist Grandiflora. At a time of so much uncertainty in the world, the Australian Made series will focus on brilliant people here in Australia, celebrating designing and making local.

Established in 1995 in a small shop in the Eastern Sydney suburb of Potts Point, Grandiflora was the birthplace of a dream career of Saskia. Since its inception over two decades ago Grandiflora has grown immensely, influencing aesthetic for interior styling, hospitality, fashion, editorial and even the modern rituals of giving and displaying flowers. 

Saskia is not just a florist but also an author and a fragrance creator. She has published four fantastic books, a number of them based around the Grandiflora brand and aesthetic. 2013 saw the Paris launch of her first two fragrances and now soon to release her 8th and final one. 

Listen in as Vince and Saskia discuss her childhood growing up in the bush, how her parents were big influences on her creatively and how from an early age nature was the driving force of her inspiration. 

The pair also discuss how the opening of her business and some of the key findings she has learnt along the way as well as what it is really like to be a florist on Valentines day!

Enjoy!

Grandiflora

Design Your Life

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In the first instalment of the exclusive Australian Made series, Vince chats to Shelley Simpson the founder of Mud Australia. At a time of so much uncertainty in the world, the Australian Made series will focus on brilliant people here in Australia, celebrating designing and making local.

Mud Australia was founded in 1994. The porcelain range, designed by Shelley, combines handmade processes with clean lines, an array of mesmerising colour palettes & all without compromising functionality. The end result is a product that neatly intersects a minimalist aesthetic with an artisan finish. Their porcelain happily fits in any interior, providing a timeless alternative to mass produced ceramic design. Listen in as Vince and Shelley discuss the first bowl she ever made, how she launched her business through a government incentive scheme and her rise from selling her creations on the weekend at local markets to establishing Mud as an Australian ceramic icon.  

Every piece of Mud is handmade in their Marrickville Sydney studio using a highly nuanced and hands-on process. Through Shelley’s creative vision and sage business mind, Mud Australia has become an Australian design icon with stores across the world including Sydney, Melbourne, Los Angeles, New York and London.  The brand has organically attracted a high profile fanbase of chefs and celebrity names including Gwyneth Paltrow, Nigella Lawson and Bill Granger.

Enjoy! 

MUD Australia 

Design Your Life

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Welcome to the 3rd and final episode of the exclusive Design Your Life x Alliance Graphique Internationale series. In this episode Vince chats with Marina Willer, the first female partner at Pentagram London.

Marina is a graphic designer and film-maker with an MA from the Royal College of Art. Marina has led the design of major identity schemes for Tate, Amnesty International, Oxfam and most recently, the Opera Ballet of Flandres.

A talented film-maker, Marina’s first feature film, ‘Red Trees’, premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and was released worldwide by Netflix. A personal story of her family’s escape from the Nazi occupation of Prague to start a new life in Brazil.

Listen in as Vince and Marina chat about the eeriness of the current digital landscape we find ourselves in, why being present and finding inspiration in everything is so important.

The pair also delve into the value of perseverance, the inspiration for her film ‘Red Trees’ and her love for film-making and the diversity of up and coming designers.

Enjoy! 

Marina Willer - Pentagram 

AGI

Design Your Life

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DYL X AGI

In the second instalment of our exclusive Design Your Life series in collaboration with Alliance Graphique Internationale(AGI), Vince chats with old friend Sonya Dyakova, head of award-winning visual communication agency Atelier Dyakova based in London. After studying in San Francisco, Sonya moved to London, working in some of London’s most highly regarded agencies.

Before starting her own studio, Sonya worked with at award winning agencies such as Frost* Design and Kerr|Noble before working with iconic British designer Alan Fletcher at Phaidon Press where she was responsible for the design of books, ranging from contemporary art and design to architecture and photography.

Her approach is firmly rooted in conceptual and typographic experimentation developed through research with attention to tactile details. Sonya was responsible for the re-design of Frieze magazine as well as design & art direction of Frieze Masters publication. In 2011 she received a Grand Prix from the Tokyo Type Directors Club.

Listen in as Vince and Sonya discuss everything from growing up in Siberia, the power of perseverance, utilising fear to create positive outcomes, how to balance family and work and of course how to make the perfect book.

Enjoy

Atelier Dyakova

Design Your Life

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DYL X AGI

I am excited to kick off our exclusive series between Design Your Life and Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) with Danish born Typeface Designer Henrik Kubel the president of AGI, UK.

Henrik is a founding partner of A2/SW/HK & A2-TYPE, an independent design and Typography studio established in London in 2000. The studio specialises in Design, Art Direction and Typeface Design and works internationally with a wide range of clients including us.

He has designed fonts for the likes of The New York Times Magazine, Moscow Metro, Aperture Magazine, LinkedIn, Instagram and Google.

In this unconventional interview I run through a number of topics which Henrik holds near and dear from the similarity between athletics and typeface, his unrequited love for his cat to why he no longer drinks alcohol.

We delve into the significance of print media, why language and letters are so fascinating and penultimately why we all must be positive and enjoy every little aspect of life.

Enjoy!

A2-TYPE

A2/SW/HK

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This is the fifth instalment of the (Re)Design Your Life series which explores how the lives of individuals across the globe are getting on, how their lives have changed, what their coping mechanisms are and insights into what the future holds for us.

In this episode Vince chats with Andrew Tuck, the editor of internationally acclaimed magazine Monocle. Andrew has been the editor of Monocle since launch in 2006. Since then he has been central to the development of all of Monocle’s editorial projects including the radio station, Monocle 24, and their move into book publishing.

Andrew also presents shows across Monocle 24, including his own weekly programme about city living, The Urbanist. He is a regular speaker at conferences on urbanism, quality of life and the media.

Vince and Andrew discuss why the property industry needs to take note of the current changes but might not want to rush to apply them yet as well as the increasing need for companies to take their employees health and wellbeing much more seriously in the future. 

The pair also delve into a multitude of other topics surrounding Monocle magazine such as how it creates the right global balance with its stories, its surpassingly strong Australian contingent, how the magazine is currently responding to the global pandemic and the interesting variety of readers which the publication attracts. 

Enjoy! 

Monocle Magazine

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DYL X D&AD Impact series with Black Pencil Winners – Harmless Guns

In the fifth and final instalment of our exclusive series with D&AD, Vince chats with Faustin Claverie the chief creative officer of TBWA Paris and lead on the project, Harmless Guns.

TBWA Paris worked closely alongside French 3D printing manufacture Dagoma to tackle the proliferation of 3D printed weapons. They did this through the search and collection of hundreds of weapon blueprints via online forums.

Over 400 weapon parts were modified by Dagoma’s team, rendering them harmless through slight, undetectable changes to varying weapon parts.

The files were then spread across the deep web and tracked over the course of 8 months. In that time over 13,000 harmless guns were downloaded by users across the world.

Listen in as Vince and Faustin discuss why the project was so successful, some of the hysteria around creating harmless guns and what the future holds for TBWA Paris.

Enjoy!

TBWA Paris

D&AD- Harmless Guns

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