Michael C. Place

“I love the whole process of design...”

“I think that young designers in education should be given all the opportunities to take whatever path they want to

take.”

“I don’t want to get bogged down in the whole technical side of things. Print is great because it requires real discipline to do well, and I love the print process. I wouldn’t like to be seen as a ‘Jack of all trades’.

My relationship with my computer is simply this, I switch computer on, it works, the end. I was fortunate enough to be one of the last generation of designers that learned to do artwork by hand, using overlays, PMT cameras, making up type/colour etc.. This has helped me to have a really good knowledge of how the print process works. It’s invaluabe to me.”

Designers Republic

He started work at The Designers Republic, Sheffield in 1992 where he worked for 9 years, on a diverse range of work from R&S Records, Satoshi Tomiie, Warp Records, Sun Electric to the Wipeout series for the Playstation to the book 3D>2D Ad-ventures In + Out of Architecture. He left tDR to go travelling in 2000. On September 17th, 2001 he started his own design company “Build”, which is based in London. Build specialises mainly in design for print.Michael C Place has always been of a decidedly independent mind. In 1990 he left his design HND without graduating, convinced that the world of design was changing in ways his tutors had not grasped. Having played an important role in defining the dominant aesthetic for electronic music at The De-signers Republic throughout the ‘90s, Place felt the need to take his increasingly sophisticated vision into new territory. Sometimes minimal, always el-egantly modern, the founding of Build in 2001 saw Place develop his practice in the areas of branding and identity work, successfully mixing creative in-tegrity with commercial viability. Computer Arts asks what it takes to walk that line.

Michael C Place has been consistently producing great pieces of design now for over two decades. Straight out of college he worked for Trevor Jackson (not a bad way to start off your career) before moving on to work with Ian Anderson at The Designers Republic, where he spent over 8 years developing his skills alongside the likes of Matt Pyke (Universal Everything) and David Bailey (Kiosk).

His next step, a natural one really, was to set up his own studio Build, and he has built up an enviable client list that includes Nokia, Design Museum and Getty Images to name a few. When I had the chance to interview the man himself it was a no-brainer really and, as expected, he had some wise words to share.

“Believe in yourself, try not to compromise the work you produce...

His place in history is “here and now.” He is the forefront of designers today. His work is simple, yet diverse and the mesh of the two creates a bold fascinating feeling, visually and internally.His circles project a sense of unity, a type of worldly unity that permeates transcontinental.

...in the end people will have more respect for you.”