Alistair Hall set up design studio We Made This in 2004. In 2005 they won a D&AD award as part of the design team for Penguin’s Great Ideas series. Since then they have worked with The RSA, The Crafts Council and Teenage Cancer Trust. They’ve also got a pretty special blog with a love of ephemera.

How did you get started?

I did a degree in English and History of Art at Leeds University and got a job at a TV company making commercials. I was a runner for a couple of years and was in line to become a producer.

At 25 I had a flash-bolt realisation that I wanted to be a graphic designer. I was reading a book of diaries of people in the film industry. A producer wrote about a meeting with some poster designers and I thought, I could do that.

I did a degree at Central Saint Martins in Graphics and went to work at a design company called CDT. I got on NESTA’s Creative Pioneer Programme to help young creatives set themselves up in business, which is how We Made This came about.

Print vs. Web

The internet has changed what print does - it’s been repositioned. Print now needs to be much more of an emotional communicator; it needs to deliver a level of impact. We respond differently to something that’s actually in our hands.

An object has more permanence; we believe things more if they are physical. I always say that I’ll trust a dictionary much more than anything online. The process of binding and printing, the cost of production - there’s more thought there.

The internet also means there are no longer design movements restricted by area or schools - everything goes global straight away.

Favourite Typeface

I’ve been using Garamond a lot recently. It promotes a feeling of elegance, classicism, and timelessness. Gotham is the typeface of our times. Designed by the Hoefler & Frere–Jones agency in New York, it is based on the New York street signs.

Advice for young designers?

Read Adrian Shaughnessy’s How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul.

Get work experience in your second year at University, get started early and do more than one placement.

When applying for work experience make sure your work is fully rounded – having a blog or Flickr site shows that you’re passionate about design outside of college.

I get a lot of applications telling me why they need a placement. But I prefer to know why I may need them.

What was it like working for an iconic brand like Penguin?

I was lucky enough to work on the Great Ideas books, which were designed by David Pearson, with whom I share a studio. Getting a credit on a Penguin book cover is a big deal when you’re starting out and trying to build up your name.

Favourite brief?

Working on the London Design Guide was brilliant and really fun to work on. It was a lovely collaborative project with Max Fraser, who edited the book. (See above)

Images courtesy of We Made This