Leap before you look.
That’s written on the back of Michael’s business cards.
He prefers instinct over logic; everyone can access to logic, so they all end up in the same place.
At Wolff Olins he took a brief to rebrand a paint company, now most would end up with rainbows, peacocks or some colourful iconography.
Not Michael.
He chose a fox, because ‘the owner reminded me of a wily fox’.
When Bowyer’s needed a new logo, Michael went with a solution that combined illustration and photography ‘because it had an amateurish feel, as if Bowyers had done it themselves’.
Michael is one of the the most thoughtful designers you could meet, I loved our chat, I hope you enjoy listening to it.
Thanks to Alan and the guys at NB studio for hosting.
WOLFF OLINS.
Thorp Modelmakers.
Business Card.
Letterhead.
Chips With Everything.
Camden Council.
English Electric Computers.
Apple Records.
Hadfields.
Bowyers.
BOC.
Carters.
W. H. Smith.
The Royal Mail.
Zen Restaurant.
THE CONSORTIUM.
Addison.
Olympics, Barcelona 1992.
Michael is co-founder of Wolff Olins – one of the world’s most iconic design companies.
60 years in the business.
It’s about the dynamics of creative partnerships. The complexities of relationships – person to person, image to word, space to colour, brief to result, emotion to common sense.
Helping clients, students, designers, strategists and writers to see inside themselves.
It’s about storytelling, intuition, living on the precipice, and the gentle art of being human.”
– The good folks at NB Studio.
More Wolff…
