Inspired by Peter Saville

As designers, we draw inspiration from damn near everything.  In this new blog series, we’re focussing on specific sources of our own personal creative influence. This week, our graphic designer Ben is highlighting the work of esteemed graphic designer and record sleeve mastermind, Peter Saville.

I first heard of Peter Saville when I started art college. Before knowing his name I had admired his work from afar, as a music and graphic design nerd. I was really taken with the album artwork for Joy Division’s ‘Unknown Pleasures’ and ‘Closer’ as well as New Order’s ‘Movement’ and ‘Power, Corruption and Lies’. As the in-house designer for Factory Records, Saville’s work in sleeve design spans multiple decades. His design style is incredibly unique and perfectly encapsulates the feel and essence of the music. Drawing on influence from typography designers like Jan Tschichold and Herbert Spencer, also using modern elements and propagandist styles, this really makes Saville’s work stand out amongst the other musical releases of the late seventies and throughout the 80’s.

I think the main reason I was inspired by Peter Saville’s work was because of one particular characteristic, simplicity. As a young designer, it’s easy to feel pressured to produce intricate and complex work to show a level of proficiency. Whereas, with Saville’s work the main draw which had me hooked was the minimalism, not overcomplicating his artwork. The reason I still hold Saville’s work in such high regard is because it taught me these very important lessons in graphic design.