Graphic Journey Blog

Mike Dempsey: My graphic journey

That’s me above, and this post is unashamedly about me and how I got into what has become a lifelong affair with graphic design – something that has never diminished but grown. Now heading towards my 80s (I still think I’m 34) and having lived through monumental changes in the creative world (from the old analogue days to the hyper technology of today and everything in-between), I am posting a recorded interview from RDInsight, a podcast series I conceived in 2006 and still going strong. I interview those who have received the accolade Royal Designer for Industry (RDI), which is a UK honour awarded by the Royal Society of Arts to exceptional designers across all disciplines for their creative contributions to society. There are over 60 interviews. But for the 60th one, the tables were turned and I became the interviewee. So at the end of 2022, I got to talk about my life and work. I’m now relieved to be back in charge of the microphone again.

To hear the recording, you’ll find the link at the foot, just click the bar, where you’ll find me recounting my own ‘graphic journey’.

But before that, here is a little of my work for clients English National Opera (ENO) and the London Chamber Orchestra (LCO) – two projects from the 1990s I dearly loved being involved with. Here is some of that work. 

MIKE DEMPSEY RDI FINAL EDIT 4:11.2022 copy

THANK YOU

To all who have dropped by over the past twelve months. May your year ahead be happy and healthy.

Season's Greetings!

Digitally deranged

I wrote this post in May 20I0. Things have only got worse.

I come from the analogue generation. Television used to be broadcast in 405 lines. Recorded music pressed out on vinyl. Typing was done on a red Olivetti portable and my Olympus OM1 used 35mm role film and of course, the artwork for my design creations were produced in mechanical form using little more than some board a surgical scalpel and some rather smelly Cow Gum. 

The digital age changed all that. But only for some. Many of my contemporaries positively bristle with pride at the fact that they don’t get within 3 meters of a Macintosh. In fact, many can hardly work out the functions on a mobile phone let alone the TV remote. Not me, I positively enjoy embracing the new, even though at times it can be a trial. But I have slowly come to realise that I am digitally addicted. We’ve had, shopping, alcohol, drugs, betting, food, and sex addiction. Now we have new temptations - Internet dating, email, Wikipedia, iTunes, Facebook, Google, Skype, eBay, Twitter, gaming, and blogging (Okay I know), etc to become addicted to.

Apparently, the average time a person spends at the computer each day is 6 to 8 hours. So the worst case scenario is almost 3000 hours or 121 days per year. Imagine sitting in front of your Mac for 3 months 24. 7. And designers, because of the nature of their work, spend even more time looking at that seductive screen. Isn’t it a bit crazy? A report published by the Mental Health Foundation highlighted concerns that technology is being used as a replacement for genuine human interaction. Nearly a third of young people questioned for the report said they spent too much time communicating with friends and families online when they should see them in person. This is very sad.

Do you think you might be addicted? 

Here’s a simple test. Can you walk past your Mac without checking your email? Likewise can resist those little alerts from your iPhone or Blackberry? Do you text message when having lunch or supper with friends or even in bed? The number of times I have seen people

texting while crossing the road completely oblivious to the dangers. Do you get regular headaches or dry eyes? Do you have any time or space away from your digital gismos? To find out more I have added a link to an addiction test at the foot of this post.

When I got back to my house in Dorset last month I discovered that my Internet was down. It stayed that way for eleven days. For the first couple of days, I had major withdrawal symptoms. But on the third day, all was tranquil and I started to do all those things that I used to do pre Internet. I had more time on my hands to do stuff. One moment I was in the garage cutting up wood and being very macho. The next on my knees planting lavender and being aware that summer was revealing itself all around me - something you miss when glued to that screen. I sorted out old clothes and odds and ends to give to the local charity shop. I reorganised my cupboards. Spoke to friends on the telephone. Read. And also took quite a lot of pleasure from just looking at the sky. It was all good. And I realised what I had been missing, what the digital age had robbed me of. So now I am trying to digitally ration myself in favour of a more analogue way of the world. You should give it a try sometime if only to discover that you are digitally addicted. Oh yes, my internet finally got fixed, after a bevvy of engineers, trucks, and a lot of head scratching. It turned out to be squirrels; they’d gnawed their way through the wires on the telegraph pole. Now that’s what I call analogue.

Think you're addicted? Check HERE

And just as you thought it was safe to go back into the water, along comes this man (alas no longer) with yet another temptation...

 

I want one! 

 

 

Dyslexia: God's gift

For years I went through school-life thinking that I was educationally inferior to many of my friends. I was a painfully slow reader. Maths was a complete mystery to me and generally, I was happiest doing practical things. I excelled at art and spent much of my time daydreaming – I hasten to add that we are talking the 1950s here; a period when the term ‘dyslexia’ was unheard of, and teachers would single out people like me as ‘thick’. In recent decades the condition was quickly identified and there is now a lot of help and strategies in place to help overcome the problem. If it is indeed a problem... 

Working in this creative world of ours, I have discovered an amazing concentration of dyslexics. So many of the designers I have written about or interviewed are who they are, precisely because of their 'gift' of dyslexia. And it would seem that we are all the better for it. These days, dyslexics are described as ‘Creative Thinkers’. And we even have a list of likely strengths and weaknesses...

Strengths: Persistent, concentrated, perceptive, vivid imagination, creative, drive and ambition, curiosity, think in pictures instead of words, superior reasoning, capable of seeing things differently from others, love of complexity, quickly mastering the new, aware of everything, able to do multiple things at the same time, capable of intense short-term focus, quick decision-maker, highly intuitive, learns best by hands-on, rather than lecture or reading, realise that you are different from others, able to create a complete mental picture from pieces and always active-constantly thinking. 

Weaknesses: Easily distracted, seek stimulation, immature social behaviour, says what comes to mind, difficulty remembering names, seek immediate gratification, impulsive and impatient, suffer from motion sickness, bored by ordinary tasks, inattentive, sense of underachievement, reverse letters and numbers, slow reader when young, difficulty with mathematical concepts, problems mastering phonics and spelling, problems understanding the rules of grammar, somewhat disorganized, capable of changing on a moment's notice. Have phobias: fear of the dark, heights, speaking in public. Prefer unstructured situations with freedom. 

I found both lists very familiar in my own daily life.

I have always written but never felt I could share it with anyone because of my appalling spelling and grammatical faux pas. But I have thank Lynda Relph Knight, editor of Design Week, who in 1987 encouraged me to write for the magazine. I have been doing so ever since and in the process, it has so opened up a whole new passion for me (thank you, Lynda). I still have trouble of course — and as regular readers of this blog will know I have committed some real howlers to print. But I now have someone to cast her eyes over my musings to make sure that I am not making a fool of myself. But often in my impatience, rather than wait for her, I'll go ahead and end up with silly mistakes. If I occasionally do this, please forgive me. 

So if any of the above strikes a chord welcome to our club. You're in good company. Here are some pictures (I know you prefer them) of some right-brained comrades…

 Leonardo da Vinci / Genius

 

Steven Spielberg / Film Director

 

Pablo Picasso / Genius 

Keira Knightley / Actor

 

John Lennon / Genius

 

Richard Ford / Writer

David Bailey / Photographer

 

Tom Cruise / Actor

 

Lewis Carroll / Writer and humorist

 

Jamie Oliver / Chef

 

Walt Disney / Genius 

Steve Jobs / Mr Apple

Eddie Izzard / Comedian & Actor

 

 

They are all in our club. You are not alone. And remember...