Julian House is a renowned British graphic designer. Besides being a graphic designer he is also a musician and co-owns a record label, the Ghost Box Music. Moreover, he is popularly associated with a design studio, Intro.
House is a partner and creative director at Intro. He is the man behind a broad spectrum of work produced in advertising, publishing, arts and music. Being a versatile artist, he works across all media that ranges from print to sound and film design. His design approach is based on an amalgamation of technological skill and old school craft. Intro was established in 1988 and since its establishment it has produced ground-breaking work. Under House’s leadership the company flourished and pioneered cross-media working. It was one of the first studios to work on all the media projects in-house. This arrangement allowed other team members of the firm to deliver their clients high quality creative solutions, keeping their interest at the top.
House’s studio deals in designing illustration, typography and Brand identity. They also provide solutions in varying fields, such as filmmaking, campaigns and event organization. Their filmmaking projects carry out tasks including production, direction, editing, motion graphics, animation, live action, 3D and VFX effects. The digital content created by the studio involves web designing and content development for it. One of their most popular creations is the sleeve of Primal Scream – Extrmntr. According to House, the cover art garnered positive reviews and influenced others to seek their consultation. The sleeve was inspired by famous House’s technique that is collage work. The images featured on the cover were the ones the band referred in their lyrics. The collage conjures up an image that is based on juxtaposition of pictures cut out from varied sources, for instance, a PlayStation game, Pop Art images and CNN footage.
Notwithstanding the multidisciplinary approach of House, he is recognized for his album cover designs. His notable clients include Oasis, Stereolab, Broadcast, Razorlight and The Prodigy. As mentioned earlier, his work is largely collage-based. The images he featured in his collages are heavily drawn from comic book art and record sleeve design. House also acknowledges the influence of Pulp Magazine on his artwork and holds it as a source of learning as much as the classic design. Furthermore, he was inspired by several eminent artists belonging to different disciplines including Saul Bass, Max Ernst, Peter Saville, Brion Gysin, Lewis Carroll, H. P. Lovecraft and William S. Burroughs.
In 2012, a noted director, Peter Strickland invited House to produce design work for his movie, Berberian Sound Studio. In fact, he developed ephemera for use within the film including posters and recording studio. He provided designs for the credit sequence and conceptualized the ‘film within the film’ around which the movie is based. In addition to being a brilliant creative artist, House also proved himself at the music scene. He co-founded the record label Ghost Box Music in partnership with Jim Jupp and produces his music under the alias The Focus Group. The music produced by the record label refrains from compromising aesthetic sensibility; either it is sound or design on the cover. The sounds draw heavily from musique concrete, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and other sources. Julian House recently worked with a few artists and organized media campaigns including public information films for Live Earth, Martina Topley-Bird and a musical collaboration with Broadcast.
