Graphic Design Interviews Member Typography

POP Meets | Luke Tonge

posted by Si Cunningham July 6, 2020

Our new series meets the people behind some of the design industry’s most inspiring work. To kick things off, we sit down with Brum-based designer and titan of typography Luke Tonge and hear – in his own words – what makes him tick. Luke shares his passion for all-things print with us, and explains why the second city is such fertile territory for up-and-coming talent…

I used to simply say ‘I’m a graphic designer’…
…Or, if the person asking is my parents’ generation, I’d maybe further explain with, ‘…so I get paid to colour in on the computer’ lolz! But nowadays I tell people I juggle events, teaching and my design practise – which sums up my bonkers career mix quite succinctly. I should add.. I cannot juggle.

I’ve always been a designer of sorts…
From a childhood spent drawing Asterix characters and making blood-splattered Action Man outfits, to discovering early versions of Photoshop on our TINY PC and painting my own wrapping paper. Fast forward through teenage years spent climbing trees and falling in love with alternative culture – punk rock, bmx, skating – to A-levels, Foundation, and a Graphic Design degree – at Falmouth in Cornwall. I then spent 10 years cutting my teeth in agency-land, first near Nottinghamshire and then in Brum [Birmingham]. Industry, however, eventually left me wanting more creative fulfilment and meaning from my abilities, so I quit to do all the things I now do, and I’m so much happier!

I’m a big believer in designers being problem solvers – not just style merchants…
I think clients deserve appropriate bespoke solutions, not just recycled styling. That said, I do think it’s also absolutely fine to have an aesthetic leaning, and mine is increasingly bold, positive, colourful… hopefully fun? My clients vary in size and sector, but all of them want to communicate more clearly and it’s a pleasure to help them do so.

Looking back, I’ve always been a typoholic…
Typography is sometimes perceived as a bit of a nerdy,niche subject – but there’s a whole other exciting and fun side to type that is just waiting to be discovered. I love ephemeral type and sculptural type, animated type and printed type. I’ve always been drawn to practitioners who have a strong and daring command of type – from legends like Herb Lubalin and Lou Dorfsman, to printers like Anthony Burrill and Nicole Arnett-Phillips, to mavericks like OHNOTYPECO and Matt Willey, to studios like Feixen and HORT. This appreciation for type eventually led me to be invited to redesign the Recorder, the relaunched typographic journal from industry giant Monotype. I don’t profess to be an expert by any means, but I hope my love of type comes through in my work.

Birmingham Design Festival is my labour of love…
Instigated by my good friend Dan Alcorn – together – with our amazing team – we put on a world class design festival in the fine city of Birmingham each Summer. We split proceedings into three design ‘districts’ – Graphic, Digital & Product – ensuring there’s something for everyone. It usually runs over a few days in early June, to coincide with the Summer Degree shows at BCU where I lecture, and takes place across lots of different venues. Last year we sold 10,000 tickets – with people attending from all over the world, which we still can’t really compute, but it’s all thanks to our amazing speakers who agree to come and speak on our annual theme. We believe a festival should feel like a celebration, so the vibe is very fun, relaxed and welcoming, our pricing is the most accessible I’ve ever seen, and our speaker line-up is as diverse and representative as we can make it. Of course it’s all gone wonky this year, but we hope to make a comeback in 2021 with a celebration of colour!

Brum is a fantastic city and I’ve only ever known it to be welcoming and full of opportunity…
The creative community here [in Birmingham] is supportive and talented, but also humble and self-deprecating. That humility has perhaps contributed to unfair external perceptions – however the Second City absolutely pulls its weight creatively on the national scene, and is a viable alternative to Manchester, London etc… There’s regular events & exhibitions, no shortage of places to work, and a really exciting ecosystem which nurtures young talent deciding to make a go of it here. For me, it’s also the sort of place you can make things – like Birmingham Design Festival – happen, and thrive creatively, without flogging your soul or selling out. Obviously everyone has a unique experience of their town or city, but I’m a huge fan. If you’re not happy where you are, come to Brum!

The current situation has helped me discover an even broader range of new talent about to hit industry-land…
I spend a lot of time mentoring, both recent and more established grads. I always keep an eye on Falmouth where I studied, and there’s some rad talent coming out of there this year like Claudia Aggett, Freya Umataliev, Marius Trinkūnas. My pal Craig (Oldham) has been running an initiative called GRAD SHOW CASE where he simply features grads who submit their work to him – it’s brilliantly simple – and I’ve been really impressed with some of the submissions (including George Lee, India Wilson, Kavanagh Reeves, Rachel Davies & Rebecca Burrows)..

Despite the amazing work being created by established voices, there’s always room at the table for more…
We [at Birmingham Design, the year-round entity that runs BDF & Glug] also established a year long mentorship program called BFF – there’s some fantastic people involved in that from our region, both grads and industry. We didn’t set it up to discover new talent, but that has been a nice benefit – leading me to discover folks like Jody Woodhouse who was studying in Manc – but is from Brum.

Design can be a bit all-consuming and doesn’t always leave huge amounts of spare time for hobbies.
My wife Tash and I love going junkin’ – our house is a treasure trove of the stuff we find and ‘rescue’ (aka buy) – and we’re also part of Gallery Church, which means weekends fill up quickly. Spending quite a lot of time driving has resulted in a healthy addiction to audiobooks, and I know it’s a cliche but I am really passionate about music, mostly punk, and movies. Streaming is great but I particularly love going to the cinema, often on my own in the daytime for a bit of headspace, switching my brain off and entering a new world for a couple of hours – which is a huge perk of choosing my own work schedule.

I’m also really excited about the potential for a more connected and open design industry…
We’re living in an amazing age, our global connectivity now makes collaborating with – and working for – people all over the world possible. Coronavirus has obviously been a huge shove to connectedness, forcing new ways of working upon us all – add to that a much needed awakening to the systemic racism in our industry via the Black Lives Matter movement, and it makes for a future I’m really optimistic about. The students I’m fortunate to know and teach are incredible – they’re a generation of socially conscious, empowered and politically active trouble-makers. Progress is never as fast as we’d like, but the future is bright.

The digital existence we’re all experiencing also highlights the importance of analogue, offline, IRL experiences…
Never has getting together and chatting about creativity with friends seemed more appealing, so I’m personally really excited about the prospect of events eventually safely restarting – realistically in 2021 – perhaps with a more integrated online/offline approach, learning lessons from lockdown.

As told to Si Cunningham