Artist Interview: Jack Crossing

I first came across Jack Crossing’s work through a friend and colleague who used some of Jack’s work for his club night. I really liked the work he’d done and the simple confident lines in his graphic design and typographic work.

He also had a fondness for triangles and space themes which I share. Not being blessed with the skills of craft myself, I decided to shoot a few questions Jack’s way to try and find out where he got the inspiration from, and how the heck someone begins looking at a blank page and emerges with a font.

How do you get inspiration for new typography?

I try and find inspiration wherever possible, and try and look in new places for ideas, it’s also a good idea to look back in time and see what has been done and draw inspiration from old sources.

How do you start a new font (pen & paper? Trial & error with vector lines?)

Always paper and pen, if it’s a type treatment, where it’s a one off piece of type, it’s almost definitely pen and paper, and then photographed or scanned and then created using vectors in illustrator and then played around with in photoshop.

You work for Empire design, but also do stuff for your friends (Di Sapia, Collage Club etc) do you find it harder/easier/more stressful having your mates as clients?

It’s easier, the work I’ve done for Tom and collage club has allowed me to have a lot of creative freedom, there was an element of trust, they liked my work and just allowed me to create whatever I liked, which resulted in something produced that we both were happy with.

What are you working on right now?

Currently working on updating my website, it’s been a while. Have a few freelance jobs on the go, doing a bit of design for music, which is always my favorite.

Who is your favorite/designer artist right now?

Right now, I’d have to say Paul Rand, was in a shop the other day and saw a book he’d put together for children, just the simplicity of the shapes and colours, no clutter just simple communication!