Two of Us, Work
First published in the April instalment of the Two of Us monthly(ish) thematic email, ‘Work’. Sign-up here if you wish to receive future emails direct to your inbox.
Work
Welcome to the eighth instalment of our thematic emails. Following on from our previous theme Play, we decided this month we’d focus on Work. Play helps inform the work we produce, and our approach to both self-initiated and commissioned projects share a lot of similarities.
The working environment
Even though we are based in different cities 176 miles from each other, our working environments share a lot of similarities – music memorabilia, books, printed matter, miscellaneous stationery and of course, a computer. We know lots of people working in different sectors and their working environments are something that always interests us. We feel that ultimately it’s about comfort, and what makes you feel inspired and most productive.
Art Studio America: Contemporary Artist Spaces is a fascinating book that gives an insight into 115 current American artists’ studios and comes highly recommended. You can read more about the book here.
Case studies
We both had years of industry experience under our belts when we started Two of Us, but when it came to showing previous work we didn’t feel comfortable trading off projects created either individually or as part of a wider team. It wasn’t honest to our approach, and we also wanted to use our knowledge and experience to build trust with clients rather than relying on this past work.
Whilst we continue to work on a variety of projects across a wide range of sectors, we have taken the opportunity to put some case studies together that we feel give a good insight into our branding process. These projects and working relationships are ongoing, but the case studies offer an overview of our involvement so far.
We hope you’ll find them of interest, and as always please do feel free to share any feedback.
Michael Bierut
Michael Bierut is a highly respected and prolific designer at Pentagram who often talks about not being able to create work without having a brief and a client. In this video he talks about how important clients are in his creative process.
Other resources
‘Beyond Work’ documents humans at work using words and reportage photography, with no judgement or glorification. It's an attempt at unearthing the social, cultural and functional world of work that’s invisible in everyday life. www.thisisbeyondwork.com
From Tom Ford to Giles Deacon: Behind the scenes of London's fashion studios
A Day In The Life Of Andy Warhol
Live footage of design studio Sagmeister & Walsh
Previous instalments
Thank you for reading. If you are new to our thematic emails, or would like to refer back to a previous theme, you can view all our past instalments here.