Publicity poster that accompanied the font "Crux95", commissioned for Fuse14:Cyberfuse, the experimental type magazine founded by Neville Brody.

My work is usually about cultural prediction or ëresonanceíó the use, appropriation, or configuration of style. The past has much to offer, but what happens to the past when it becomes the future is of greater interest to me.

Most designers are ëspongesí, soaking up influences and experiences. I am as interested in music, fashion, art and three-dimensional design as I am in graphic designóI tend to use graphic design as a canvas on which to wring myself out.

Exhibition poster for the International Prison Observatory, Paris. One of twenty commisioned images created by international designers to bring awareness to various inhumane aspects of prison conditions worldwide.

Brett Wickens

Brett’s expertise in design technology led him Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue his interest in the convergence of entertainment, information and technology. He is Vice President and Creative Director at Frankfurt Balkind Partners (FBP).

His work at Frankfurt Balkind Partners includes web-based identity and marketing campaigns for entertainment and technology corporations, advertising design for clients, including Nike, and interactive products such as the recently released United Nations CD-ROM, the SpokenWorld channel for Microsoft Network, and entertainment and music marketing initiatives for Apple Computer.

Prior to joining FBP, Brett was a partner in the leading-edge British design firm Peter Saville Associates (PSA) for nine years before joining Pentagram Design in London as an associate partner in 1990.

While in London, his projects have included the conception and design of the visitor’s interactive kiosk system at London’s Natural History Museum, award-winning album cover designs for Peter Gabriel, New Order, George Michael and others, and many revered identity programs for prestigious fashion clients, museums and galleries, including Yohji Yamamoto, Exposure Gallery (Tokyo) the Pompidou Centre (Paris), Whitechapel Art Gallery (London) and French Ministry of Culture. Also in 1990, Brett participated in a major retrospective exhibition of PSA’s work at Parco Gallery, Tokyo.

Brett is design technology editor for the London-based EYE: The International Review of Graphic Design, and he has won awards from the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada, Designers and Art Directors Association, Communication Arts, New York Type Directors Club and New York Art Directors Club.

He has written extensively on design and technology topics for international publications including Creative Review, Direction, ID, and EYE. His work has been featured regularly in leading British and international publications including Blueprint, Creative Review, Graphic Design: USA, Direction, Creation, XYZ and Designers Workshop, Japan.

He was recently commissioned to design a typeface “crux95” for FUSE 14 “Cyberfuse”, the experimental digital type magazine founded by Neville Brody. He was also one of 20 international designers invited to design a poster for the International Prison Observatory exhibition in Paris in 1995.

Brett has participated in many international awards juries, lectures and debates on design and technology, and from 1994­7, he was visiting tutor of interactive design at the California Institute of the Arts. Recently, he appeared on KCRW’s “Which Way L.A.” forum to discuss the relationship between Hollywood and new media.

Bwickens@frankfurtbalkind.com

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