Maurice Roy Interview
Maurice Roy is a graphic designer from Montreal, Canada. He recently visually coordinated and designed the album cover for The Horrorist’s "Attack Decay". He is also now creating a merchandise line for The Horrorist and will be involved with many future projects for The Horrorist and Things To Come Records.
When creating graphics, what do you feel is the most important aspect: Planning, design or implementation? And why?
Design, definitely. I don’t plan too much usually… I just create based on clients’ wants and needs, the message they want to convey, then let my inspiration take charge and try different approaches. Unfortunately, when inspiration doesn’t strike and you have to dwell seemingly for eternity at the drawing board, it can be quite frustrating for both the client and I. However, once you’ve established a strong design direction for a project, usually the implementation part comes pretty naturally.
Who is your favourite designer?
I’m a fan of Stefan Sagmeister’s work. But, I must say that I particularly admire the work of people like Peter Saville and Anton Corbijn … these artists’ works inspire me continually and is what made me pay attention to graphic design to begin with. Which is great, because I was able to explore some of that territory when I was designing “Attack Decay”; Oliver wanted his album and new visual identity to reflect classic electronic artists from the early 80’s to mid 90’s, to really have the image associated to the “sound” and that era… So I studied a lot of iconic design/typography from bands and artists of that period like Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Tubeway Army/Gary Numan, Joy Division/New Order, Nitzer Ebb… or stuff like Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (the cover photo for “Attack Decay” was actually somewhat inspired by “The Boatman’s Call”), artists like that, who truly represented what “alternative” meant back then. For “Attack Decay”, we both felt that the artwork had to be a step away from “Manic Panic”, and at the same time, a direct homage to that 80’s-90’s “alternative” aesthetic. I certainly don’t claim to have broken any new ground design-wise, but it was fun to work on!
Asides from that, I also really like specific art movements, such as (German) Expressionism and Art Nouveau… Pop Art, graffiti culture – or stuff like 60’s-70’s movie posters and punk-rock gig flyers to Black Metal album covers; It all depends what I’m into that month, I suppose. In fact, most of my designs are simply inspired by what catches my eye in everyday life.
What tools do you use? What software?
My primary tools are my eyes, brain, and heart. I do pretty much everything using Adobe CS2 (Which reminds me I should be upgrading to CS3)… I occasionally dabble in other techniques such as painting, collage or silk-screening, but it almost always ends with the computer.
However, I am strong believer that knowing how to use Photoshop doesn’t instantly make you a designer; natural talent, have innovative approaches, a strong sense of aesthetics, understanding the message you must vehicle, being immersed in culture, have fire in your soul – those ingredients can make you a good designer. Computers and the software we use are simply tools of the digital age, nothing more.
What about a Wacom tablet?
Nah… I haven’t tried one yet, but I think those are more suited for illustrators and people that do CGI and concept art, or fashion designers, creative careers more of that type. There’s usually too much clicking required when it comes to graphic design with computers :P
What was it like to work with Oliver Chesler as a client?
Well, I’ve been doing work for Oliver since around 2001, small stuff at first like flyers for some of his shows in Montreal, small merch items (like pins) then evolved to designing a disco-sleeve for “Mission Ecstasy 2003” remixes on TTC/ACA/Goodlife and then for a “Manic Panic Remixes” collection released exclusively on iTunes. Back then, Matt [Satronica] handled most of the graphics for Things To Come but eventually got too busy to do it, so that’s when I came in.
Working for Oliver has always been both challenging and fun, without being counter-productive; he’s a guy who has a clear vision of what he wants, but sometimes has a bit of difficulty explaining it. Designing “Attack Decay” and the “13 Dobermans” artwork went smoothly, but we both struggled with a new Horrorist logo for like, 3 years on/off, which is totally ridiculous. I also recently revamped the Things To Come logo and designed new t-shirts, lanyards, patches – in conjunction with the release of “Attack Decay”. Asides from lots more new Things To Come merchandise, there might be some surprise limited-edition items that are sure to sell out quick, so keep an eye out!
Next step, hopefully, will be to create new graphics for Oliver’s live show [background] videos – whenever that time comes, but I have a feeling it might be sooner than later, hehe… This is really an exciting time for his music career; I believe that “Attack Decay” will finally broaden Oliver’s audience, and further reinforce his credibility as a musician outside his usual scene.
Tell us about some other projects you have worked on.
Well, asides from Things To Come, I am also one of the principal designers for Lenny Dee’s NYC label, Industrial Strength; I do mostly 12” for them, as well as some CDs, some sub-label branding and soon new merchandise. I designed a logo, a few 12” records and a neat-looking hooded sweatshirt for Satronica, which I had tons of fun doing; all the profits from those hoodie sales are going straight to a humanitarian organization called International Rescue Committee, which is quite cool.
I usually work under my own freelance company, Mojo, which I started in 2005 with a close friend of mine, Joe Gagné. We mostly did branding and designed posters and ads for cool places like a funky brewpub, or a tattoo shop, as well as corporate events or music festival branding projects. Last summer (2006) we ventured into film, as budding art directors and production designers for both short and full feature films… from props, to set decor, all the way to promotional materials like one-sheets and DVD packaging. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy working on movies as much as I had hoped, while Joe has since moved onto the film production world pretty much full-time. It is undeniable that Mojo opened – and still opens – a lot of doors for both of us, albeit in different directions.
For now I prefer focusing on my career as a graphic designer, particularly for the music & entertainment industry, but we’ll see what the future holds. I’d love to get involved in both smaller, more local projects; like join a creative, established design studio here in Montreal, or perhaps try to get involved in some kind of like-minded artist collective, an idea I’ve been growing more interested in – all the way to internationally-renown designer artists, musicians and film people, who have personal vision combined with a strong sense of aesthetics. At night, I actually sometimes dream about interning or working at Saville Associates . Or at BLT in L.A. It’s painful to wake-up after those dreams, believe me. We’ll see!
What led you to choose to be a graphic designer?
Well, I really started drawing when I was growing up in California, and always took art or drawing classes throughout my childhood up until now. I designed my first logo in high school, for a punk band called Sobres Brumes... I was like 16 or 17 then and I had no idea “graphic design” even existed. It was during my 2-year promoter stint at [legendary Montreal club & venue] Foufounes Electriques that I got serious about graphic design as a career choice; actually in great part thanks to Oliver, after designing a poster for a Horrorist gig coming to Foufounes. I had already done some studio art credit back in college, so I took a few design and art history courses here and there, then went for my degree in graphic design, which was an intensive 3-year program.
I guess that it’s a way for me to channel my creative skills into something that is more “practical” than just pure “art”. However, I absolutely love painting and I try to do it whenever I can or inspiration comes, but I don’t think I have the patience or talent to make a living with it. Some of my teachers used to say, “an artist makes art because he/she has no other choice – it’s nature”; I always try to approach graphic design with an artistic point of view.
In the end I could say that I became a graphic designer because it never really felt like “work” to me; I’d probably be designing stuff on my spare time, which I do anyway. I love it.
Montreal. What's the best thing about the city?
Im sure here you would expect me to say “the women”… which is true, but like San Francisco, Montreal has this European sensibility that really sets it apart from other North-American cities. Very cultural, open minded, laid back, artistic, not too pretentious… People like to have fun here. Oh, and poutine, of course.
Tell us who you are by listing 3 songs.
Oh man. I can’t say “who I am” with 3 songs, but I can tell you I really like:
• “The Figurehead” by The Cure (actually, pretty much anything they did pre-1984)
• “Baying Of The Hounds” by Dandi Wind (all of their stuff too; brilliant)
• “Close To You” by The Horrorist (both beautiful and kitschy)
… and pretty much everything by Bauhaus. I like bands, albums, not just specific songs.
Drugs and sex. Tell us.
Probably too much and most definitely not enough.
Maurice can be contacted at maurice (at) thingstocome (dot) com