Art direction.

Caught up with my old friend Dave Dye yesterday. He came into the cafe where we’d arranged to meet and plonked about eighteen quid’s worth of loose change on the table. He then offered to pay for whatever we had “just to get to rid of these coins”. Dave is widely regarded as one of the best art directors in the world. His constantly original and inspired use of type, photography and illustration have won him practically award the advertising industry has to offer. As we talked, he kept arranging then re-arranging those coins. Neat columns, then haphazard arrangements, then asymmetrical patterns and so on. Over and over again. He didn’t even realise he was doing it. And there in front of me, I could see why certain creative people are great as opposed to just good. Because they never, ever switch off.