Offset lecture 21st October- Steve Simpson

Steve Simpson is renowned illustrator, who specialises in hand drawn packaging and illustrated barcodes. He spoke with confidence and clarity about his work, from sauce bottles to Times Square billboards.

He emphasised the importance of limited colour pallets to create the best designs. His William Morris inspired work often has a lot of intricacy, but by reducing colour they don't become overwhelming.
A lot of design work these days is purely functional, he believes that this is a wasted opportunity. Even things with beautiful design, are often crafted purely to be aesthetically pleasing, where is the whimsy?
His illustrated barcodes are an excellent example of how you can break boundaries to make something purely functional, into something unique and characterful. I found this to be a charming and memorable aspect to his work.