interviews

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circa issue 115
vox pop (the following question was posed to a number of visual arts practitioners and curators)
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Does music influence your practice? If so, in what way does it influence your practice? Does this music come from a particular genre or time period, or is it a specific piece of music?

I make music, graphic design, video and photographic works and various self-published projects, and these all share things in terms of process, ideas, source materials and form-giving. For instance, found elements, systems, grids, issues of context and lifespan, memory and memory-building, randomness and chance, noise and silence all recur throughout my work.

I used to listen to music very loud while I was working visually and this enabled me to focus intently on what I was doing. Now it’s not so loud, but it still helps to create a mental workspace. Sometimes I might use some low-key textural electronic music as a background, while other times I might listen to Sun Ra; the outcome of the work is certainly different for this!
Peter Maybury

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candy vol III. the technologic issue.
interview with peter maybury
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10 years ago and Ireland was a very different place to the creatively and culturally diverse place it is today, it was a time of ham, cheese or ham & cheese sandwiches. Being a design student in Limerick at the time, I used to have to take the train to Dublin in order to get supplies, pop into Reads newsagents on Nassau Street to get fresh crisp copies of Raygun and Bikini, then on to The Douglas Hyde Gallery to get Eye magazine and finally to Makullas to get my fix of cool, all courtesy of Niall Sweeney (see Candy1). On one such trip though I was lucky enough to come across a magazine that defied everything that had come before it in Ireland. It was Code magazine, a limited edition publication written by people passionate about the subjects but more importantly its design is what threw me the most. This was a document that was suggestive of the future Ireland, the possibilities, the energies, the hopes. For me this was the document that grounded my belief that creativity was rife on this island, this was proof. The designer behind Code, Peter Maybury, has been a constant source of intrigue and inspiration to me over the years since as his work is always radical, never apologetic yet still is completely involving and accessible. He is one of the purist designers working in Dublin and I believe he has shaped so much of the way people see creativity in Dublin, yet he’s never played the superstar, opting generally to put his head down and focus on the next revolution either through his design, his music or his many collaborations and projects. The following is simply a snapshot of the body of work that makes this man so impressive so sit back and enjoy...

well there are probably a number of starts. i began art college in dublin in 1987, studying then in london up until the end of 1992, and i’ve played in bands of one sort or another on and off since i was about 15. i started my design practice when i came back to dublin in 1993. this has developed in an informal way into a home studio working with my wife marie-pierre, making books and catalogues, websites, self-published books, video and photographic projects and works for exhibition. i've taken photographs since the early days of art college, and do so on a continuing basis. some of this gets used up in studio work, and some will be for exhibition. i began making electronic music in 1999, pretty much as soon as the technology became available and affordable to me. up until then the cost of recording was such that it seemed to me only to suit a band with songs rehearsed and ready to record. once hard-disk recording became affordable it meant that the process of composing and recording could become completely integrated. you were now able to begin with the vagueist of ideas – a sound – and work out from that. being essentially released from the financial limitations of recording, you could now explore sounds and process more freely. since 2000 i have been releasing electronic music as hard sleeper. on the emigre music, fallt and sub rosa labels.

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02.
What are your influences and inspirations?
technology; systems; process; other people; my surroundings; music; film. i think all experiences shape and influence you, and this was one of the key things that clicked with me when i was studying in central st. martins - to be always outward looking. emigre magazine (soon to publish its last issue) has also been a continued source of inspiration, obviously through the design work it showcased and discussed, but also as a model of an independent entity with such integrity which has had such a huge impact worldwide. i have a wide variety of (sometimes long-term) associations with clients, and this too has influenced the direction of my work.

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03.
Your design work is incredibly varied in terms of the clients you work with. Was this a concious aim of yours?
If so, what do you look for in prospective jobs? If not, what do you think it is about your work that makes clients want to work with you?
when i started the design studio i just looked to the obvious places – to things i knew a little about. over time and through association this naturally expanded, but i imagine many design companies have a wider client base. in prospective jobs i have an obvious need to make money, but i don’t see the point in wrecking my head doing things which i find utterly irrelevant. to lesser or greater degrees i look for a collaborative relationship with the client, or at the very least that my role and my approach are understood. my personality will naturally influence the work, but with every project i look for a strategy and a visual language specific to the content. after that i look for the highest production values and the most effective use of budget. and we work hard.

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04.
I’ve always known your work as that of huge commitment to creativity yet always with clarity of purpose and understanding of audience, something I would consider quite pure in method. Do you think that it’s becoming harder for creatives to resist such clarity, what with technology offering unbelievable arrays of instant techniques and effects? Also, how have you resisted / embraced these in your own work?
i try to let the content and context dictate the visual language. i’ve never been particularly drawn to effects offered in software. i always try and reduce the design down to the elements which are really doing the work and if an element is superfluous it gets dumped. i don’t aspire to minimalism, some of my design work is busy or complex, but often the complexity is embedded. paper combinations, binding, typography, cropping, sequence, white space all play an equal role.

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05.
Is there any work that you just wouldn’t take on, be it for personal, professional or ethical reasons?
yes, many things. i don't think it's possible to live in the western world without being to some degree hypocritical. as consumers or even as members of society there are so many things to which we are intrinsically saying ‘i accept’. with any given thing you are invariably dragged into other things by association, with which you may not agree with or approve of - you become an inadvertant participant. but i think i have to at least try not to. so the work i do and how i do it are obvious starting points.

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06.
Collaborations are something you seem to thrive on and be involved in on a constant basis. What makes them so appealing for you?
funny, i wouldn't have thought of mysef as a big-time collaborator, since a lot of what i do i do independently, but yes in many cases i would regard my design work as a collaborative process, and i'm collaborating/sharing ideas in the studio every day with marie-pierre.

in music i collaborate with two other people in a gtr/vcls, bass/electronics, drums context in the band thread pulls. the reasons for collaborating here are obvious as collaboration is at the core of music of this kind; all of the material is derived from group improvisation. there is a strong visceral appeal to making music in this way which acts as a perfect counter balance to making electronic music.

i’m also part of serverproject, making site-specific networked electronic performances of spontaneously derived sound/music. this is a very rewarding way to work, as with four of us working freely like this a very rich array of sounds and textures develops. often the best participation in this is to sit back and listen.

and i've just begun a collaborative project with marie-pierre. out of an initial need to make a video for projection at a hard sleeper gig in lille in october, we've expanded it into the video-projection, which will be based on still images and small amounts of video, and a book project which will be produced with an accompanying CD of music from the performance.

so what makes collaborations so appealing? i suppose because the canvas is more expansive, you’re introduced to and contribute new ideas, and your views are challenged. in a strange way all these different activities create a kind of balance; they all relate to and shape each other.

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07.
Music and design seem equally close to your heart, what do you see as the merits of each that dissuade you from persuing one solely?
well firstly there’s always a graphic/ visual need in relation to audio – CD covers, booklets, projections etc., so of course i’m interested in that. but there are many ways in which both disciplines inter-relate, particularly in terms of process. graphic design for me is always about balancing the rational with the intuitive and this is the approach i have to making music. there are structural/mechanical elements which must work with organic, spontaneous and otherwise irregular elements. in both i employ systems and try to embrace chance elements. and besides both are magnetic – i constantly get drawn from one to the other.

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08.
What do you think of the state of Irish design?
i would like if there were more-evolved design, printing and binding traditions in ireland. i think i’m in a lucky position in that i am able to work in areas which interest me, and these help fund my other pursuits. there was maybe a point when it would have made commercial sense to take on staff and to expand, but this was never really an option for me, as it seems to me that at this point you get separated from design work and move more toward commerical concerns.

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09.
What’s the future for Peter Maybury?
finish renovating my house; more self-published books; more hard sleeper releases; exhibitions, a new thread pulls CD; more really.

Finally...

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10.
What’s your favourite piece of technology (past/present/future)?
i think the single most gratifying piece of technology is my G4 powerbook. the projects that are closest to me all originate here.

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NOISE, PINTS AND...GRAPHIC DESIGN: A TALK WITH PETER MAYBURY
by Albert Carles, GRRR magazine
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When the plane was near enough to land so that I could start to see once more the Irish landscape of green grass
and grey skies, I came to think that no doubt Ireland must be one of the few countries in the world that has a
corporate image: the green colour, harp, four-leafed shamrock and Gaelic alphabet are graphic elements you can
find anywhere in the country and which are rooted nicely into the natural Irish landscape. I could not help but to
compare it with other countries and, indeed, the Irish case is unique. Here in Catalonia, as anywhere else, we
have as well some identifying symbols and a bunch of visual elements that can identify us, but in no way are
we close to the graphic Irish singularity. I don't in any far-fetched way believe this to be either good or bad,
it is rather an idea that brought me to write it all down on a slip of paper one of the themes to take up with
Peter Maybury on the next day in Dublin.
09-11-02 Mulligan's Pub, Dublin
It was roughly half past ten when, duly drenched, we got to Mulligan's Pub door willing and ready to meet Peter
and Marie Pierre. I had already met them previously in Barcelona some months before during their trip here
together with some GRRR members. So, once greetings were interchanged at Mulligan's door, it came all back
to my mind about Irish visual identity: a typical Irish pub with classic icons (partly provided by Guinness) and
references to honoured famous customers of the joint like James Joyce were showing the best-known Ireland.
However, even if the surroundings were unbeatable, it was plainly obvious that an interview there would not be
possible. The fact that it was a Saturday evening and that the Irish Rugby Team had won the Australians after
over 20 years of not doing so, had really packed up the pub with 50,000 Irish suppoerters dressed in 1001
different varieties of clothing bearing the "corporate" Irish colours. Also they were full of Guinness beer and
the commotion was deafening. Miraculously a table was emptied just before us and we sat there quickly while we
were commenting to shift from an interview to an informal talk where an article could be written from.
The first pints materialised in front of us and I could not hold myself back any longer and bluntly started on the
subject that had kept me busy so far: the Irish graphic identity which I sensed as an Irish tradition and the fact
that graphic design in the Western world was every day getting more and more uniform.Global and local design
I began by regretting that nowadays meeting an Irish, Mexican or South-African designer did not mean to
discover any different ways to understand design or that at least it was regrettable to notice that all local
characteristics were reduced to mostly folk-lore features and was not evident in the everyday desing or even
in vanguard work. This was self-evidenced in Ireland with a clear graphic tradition and I did not find it correct
that it was not reflected, or had been lost, by Irish designers in their working methods. Peter Maybury quickly
retorted that there is almost no continuous tradition of graphics in ireland. He mentioned how in the first place,
successive generations of invasion and oppression had greatly affected and restricted the development of all
aspects of culture in Ireland. So particularly in visual culture there is no continuity – the visual language owes
as much to imported cultures as it does to the Irish condition.
By admitting frankly his reasons (my ignorance did not give me any other way out), I tried to generalise some
more and not limiting it to Ireland's specific case, and repeating my interest for each place identity and feeling
sorry that globalisation was bringing us all to a stylistic and conceptual uniformity of design. To make this clearer,
I mentioned the stylistic evolution of , GRRR or himself during the last 10 years on confirming that since
the beginning of the '90's the three examples: Californian, Catalan and Irish, had undergone a similar transformation
by going from a line of aggresivity, noisy, break-all and close to the use of new technologies to a line that was
clearer, cleaner, smarter and less ground-breaking, but had more to do with a recovery of the past. Peter Maybury
once again disagreed with my views as he did not see that these styles were so clearly to be compared in the
examples I had given and said that, even if it was so, this was something positive, that the shift in approach
reflected a commonality in our experiences and interpretation of the world. Even more, to my question about there
being in Dublin any type of designers collective comparable to GRRR, Peter shook his head negatively showing that
by being in the same place does not imply you can find affinities with your professional companions (no doubt this
is obvious). At this point in our talk, nobody pretended to convince the other. This discrepancy was enriching and
produced a number of data to be considered later.
Immersed in the purest Irish tradition (my brother was doing his utmost to reach the bartender to get another
round of pints), the longed-for ritual of his presenting me his works began. Among them and related to the graphic
design stylistic globalisation theme, Peter showed me a very recent job (actually I think not even the customer
had seen it yet), whereby it was visibly clear, in my opinion, this globalisation. It was a couple of CD covers, one
for an and the other one for a traditional music, both Irish, in which Peter had applied the
same graphic criteria, not to be bound to the need to create a collection aesthetics, but perhaps to demonstrate
that the same language can be used to communicate entirely different aspects. The two covers were modelled in
the same way, using the same colours and typographies and both presented a landscape photo as a centre element.
The truth is that that this solution worked quite well. The image did not hurt the eye (as one might imagine).
As a result, perhaps universal styles are possible and should not necessarily be negative. The talk was left this
wide open as it had to. To solve the matter about graphic design style globalisation in hardly an hour's time is not
feasible. It is possible though or even desirable that everyone meditates on it and takes a position. I am still thinking
that western graphics should not forcibly be uniform. If globalisation is to be a positive system, so be it, but only
as long as it permits us the access to the different modes of understanding culture around the world and not because
just a new one is born. What was clear to me (if it was not so before) is that the identiy of one place, in asmuch as
it refers to visual effects, should not only turn to the more folkloric features of a culture. Precisely as just being
a Catalan does not mean we have to wear a "barretina" (round cloth head-dress). It must be possible to be an Irishman
without being dressed all in green with a shamrock tatooed on your brow.
Social responsibility
Although at Mulligan's they say their Guinness beer is specially well "poured" now I opted for a Smithwicks beer,
toasted rather like a Lager that I have seen in Dublin and that I find tastier than a Kilkenny, Murphy's etc. Just to open
up a new subject with Peter Maybury: the designer social responsibility, recurrent theme in our magazine, but also
always inconclusive. Peter opened his eyes widely.suppose he did not expect me to bring out such a monster problem.
During the interview he had with in 1998, there were a few moments when this point appeared, but they only
asked Peter what he would do in the hypothetic case that Nike, McDonald's or Coca-Cola ordered him a job, despite the
fact that his answers one could deduce his positioning about it, I wanted to learn a little more about his point of view.
To make it short, I asked him to tell me if he believed that the designer had any kind of social responsability and, if so,
which one was it to be. He made an excellent brief analysis: "If we have any type of social responsibility, this must
firstly be to make life more agreeable for people. As designers we have the possibility to make a positive contribution
to life, – the pursuit of excellence –and in this we must try to do things as well as we are humanly capable of, and in
accepting a job I try consider all of its implications."To this we both agreed and only we left on the air the subject of
in which degree we can choose our clients or they are choosing us instead. This would have been an interesting discussion,
bearing in mind that Peter Maybury is working basically for clients in Dublin cultural circles, not just like we others
that creep around the sewers of private small or medium Companies, but it could not be. Well, coming back to the subject
of the social responsability, I liked it very much to agree with Peter because quite often when you talk about social
responsability the tendency is to connect it with working for NGOs and humanitarian or selfless activivities. The true
social function within the everyday framework in each of the orders we have and must face up.
I should like to underline that Peter's work pleased me extraordinarily because it exemplifies this living style of making
life more comfortable and nice. It was about a number of giant posters meant to be placed around high fences encircling a public-works construction site in Dublin. Each of the posters showed, on the background image of a woods, the hands
turning the pages of a book. In an urban project, even more so if it is a public job, it is no doubt where more it is seen
that a designer's work is none other than to make much better the everyday's life for everybody. But Peter's project
goes beyond the aesthetic sheer decoration. Peter in conjunction with Marie Pierre Richard and De Paor Architects
wanted to give a serious consideration about the , that which surrounds something, that has no beginning and no
end. That is, the repetition, the non-linear reading etc. Some way to be on the streets that, as in great art work, is rich
with different reading levels, satisfying not only the one who placidly looks at a colourful decoration, but also the one
who getting more into the message is awakened to a handful of thoughts on the ways tro communicate visually.
Now it was growing late and pub lights were blinking to suggest they were about to close. It was time to finish.
Although those two meaty subjects had dominated the talk, they were not the only ones. We also chatted on programming
and design, about the multiplication of "poachers", intruders in webdesign, in Dublin, about the fascinating world of
clients and some other points that dissolved within the beer foam. All in all, just on the way out and on feeling the
raindrops on my face, I mused that what mostly pushed me to write this article was to reflect, as well as I could, how
it was to travel and meet a top designer in another country. The cultural differences that one expects to find, the
connections between the image you get from a country and someone that has an influence on this image. All of this and
more was something that looked more interesting to me than to repeat what Emigre had perfectly done some years back.
A couple of days later I heard again a deafening noise and they were not the after-effects of a late hang-over, but this
time it was the jet engines of an AerLingus plane, clear sign that a few seconds after, I would again see the "corporate"
green carpet I had seen some days before. At the same time, I was perusing the N3 book about the Irish Pavillion (Peter
was the designer with photos from Marie Pierre Richard and Tom De Paor among others) where you can see how a
country combining both tradition and modernity is presenting itself to others. Great ! What better image could there be
to emphasize this fantastic and enriching talk I had had with one of the designers (I don't know whether global or local)
that are more interesting today and that better carries out the enterprise of making life better and nicer for us all.

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GOOD VIBRATIONS
interview with peter maybury. questions : pat mcmellow, the event guide, 14-27 august 2002
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Can you tell me about your musical upbringing: self-influenced all the way?
I learnt piano when I was maybe 8-10, and there was always classical music at home. Later I studied drums
for a year or so with John Wadham. I'm always interested in and influenced by other people's ideas on music
and what they listen to. I think you absorb influences all the time, not just from music, but from every
experience, and when you come to making music these help direct you and hopefully something original
evolves.
Are you happy to go under the banner of 'electronica' or do you have your own term?
It's fine I guess, though while the majority of noises I use are from electronic sources, there are some 'live'
elements - drums/cymbals/piano/ambient - I find that these more mechanical or human noises help to
'activate' the music in some way.
What can you express in music that cannot be said through design, art, etc.?
I enjoy how music can be completely removed from 'intellectualised' meaning. Working with or looking at
text/images compels you to make meanings, to try and resolve or decipher what you're looking at. Of course
certain instruments/sounds carry particular associations and therefore meanings, but it can also create
other in-definite feelings of space or shapes, moods, energies, etc. while remaining malleable. Making a piece
of music feels to me like working with space (positive and negative) and moving it around to create shapes.
You can then define these shapes with textures, rhythms etc.
Are you as abstract in real-life as your music? Are you challenged by the world, by its various societies,
lifestyles and thought processes?
I think I'm more pratical than abstract, but I'm most interested in the abstract. I spend my time 'making things'
(and recorded music is already abstract), but I find the most interesting part is the intangible or indefinable
effects that they produce - I like in-between-ness. As a designer I see the typeface before the words! And
I probably look at most things that way – looking at the form to see how it influences the meaning, how the
message is carried as well as the message, or the effect of materials and environments etc.
Would you describe yourself as happy – within yourself and within this world?
I am happy! There are a lot of things in the world that no-one can be happy about, but in general I just keep
plugging away. There's a lot of richness and depth to discover, even if you only touch on it occasionally.
Place in order of importance to self and explain "why": Melody, timbre, silence, rhythm, accident,
premeditated. Are any of these suggestive words obsolete when it comes to dissecting your work?
They're all relevant, the order probably changes, but it might be like this : 1) Silence: music has a strong
spatial sense for me, and like positive and negative space in a picture, I usually start with noise and silence.
2) Rhythm, premeditated: rhythms break up and map out the space into manageable parts, and this is the
most mechanical and 'premeditated' aspect for me - devising a structure that you can then layer over more
freely. 3) Accident, timbre: most of what I do then is driven by accident - either by induced chance elements
or pure fluke! I have a sense of what sound to look for in terms of texture or dynamics - thin/thick, hard/soft,
bass, mid, high, but where I find it and what it finally becomes are really lead by accident. 4) Melody is
probably as important by its absence as its presence - I try to hint at melody without ever fully stating or
developing it.
Should we assume that music, the (sometimes melancholy?) mood of life, is derived from the sounds around
you, your studio and the street?
I usually start with any small sound, let that suggest a rhythm or shape and build out from there. I use any
available sounds - and since I learnt drums I include drums /cymbals, piano and anything that sounds good
through a microphone, from a DAT etc. I made graphics for a long time before I started recording my own
music, so I found when I started recording that my graphic approach really informed how I made music, but
this is always evolving.
Do you honour existence with your work or do you seek to kick against it?
I think that the process of making music as well as listening to it brings you vey intense and rich experiences,
and through that hopefully you can make something beautiful, and learn something about yourself and about living.
Why do so many electronic artists seek to "make music for imaginary films"and how does your work relate to
that cliché?
People used to say that to me at first - that it sounds like a soundtrack - but I guess that's because people are
more used to vocal music -it has a definite presence to focus on. And very often electronic music based music
works well with moving images. I'm making a video with Marie-Pierre (Richard) for the Thomas House gig
on the 26th, which is mostly moving texts and graphics, and, even though there is no 'designed' connection,
it works very well with the music - maybe it's partly to do with the fact that it's cut together in a similar way.
Are you progressing musically? Leaps and bounds or rather smaller steps?
Always progressing. At the moment it seems like leaps and bounds. My music has changed a lot over the past
year,although I don't feel particularly in control of its development. I tend to switch on the machines and
something happens or it doesn't, but it's seldom what I intended. I might decide to do something more 'hard' or
'soft' than previously, but then something happens by chance and it goes in another direction. Very often, I put
down some stuff - go as far as I can - and then leave it for several weeks. When I come back to it, and very fast,
I completely invert or transform it. When you just follow what happens rather than worrying about what you
intend, it usually works out well.
Your work is released under your own name? Are titles, non-de-plumes and psuedonyms irrelevant or are you
committed to spreading yourself over every branch of the arts?
The music is released as hard sleeper. and/or Peter Maybury. Graphic design is Peter Maybury Studio, and
Softsleeper is the website / self-publishing title. Music and graphics are my first love(s) but these inevitably
lead you into other areas...

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creative ireland
interview with peter maybury, november 2000
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Since graduating from Dun Laoghaire College of Art and Design Peter Maybury has continued to pursue his own vision of graphic design, away from the traditional commercial design sector. As a freelance designer he is responsible for the print output of the Douglas Hyde Gallery, and the annual French Film Festival among others. Recently he has also been involved in the 'Outdoor Images' events in Temple Bar, Dublin.

In October you were involved in the 'Outdoor Images' event in Temple Bar, could you explain the event? and your project 'On The Surface'?
Outdoor Images is an outdoor projection series organised by Aileen Corkery for Temple Bar properties. pProjects are presented on the outdoor screen in Meeting House Square. 'On The Surface' which I made with Marie Pierre Richard, comprised of a b/w slide projection exhibition and a book of images and observation on the surface. the two formats worked in parallel. The work contained elements of text, with photographs and found fragments / images.

Do you regard the work as art or design?
The work uses graphic language to present ideas and images, but I try just to produce things without thinking about a category.

Does the art world inspire your design work?
I'm often inspired by artworks and artists, but also music, cinema, buildings, books, design, spaces, signage, the city, the countryside.

Design groups such as Tomato or Fuel have managed to balance their own personal more artistic or musical projects with their design output. Is this attitude one you admire?
It's always been natural for me to work on personal projects at the same time as working with clients. Working in a variety of related disciplines keeps you motivated, brings new ideas, ways of looking at things. For me, producing work is mostly about 'process' ( a word synonymous with Tomato ). The most fascinating part is forming ideas, layers, putting it together. The finished product, although important, isn't necessarily the most interesting part of the experience. In this way one project feeds into the next. For example the parallels between making music and making images. There is a remarkably precise correlation between sound and image and working with the two. My recording project 'hard sleeper.', provides an ideal opportunity to work with some of these relationships. 'hard sleeper.', which has just been release by 'emigre', is a 13 track CD and 72 page book. Although the book is based on travels in china, the atmosphere is informed by the music.

Are you glad you made the choice to be a freelance designer rather than work your way up through an existing design agency? Are there any disadvantages to being a freelance designer?
Being freelance has given me the opportunity to work on personal projects, as well as choosing the work I do with clients. I try to stick to work that interests me. Inevitably working for yourself means you're responsible for everything, but ultimately I think that it's a positive aspect.

Ireland has often been criticised for its lack of a design culture, do you think this is changing? Do you think in the next few years we could see a growth in more adventurous design forms in Ireland?
No. I don't believe the Irish economy is very conducive to adventurous ideas.

Is Irish graphic design inherently conservative do you think? Or are Irish clients just too restrictive?
I get the impression that many designers, like their clients, are interested in making money. Designers who are trying to push the envelope of design are in the minority.

You were involved in designing CODE magazine some years age. Are there any plans to bring back the magazine?
CODE produced a limited edition fold-out magazine 'enhance 57:19', but is otherwise lying dormant ! i'm always interest in designing magazines, but not for the moment.

For many designers the internet seems to be providing more and more of an outlet for their personal projects. Is this something you are interested in exploring?
The internet is a fantastic tool for communication and facility for making work accessible. The Softsleeper website functions as a place to archive work, and also as a way to distribute project work. You can also purchase copies of music and design projects from the site. Having the sense of building something around this core outlet helps to generate motivation towards other projects. As long as your not in a rush, I think 'self-published' sites like this will gain momentum.

Do you continue to teach in the Dun Laoghaire College of Art and Design?
I am currently visiting lecturer on the MSc in Trinity College, although I do occasional lectures at DIT and DLIADT.

Do you think students are being put under greater pressure to keep up with all the technical demands many design firms require of them, from interactive design, to video or print design?
On the MSc in Trinity College, which is essentially technology based, one the biggest issues that seems to face the people on the course is a balance between content and technology. It's very easy to become consumed by the means of communication, overlooking what it is you want to say in the first place. In Dun Laoghaire, I found that some students naturally gravitated towards screen-based work, while others tended to prefer traditional media. I never sensed a pressure, more a natural selection. Besides, although the growth area at the moment is in digital media, I think designers with an understanding of print media will remain fundamental to a design practice. For me an essential ability is to integrate design across wide ranging platforms - print, screen, signage etc. - and the underlying discipline of design remains the same in all of this.

LP music design has previously always provided an oulet for great design, do you think the CD jewel case has had a detrimental effect on design in music? Or is it another challenge?
The 12" is a great format to design for, but i think that there are many interesting CD cover designs. CD format suggests different possibilities, but the essential relationship between sound and image is still a fascinating one.

Who are your favorite visual/graphic designers out their now?
Irma Boom, Rudy Vanderlans, Cyan, Gareth Hague, Joe Ewart (Society), Niall Sweeney.

Do you have any plans for future art/design projects?
I hope to produce an increasing number of self-published projects, plus I have a forthcoming second 'Hard Sleeper' album - 'Seas Rotate' released by Dublin based Folkrum Records. Ongoing identity items for 'softsleeper', catalogues etc, and Miscellaneous video projects with Marie Pierre.

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SUD OUEST, Bordeaux, lundi 9 février 1998
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‘Atelier 90º. Graphisme à l'irlandaise. L'atelier 90º présente les travaux de Niall Sweeney et Peter Maybury, graphistes à Dublin’ Valérie de Saint-Do

‘Passé par Les Beaux-Arts de Dublin puis de Londres, Peter Maybury exerce son métier de graphisme depuis cinq ans dans la capitale irlandaise.
Une profession assez nouvelle dans un pays ou la littérature et la musique ont depuis longtemps pris le pas sur les arts visuels, mais qui rattrape rapidement ces deux dernières décennies sont retard en la matière.
Lui a commencé comme freelance avant de monter son studio avec Niall Sweeney directeur artistique d'un centre de graphisme et d'image sur ordinateur. L'exposition présente leurs travaux, très contrastés.
Celui de Peter est marqué par une extrême minutie, l'usage intensif du noir et du blanc, le souci du détail et de la rigueur géométrique. ‘J'ai beaucoup travaillé pour le secteur culturel’, explique-t-il, ‘et j'essaie de ne pas séparer mon travail commercial de mon travail personnel’. Il s'est quelque peu spécialisé dans les livres et catalogues d'art, toujours marqué par cette épure complexe et ce souci perfectionniste du détail infiniment petit qui caractérise son travail: découpages, inserts miniatures, précision des lignes ténues.

SUBTIL ET ACCESSIBLE
L'accrochage de l'atelier 90 degrées le fait intelligemment dialoguer avec le travail de Niall Sweeney, plus immédiat d'accès, plus coloré, d'un esprit assez marqué par la techno. ‘J'ai découvert le travail sur ordinateur voici pas mal d'années déjà’ explique Peter, ‘et petit à petit je m'en suis détaché’. Niall, lui l'utilise dans toutes ses possibilités. Comme le prouvent les multiples jeux typographiques, et l'utilisation de la couleur.
Remarquable par le niveau des deux graphistes présentés, cette exposition l'est également par un accrochage subtil et humoristique à la fois.
Une occasion de rendre visite à cette jeune galerie de graphistes, qui depuis sa création voici environ deux ans a multiplié les ouvertures européennes, et est passée d'un travail pointu de spécialistes à des expositions dont la qualité artistique a de quoi séduire également les non-initiés. A ne pas manquer.’

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Coded Communication.
Blueprint no.129, June 1996 [UK] [ extracts from ] feature on peter maybury by michelle ogundehin
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Peter Maybury has enlivened Dublin's graphic design scene with his startling work for the magazine CODE.
By Michelle Ogundehin.
Controlled maelstroms of text and pictures reverberate around invisible lines of tension; letterforms and
headlines dance carefully orchestrated ballets through otherwise quiet layouts; images of circuit boards,
binary codes, hands, dots and dashes are liberally sprinked across spreads. Such devices characterise the
graphic design of 27-year old [!] Irishman Peter Maybury. It is in his art direction of Code - the Dublin-based
underground magazine of popular culture - that the sophistication of these visual tricks shows most clearly
and distinguishes the magazine from the plethora of low-budget culture-zines in Great Britain...
Although the subject matter of Code is diverse, its look is uniformly complex. Since Maybury designs
intuitively, his ideas are often conceived in response to the everyday, the copy he reads, or gut instinct...
Maybury encourages connections between features. Occasionally it is difficult to tell where one features
ends and another begins (he also designs the majority of its adverts) - not because the text is illegible,
but because the junctions between them are negligible, especially without the visual pauses provided by
clear advertising breaks .
[His] work is underpinned by a pragmatic yet playfully intelligent rigour... He often often creates a tension
in his work by hinting at a set of rules to divide and allocate the white space of a design, then deliberately
breaking those rules by shifting the margins, pictues or text - the results are less a crisp one-liner than a
complex and creative visual sampling of ideas.