I recently had the pleasure of joining 2100 other creatives at Canada’s largest design conference, DesignThinkers Toronto 2023.
In a number of the keynote talks, a theme that kept reappearing — both directly and indirectly — was creating the communities you want to be a part of. And coincidentally, this series of episodes (many of which were recorded before the conference) is all about exactly that: community.
In the next 6 episodes, you’ll hear from movers and shakers in the printing, typography and design spaces who make space for others through their creating and maintaining national and global communities.
In this first episode, we’ve Marcroy Smith, founder of People of Print.
People of Print has established itself globally as the one of the world's leading print-orientated communities of creatives and collection of companies who pull together to perform workshops, events and answer creative briefs for clients including: The Guardian, Fiorucci, UEFA, Adidas, internet.org, V&A Museum, Pick Me Up Design Fair, MasterCard, Levi's, Missguided, Airbnb, Clarks Originals, Spa Sanctuary and various charities. He is author of the 336 page hardback book for Thames & Hudson titled 'People of Print: Innovative, Independent Design and Illustration.'
Marcroy is also the founding editor and art director of Print Isn't Dead™ magazine alongside Posterzine®— a poster which folds down into a mini-magazine. These are self-published by People of Print (In Perpetuum).
Marcroy has organised exhibitions worldwide featuring the work of established printmakers, illustrators and designers alongside those who are emerging.
In the following episode, you will hear the origin story of People of Print, why print isn’t dead (as well as where this phrase originated), as well as the way that print and digital have a synergistic relationship. You’ll learn about the innovative ‘Posterzine’, the way in which Marcroy loves making new things as evidenced by his depth and breadth of work, and we dive into failure in creativity.
There are lots of links to examples in show notes below.
Let’s listen in…
Links Discussed in the Episode:
People of Print: https://www.peopleofprint.com/
People of Print Book: Innovative, Independent Design and Illustration: https://www.peopleofprint.com/pop/popbook/
Posterzine: https://posterzine.com/
Posterzine 01 Issue - Eike Kong: https://posterzine.com/products/posterzine01
Druk wide (display): https://type.today/en/druk_wide
Reader (text): https://www.colophon-foundry.org/typefaces/reader
Thank you Marcroy and People of Print. The community coming up in the next episode is Hello, Print Friend; a podcast with more than 200 episodes, nearly 100K followers on Instagram and heard in print studios all over the globe. Stay tuned…
About Our Guest:
Marcroy is the director and founder of People of Print Ltd, which has established itself globally as the one of the world's leading print-orientated communities of creatives and collection of companies who pull together to perform workshops, events and answer creative briefs for clients including: The Guardian, Fiorucci, UEFA, Adidas, internet.org, V&A Museum, Pick Me Up Design Fair, MasterCard, Levi's, Missguided, Airbnb, Clarks Originals, Spa Sanctuary and various charities. He is author of the 336 page hardback book for Thames & Hudson titled 'People of Print: Innovative, Independent Design and Illustration.'
peopleofprint.com
He has worked for established design and print studios, alongside freelancing for over 12 years where he worked on projects for clients including : The Guardian, Champion, Microsoft, History Channel, Dove, Tumi, Universal, Co-operative Music, Crystal Castles and Bella Union.
He is the founding editor and art director of Print Isn't Dead™ magazine alongside Posterzine®— a poster which folds down into a mini-magazine. These are self-published by People of Print (In Perpetuum).
posterzine.com
Also the founder of Department Store, a curated marketplace of design-based vendors from across the globe, offering both affordable vendor fees and fair a commission rate on product sales.
dept.store
Marcroy worked alongside Chris Haughton on the 18x18 Project for Node which was displayed at the Design Museum during Fair Trade Fortnight.
madebynode.com
Marcroy has organised exhibitions worldwide featuring the work of established printmakers, illustrators and designers alongside those who are emerging. He is also a visiting lecturer who has presented and executed live briefs at Brighton University, BRIT School, UAL London College of Communication, UCA Epsom, UWE and BCU.
Music: Oopsie Doodle Master by John Bartmann, Licensed Under CC0 1.0 Universal
Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle