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In 1992, I graduated from the University of Florida with a BFA in graphic design, and two months later I was the Art Director for a national music magazine called Jazziz. I was 22, and though I had always been intrigued about magazine design, I had no experience and no idea what I was doing. It was trial by fire! I had always planned on heading straight for New York once I graduated, but before I could get going, I got the call from Jazziz. Gainesville is a college town and the magazine was known to utilize the talent coming out of UF. They didn't need to go after designers from around the country. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Did your early work reflect your current style? I would say in many ways it does. I'm still proud of much of the work I did at Jazziz. I was able to get into Print's design Annuals in '94 and '95 and I was also featured in their Best Typography 2 book. Still, I'll never forget my first issue. It was November '92 and we had Dizzy Gillespie on the cover. I couldn't wait to see it on the newsstand. I went to Goering's bookstore to pick it up, but when I got there, sitting right next to it was the premiere issue of Raygun. Raygun was so beautiful it made me weak. It didn't look like any other magazine on the newsstand. David Carson of course was the designer of Raygun, and for me, he changed forever the way I thought about the relationship between design and art. Really, they should be one in the same.
I stayed at Jazziz for almost three years, but it wasn't really the place to express myself in the manner I wanted. I left in '95 and moved to Nashville, where I started my own studio, BURN. Music has always been my first love and I wanted to be in a town where there was a lot of it. Many people don't realize the musical diversity in Nashville. We have incredible Pop, Rock and Americana happening alongside Country and Christian. I wanted to be part of that and I wanted to get into music packaging. Was it difficult to establish yourself in Nashville? It went incredibly well. First, my magazine work followed me. I was hired to do a new Latin Music magazine called Sol A Sol for Connell Communications as well as designing CCM magazine for Salem Publishing. While doing those publications, the album packaging also took off. I started working with many of the major labels in town doing artwork for acts like Lonestar, Andy Griggs, Lorrie Morgan, Trace Adkins and Christian artists like Avalon, Gary Chapman, Michael Gungor and Margaret Becker, to name a few. At this point, I'm working with everyone from independent label artists like Sister Hazel and Jason White to multi-platinum superstars like Keith Urban. I'm also doing regular magazine work as the art director for BurnLounge magazine. Tell me about your current magazine, BurnLounge. BurnLounge is a music and technology publication affiliated with the new digital music service BurnLounge.com. Our music editor David Jenison is in Los Angeles, our technology editor Debra Akins is in Florida, I'm in Nashville and the publisher is in New York. We have a great team and it's worked incredibly smooth even though we're all over the country. The music we cover is diverse, and it's exciting to take features with huge artists like Coldplay, Busta Rhymes and Avril Lavigne and create visuals that speak to their specific artistry. Still, while all the issues stand cohesively, each issue of BL tends to have its own vibe simply because of the thematic nature of the artists covered. It works well that each issue generally has a pervasive mood, and visually we're able to use that to guide the issue. I don't want readers to simply see the magazine, I want it to resonate with them, for them to hear the music when they look at the pages!
BurnLounge is currently published four times a year, but we go monthly in January '07. We look forward to the opportunity to feature even more artists and to make every issue better than the last. We're also doing more web design and want that to continue along with all the album packaging and other print we do. In doing that, we'll continue working with our current clients all over the country and also work to form strong, new relationships with others. I see BURN continuing to grow with talented and creative designers, writers and web developers who exemplify a passion for art, design, music and the new technologies that help empower us to create. Contributed by David Jenison >> See more work from Torne White >> See other member spotlights on the member spotlight index >> Find out more on how to become an altpick.com member |
