Speak Up Archive: Stuart Bailey Speaks Up

By Jon Sueda

I was stunned to hear that Stuart Bailey was relocating to New York City from the Netherlands, his residence and workplace for the past seven years. Why would anyone leave a country where artists and designers enjoy such an elevated status, regularly producing extraordinary volumes of experimental work and self-generated projects? As Bailey’s collaborator Peter Bilak explains in his essay, Contemporary Dutch Graphic Design: an Insider/Outsider’s View, “… the government’s generous cultural funding system is often purported to be the main reason for the ‘advanced’ nature of Dutch graphic design—the constant flow of money facilitating unconventional approaches.” As a resident, Bailey has benefited greatly from Dutch design tradition, and has forged a formidible creative base for himself in Amsterdam.

Bailey introduced himself to the Dutch design community in 1998 as a member of the first class of students to attend the Werplaats Typografie, a two year masters program lead by renowned tutors Karel Martens and Wigger Birma. Since his arrival in the Netherlands, he has become a steady contributor to art and design culture as a writer, critic, editor, and graphic designer. Internationally Bailey is best known as the co-editor and designer of Dot Dot Dot (with Peter Bilak), a graphic design publication described as a fanzine/journal with content revolving around art, design, music, literature, architecture and language. From his new post in New York he remains committed to producing Dot Dot Dot, while also designing another Dutch art publication Metropolis M, in collaboration with Will Holder.

Considering Bailey’s recent creative shift, it isn’t suprising that our conversation sprouted in a number of directions, ranging from a discussion about his motivation for leaving Amsterdam, to fresh collaborations he has initiated in the New York and Los Angeles. It’s evident that Bailey is disatisfied with the accepted definition of the “graphic designer” and questions whether he wants to produce graphic design at all. Perhaps through this geographical repositioning, Bailey will have the opportunity to redefine his practice and establish an environment where he can generate meaningful work on his own terms; the dream of every designer I know. It will be compelling to see how he chooses to accomplish this in the US, a cultural context that is less sympathetic to the type of work he has generated with great skill in the past.

› Read the Interview

Jon Sueda is a graphic designer and educator working out of his studio Stripe located in Los Angeles. He also teaches graphic design at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).

This is one of the best interviews on SU in my opinion (though I'm an admirer of Bailey's work, so maybe that has something to do with it). His honesty and nit-picking of language shows through his work as well as this interview. I look forward to seeing what he can do statesaide.

thanks for the interview guys.

On Feb.21.2006 at 05:19 PM

The Exercises in Style exercise is excellent... Like much of the interview. It's nice to have a perspective on graphic design from someone who is not "concerned" with making graphic design 24/7.

On Feb.22.2006 at 01:43 PM

It's nice to have a perspective on graphic design from someone who is not "concerned" with making graphic design 24/7.

That's certainly a rare opinion.

But what's the cut off ratio when it becomes not nice? 8/5? 6/3?

On Feb.22.2006 at 02:25 PM

Kenneth, sorry, I shouldn't have tickled your fancy like that. Let me rephrase:

It's nice to have a perspective on graphic design from someone who is not "concerned" with making graphic design 24/7 yet still produces work and writing for the design community to see and consider.

> But what's the cut off ratio when it becomes not nice? 8/5? 6/3?

Anything below 12/4. And key word is "making".

On Feb.22.2006 at 10:39 PM

Great interview and certainly nice to have Stuart's challenges to the assumptions on this side of the pond. It should be interesting to see how being in NYC inspires his work and writings.

On Feb.23.2006 at 12:31 PM

Thanks for the excellent interview. I'd like to pull a quote:

I don’t really see graphic design as deserving of being treated as an independent, navel-gazing discipline. It exists entirely in relation to other subjects.

Let's read that again, shall we?

On Feb.23.2006 at 06:42 PM

After talking to Stuart for the interview, I got the sense that he is concerned with graphic design in particular respects. Especially in the way he defines it for himself in terms of practice. I might propose flipping his words and say that he aims to transcend the conventions of graphic design and the discourse surrounding it, not necessarily escape it.

What I think is most interesting about his move, is the idea of how context affects output. An interesting parallel might be Henk Elenga and Rick Vermeulen opening Hard Werken L.A. Desk in the early 90s. Neither designer found it easy to adjust to enormously different environment in Los Angeles and moved back to the Netherlands in less than 3 years. I believe Rick thought that the process of building a similar practice to the one they had in Holland would take too long. Unfortunately, we will never know whether Hard Werken’s influence would have left a permanent mark on mainstream design culture in Los Angeles, or if working in L.A. would have altered the direction of their output. In 2006 with the internet and easier access to information, Stuart’s experience might be very different than Henk and Rick’s.

I also look forward to observing how Stuart evolves in New York.

On Feb.23.2006 at 07:23 PM

Jon and Stuart, thanks for a very interesting interview. I like the fact that Stuart is interested in both design and writing, and that he expresses his doubts about graphic design as a profession.

Thanks, also, for the reference to Raymond Queneau -- his book looks very interesting, and I have added it to my "books to read" list.

On Feb.25.2006 at 11:55 PM