We caught up with the designer behind our collaboration shirt with Holding Absence, to find out a bit more about him, what inspires him, and some thoughts on getting into the design world. We’ve shared a selection of Jack’s favourite designs throughout the post too.

What’s your name and where do you come from? 

Hey! My name Is Jack and I come from North London, United Kingdom. 

What drew you to the graphic design world? (Some sort of joke about drawing & graphic design that I can’t quite think of right now)

haha! Honestly I don’t really know, I was always in and out of bands growing up and I got given a cracked copy of Photoshop from a school friend where I just practiced and messed around on until I sort of figured it out (There are still lots I do not know). 

I then quickly realised I had an interest in how things looked and where put together so after school I applied to study graphic design as a local college. 

What inspires you most? 

I take a lot of my inspiration from an artist called Winston Smith, He is an American Artist who works mainly with collage layouts and is responsible for most of the Dead Kennedy’s album art / logo. I also love how he puts his pieces together. I also love the old Raymond Pettibon layouts and artwork for Black Flag / Sonic Youth. 

What are you listening to right now? 

I am currently listening to a bunch of cool records, My ‘Go to’s’ at the moment are 

Swain – Negative Space, Drug Church – Cheer, Cigarettes After Sex – Cry & Beabadoobee – Patched Up 

Do you find design work helpful if you’re in a bad headspace? 

Fully! I think anything creative I do helps as a coping mechanism and release to any negative headspace I might be experiencing. I think creativity is a wonderful gift that helps distract the mind and express feelings you might not be able to explain or talk about with someone. 

What do you do outside of your design work? 

I have been lucky enough to play in a few bands over the last couple of years who have been able to tour all over the UK and Europe with some incredible people and artists. I am currently touring with the band Acres (www.acresofficial.com) over the last year we have been lucky enough to tour with the likes of Casey, Silent Planet, Gatherers and play a bunch of cool UK & EU festivals. 

Music will always be my first love 100%! 

Have you got an example of a time where you’ve had some good support from a pal? (Or maybe you’ve given someone some good support)

I can’t think of something off the top of my head but I like to think me and my friends are all good at supporting each other through almost anything, I know I could go to my friends with an issue and we would sort it out and vice versa! 

What advice would you give to someone looking to get into the design world? 

I would tell them to just go for it, find out what they like and try to teach themselves how to do it! I always feel that art can have this scary almost ‘upper class’ stigma attached to it and I am firm believer it is an outlet for everyone and that just because you can’t paint masterpieces doesn’t mean you should write off the art and design world. if you enjoy creating no matter what it looks or sounds like – Create! 

Where can we find more of you and your art? 

I should probably put a website together, maybe that’s something I will do in the new year! But for now you can find most of my work on an instagram page called @Getarealjobkid

I also have some hand screen printed art prints for sale that help out a couple of charities close to my heart – getarealjobkid.bigcartel.com