ITIAPTWC Episode 4 – Mark Denton
This week’s podcast is a chat with my good friend, Mr Mark Denton Esq.
He’s been (or still is) an art director, creative director, designer, director, owner of an agency, owner of a design company, owner of a couple of production companies, wrestling promoter, public speaker, President of the Creative Circle and a whole bunch of other stuff.
But really, he’s a creative – in every sense of the word. He designs his clothes, his home, magazines, books, his moustache and anything else in his life. And so many incredibly talented and successful people owe him their start that his industry footprint is like that of a Giganotosaurus.
So we could only scratch the surface. But at least that meant we could cover…
Art direction vs idea.
The merits of expensive, puerile visuals.
The significance of warm reds and cold blues.
The benefits of seeing a clairvoyant.
Becoming your own personal brand.
Why most people prefer unsubtle to subtle.
Why humour is often the difference between art direction and design.
How being ‘bloody awkward’ can help and hinder your career.
Why older people should surround themselves with younger people.
What creatives want from directors.
The pros and cons of treatments.
Why it’s OK for directors to ignore your ideas (if they’re geniuses).
Why a great account person is essential.
And why now is the best of times and the worst of times.
I hope you enjoy it. We’ll probably go a little deeper in a future chat…
You can subscribe on iTunes (‘If This Is A Blog Then What’s Christmas’), listen on Soundcloud or click on this link:
Here’s some of the work we discussed, and some other great stuff, including a small plug for the privates (sic) view of his exhibition:
https://vimeo.com/123434405
For some reason my blog has again declined the opportunity put up a comment from Mark Fairbanks. Very odd.
Anyway, here it is:
Absolute hero of mine. When I started I looked at the work Simons Palmer were doing with wide eyes. Nike, Wrangler, Science Museum and the rest. So good, so fresh. And, in my opinion, Mark is the most brilliantly well-rounded art director we’ve ever seen. He didn’t have a ‘style’ like so many others. Everything was different but everything was amazing. Great interview Ben. Thank you.
i thought Mark’s Nike stuff made Wieden’s look stodgy by comparison at the time. still so fresh. can’t wait to listen.
You know that ‘don’t meet your heroes’ thing, it doesn’t apply here. Love him. Noel Gallagher on the other hand, was a right prick.
…thanks for the great write-up Ben.
Of course the list of super-talented people who worked for me at Simons Palmer DENTON is a lot longer. There was Gary Martin, Mark Goodwin, Keith Bickel, Paul White, Trevor D’Silva, Warren Brown, Chris Bardsley, my brother Adam, and the rest. There were even contributions from temporary visitors like this young bloke called Ben Priest (whatever happened to him?) who came in for a weeks placement and ended up in the D&AD annual.
..I didn’t mention the likes of Tim Riley in the podcast because he was already a rising star when we hired him.
Tim was very important in the development of the Nike print campaign insofar as he set the bar really high with our first really good poster ‘Michael Jordan 1, Isaac Newton 0
Absolutely lovin’ the podcasts. It’s like hearing that voice(s) in your head you had when you were younger and thought ‘advertising is fun’, and is a great reminder that it fucking is. Thanks.
I enjoyed that, I reckon I could listen to Mark for hours…
Thanks again Ben. Another cracker. I too could listen to Mark for hours. He is without doubt the most inspirational, enthusiastic and generous person I have ever met in the industry. He took myself and Graham to lunch a year or so ago, suggesting he was getting to the point where maybe he will hang up his boots. It’ll never happen. He loves ideas too much. He’s bursting with them. He will continue coming up with gems until he’s in a box. (He’s probably got something surprising lined up for that day too.) Favourite quote from the interview: ” Lots of young people all laughing at each other. What’s that all about? No one has told a joke…” Genius.