After completing a print based degree at Birmingham university, Grant Gilbert spent three years working for Planet 24, a production company famous for producing the ‘Big Breakfast’ and ‘The Word’. He then moved on to channel 4, where he enjoyed larger budgets, creating title sequences and promos. He also spent a year in New York working at the Attic, but moved back to London when this studio closed after September 11th. It was then that he began working freelance, and set up Double G studios, partly because he thought it would sound better to call from a business rather than as an individual. He employs other illustrators as and when he needs them, and often works with other companies in order to gain inspiration from others, rather than sitting at home in a creatively stale environment. He also advised us that it is very important to get your name around, and to be passionate about and have confidence in your ideas, or other people will change things.
Gilbert was involved in the rebranding of channel 5, and also produced the Channel 4 Music promo – a short animation inspired by summer festivals. I really liked the use of neon lights and silhouettes inside the tents. In addition, he was brought in to produce the More 4 promo. The logo had already been finalised, but needed animating. This is a very simple but effective piece, involving overlays of shapes based on the logo. The Channel 4 adult entertainment channel uses a neon sign designed by Gilbert.
When pitching for the job of rebranding BBC1, he joined up with a company called Red Bee. The brief was to show ‘the coming together of people’. His main inspiration was an image from the Korean games in 1988 of several thousand schoolchildren holding up individual cards to form one single image. He won the job, but the BBC hated the idea, so it was back to the drawing board. The final rebranding received criticism from the press – it had taken ten months to produce and cost £1.2 million of liscence payers’ money. Gilbert felt the BBC was his hardest job, because there was too much interference. It was more insular than channel 4, and he had far less creative freedom due to it being funded by public money. These days, he has to pitch for around 70% of his work, but is getting more and more of his work through recommendations. He is also a D&AD judge, and advised us that a simple, striking design will stand out.
Gilbert was involved in the rebranding of channel 5, and also produced the Channel 4 Music promo – a short animation inspired by summer festivals. I really liked the use of neon lights and silhouettes inside the tents. In addition, he was brought in to produce the More 4 promo. The logo had already been finalised, but needed animating. This is a very simple but effective piece, involving overlays of shapes based on the logo. The Channel 4 adult entertainment channel uses a neon sign designed by Gilbert.
When pitching for the job of rebranding BBC1, he joined up with a company called Red Bee. The brief was to show ‘the coming together of people’. His main inspiration was an image from the Korean games in 1988 of several thousand schoolchildren holding up individual cards to form one single image. He won the job, but the BBC hated the idea, so it was back to the drawing board. The final rebranding received criticism from the press – it had taken ten months to produce and cost £1.2 million of liscence payers’ money. Gilbert felt the BBC was his hardest job, because there was too much interference. It was more insular than channel 4, and he had far less creative freedom due to it being funded by public money. These days, he has to pitch for around 70% of his work, but is getting more and more of his work through recommendations. He is also a D&AD judge, and advised us that a simple, striking design will stand out.
I feel that while Grant Gilbert is obviously very good at what he does, his work has no relevance to my own. He gave us some useful advice though!
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