Designer Alexis Cros champions his local community through grungy, distorted graphics

For Lyon, France-based graphic designer Alexis Cros, his local scene is very important. Through working with DIY artists, from foreign artists and musical labels to broader concepts such as sports photography or merchandising, Alexis works best when he is connected with someone or a group in his general proximity – blending symbolically charged imagery with the context of scenes and communities. In this way, he doesn’t just create beautiful designs, but serves his people. Working across garments, records and “all things printed”, Alexis explains how discipline and “play in search of friction” drives his love for accidents and contrast inside of digital techniques. But, he also uses analogue tools such as airbrush, xerox and letraset.

Alexis’ style revels in print textures, from the bleeding and spitting of printer ink, the accidents of distortion, the result of typefaces run through Xerox, images embossed onto metallic materials or blown out with ethereal light. When Alexis worked with his “dream band” Osees, he channelled his love for their music through a LA cityscape that glowed underneath a burst of typography that glitters like an interstellar explosion. In a poster for music label 4AD, Alexis accentuates the grunge of the label’s most famous acts through textures that are magnified and overlaid with distorted grains.

“I came to graphic design through a series of objects that became totems when I was a kid – vinyl covers, skateboard graphics, motorbike stickers – things you identify with so much you want to be part of the community they represent,” says Alexis. “The idea is to design something that’ll mean as much to someone that some of these objects meant to me.” Through identifying with these scenes, Alexis represents the tight-knit communities that exist primarily through print, even if it’s as simple as a sticker on a bumper or on the bottom of a scraped up skateboard. Alexis takes these small elements and turns them into landmarks of a certain scene, always serving their best interests, uniting their sonics and cultural significance through forward-thinking design.