Friday Mixtape: Graphic designer Al White takes us on an ambient excursion

Words by Josh Baines, Friday 28 September 2018

Glasgow record label 12th Isle have been a firm favourite in the It’s Nice That office for a while now. You’ll often find us slaving away at the coalface of contemporary visual culture with RAMZi’s gloriously wonky Pèze-Piton LP playing away, and down the pub we have rows about what the best track on the Palta Og Ti På Den Tolvte Ø EP by Danish duo Palta & Ti is.

With that in mind, we asked 12th Isle main man, and graphic designer, Al White to cherrypick a selection of tracks that he often finds himself zoning out to in the studio. And on the night bus, too.

It’s Nice That: Why have you picked these songs, what do they remind you of or make you feel?

Al White: The playlist is based around the type of thing that I mostly listen to while working in my studio — podcasts and hip hop make up the majority of rest right now. The tracks are mostly pretty minimal, melancholic and a bit trance inducing, for me at least. They leave a lot of space to think which I need and just set me in a good head space. The selection I made isn’t for obscure music people, it’s just stuff that I have listened to loads while I draw or make posters or whatever and most of these tracks have done the rounds. I spent a bit of time making sure the playlist flowed properly. Hopefully it can serve the same trancey function for someone else.

When or where should this mixtape be listened to?

AW Aside from the instudio…on the night bus, trying to sleep, or tripping.

What song or album did you listen to repeatedly as a teenager and why?

AW Very hard to pick one, but Cannibal Ox’s A Cold Vein is definitely somewhere near the top. EL-P’s cold weirdo production with the ghetto sci-fi rap from Vordul and Vast Aire is perfect. Hashed in maths with one headphone up the sleeve. The song Pigeon was my favourite back then I think. Maybe still is.

What’s on the horizon for 12th Isle?

AW Loads of records lined up, parties, more garments, mixes. I just need to find time to sit and do all the artwork to be honest. Next up is an LP from our friend in Portland, Best Available Technology. It’s probably my favourite thing we will have done.

If a feature film about 12th Isle was to be made, what song would be on the trailer and why?

AW Not so much a song but a sonic masterpiece in its own right: the audio from the YouTube video ‘you want see state of our wes’, pitched down 10%. Why? Because it leaves a lot of big questions unanswered and that’s what you want in a film trailer I reckon.

Most Recent

More like this:

Regulars / Friday Mixtape Friday Mixtape: Mahaneela's mix of songs that have soundtracked her career

This week’s Friday Mixtape comes from creative polymath, Mahaneela. When not photographing bands or filming their music videos, Mahaneela also manages musicians too, dipping her toes in all the roles the music industry has to offer.

Lucy Bourton — 25 January 2019
Regulars / Friday Mixtape Friday Mixtape: illustrator pals Jan Buchczik and Timo Lenzen on their studio tunes

This week’s Friday Mixtape comes from not just one It’s Nice That illustration favourite, but two! While at After School Club in Offenbach during the summer of last year, we had a beer with resident illustrators Jan Buchczik and Timo Lenzen who told us about their love of music, often listening together in their shared studio.

Lucy Bourton — 18 January 2019
Regulars / Friday Mixtape Friday Mixtape: Anthony Naples takes us from the party to the after party

New York based producer and DJ Anthony Naples has been an It’s Nice That favourite ever since we first heard the effervescent Mad Disrespect on some sweaty dancefloor somewhere back in 2012. We were hooked from that half-remembered moment on.

Josh Baines — 14 December 2018
Regulars / Friday Mixtape Friday Mixtape: Benedikt Luft's mix of tunes from his teenage years

Frankfurt-based illustrator and designer Benedikt Luft has been a long time friend of us here at It’s Nice That. Writing about his practice over the years, it wasn’t until we went to Eike König’s After School Club in Benedikt’s home during the summer that he ended up telling us about his love for music. He might have even been dragged into singing a karaoke rendition of The Smiths Bigmouth Strikes Again to an audience of attendees, who then cleared the room, with us too… sorry Eike and everyone who witnessed that.

Lucy Bourton — 07 December 2018
Regulars / Friday Mixtape Friday Mixtape: Australian designer Bradley Pinkerton's welcomes the summer

Sitting at a desk the other side of the globe, but as it turns out listening to the same records as us, Melbourne-based graphic designer Bradley Pinkerton has created this week’s Friday Mixtape.

Lucy Bourton — 23 November 2018
Regulars / Friday Mixtape Friday Mixtape: Vanessa Carlton and Godflesh combine thanks to The Beautiful Meme

A few weeks back, London-based creative agency The Beautiful Meme got in contact asking if its team could make us a Friday Mixtape. We said yes and expected the usual pumped-up, deck-building bangers focused mixtape we often hear – and love – from graphic design-leaning studios. The Beautiful Meme’s mixtape instead begins with Shakira’s timeless hit Wherever, Whenever, ends with Kylie’s Can’t Get You Out of My Head, and Vanessa Carlton’s A Thousand Miles makes a surprise appearance too.

Lucy Bourton — 16 November 2018

Work / Graphic Design Graphic designer Benoît Brun’s comics-inspired typography leaps off the page

For graphic designer Benoît Brun, there is “another dimension” to typography, which goes beyond readability: “[It] can also stimulate, give emotion and excitement," the designer tells It’s Nice That. “Lettering on a poster can give someone walking on the street the opportunity to get an eyeful. I like that we can contemplate a set of letters, give them a certain amount of time and ask ourselves what they mean”, he continues. “In my work, I like to handle drawing, create new formal repertoires and develop my own tools while keeping a strict and rigorous approach,” Benoît says. “That’s why in typography I’m interested in display fonts for their formal and expressive character. Through their abstraction, I see drawings, surface games, full and empty, in the letters.”

Billie Muraben — 19 February 2019
Work / Photography Antonis Theodoridis chases the sunlight of Athens in his series Ways of Escape

Ways of Escape, the latest and ongoing series by Greek photographer Antonis Theodoridis, looks at Athens in a different light to the gloomy one cast on the city by the country’s recent economic crisis – namely, the sunlight that continues to bathe its streets with a dazzling glow.

Daniel Milroy Maher — 19 February 2019
Work / Animation “All I could see was puppets”: Johnny Kelly on his series of sweet shorts for Cheerios

Johnny Kelly has created a series of short films for Cheerios. With the overarching title of Right on Tracks, the films encourage children to be kinder to each other through a silly, funny and touching cast of puppets which play out the stories being told in four original songs. Detailing everything from learning about the different types of family structures that exist to simply sitting with someone new at lunchtime, Jonny’s work is both engaging and informative. We caught up with the Nexus Studios director to find out more about the project, below.

Ruby Boddington — 18 February 2019
Work / Illustration Melek Zertal's illustrations all feature different versions of herself

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” begins illustrator Melek Zertal on the topic of how she discovered her practice. “I like drawing, but when I do it I get bored and wonder if I wouldn’t be better off making clothes or music videos.” The Algerian-born, Parisian-raised artist has a nonchalant attitude towards her practice that belies the work itself, which is at once soft and striking.

Daniel Milroy Maher — 18 February 2019
Work / Graphic Design Wyatt Knowles on his DIY approach to poster design

Three months after starting his BFA in Drawing at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Wyatt Knowles discovered collage and spent most of his time doing that instead. During this time he also started making posters and flyers for the bands he and his friends were in: “I think I enjoyed the freedom and contrast of just making this sort of throw-away thing, in comparison to the big conceptual ideas I had to have for my university work,” he tells It’s Nice That.

Daniel Milroy Maher — 18 February 2019
Work / Illustration Jaemin Lee takes on the influence of 80s pop in his illustrative process and aesthetic

Graphic designer Jaemin Lee’s recent Risograph-printed work shares the graphic sensitivity we’ve come to recognise as the core of his work, in compositions that have an equal focus on visual storytelling and production values.

Billie Muraben — 18 February 2019

Work / Digital A Pint in London: a new game where the quest is for the perfect tipple

A Pint in London, a game created by London-based writer Ana Kinsella, is a narrative-led, web-based game taking the user on a multiple choice journey through London in search of the perfect pint spot. It’s a game that’s simple in its idea, but finding “your pub” is one of those personal joys of London – a city that to some seems like a stressful metropolis, but to others is a collection of tiny villages to wander through and make your own.

Lucy Bourton — 18 February 2019
Work / Graphic Design “There is no value in change for change’s sake”: an exclusive look at Spin's update of Mubi’s visual language

“I’ll tell you something,” says Efe Cakarel, the founder and CEO of Mubi as our conversation around Spin’s new visual language update to his company’s identity begins. “For me, the definition of a client is someone who, every time someone presents a piece of work, they say: ‘great, but can you make it a little worse,’” he continues, between laughing. “I try very hard not the be this person.” This attitude is one that has led Mubi’s subtle, but detailed visual update, unveiled today and designed by Spin.

Lucy Bourton — 18 February 2019
Features / Publication “For the new generasian”: a look back on long lost design treasure, Yolk magazine

In the first half of the 1990s, before the term “cultural appropriation” was a widely understood concept, a group of 20-something Asian Americans were seeking to improve their visibility. Gathering together in Los Angeles’ media capital with two Macintosh LC’s (those old solid beige blocks of computers,) and an edition of QuarkXPress (otherwise known as InDesign’s great-great-grandma), a magazine priding itself on expressing unheard stories from the East and South-East Asian diaspora in the US was formed. That magazine, was Yolk. A one of a kind title in its celebration of Asian and Asian American identity, Yolk ran from 1994 to 2003. Since then, not a single publication has come close to rivalling its mantel for championing people of Asian descent. It was innovative in its art direction, experimental layouts and not to mention its original content. It featured interviews with highly visible film directors such as Ang Lee, to features on lesser-known creatives like Pedro Flores, the inventor of the Yo-yo. Yolk created a platform not only for Asian faces but for wide spanning editorial storytelling and cutting-edge graphic design, highlighting ten years of Asian creativity during a period of very little non-white representation in the mainstream media.

Jyni Ong — 18 February 2019
Work / Illustration Minet Kim’s illustrations explore the unconscious through symbols and colour

Minet Kim’s illustrations are not just easy on the eye in their quirky sense of fun. As well as being brightly cheerful with a hint of the surreal, the Seoul-based illustrator’s practice is founded on emotion, as well as conceptual thought. She tells It’s Nice That: “There was nothing to do in my hometown when I was little.” From a small countryside village called Yeosu which is by the sea, Minet spent her childhood drawing, watching a lot of animation, and collecting seashells with her grandfather near his ship.

Jyni Ong — 15 February 2019
Work / Graphic Design Kay Kwon’s graphic design practice arose from his love of rock and hip-hop music

Seoul-based graphic designer Kay Kwon attributes much of his career to his love of rock and hip-hop growing up. “I’ve always been interested in album artwork and covers,” Kay tells It’s Nice That. “Exposed to the Korean indie scene, I felt a big discrepancy between the quality of album artwork and the quality of the music,” explains Kay. “The music would be quite exceptional, but the album artwork wasn’t always the best reflection of it.” Kay speculates this “discrepancy” was down to “a lack of readily available design resources” and as a result, the designer pursued the industry with the hopes of one day, contributing his designs to the music scene.

Jyni Ong — 15 February 2019
Work / Photography Sam Gregg's latest work uses photography to rediscover his hometown of London

Last time we wrote about photographer Sam Gregg’s work, it was his series See Naples and Die which formed the basis of our conversation. At the time, he was living in the city, teaching English over the course of a year. Prior to this, Sam had spent three years in Bangkok, working for an international film company. Upon his return to the UK in early 2018, he realised that his time away, “coupled with the present, constant rhetoric about nationality”, meant he was experiencing a disassociation with being British. With this in mind, he began exploring his hometown of London in an attempt to reconnect to it the only way he knew how, with a camera around his neck.

Ruby Boddington — 15 February 2019

Work / Graphic Design Joel Evey tests the visual boundaries of Gap through his “under-the-radar” work

When asked to recall a brand with a reputation for continually pushing and redefining its aesthetic choices, we have to admit that Gap wasn’t at the top of our list. But, now, thanks to the work of Joel Evey, the clothing retailer’s senior director of the global creative studio, that may be about to change.

Ruby Boddington — 15 February 2019
Work / Art Madelynn Mae Green’s paintings explore themes of memory, family and domesticity

“I love painting because it requires a combination of analytics and intuition,” says artist Madelynn Mae Green. Born in Milwaukee, Madelynn began painting at the age of 14 and continued simply because she “enjoyed it”. Following on from this, in 2017 she moved across to the UK to pursue an MA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins.

Daniel Milroy Maher — 15 February 2019
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Department of New Realities on using VR and AR to give pixels personality

The final speaker at January’s Nicer Tuesdays was the Department of New Realities, a collective based within Wieden+Kennedy’s offices in Amsterdam. Joining us from DPTNR was Anita and Geoffrey, who “come from a crazy suburban hell in America and Australia," they explained to the audience. "Places where we had to create our own worlds and our own cultures.”

It's Nice That — 15 February 2019
Work / Animation Caitlin McCarthy's new film features coldsores, boner humour and a new female hero

“I wanted to make a high school movie that was in line with my own adolescent experience as an internet dweller who nobody wanted to get off with,” says Caitlin McCarthy, a London-based animator who is definitely our creative crush this valentines for her new film Coldsore. Telling the story of the sweetest and shyly smiling teen, Coldsore documents Caitlin’s protagonists quest for a cold sore after the coolest girl waltzes into school sporting some blistering friends surrounding her lips.

Lucy Bourton — 14 February 2019
Work / Photography Lucy Pullicino documents the personal adornments on motorcycle-taxis in Arusha

“I was apprehensive at first about doing a photography project in Tanzania,” explains the photographer Lucy Pullicino. “Coming from a place of white privilege and being an outsider to the community” the photographer consciously questioned her position on the project before embarking on the beautiful series titled The Bikers of Esso Road; documenting motorcycle-taxis in Arusha.

Jyni Ong — 14 February 2019
Sponsored / Digital Dropbox launches new blog vocalising its unique point of view on work culture

As a tool, Dropbox has always encouraged communication and collaboration. It attracts creatives, in particular, to utilise its services to further their work, whether it be sharing ideas through files or providing a platform for conversation via Dropbox Paper. To continue and elevate this work, its new blog, Work in Progress, provides insight into its product updates as well as sharing stories of new creative projects, overall vocalising its unique point of view on work culture.

Sponsored Content — 14 February 2019

Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Jonny and Will on taking techniques back to basics in directing and puppeteering

Joining us at January’s Nicer Tuesdays was director and puppeteering duo Jonny Sabbagh and Will Harper, otherwise known as Jonny and Will.

It's Nice That — 14 February 2019
Work / Illustration Everpress’ “slimy love slug” inspired Valentine’s campaign is a wide-ranging vision of love ‘n’ lust

This year, to mark the beloved Saint Valentine’s Day, ethical fashion platform Everpress has asked nine of its favourite artists, illustrators, animators and designers to respond to the day in the form of a T-Shirt. Everpress recognises that there’s a range of responses to Valentine’s Day, from unbridled joy to tears or bitter laments – and “it’s come to be defined largely by overpriced menus and empty Hallmark sentiments”. As a result the collection, titled Love is the Message, takes it back-to-basics, “observing the day as it is and was, as a celebration of romance”.

Billie Muraben — 14 February 2019
Work / Graphic Design Heat by David Loy uses coding and thermochromic ink to educate on climate change

“Daily, through our screens, we see accumulations of information overload about climate change,” states graphic designer David Loy. “Our visual landscape is full of climate disasters, political debate and global warming impacts. It gave me the unusual sensation that it had become almost commonplace.” Spurred on by this fact, David created Heat an in-depth project which explores global warming and its long-term effects away from mass media.

Ruby Boddington — 14 February 2019
Work / Publication FatBoy is the new loud and proud zine dedicated to Asian food and culture

Inspired by his relationship with food stemming back to when he was a child, Christopher O’leary, alongside photographer Emily Leonard, has created FatBoy Zine, a new magazine acting as a tribute to the wonderful world of Asian cuisine and culture.

Daniel Milroy Maher — 14 February 2019
Work / Animation Temple Caché’s animation for new Gérald Toto track explores love and loneliness

Temple Caché, an award-winning French video production company has joined up with fellow French musician Gérald Toto to animate a track from his latest album Sway, titled You Got Me.

Daniel Milroy Maher — 13 February 2019
Work / Art Evie O’Connor on her intimate portraits that explore class and politics

Evie O’Connor’s paintings are intimate, elegant and some are even downright funny. On first glance, the pieces that really grab our attentions are the painted ashtrays of Theresa May and Boris Johnson, captioned with “Prime Twat” and “Lying Twat” respectively. She professes how her work can be “crass and political at times” as part of her larger exploration into symbols of privilege and wealth.

Jyni Ong — 13 February 2019

Work / Publication Klasse John Morgan takes Virginia Woolf’s Solid Objects through a variety of translation processes

“Raum 106 is a class, a studio, a library, and a publication,” says John Morgan, of the publication designed and produced by Klasse John Morgan, at the Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf where he’s been professor of Entwurf, Typographie und Buchkunst since 2016. “Typographie und Buchkunst” translates as typography and book art, but there isn’t a direct translation for Entwurf: “today it typically means ‘to sketch, design, draft, plan, outline’”, John tells It’s Nice That. It’s previously been translated as to form a picture, design, out-throw, throw-open and to throw forward: “This etymology is useful for us to underscore the role and practice of an artist as a ‘conceiver-projector’, working across disciplines.”

Billie Muraben — 13 February 2019
Work / Photography Issac Lam and John Yuyi remind locals that Hong Kong is not a “dying” city

For those of us who have never been to Hong Kong before, it sure does look like a cool place to visit. An amalgamation of culture and ideology, the financial hub seems almost unimaginable to those who have never walked its busy streets. The Hong Kong-based photographer Issac Lam, and Taiwanese artist John Yuyi, teamed up to present two varying sides of the city in their latest project. Through a series of photographs, they explore the city as an inhabitant and tourist, colliding their vision of a “really really special and unique style of culture.”

Jyni Ong — 13 February 2019
Work / Graphic Design Practice Theory embraces the funereal in its exhibition design telling stories of love and death

For Between Love & Death: Diary of Nobuyoshi Araki, presented as part of the sixth Singapore International Photography Festival, Singapore-based design studio, Practice Theory, designed the exhibition identity, publication and collateral with Araki’s work and philosophy in mind.

Billie Muraben — 13 February 2019
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Illustrator Joey Yu on the need to stay active, communicate and seek collaboration

“I’m really interested in people and places and how they interact with each other,” explained illustrator and animator Joey Yu, addressing the crowd as she began her talk at January’s Nicer Tuesdays.

It's Nice That — 13 February 2019
Regulars / Bookshelf Which books inspire the beautifully considered work of Querida studio?

Based in Barcelona, Querida is one of those studios that can make any graphic designer or art director drool. Working across websites, publications, film, photography and branding, the studio’s output is beautifully considered; each part subtle and adept. Its practice is born from the city it inhabits, resulting in a fascinating combination of contemporary and classic elements which have garnered the studio a client list including Solange, Dropbox and Tate Modern.

Ruby Boddington — 13 February 2019
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Design studio B.A.M. on the process behind creating a new identity for White Cube

B.A.M. a London based design and art direction studio founded by David McKendrick and Lee Belcher, joined us at January’s Nicer Tuesdays to discuss its rebranding of White Cube.

It's Nice That — 12 February 2019