Peter Saville, Graphic Designer Behind Joy Division/New Order, to Design Kanye West's Logo — Forum Archive

17 Sep 2013, 13:48

http://pitchfork.com/news/52316-peter-saville-graphic-designer-behind-joy-divisionnew-order-to-design-kanye-wests-logo/

Kanye West is a visually astute musician with a very vocal interest in art, design, fashion, and architecture. Now, as Dezeen reports, Kanye has pegged Peter Saville to design his visual identity (logo). Saville is the legendary graphic designer behind Factory Records and, most notably, Joy Division and New Order.

At the Global Design Forum in London, Saville described the collaboration as open-ended and "casual" rather than being an outright commission. "We're looking at ways of writing 'Kanye West,'" he said. "What does 'Kanye' and 'Kanye West' look like written down?"

Kanye talked with Saville about Cassandre's 1961 logo for Yves Saint Laurent. "He said to me: 'You're Cassandre'," Saville said. "He wants a YSL".

Watch Kanye perform "Bound 2" on "Fallon" with Charlie

1

17 Sep 2013, 13:49

I detest and Hate cRAP music and I can't stand kanye west or his ghetto influenced music.

1

17 Sep 2013, 21:01

Linus Solanki wrote: I detest and Hate cRAP music and I can't stand kanye west or his ghetto influenced music.

I get where you're coming from, big ego rappers don't do it for me either. But i think Kanye at times comes up with some great music production. This one springs to mind.

1

17 Sep 2013, 22:50

Dreadful.

1

18 Sep 2013, 01:06 · edited 18 Sep 2013, 01:07

Linus Solanki wrote: ...cRAP...

Clever.

I don't appreciate Kanye either, but think you're off base here. He seems to attempt bold, artistic statements rather than rapping about life in a ghetto. Perhaps there are other factors, apart from the music, fueling your hatred.

1

18 Sep 2013, 03:46 · edited 18 Sep 2013, 03:50

Linus Solanki wrote: I detest and Hate cRAP music and I can't stand kanye west or his ghetto influenced music.

you think Kanye's music is 'ghetto influenced' ? why would you say that?

i am not a fan, but i would agree with Andy, and think he is a legit artist and has always been pushing sonic boundaries.

i think that working with Saville, as well, shows how visionary both Saville and Kanye are, and how they are willing to both try new approaches to their arts.

you sound very ignorant, Linus. it is pretty silly to condemn an entire branch of music like that. i mean, you actually 'detest and hate' an entire type of music? every single act? even RunDMC and other early pioneers who surely influenced bands like New Order (see, Confusion) ???

yeah, a lot of music is influenced by the 'ghetto' - for instance, dance/techno music, rose up from the clubs in some rough sections of Detroit in the late 70s. So, I suppose New Order is also "ghetto influenced" ? But you like them, I wonder why....

2

18 Sep 2013, 04:05

tarbox23 wrote:

Linus Solanki wrote: I detest and Hate cRAP music and I can't stand kanye west or his ghetto influenced music.

you think Kanye's music is 'ghetto influenced' ? why would you say that?

i am not a fan, but i would agree with Andy, and think he is a legit artist and has always been pushing sonic boundaries.

i think that working with Saville, as well, shows how visionary both Saville and Kanye are, and how they are willing to both try new approaches to their arts.

you sound very ignorant, Linus. it is pretty silly to condemn an entire branch of music like that. i mean, you actually 'detest and hate' an entire type of music? every single act? even RunDMC and other early pioneers who surely influenced bands like New Order (see, Confusion) ???

yeah, a lot of music is influenced by the 'ghetto' - for instance, dance/techno music, rose up from the clubs in some rough sections of Detroit in the late 70s. So, I suppose New Order is also "ghetto influenced" ? But you like them, I wonder why....

I agree with Andy and Tarbox23 here... and apart from the basic notions that art is subjective, and that everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion, I personally feel that Kanye's work is impressive. And, perhaps most important, his work makes people happy. [hi]

I saw this really great interview of another celebrity a while back, and he asked a really important question about why is there so much hatred towards say Celine Dion. He looked into it and made an important point that maybe you don't listen to Celine Dion (and I do not), still it's important to recognize she has fans, and those fans are made happy because of her talent and hard work.

And, going back to the original post, I think it's great that Peter Saville will be doing work for Kanye, and that Kanye recognizes Saville's work, and wants to employ him. Artists struggle for recognition all the time, and having a client with a lot of fans and the attention like Kanye will give Saville the more recognition and funding that we know he deserves.

1

18 Sep 2013, 09:05 · edited 18 Sep 2013, 12:35

While I'm admittedly not fond of his music, my main reason for disliking Kanye West is he comes across as a bit of a knob in print. It's a shame because as many of you say if he is truly "pushing the sonic boundaries" then he's doing his music a disservice coming across as such a tool in the media. Anyone who has read an interview with him or seen that Taylor Swift award incident (I don't care for her either) a couple of years ago will know what I mean.

I'm not sure where Linus was going with the "ghetto" inference either but I personally wouldn't judge hip hop or rap by Kanye alone. I'm sure there's plenty of hip hop artists out there who think he's a bit of an egotistical knob as well although they'd articulate it far better than I in rhyme [;)]

Goes without saying that it's always good news hearing Saville getting high-profile work as the man's a genius and a nice guy.

EDIT:

1

19 Sep 2013, 05:06 · edited 19 Sep 2013, 05:16

NotAMod wrote: While I'm admittedly not fond of his music, my main reason for disliking Kanye West is he comes across as a bit of a knob in print.

Joy Division and New Order - for many of their best years - also came off as total knobs in print. Hook, in his Joy Division text, even explains why. Does their early arrogance make you not fond of their music?

NotAMod wrote: he's doing his music a disservice coming across as such a tool in the media.

So, you aren't a big Hooky fan, are ya? ;) Personally, I have always loved the complete artistic confidence and even arrogance that comes across in interviews with stars like Kenya, Hook, Morrissey, et al --- it is punk rock to me. I love reading old New Order interviews from the 80s for the often outrageous Hooky comments.

And, seriously: do Hooky's interviews and recent comments affect how you perceive Joy Division songs? If like me, they do not, then why do you apply that same absurd standard to Kanye's music?

1

19 Sep 2013, 09:32 · edited 19 Sep 2013, 10:23

tarbox23 wrote: Personally, I have always loved the complete artistic confidence and even arrogance that comes across in interviews with stars like Kenya, Hook, Morrissey, et al --- it is punk rock to me. I love reading old New Order interviews from the 80s for the often outrageous Hooky comments.

I'd be quite happy not to read any more interviews by Hooky or Morrissey for the foreseeable future, the older days were different because they were (generally) better times for each musician. They've been saying the same thing over and over in interview for years and I don't need to read it a 50th or 60th time; Hooky feels shafted by "New Odour" while Morrissey feels woefully undervalued by record labels. Also, in comparison with their earlier days the wit and laugh-out-loud moments seem to have faded. Maybe it's because of their current bitter circumstance(s), they're getting older or I'm getting older. Or all three. John Lydon's still very entertaining though.

tarbox23 wrote: And, seriously: do Hooky's interviews and recent comments affect how you perceive Joy Division songs? If like me, they do not, then why do you apply that same absurd standard to Kanye's music?

Lazy comparison. Joy Division were four people, one of them long deceased and the last time they were active was 33 years ago so why would Hooky's interviews nowadays impact my opinion? I listened to Ian Curtis interviews and he came across as a nice bloke. At worst I think Hooky bangs on about JD a bit much these days but generally I agree with him, they were a great band. Kanye West is one person very much writing and recording in the here and now so what he says impacts what people might think of him here and now. It's not an "absurd standard" it's a perfectly viable barometer for someone to gauge whether they should get into a musician's work or not.

We agree that a bit of cockiness and entertainment in interview is exciting but the trick is to intersperse it with some humour, wit and a dash of humility. If you've got proper charisma you can get away with saying outrageous things and people still like you; something New Order, Morrissey, John Lydon, Anthony H. Wilson etc generally do/did very well. West never has, it's just unchecked ego running a mock hence why South Park felt it necessary to take him down a peg or two. I bet he fucking hated it too.

Anyway this topic's veered way off course already. Nice sparring, Tarbox [:)]

1

20 Sep 2013, 07:29

Kanye West is a visually astute musician

Is that like being an aesthetically relevant plumber?

1