Last week, Nimbus Themes closed our first-ever giveaway contest. We are happy to announce that Miles Linklater of 24pt. Helvetica was the lucky winner of a 1-year ALL ACCESS Nimbus membership. This gives him access to all our WordPress themes and those to come in the next year, along with a year’s worth of updates and support.
We had the opportunity to get to know Mr. Linklater and his work, and we would like to showcase a bit for you today. Miles’ story is a great example of how to combine one’s interests and skill set into a satisfying profession. How’d he do it? Read on for more…
Do What You Love: Find Your Niche
Miles Linklater is a longtime veteran of the design world. He enjoys typography and producing annual reports, and is well-versed in many aspects of web and print design.
But what truly stands out to me is the way he has been able to meld two of his loves, opera and design, into a profession. Miles has carved out a niche for himself working for various opera companies as a designer and has also sung professionally for over 20 years.
Hats off to Mr. Linklater for pursuing his passion!
The work you see here is Miles’ art from various program books. It is bright, whimsical and poignant, illustrative of a close connection to the theatre and the stories of the works themselves. Thank you for sharing your talents with us, Miles!
Interview with Miles Linklater
So your first job was working as a typesetter for the United Nations? Wow!
Yes, one of my first jobs was typesetting the plenary session of the United Nations in French. That was way back in the early ’80s before desktop publishing. All of the typesetting was performed on photo-typesetting equipment (compugraphic).
What art, typography, designers, etc. inspires you?
I really admire the older type designers and people like Robert Bringhurst (The Elements of Typographic Style), Jan Tschichold (The Form of the Book), any minimalist designer/artist really.
What tools/resources do you use for efficiency and time management?
Basecamp, Asana, Time Tracker
What have been the biggest changes you’ve observed in the design world? Are there elements that have gone by the wayside that should be remembered?
Naturally the biggest change has been the transition in thinking in design from “print” to include “web.” We can’t really isolate design and type for print and web. We now to to think about how a print design or desktop web design will transition to smaller devices (tablet, smartphone) as well as format (ePub, print, PDF, etc).
Working on a design that will be implemented into the many different formats requires more time in initial planning. Elements that have gone by the wayside probably include type design itself. Reading on a screen is certainly different from print (pixels vs. ink).
What is some of your favorite self-created work?
My favourite work is still type-based (annual reports, multi-page documents), but I have transitioned into design and web over the years and have been quite happy with a lot of the work I’ve done for the Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland as well as the UBC Opera Ensemble at the University of British Columbia. Even while working in design I sang professionally for 20 years with various operas companies, so my knowledge of that art form has created a natural niche market for my design clients in that industry.
Miles works as a graphic designer, art director and web designer/producer. To view more of his work, please check out his extensive portfolio at 24pt. Helvetica.
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