A Conversation with Ian Cherry & Nick Raven
- Mar 9, 2019
- 3 min read
Ian Cherry is a creative designer with a passion for sports, he is fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with the biggest football clubs/leagues/brands in the world. His current role is as Senior Graphic Designer at Derby County Football Club, where he oversees all Design and Branding across the Club, predominantly within Marketing. He studied and graduated at the University of Derby under Graphic Design, he knew from young adulthood this is what he wanted to do. Leaving university he immediately secured a position at Sporting iD as a Creative Designer.
Sporting iD provide kit embellishments to professional sports teams, leagues and brands globally, as part of the Design and Marketing team, he worked in product development, online/in-store marketing material, branding and art working. He is passionate about typography, within football - particularly player identity fonts. He has a varied portfolio produced of multiple Name and Number Fonts used on professional kits and sold globally as licensed merchandise for Clubs such as Real Madrid CF, Manchester United FC and PSV Eindhoven. Highlights so far include designing the 2013/14 "Hand Drawn" Real Madrid CF typeface and current PSV Eindhoven typeface to be used in the 2014/15 Season.
In his work, he is always honest about his ability and claims to be truthful in all his projects. Through typography, big, bold and confident is the way forward, especially when designing the Number Fonts on professional kits.
BBG for Derby County, creating a bespoke typeface to reflect the past was as significant time and Ian sees this as the most vital part of a brand, especially when not many clubs have their own style guide featuring a font family. When he had started, he identified an area to strengthen the brand. Typographically DIN OT had given a "clean" type across the board, but was not personal enough. He proposed the creation of a new typeface to be used as a header type, alongside DIN which would remain for body type. Ian said, it was important that the typeface would be unique and stand out, whilst remaining legible and of course suitable for football's corporate modern day image. It also needed to remain clean in both digital and print. Using the services of the club historian, he looked into the archives for typographical inspiration from old programmes, signage, tickets and other aspects from the old stadium - The Baseball Ground, where they experienced their most successful times, so this was a good place to gain inspiration and translate it to their new stadium - Pride Park Stadium. The result - The BBG Typeface - is a type that has been implemented on stadium signage, match day programmes, promotional material, corporate logos and many more areas which allows consistency and identity across all assets.
Ian also gave me some advice regarding employment as a post graduate, he's looking for a good CV, including a cover letter and a presentable, yet relevant creative portfolio. Regarding interviews, he recommended punctuality, effort, comfortability, ideas, interested in learning, good set of skills and passionate, to be "hungry for it". Ian also brought along his Junior Graphic Designer, Nick Raven, who has recently graduated from university, he also recommended some interview preparations, such as researching the company you're applying for, such as their history and style, as some background knowledge will show the employee you have a high interest in them and not just the job title they're offering.
Ian's last piece of advice was not to be naïve about a role, no day is the same, prepare for rejection and there's a lot more to consider, especially in print.
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