by Natalia Ramirez

Matt Willey’s work, though timeless, is ever-evolving. His ability to fluctuate seemingly effortlessly between designing magazines, typography, film titles and furniture, and simultaneously manage being partner at Pentagram, is nothing short of admirable.

During our conversation with him this week we saw snippets of his work as art director for the New York Times Magazine, his personal ventures in editorial design with Port Magazine and Inque Magazine, and more recent excursions into the world of title sequences with shows like Killing Eve, The Responders and Ragdoll. Characteristic of his work are large typographic compositions coupled with strong photographic imagery and an often-geometric modular spirit. Engaging with analogue and hand-made processes is a conscious choice in his practice, one that allows him to get away from the screen and let himself get carried away through instinct. There is an undoubted essence to his work that makes it feel almost eternal, perhaps the result of treating the discipline like a craft – with rigor and intuition.

Though having landed on magazines was a sort of accidental happening early on in his career, he spoke of gravitating towards it because of the proximity it allowed to disciplines like photography, writing and film (it seems like no accident that his career decisions have taken him towards all these practices). It is his belief that design is a small part of something much larger, that it only becomes interesting when it is in service to something other than itself – a comforting point of view.

To an enthused group of designers starting to figure out the ropes, having the pleasure to hear from a designer who has dedicated years to mastering his craft was exciting, power for our batteries. Matt Willey’s talk was a refreshing reminder that nothing worth pursuing takes flight overnight, and that time and intuition are tools as important as any other you may find in a designer’s toolbox.