According to Miles himself, he didn’t enrol because of some lofty ambitions towards art. He told in a series of interviews that he did it because of a girl who he was dating at the time. Miles had also just returned from World War II and could use the G.I. Bill education benefits. To him, it felt like a better idea to go to an easy art school than anywhere else.
After graduating Miles moved to New York looking for work as a designer. He was given his first job by artist and graphic designer John Hermansader - who produced work for Blue Note Records along with Paul Bacon prior to hiring Miles. Miles is heavily credited for Blue Note’s design identity, however, Hermansader and Bacon were the ones who developed the groundwork for the design style. Miles was the one to add his own twist - causing the designs to become extremely popular as they gained a certain flare that was not present when in the hands of the two former men.
In late 1955, when Miles was hired for Blue Note, the records changed to a 12” format. It was Miles’ job to redesign the covers for all existing cover art. He began with what would become his most famous cover - Milt Jackson and The Thelonious Monk Quintet. He designed 500 covers over a period of 15 years and was paid $50 a cover.
Miles was an eccentric character, even in terms of his death. He died in interesting circumstances. A stranger had parked on his private studio driveway and he proceeded to use his own car to push the car off, and then got it towed. The stranger took Miles to court, and Miles won the case. Following the trial, when Miles and the stranger we’re leaving, Miles hurled abuse at the man and his heart gave out. His body apparently tumbled down the entrance steps of the court. He requested in his will to have his ashes spread at MacArthur Park, however, so many ashes were being spread there at that time that it was creating a health hazard. Miles’ Ashes sit in a small metal box on the mantle-piece in his studio, on which there is a button. When the button is pressed, a small speaker inside hurls insults at whoever pressed it.
During the Fifties, Miles pushed forward the way the typography is treated with his bold, playful designs, creative use of typefaces, and his distinct preference for contrast and asymmetry. His way of deconstructing and expanded type was new and innovative. The graphic elements that he used the majority of the time were simple blocks and lines that had effective results. As well as this the colours that he used most often were white, black, red and blue. His designs scream modernism. The way he played with type in such a fresh way that was previously sparse - stacking and cropping. His layouts seem to be so perfected that to lay the elements any other way would be wrong.
One of the most important things that I learnt from Miles (as well as the modernist movement as a whole) is an idea of how to convey a single message or idea in a powerful and simple way. The design just carries the message, rather than attempt to be the message. His designs have simple elements, they’re relatively simple. However, they are a fine example of how knowing which screw to turn is how designers can charge what they do.
Looking at Miles’ work is like looking at jazz realised. A printed visualisation. Even to someone who has never heard jazz - Miles’ covers look like what jazz covers should look like.
One of the most surprising, or possibly unsurprising, things about Miles was that he was not a fan off jazz. A lot of designers have said that his disconnection from the genre is what helped him create such spot on design. “it is interesting to see that a designer who really managed to capture the essence of his time, was also, in a way, disconnected from that very essence … it is perhaps ‘distance’ not engagement that makes the designer.”
One of the most important things that I learnt from Miles (as well as the modernist movement as a whole) is an idea of how to convey a single message or idea in a powerful and simple way. The design just carries the message, rather than attempt to be the message. His designs have simple elements, they’re relatively simple. However, they are a fine example of how knowing which screw to turn is how designers can charge what they do.
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