A Practice for Everyday Life is a graphic design studio based in London. Their work includes art direction, identities, publications, exhibitions, type design, signage, packaging, and digital. They have built a reputation as an internationally renowned and sought-after collaborator through their work with like-minded companies, galleries, institutions and individuals, and they work with a conceptual rigour that ensures each design is meaningful and original.
The APFEL Type Foundry publishes a growing library of typefaces developed through visual, textual and experiential research. The Foundry also offers a bespoke type design service, through which the studio accepts commissions for typeface design, logotype design and custom cuts of APFEL typefaces for context-specific use.
Each project is executed with meaningful and original design, working with the art world’s giants from David Hockney and the Tate, to custom identities for individuals.
In conversation with Elephant:
Apfel’s work is united by a confident sense of minimalist intent, often favouring a considered typographic approach over more graphical or illustrative sensibilities, and frequently designing its own bespoke typefaces for projects.
What do you look for when you’re hiring a younger designer?
"What we were! Sprightly young things with a million ideas in their heads. Sometimes it’s quite hard to see portfolio after portfolio with work from a specific brief; and you realize you’re seeing five or six students from one course answer it in repetitive ways. It just feels like an exercise in style. It’s really rare when you meet someone with a special mind—a student equally into content and message. It sounds really obvious but it’s not that often you see those things work well together."
In discussion with Its Nice That:
"Women have tended to be underrepresented within graphic design history and we feel a responsibility to ensure that our work and our practice is visible for this very reason. We always wanted to be judged first and foremost by our work, and we find it interesting that male designers and male-led studios aren’t asked about the impact their gender has on their practice."
In your 15 years of experience, what has been the most important lesson or mantra for projects to run smoothly?
"Work collaboratively, encourage open dialogue between everyone involved, and be prepared to work very hard to bring your ideas to life. The projects that we’re most proud of in our portfolio are often those with an ambitious central idea, which has taken a lot of perseverance to bring to life. To a certain extent, you have to be unwilling to take no for an answer – to be confident in your ideas, be persuasive, inspire trust, and be experimental within your own practice."
Above: The two founders of APFEL discuss their work in collaboration with the Tate, David Hockney and the publisher. The two have a true passion for fine art as well as type, and this really shows through when discussing the two subjects.
Through my research I have developed a fondness for APFEL Studio. The idea of working for/ with two incredibly creative women is amazing. Their answers and discussion when being interviewed is incredibly articulate but also down to earth, not pretentious, and easy to understand.
Furthermore I love fine art, and it something that inspires me and my design daily and I find myself often looking to fine artists or photographers for inspiration rather than designers. If I didn't study graphic design I would be studying fine art, or art history and have considered working for a gallery as a career path, I can see that APFEL have a very similar passion.
I loved their answer when asked about their mantras and lessons for making projects run smoothly: "you have to be unwilling to take no for an answer - to be confident, persuasive, experimental." Comparing this to OK-RM looking for "Compliant" candidates, at first glance I know who I would rather work for.
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