Sam illustrates perfectly the multi-disciplinary approach that feeds into Sparkloop’s design work. After a spell designing for Swansea’s Arts Festival, he relocated to London and took a role as a designer for album covers at Virgin.
Creating arresting work from the regular confines of one medium was a challenge that led to some intriguing avenues, including work with bands such as Magazine, China Crisis and That Petrol Emotion. Increasingly the role assumed a design management element, Sam explains, as collaborations between the musicians, their teams and the record company needed a special kind of synergy to hold a project together.
His next move took him into the world of advertising for several central London agencies, having more control with large budget projects. The greater creative control that his design work afforded him in this area confirmed his direction, and led directly to his involvement with in setting up his own company.
Despite arriving at Sparkloop from a long background in close, hands-on design and illustration, Sam is equally at home in the online medium. “I’ve always enjoyed different styles, different mediums,” he expands. “That includes transferring skills into the web arena: you get an immediate reaction, feedback that you miss in other media.”
