Tea with Ken Garland

Ben Tallon creates this punchy image after spending a morning drinking tea with Ken Garland.

As part of Ben's Xpress campaign for CALM, (the charity fighting suicide, particularly among young men), Ben was fortunate to chat to Ken - one of the most important British designers of all time. Ben studied Ken Garland at university for his dissertation on Graphic Activism, so was no stranger to his work. Ben says "He wrote the 'First Things First' Manifesto, in which a number of prominent 1960's designers pledged a more considered use of their talents, as opposed to purely for wealth. Ken invited me round and we discussed many things in this interview. The resultant illustration references hip-hop. I wanted to mesh two worlds that on the surface, seemed quite radically different, but at their core, originated from a desire for a form of freedom. It is also a continuation of my exploration of hand painted typography". Read the interview.