A small London design studio, founded in 1990, known for identities, books, exhibitions and retail spaces for galleries, museums and shops.
Graphic Thought Facility, usually called GTF, is a London design consultancy. Its own profile says its work is often described as unconventional but rests on simplicity and clarity, and that it gives equal weight to practical needs and emotional response. The studio does graphic design, such as identities, books and campaigns, but its interest in physical making has taken it into product, exhibition and environmental design. It often uses unusual materials, forgotten production methods and new technologies. It works with architects, writers and digital specialists, joining existing teams or forming new ones for each project.
The studio was founded in 1990 by Royal College of Art graduates, according to Wikipedia, and was originally Paul Neale, Nigel Robinson and Andy Stevens. Nigel Robinson left in 1993 and Huw Morgan joined. Today the studio says its three directors, Huw Morgan, Paul Neale and Andrew Stevens, jointly own and lead it and stay close to every project. Its statement of purpose is not written as a slogan, but it says it starts by understanding what a project needs to achieve and listens closely to clients, often building long relationships.
GTF is based in London. AIGA's Eye on Design guide to London studios places it in Clerkenwell. Its notable work includes the Habitat identity, store environments for M&S Foodhalls, an exhibition on the designer Kenneth Grange at the Design Museum, identities for the Design Museum and the Frieze Art Fair, books for the Gagosian Gallery, and exhibition design for the Science Museum. We found no sign of other UK offices.
The studio deliberately stays small: the profile on its website describes seven designers plus a studio manager. That is a small team to be producing work that has been shown at the Barbican, in Osaka and in Chicago. In 2008 the Art Institute of Chicago held a show devoted to the work of a single graphic design studio, the first it had ever staged, and it was GTF's. Wikipedia lists a Yale University Press book on the studio from 2008. We did not find reliable details about working hours or perks, so we have not invented any.
Roles in a studio like this include graphic designers, designers who build objects and exhibitions, project managers, and a studio manager who keeps work moving. The skills involved range from typography and layout to model-making and thinking about how people move through a space. If you like both drawing and building, or enjoy the idea of designing a book one month and a shop interior the next, GTF is a good example of a small studio that does both. Its own website is the place to check how it is organised today.
Website: graphicthoughtfacility.com
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