XYZ
Anthony Burrill
26 Jul 2022
XYZ
Graphic artist, print-maker and designer Anthony Burrill has launched an online archive that reveals the graphic ephemera that inspires his process and works, making them available for anyone to download.
The archive comprises 500 pieces which can be filtered by a number of categories including Ampersand, Arrow, Icon, Illustration, Letterform, Numeral, Stamp, Stencil, Ticket and Woodtype. Each piece was modified to appear in black and white, referencing and reflecting Burrill’s typical style of using bold, impactful forms and lettering. “My work is primarily black and white, with maybe a little hint of yellow here and there. I think the power of black and white — the way it’s so strong, and the contrast — is just incredible,” says Burrill.
Best known for his letterpress work and typography-led graphic pieces, Burrill has always kept physical references that catch his eye, and decided to make these available to everyone online to both demonstrate what inspires him, and to inspire other people as an open resource.
“It’s good to share this material — especially the really quirky odd bits and bobs that I find fascinating so that people can have access to it,” says Burrill. “It shows the kind of graphic language that I’ve always been fascinated with; the weird typefaces and other things that have slipped between the cracks of design history. It’s those odd things that are so full of character, and probably wouldn’t be designed these days. It’s about old-fashioned forms of production as well: it’s all analogue material, lots of examples of letterpress, stencils, stickers and Letraset.”
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