SuiSuisse StudioPaul Gray / Design & art direction

Independent practice.
Design / Art direction.

Suisse Studio
Paul Gray

A selection of work.
And the thinking behind it.

Observation.
An idea. Then the work.

Identity / Packaging / Exhibitions
Books / Art direction / Personal work

Explore the work

Work_

Selected projects / Each with a story
Project index
01 / Glaswegin02 / Pictii03 / Scottish Maritime Museum04 / Colin Gray05 / David Eustace06 / Peugeot07 / LINN08 / Treacherous Orchestra09 / Suissemas10 / Fingerprint11 / High Street12 / GoMA13 / M&Co14 / Cromarty Cows Brie15 / Laser/Gulf16 / The Kelpies17 / Selected identities18 / Things that come into your head

Branding / Packaging

Glaswegin

A reason
to be seen.

A crowded back bar. A bottle that needed its own language. Paul’s idea puts the shape and the typography to work together.

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The Glaswegin bottle in the charcoal studio presentation, showing the complete shape and lettering.
The bottle / A distinctive presence.
The Glaswegin bottle in warm studio light, with its long directional shadow.

The name turns the corner.
The idea carries across the range.

Concept / Bottle packaging
Gift packaging / Supporting print

Identity / Photography / Print

Pictii

For photographer Craig Mackay. A distinctive name, the horizons in his photographs, and the colours of a feather. The identity begins with things that were already his.

Explore the project
Paul’s exact original Pictii wordmark, with three dots above its serif letterforms.
The name / Three i characters. Three dots.

A name.
A horizon.

The dots and the dividing line become a language for the work. Quiet enough to let the photographs speak.

The original Pictii brochure proposal, with its grey and cream cover and the three dots on the horizon.
The horizon / Brochure proposal, September 2015.
Restored cutout of Craig’s original feather and red wax seal, the source of the Pictii colour palette.
Smoky grey. Off-white. Tawny.
A palette taken from the feather.
Original Pictii photography card proposal with a monochrome landscape, a feather and red seal.
The photograph comes first / Photography card proposal.
See the thinking and the applications

Exhibition / Visitor flow / Interpretation

Scottish Maritime
Museum

A way through a vast industrial building. Zone walls, reading totems and historical lightboxes, conceived as one exhibition system.

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The Scottish Maritime Museum’s exhibition design in its industrial setting.
The building was the beginning / Irvine.
The complete grey interpretation totem and red base in its original photograph.
At a human scale / The interpretation totem.
The green exhibition zone wall with machinery and a reading totem.
At the scale of the building / The zone walls.
The historical lightbox with its photographic front and red side.
Stories throughout the space / Historical lightboxes.
See the complete exhibition

Identity / Print

Colin Gray

His surname was already there, inside the word that described his work. The identity brings it into view.

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photoGRAphY / The name within the discipline.

Paul’s original Colin Gray identity, discovering Gray in photography.
The original identity.

It was there
all along.

Book / Editorial

David Eustace

A life in photographs, with a deeply personal starting point. A line from a letter connected to David’s adoption became the title.

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Enhanced presentation of the grey cloth book and its blind-embossed title.

The cover

A very personal
beginning.

“I write to tell you of a baby boy born only yesterday…”

Paul made that first written statement of David’s life the starting point for a book looking back over it.

Enhanced presentation of the letter and introduction spread, with private details blacked out.
The letter. The introduction to David and his work. Private details remain blacked out.
Enhanced presentation of a portrait spread in the photography book.
The photographs. The edit, the sequence and the space around each image.
Explore the book

Art direction / Photography

Peugeot

From the first location visit to the final image. Planning the shoot, choosing the team, directing the photography and overseeing the finish.

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The black Peugeot 308, isolated from its studio background.
Studio / Shape, light and detail.

The whole
picture.

The silver Peugeot 407 coupé in a rear three-quarter view, isolated from its background.
See the art direction

Self-initiated / Print

Suissemas

One strict rule: use something from the studio. An everyday tool supplies the shape. Repetition supplies the snowflake.

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The original red scissors used to create the snowflake.
Something from the studio.
Restored view of Paul’s snowflake made from repeated red studio scissors.
The same object. Another possibility.

Personal work / Image

Fingerprint portraits

The sitter’s own fingerprint becomes the material of her portrait. A likeness made from something that belongs to her alone.

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A woman’s portrait constructed entirely from impressions of her own fingerprint.

It can be
no one else.

A closer look

Packaging

LINN

LINN packaging with a sound-shaped window revealing the coloured speaker grille inside.

A window that shows the colour.
And refers to the sound.

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Music / Packaging

Origins

Restored close view of Treacherous Orchestra’s Origins CD packaging, with its circular artwork made from natural materials.

An O from the land and the sea.

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A different line of enquiry.

A different enquiry_

“Some work and some don’t.
The engagement is the reward (to me).”

Further work_

Identities / Exhibitions / Books / Experiments

A few other things.

Different briefs. Different scales.
Each with something of its own to say.

A freestanding interpretation panel in the GoMA exhibition, with the word Taste continuing onto the floor.

12 / Exhibition / Interpretation

GoMA

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Open M&Co fashion brochure designed and art-directed by Paul Gray.

13 / Fashion / Art Direction / Print

M&Co

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Laser/Gulf identity and poster artwork for an oil and gas engineering survey business.

15 / Identity / Communications / Art Direction

Laser/Gulf

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Paul_

Paul Gray / Suisse Studio
Black-and-white portrait of Paul Gray.
Paul Gray / Suisse Studio

Produce work
that solves problems
and delivers.

I work independently. I also work with people who know more than I do in particular areas. You bring the right people together. You steer. You keep your eyes open to the opportunities.

For me, the thinking and the making belong together. There is a job to do. Then there is the question of how well you can do it.

Design / Identity / Packaging / Exhibitions
Editorial / Photography art direction

“Super collaborative. A thinking designer. Incredibly detailed and conscientious about the work he does and its purpose. And damn witty.”

Bill KamperFounder / Simplified Digital Brand Marketing / Chicago

“It’s important for my business that the work I deliver is bang on brief. Paul brings everything to every job and nails it, every time.”

Audrey MasonCopywriter / Mantra / Glasgow
Selected credentials

Glasgow School of Art
BA Honours / Design

D&AD / The Drum
Selected work recognised internationally

Scottish Design Awards
Including the Design Grand Prix

Lecturing / Tutoring
GSA / University of Strathclyde / City of Glasgow College

Contact_

A conversation is a good place to start.

What does it
need to do?

paul@suissestudio.com
Paul’s signature

Paul Gray
Suisse Studio / Design & art direction