The Face
Neville BrodyNeville Brody (b. 1957 ) was weaned on the dada-inspired nihilism of British
punk in the 1970 s. But The Face, his first important magazine design, was
no neo-punk tabloid, but a slick, youth culture magazine that combined a
1920 s avant-garde sensibility with contemporary style. The magazine
focused on music, film, nightlife, art, dance, and the lifestyle of Britain’s hip
culture. Brody was twenty-four when he joined The Face,bringing his
rebellious punk sensibility to a larger, consumer-oriented venue. In Nick
Logan, editor and publisher, Brody found a sympathetic collaborator.
Logan never undertook any market research, preferring to trust his
instincts. He gave Brody great freedom to invent the visual structure of the
magazine, even to the extent of moving the masthead logo all over the
cover (including sideways). Budget limitations and tight deadlines (Brody
would design forty pages in as many hours) were offset by on-the-spot,
risk-taking decisions on design and editorial content that would be
impossible in a larger publishing house.
In 1976 Brody entered the Royal College of Printing expressly to
learn enough about visual communication to use it for his own ends.130