On October 2, 2013, Vince Frost, the Sydney-based designer, design director and head of Frost*Design spoke to a room full of attendees at the Aperture Foundation as part of the AIGA/NY International Perspectives lecture series. Frost discussed his design projects over the past ten years, questioning different cultural perspectives on visual culture.

Frost’s approach to design reflects his design philosophy: simplicity. Similarly, when Frost takes on a project he likes to start off know nothing about the topic and examining it with a fresh, new perspective. “Absorbing information is the best,” he said. Frost is an award-winning designer and operates a company with over 40 staff members. The presentation started with the word “yes!” Frost is a yes-man, an opportunist, and as the room of attendees saw during his presentation, he is not afraid to take on new territories and design in different sorts of shapes, surfaces and environments. His company’s motto is “inspiring ideas to life.”

Frost presented a few logo projects that described his way of thinking. When hired to design a logo for the Swiss Centre for Global Dialogue, he drew inspiration from the Swiss cross and graphic quotation marks. Although he reversed the colors during the creative process, showing a logo that resembled the Red Cross rather than Switzerland, he switched the colors again and designed the logo. Accidents happen, he reassured the audience. When designing Chris Boot’s logo, currently the Aperture Foundation’s director, Frost didn’t look much further. “What an opportunity, what a great name to play with,” he said, and then showed a slide of the letters “B O O T” forming a physical boot.

Frost showed many diverse print projects, and the different aesthetics he used for books and magazines. For Nan Goldin’s photo essay, The Devils Playground, published by Phaidon, the challenge was working with Goldin’s big personality and making sure that the designer and author could collaborate and agree on layouts. Frost recently designed another photo book, Storms, published by Aperture’s Mitch Dobrowner. Frost’s humble advice was, “the artist is the hero, the designer is the side-kick.” For Storms, he let the photographs speak for themselves and the type sit quietly on the page. Frost added a nice anecdote that you can still make things personal in someone else’s project. Having recently gone through a divorce, his own personal storm, he noticed a beautiful typeface when he was in court, photographed it and used it for the cover of the book.

Frost moved to Sydney as a stranger, and is now changing its urban landscape and having a direct affect on the city he loves. He re-designed the visual identity for Sydney Opera House. By transforming the whole aesthetic, the logo and signage, the goal was for people from all classes and backgrounds to want to enter the Opera House, and not be intimidated.

He was asked by the City of Sydney to re-design a small structure in Chinatown that was originally deemed “empty” space and try to make it useful. After many conversations, brainstorming sessions and collaborations with local artists, the space became a beautiful Information Kiosk that represents a Chinese lantern at night. The project won the Small Project Architecture Award and the Urban Design Award in 2012.

Frost’s over-all outlook is to de-mystify design; by doing so, he believes his clients will gain interest and a better understanding of the importance behind the projects.

During the Q&A session, one audience member asked: “How do we become you?” Frost responded, “You need to have a vision, a goal.” He did not learn everything over night but has been learning how to run a successful business throughout the years. For instance, although he prefers to work with non-profits and charities, he now only takes on one non-profit client a year in order not to lose money, but also continue his passion to design a better world. Lastly, if you have a better understanding of the business you will ultimately have a better understanding of design. Being business-oriented does not mean “selling out,” it just means getting it right, he remarked.

Additional Information:
Frost*Design
The Aperture Foundation

Event Details:
AIGA/NY International Perspectives an Evening with Vince Frost

Event Photos:

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Special thanks to contributing writer Sophie Butcher for the AIGA/NY International Perspectives An Evening with Vince Frost event recap. Sophie can be found at sophiebutcher.com (twitter: @sophiemmbutcher). Sara Duell, contributing photographer, can be found at Sara Duell.