Neville Brody

Neville Brody
Neville Brody at the TYPO conference in San Francisco, 2012
Born	Neville Brody (1957-04-23) 23 April 1957 (age 59) Southgate, London, England
Occupation	Graphic designer, typographer, art director

Neville Brody (born 23 April 1957) is an English graphic designer, typographer and art director.

Neville Brody is an alumnus of the London College of Communication and Hornsey College of Art, and is known for his work on The Face magazine (1981–1986), Arena magazine (1987–1990), as well as for designing record covers for artists such as Cabaret Voltaire, The Bongos, and Depeche Mode. He created the company Research Studios in 1994 and is a founding member of Fontworks. His work is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). He is the Head of the Communication Art & Design department at the Royal College of Art, London.

Born in Southgate, London Neville Brody was a lover of fine art and painting. He had an obsession with art in the 1960s and 1970s. He commented that he does not remember a time in his life when he was planning to do anything other than art or painting. He attended Minchenden Grammar school and studied A-Level Art, very much from a fine art viewpoint. In 1975 Brody went on to do a Fine Art foundation course at Hornsey College of Art, once renowned for its late sixties agitation, now part of Middlesex University.

In autumn 1976, Brody started a three-year B.A. course in graphics at the London College of Printing. His tutors often condemned his work as "Uncommercial", often putting a heavy emphasis on safe and tested economic strategies, as opposed to experimentation.

By 1977, punk rock was beginning to have a major effect upon London life and, while this had a great impact upon Brody's work and motivation, was not well received by his tutors. At one point he was almost thrown out of the college for putting the Queen's head sideways on a postage stamp design. He did, however, get the chance to design posters for student concerts at the college, most notably for Pere Ubu, supported by The Human League.