Cinema is an experience like no other. To be immersed for a few others in a different place, with new people and personalities. Understanding the importance of this fundamental escapism, Victoria Talbot and her team launched Delve, a weekly newsletter and online print shop which uses thehub!
Embrace of the Serpent, by Levente Szabó
Hey! Please introduce yourself and what you do!
I’m Deputy Creative Director at Human After All – we’re a London-based creative agency providing intelligent design for communication challenges.
Tell me a little bit about your current project.
Our work usually sees us creating solutions to our clients’ communication challenges, but as a group of creatives we love to work on our own passion projects, too. We launched delve in 2015 – it’s a weekly newsletter that recommends the best film to see that week, picked by a panel of the UK’s leading film critics. But the newsletter also brings that film to life, helping readers to ‘delve deeper’ by sharing a selection of fascinating links and an original piece of artwork, both inspired by the film.
What are the pros and cons you find daily about your practice?
Pro: Working in an agency allows me to collaborate with an extremely talented bunch of people, both within the studio walls and beyond. We’ve worked with over 70 artists for delve alone! We have an open working culture that allows us to easily share influences and ideas – and being a small team, everyone gets to get really stuck in.
Con: Time – or lack of it! There’s always a new project or idea in the works that we’d love to get started on. Being as organised and efficient with time as we can means we can make time for passion projects in and amongst our client projects, too.
Heart of a Dog, by Geraldine Sy
When is the best time to work to get those creative juices going?
You’ll see us in the studio from 9.30-5.30 – but I find my best ideas often percolate when I’m away from my desk. We’re lucky to face out onto private gardens, so you’ll often see colleagues taking a screen break watching the neighbourhood wildlife.
What is it about your practice that you find so exciting and keeps you hooked?
The unpredictability. Working in a smaller agency means that no two days are the same. Our varied client base means our projects vary wildly at any given time. During my years at Human After All, I’ve worked on everything from poster campaigns for independent arthouse films to an international thought leadership publication for Google.
Midnight Special, by Patryk Hardziej
You print with us here at theprintspace, what is your go to paper of choice?
We print all of delve’s artworks on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag.
What do you like the most about using this paper?
Our artworks are always illustrative, so the beautifully textured paper really captures the originals’ tactile qualities. There’s sometimes a concern that colours can turn out muted on uncoated papers – but this stock has reliably brought our (at times very colourful!) artwork to life in print.
Where do you get your daily inspiration?
While we all keep abreast of new and exciting creative work via blogs, Pinterest and dribbble, it’s of the utmost importance to us that we create original work that’s true to its client, brief and context. That means sources of inspiration can vary from project to project – and often come from unexpected places!
Are there any artists/photographers/writers/filmmakers or musicians where you have in mind when looking at creating new works?
Our collaborations are always rooted in the project at hand – and that’s seen us working with all sorts of creatives from around the world. In particular, we’re always looking to work with new illustrators on delve’s artwork. As soon as we know the next Film of the Week, we research artists whose work and themes resonate with that film’s story, context and aesthetic. With delve being a studio passion project, we can be very free with our artist choices too – there are no set restrictions on style and we’ve worked with everyone from new grads to industry veterans like David Downton and Adrian Johnson.
Ex Machina, by Thomas Danthony
What advice would you give to someone who wanted to make a career out of your given practice?
● Never say never. Be open to trying new things and your career path meandering in unforeseen directions. I know many creatives who have wound up finding their dream specialism by trying something they never thought they could or wanted to do!
● Dedicate time to making stuff. As visual creatives working in a studio, we spend a lot of time in front of a computer, so we all find plenty of forms of physical creativity to enjoy in our spare time – from zine-making to sewing. The satisfaction I get from creating with my hands always feeds back into inspiration for my daily work.
● Make time for passion projects. Human After All’s passion projects, like delve, are a unique expression of who we are, how we work and what we love to do. Not only are they immensely satisfying to make, they also bring us together with clients who look at their creative challenges in the same way, too.
What’s next for you?
delve has recently partnered with Vue cinemas and ourscreen to help our readers bring previously recommended movies back to the big screen.
What’s it like using thehub and selling your artwork online?
We know firsthand that selling and fulfilling high-quality prints is a time-consuming business – and with delve being a passion project we don’t have the internal resources to dedicate to that ourselves. thehub’s comprehensive service allows us to offer a really high quality product and service in spite of that!
Website: http://delveweekly.com/
Twitter: @delveweekly
Instagram: @delveweekly
Amy, by David Downton
