Interview 001: Peter Saville
Everyone shows the final. This focuses on everything before it.
Process Log is a series of interviews unpacking how creatives build, refine, and strip back their work—across design, fashion, music, and beyond. Less polish, more signal.
What does your “process” actually look like, stripped back?
It’s less a process and more a filtration system. I’m not trying to generate ideas, I’m trying to recognize the right one when it appears. Most of the work is observation, editing, and restraint.
Where does a project really begin for you?
With context. Not inspiration. Understanding what something is culturally, historically, emotionally, that defines what it should look like. Design is a response, not decoration.
How much of your work is instinct vs system?
Instinct drives selection. System maintains consistency. If you rely purely on instinct, it becomes arbitrary. If you rely purely on system, it becomes generic. The balance is where the work holds weight.
Your work often feels minimal but loaded. What are you removing?
Anything that explains too much. Good design doesn’t need to be understood immediately, it needs to be felt immediately. Explanation weakens impact.
How do you approach typography?
Before choosing a typeface, I consider: is this speaking, announcing, whispering, or documenting? The wrong typeface isn’t ugly it’s miscast.
What does your “process” actually look like, stripped back?
It’s less a process and more a filtration system. I’m not trying to generate ideas, I’m trying to recognize the right one when it appears. Most of the work is observation, editing, and restraint.
Where does a project really begin for you?
With context. Not inspiration. Understanding what something is culturally, historically, emotionally, that defines what it should look like. Design is a response, not decoration.
How much of your work is instinct vs system?
Instinct drives selection. System maintains consistency. If you rely purely on instinct, it becomes arbitrary. If you rely purely on system, it becomes generic. The balance is where the work holds weight.
Your work often feels minimal but loaded. What are you removing?
Anything that explains too much. Good design doesn’t need to be understood immediately, it needs to be felt immediately. Explanation weakens impact.
How do you approach typography?
Before choosing a typeface, I consider: is this speaking, announcing, whispering, or documenting? The wrong typeface isn’t ugly it’s miscast.
