View source for Rian Hughes

{{Short description|British graphic designer, illustrator, type designer, comics artist, and novelist}}
{{BLP sources|date=October 2021}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = Rian Hughes
| image            = 
| image_size       = 200px
| caption          = Rian Hughes at [[Typo Berlin (design convention)|Typo Berlin]] 2008 [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d3/Rian_lorez.jpg]
| birth_name       = 
| birth_date       = 
| birth_place      = 
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| nationality      = British
| field            = Illustrator, comics artist, cover artist, typographer, type designer, graphic designer, writer
| training         = [[London College of Printing]]
| works            = ''Logo-a-gogo: Branding Pop Culture,'' [[Korero Press]], 2018 <br>''Cult-ure: Ideas can be Dangerous,'' Carlton Books, 2015 <br> "XX: A Novel, Graphic," Picador, 2020 <br>"The Black Locomotive," Picador, 2021 <br> "Rayguns and Rocketships: Vintage Science Fiction Book Cover Art," Korero, 2018
| awards           = 
| website          = {{url|DeviceFonts.co.uk}}
}}

'''Rian Hughes''' is a [[People of the United Kingdom|British]] [[graphic design]]er, illustrator, type designer, [[comics artist]] and [[novel]]ist.

==Overviews==
Hughes has written and drawn comics for ''[[2000 AD (comics)|2000 AD]]'', Vertigo CMYK and ''[[Batman Black and White|Batman: Black and White]]'', and designed for [[DC Comics]] and [[Marvel Entertainment|Marvel]]. His designs and illustrations are published widely across the UK and US publishing, music, and advertising industries. His recent novels are ''XX'' and ''The Black Locomotive.''

==Biography==
===Early career===
Hughes graduated from [[London College of Printing]] and was employed at various advertising agencies where he worked for ''[[ID (magazine)|ID magazine]]'', ''[[Smash Hits]]'' and [[Condé Nast]]. At the same time he was drawing his own comics, and got involved with the [[British small press comics]] scene of the time.

===Comics involvement===

Hughes' first graphic novel was ''The Science Service'' for Belgian publisher Magic Strip. This was followed by "[[Dare (comic strip)|Dare]]" for [[Fleetway Publications|Fleetway]]’s [[Revolver (British comics)|''Revolver'']]''<ref>{{cite book |title=Logo-a-gogo |date=2018 |publisher=Korero Press |isbn=9780993337420 |page=277}}</ref>'', an “iconoclastic revamp of the ’50s comic hero [[Dan Dare]]” written by [[Grant Morrison]]. His strips from the "Galaxy’s Greatest" have been collected in ''Yesterday’s Tomorrows'' ("Dare", "Really and Truly" plus others) and [[Tales from Beyond Science]], written by [[Mark Millar]], [[John Smith (comics writer)|John Smith]] and [[Alan McKenzie]]. More recently he wrote and drew a ''Batman: Black and White'' tale for DC Comics, contributed to ''Vertigo: Magenta'', and was reunited with Morrison for two stories in ''[[Heavy Metal (magazine)|Heavy Metal]]''. As part of Morrison's [[The Multiversity]], he designed the definitive Map of the Multiverse,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Melrose |first=Kevin |date=2014-08-19 |title=DC unveils an interactive version of its Multiverse map |url=https://www.cbr.com/dc-unveils-an-interactive-version-of-its-multiverse-map/ |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=CBR |language=en-US}}</ref> DC Comics' overview of all their alternate realities.

===Design and illustration===

[[File:AIGA lifestyle illustration-1.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Example of Rian Hughes' illustration]]

Through the 1990s, aided by the introduction of the Macintosh, Hughes pushed his illustration work in a more stylised graphic direction. Adopting first Freehand than Adobe Illustrator, he used expanses of flat colour and texture in asymmetric and dynamic layouts, his characters became more elegant and exaggerated, and the type, generally custom designed for each illustration, became an integral part of his imagemaking process. This flat vector style has been dubbed "Sans Ligne" in reference to the European "Ligne Claire" school by artist Will Kane. Hughes considers his combination of design, illustration and typography to be a return to the working methods of the poster artists of the early 20th century, a period when artists like the Stenberg Brothers, Cassandre and [[Jean Carlu]] combined type, image and layout to achieve a dynamic, integrated whole.  

Hughes' design for the music industry includes album artwork for [[Ultravox]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=ULTRAVOX Official Website - Articles |url=http://www.ultravox.org.uk/article-20110526-rianhughes.shtml |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=www.ultravox.org.uk}}</ref> and Oxford-based rock group The Winchell Riots. In 2007 he collaborated with ex [[Spice Girls|Spice Girl]] [[Geri Halliwell]] on a series of six children's books, [[Ugenia Lavender]]. Further work included the animated on-board safety film for Virgin Airlines, a Eurostar poster campaign, and a collection for [[Swatch]]. 

Now widely copied, the influence of Hughes' illustration style can be seen in advertising, on covers for mass-market women's paperbacks, children's books and editorial illustrations worldwide. Roger Sabin, writing for ''[[Eye (magazine)|Eye]]'' magazine, has called Hughes “one of the most successful and prolific designer/illustrators of the past 20 years”.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome to SUPER TOKYOLAND and I AM A NUMBER! / Top Shelf Productions |url=https://www.topshelfcomix.com/news/1084 |access-date=2022-12-02 |website=www.topshelfcomix.com}}</ref> A retrospective monograph collecting Hughes' early work, ''Art, Commercial,'' was published in 2001. His design work, including logos for [[Batman]], the [[X-Men]], [[Superman]], [[The Avengers (2012 film)|The Avengers]] and [[James Bond]], is collected in the Eisner-nominated book ''Logo-a-Gogo,'' published by [[Korero Press]] in 2018.

===Type design===

[[File:AIGA Hughes fonts.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Selection of fonts designed by Hughes and released through his Device foundry]]

Hughes has described typography as "the particle physics of design". His early fonts were released as part of [[FontShop International|FontShop]]’s FontFont range. He set up his own foundry Device Fonts in 1993, through which he has released many designs including typefaces originally designed for clients as diverse as ''Mac User'', ''2000AD'' and ''The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles''. Many of Hughes' fonts were created for specific design commissions, and their names reflect this. The chunky no-nonsense Judgement family was commissioned for ''2000 AD'', home of [[Judge Dredd]]. Metropol Noir, created specifically for the BDA Gold Award-winning 1996 [[MTV Europe Music Awards]] programme, is named after the Paris hotel Hughes was put up in for the event. One of his most widely-used fonts is ''Korolev'', based on signs in a photograph of a 1937 Red Square Parade and named after [[Sergei Korolev]], the lead Soviet rocket engineer throughout the Cold War. 

''Ten Year Itch'', cataloguing the first ten years of Device Fonts, was published in 2005. ''Typodiscography'' covers all of Device Fonts' releases up to 2020.

=== Books and novels ===
Recent books by Hughes himself include ''Custom Lettering of the 20s and 30s'' (the third in a trilogy of ''Custom Lettering'' books), the wordless graphic novel ''I Am A Number'' (published by [[Top Shelf Productions|Top Shelf]]), ''Soho Dives, Soho Divas'' ([[Image Comics]]), his manifesto ''Cult-Ure: Ideas Can Be Dangerous'' (Fiell), and ''Rayguns and Rocketships: Vintage Science Fiction Book Cover Art'' (Korero, 2022).

In 2020 Hughes turned his hand to fiction and published ''XX'', a graphic novel about a signal from space praised for its innovative use of fictitious articles, alphabets, a lost sci-fi novella, and other elements that draw on Hughes' experience as a designer and typographer<ref>{{Citation |title=GRANT MORRISON CELEBRATES RIAN HUGHES' XX (A NOVEL, GRAPHIC) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlqAPozEves |language=en |access-date=2022-12-02}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2020-08-13 |title=XX — a 'novel, graphic' with big ideas, extra bold |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/a5d62d60-2b1b-44c2-a5ea-0300b9eb73ac |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221211231219/https://www.ft.com/content/a5d62d60-2b1b-44c2-a5ea-0300b9eb73ac |archive-date=11 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=2022-07-24 }}</ref> Hughes’ second novel, ''The Black Locomotive'', contains similar graphic contrivances. Writing for ''The Times'', [[Simon Ings]] named ''The Black Locomotive'' “one of the ten best sci-fi novels of 2021”.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ings |first=Simon |title=10 best sci-fi books 2021 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |language=en |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/best-sci-fi-books-2021-nctsgps87 |access-date=2022-07-23 |issn=0140-0460}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
===Comics===
*''The Inheritors'' (Modern Era Editions, 1988)
*''The Science Service'' (script by [[John Freeman (editor)|John Freeman]]) (ACME/Eclipse, 1989, {{ISBN|0-913035-86-6}})
*''Dare'' (written by [[Grant Morrison]], a revisionist sequel to ''[[Dan Dare]]'')
** "Dare" (''[[Revolver (Fleetway comics)|Revolver]]'' #1–7, 1990)
** "Dare" (in ''[[Crisis (comic)|Crisis]]'' #55–56, 1991)
* ''[[Tales from Beyond Science]]'' ([[Trade paperback (comics)|tpb]], 88 pages, [[Image Comics]], January 2012, {{ISBN|1-60706-471-5}}):
** "The Men in Red" (with [[Mark Millar]], in ''2000 AD'' No. 774, 1992)
** "The Music Man" (with [[Alan McKenzie]], in ''2000 AD'' No. 775, 1992)
** "Long Distance Calls" (with Mark Millar, in ''2000 AD'' No. 776, 1992)
** "Agents of Mu-Mu" (with Alan McKenzie, in ''2000 AD'' No. 777, 1992)
** "The Eyes of Edwin Spendlove" (with [[John Smith (comics writer)|John Smith]], in ''2000 AD'' No. 778, 1992)
** "Secrets of the Organism" (with John Smith, in ''2000 AD'' No. 779, 1992)
** "The Secret Month Under the Stairs" (with [[Mark Millar]], in ''2000 AD Winter Special'' No. 4, 1992)
** "The Man Who Created Space" (with [[Mark Millar]], in ''2000 AD Sci-Fi Special'', 1994)
* "[[Really & Truly]]" (written by [[Grant Morrison]], in ''[[2000 AD (comics)|2000 AD]]'' #842–849, 1993)
*''[[Robo-Hunter]]'' (with [[Peter Hogan]]):
** "Slade Runner" (in ''2000 AD 1994 Yearbook'', 1993)
** "Winnegan's Fake" (in ''2000 AD'' #852–854, 1993)
** "Metrobolis" (in ''2000 AD'' #904–911, 1994)
** "War of the Noses" (in ''2000 AD'' #1023, 1996)

===Collections===
* ''Dare'' (a collection of the series scripted by [[Grant Morrison]], published 1991)
* ''Yesterday's Tomorrows'' (a collection of work scripted by [[Grant Morrison]], John Freeman, [[Tom De Haven]] and [[Chris Reynolds (author)|Chris Reynolds]] and consisting mainly of previously published work) (paperback, 280 pages, [[Image Comics]], 2010)

===Illustrations by===
* ''[[Ugenia Lavender]]'' (written by [[Geri Halliwell]]), six volumes hardback/paperback, 68 pages, [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]], 2009)

===Novels===
* ''[[XX (novel)|XX]]'' ([[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]], 2020)
* ''The Black Locomotive'' ([[Macmillan Publishers|Pan Macmillan]], 2021)

===Nonfiction works written and/or edited by===
*"Art, Commercial" (Die Gestalten Verlag, 2001)
*''Ten Year Itch'' (Device, 2004)
*''Really Good Logos, Explained'' (with Margo Chase, Ron Miriello, Alex White) ([[limpback]], 250 pages, [[Rotovision]], 2009)
*''Lifestyle Illustration of the 60s'' ([[limpback]], 520 pages, [[Fiell]], 2010)
*''Custom Lettering of the 40s and 50s'' (flexi, 580 pages, [[Fiell]], 2010)
*''Custom Lettering of the 60s and 70s'' (flexi, 580 pages, [[Fiell]], 2010)
*''On The Line (with Rick Wright)'' (hardback, 48 pages, [[Image Comics]], 2010)
*''Cult-ure: Ideas can be Dangerous'' (hardback, 320 pages, [[Fiell]], 2010)
*''Hardware: The Definitive SF Works of Chris Foss'' (hardback, 280 pages, [[Titan Books]], 2011)
*''Soho Dives, Soho Divas'' ([[Image Comics]], 2013)
*''Custom Lettering of the 20s and 30s'' (flexi, 576 pages, [[Korero Press]], 2016)
*''Logo-a-gogo: Branding Pop Culture'' ([[Korero Press]], 2018)
*''I Am A Number'' ([[Top Shelf Productions|Top Shelf]], 2018)
*''Typodiscography'' (Device Fonts type catalogue, 2019)
*''Rayguns and Rocketships: Vintage Science Fiction Book Cover Art'' ([[Korero Press]], 2022)

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{Refbegin}}
*[https://www.koreropress.com/news/rian-hughes-interview/ Interview at Korero Press]
*[http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/?p=3734 Interview at the Forbidden Planet International site]
*Hughes, Rian (2002) "Device: Art, Commercial". Die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin {{ISBN|3-931126-86-2}}
*[http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=droid&page=thrills&Comic=2000AD&Field=Artist&choice=rianh Rian Hughes] at Barney <!-- 2000AD Online's old database moved to its own site -->
* {{gcdb|type=credit|search=Rian+Hughes}}
*{{comicbookdb|type=creator|id=3000|title=Rian Hughes}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
*{{official website|http://www.devicefonts.co.uk}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100304190052/http://www.bigcitypix.com/veer-rian-hughes-design-art-directors-club-event-video Rian Hughes – Design, Tea, and Biscuits VIDEO Talk at Art Directors Club, NYC November 2007]
*[http://www.3ammagazine.com/new_media/2003/feb/device.html Assessment of Hughes’ work]
*[http://www.fontfont.com/designers/rian-hughes Overview of Hughes’ FontFonts]

===Interviews===
{{More footnotes needed|section|date=March 2010}}
*[https://logogeek.uk/podcast/rian-hughes/ Logo Geek Interview with Rian Hughes], March 2018
*[http://www.myfonts.com/newsletters/cc/200904.html Creative Characters Interview with Rian Hughes], [[MyFonts]], April 2009
*{{cite web |author=Kenny |url=http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2007/rian-hughes-yesterdays-tomorrows/ |title=Rian Hughes – Yesterday's Tomorrows |publisher=[[Forbidden Planet (bookstore)|Forbidden Planet]] |date=18 May 2007 }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Rian}}
[[Category:British comics artists]]
[[Category:British graphic designers]]
[[Category:British typographers and type designers]]
[[Category:Comic book letterers]]
[[Category:Logo designers]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:21st-century British novelists]]
[[Category:Alumni of the London College of Printing]]
[[Category:British male novelists]]