Nice piece on my book in the New York Times Magazine.
“But it’s bands, not brands, for which Stiles is best known. Over the years, Stiles has worked with high-profile rockers including Alt-J — his tour poster for the group puts the “mod” in modern art — and Sonic Youth, whose poster’s literally mind-blowing imagery is equal parts Pop Art and punk. Accompanying the illustrations, Stiles includes anecdotes about his designs, from his initial vision to the finished product. A 2007 Feist poster, for example, was inspired by a woman’s skirt that Stiles saw on a train ride with “an abstract geometric pattern based on circles and squares.” Given that he had time on his hands, Stiles tried to recreate the shapes on his computer. “It wasn’t until weeks later,” he writes, “that I pulled out the pattern and began seeing what I could do with it.” Similar inspiration struck Stiles for his first Death Cab for Cutie poster, whose minimalist face, with a sinister blood drop, evolved from magazine subscription cards, a late-night urge to collage and one (or two) glasses of wine. As the title suggests, one thing led to another.”
