Neale Johnston’s graphic design work is at one with Berlin’s techno scene

Talking to designer Neale Johnston about his practice, it sounds like he’s pretty much got the dream set up, with two complementary sides to his work life. He’s a senior graphic designer at Beatport an electronic online music store by day, (very Berlin) and a successful freelancer for various artists, events, record labels and collectives by night. If you are based in London, you’ve probably passed some of his work in the city or coming home on your commute — the designer’s recent colourful campaign for Krankbrother is making it feel a bit more like summer over here.

Although the separate modes of his work allow the designer to explore different aspects of the graphic design world, almost all of his personal and professional work revolves around the same thing: electronic music. The genre’s influence is clear in his dynamic poster designs, with typography being used as an ingredient to be experimental with across formats. Neale says: “A lot of this boils down to living in a city with such a rich and unique musical culture, having so many creative friends involved in music [and] being in a vibrant and dynamic creative place like Berlin.”

Neale’s freelance practice is a space where his influences from “designers who push the boundaries of creativity and blur the line between design and art” really comes through. Treading the line between disciplines, he finds his inspiration in Bráulio Amado, GGT (Gina Guasch Team) and Studio Nari, to name a few. These freelance projects are also a way for him to break from the more clean cut design work and get back to the gritty, experimental and imperfect stuff — “in today’s world where technology has no limitations, I believe it’s especially important to maintain a ‘human element’ in my work” he says — something that his day job working on motion design and creative campaigns with rules and brand guidelines doesn’t always let him explore as much.