WL3: James Gulliver Hancock

As the printer puts the finishing touches on our forthcoming book, Work/Life 3, I am pleased to share some recent work by James Gulliver Hancock.  James is an Australian illustrator based in New York. Frost*, a creative agency based in Sydney, commissioned James to create illustrations for a bank's call centre. On initial reading, that may have sounded like a boring assignment, but just look at the results! The following text is from the Frost* press release:

The Frost* Environments team recently completed an exciting new project for employees at Commonwealth Bank’s Melbourne (Australia) call centre. Working in collaboration with Interior Designers Davenport Campbell, the agency was commissioned to animate the newly refurbished activity-based workplace, whilst inspiring and engaging staff who are often working on intense, monotonous tasks.

The scope of work included signage and way-finding for the seven level development, alongside super-sized environmental graphic backdrops that added a distinctly Melbourne identity to the inner-city office.

The concept involved visually breaking up the building's floor plate by referencing urban-laneway culture in work zones and parklands and nature in the break-out spaces.

Working closely with New York based illustrator James Gulliver Hancock, they established sub-themes of work, rest and play to tell the everyday stories of the city's inhabitants, with a fantastical twist. Hidden pockets of quirky detail were incorporated at a micro-scale, as a cheeky nod to the city’s laneways where there is always something new to discover. A graphic language formed from iconic Melbourne architecture also helped embed the signage firmly into its location.