Cover design of “Cathedral" by Raymond Carver (Vintage Books)
This is the first cover we have designed for a book of fiction. It also happens that Carver has been a big influence on Peter, going all the way back to art school drawing class. Stay tuned for much more: in the coming months we will redesign the entire Raymond Carver catalog.
Design: Peter Buchanan-Smith, Josef Reyes
Photography: Todd Hido
.
Album and cd package design of Mothertongue by Nico Muhly.
Nico came to us with the title, and our inclination—which ended up the solution—was a mouth. We were influenced by a heart-stopping Erwin Blumenfeld photograph. As we designed, we stared into the abyss of the open mouth long enough to realize that the mouth is a channel, constantly tuned into an immeasurable quantity of words, in immeasurable configurations: anything can come out of it.
Design: Peter Buchanan-Smith, Josef Reyes
Photography: Michael Schmelling
.
Exhibit design for Manhattan Noon at The Museum of the City of New York.
The exhibit which featured photography by Gus Powell, and poems by Frank O’Hara, was designed so that viewers could take it with them: Over 400,000 individual sheets were printed with any 12 of O’Hara’s poems, then bound to the walls in pads, anchored with bold colored backings, evocative of some of the common New York city street colors (ie- taxi cab yellow).
Design: Peter Buchanan-Smith, Josef Reyes
Photography: Gus Powell
.
BUCHANAN-SMITH LLC
368 Broadway, Suite 514
New York, New York 10013
tel. 646.472.5099
Peter Buchanan-Smith is the founder and principal of Buchanan-Smith LLC and the author of several books, including Speck , and The Wilco Book , and he has collaborated on the creation of dozens more, including The Elements of Style by Strunk, White, & Kalman, and Muhammad Ali by Magnum Photographers. From 2005 to 2008 Peter was the creative director of Paper Magazine. He has also designed identities, packaging, and collateral for the fashion and music worlds, including fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi, rock luminaries Brian Eno, David Byrne, and legendary American composer Philip Glass. His work has been honored by ID Magazine, the AIGA, and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which awarded him a Grammy for his of design of Wilco’s album A ghost is born .
He speaks around the world about style, design and visual culture and teaches graphic design at The School of Visual Art in New York. Peter was a board member of the New York chapter of The American Institute of Graphic Art (2005-2007).
Where would we be without interns? They’ve been: Lindsay Ballant, Lisa Martiny Festa, Daniel Wiesmann, Sabine Kraus, Rainer Schenck, Jeff Stark, and Lauren Jantz. Please write if you are interested in interning with us!
Look book design for Isaac Mizrahi Men’s collection, Fall 2008.
During the shooting of Isaac’s Men’s collection for Fall 2008 Michael Schmelling captured this candid and somewhat suggestive moment, all of which seemed perfect for the cover image.
Design: Peter Buchanan-Smith, Josef Reyes
Photography: Michael Schmelling
.
Creative direction for Paper Magazine (2005-2008), select covers
In 2005 Peter Buchanan-Smith was hired to be only the fourth creative director of the 20 year old, legendary beacon of downtown style and culture, Paper magazine. For three months in early 2005 he worked closely with Kim Hastreiter, David Hershkovitz, and the Paper editorial and art departments to define a more cogent mission and based on that they came up with an entirely new look. The results of the redesign—which were launched in the May 2005 design issue—were met with rave reviews (Advertising Age named the September 2006 issue one of the ten best magazine covers of the year). Along with the redesign, he also developed ideas for new content and departments, and revamped the photo department, bringing in a new roster of up and comers (including Cass Bird, Jason Frank Rothenberg, Danielle Levitt, and Michael Schmelling) and stable of established photographers (including Richard Burbridge, Larry Clark, Bob Richardson, and Ellen Von Unwerth). For the next three years he continued to hone the design, and working closely with the staff, helped Paper become a more cohesive brand and alluring magazine, all the while reaching a wider audience.
Photography (top to bottom): Danielle Levitt, Marcelo Krasilcic, Richard Burbridge, Cass Bird, Elinor Carucci.
.
Look book design for Isaac Mizrahi Women’s collection, Fall 2008.
Design: Peter Buchanan-Smith, Josef Reyes
Photography: Jason Frank Rothenberg
.
“Spring is the new Fall” t-shirt design for Isaac Mizrahi
Isaac came up with idea of dressing his models backstage before the presentation of his Fall 2007 collection in t-shirts with a slogan that couldn’t have been more applicable (or not).
Design: Peter Buchanan-Smith
Photography: Jason Frank Rothenberg
.
Paper Magazine, style issue (September 2006)
Design: Peter Buchanan-Smith
Photography: Richard Burbridge, Cass Bird, Elinor Carucci
Styling / make-up: Kabuki
Illustration: Jonathon Rosen
.
Isaac’s Style Book (volume 1 & 2)
In 2006 we joined forces with Isaac Mizrahi to make his first magazine. Isaac’s Style Book is a very intimate and thoughtful glimpse into the world of Isaac. We worked closely with Isaac to develop content, which included stunning photographs by Jason Frank Rothenberg, Elinor Carucci, Sylvia Plachy, and Joel Meyerowitz, and texts by David Rakoff, Oliver Schwaner-Albright, Nathan Englander and Amanda Fortini. Our studio oversaw the creative direction, design, production, and project management of Isaac’s Style Book.
Design: Peter Buchanan-Smith, Josef Reyes, Laura Victore, Jillian Parisi
Photography: Jason Frank Rothenberg
.
Identity design for the magazine Isaac’s Style Book.
In 2006 we joined forces with Isaac Mizrahi to make his first magazine. Isaac’s Style Book is a very intimate and thoughtful glimpse into the world of Isaac. We worked closely with Isaac to develop content, which included stunning photographs by Jason Frank Rothenberg, Elinor Carucci, Sylvia Plachy, and Joel Meyerowitz, and texts by David Rakoff,Oliver Schwaner-Albright, Nathan Englander and Amanda Fortini. Our studio oversaw the creative direction, design, production, and project management of Isaac’s Style Book.
.
Look book design for Isaac Mizrahi Men’s collection, Spring 2007
Design: Peter Buchanan-Smith, Josef Reyes
Photography: Michael Schmelling
.
Design for Creative Time anniversary timeline
We collaborated with photographer Michael Schmelling on a great idea that sadly ended up on the shelf. We photographed over 100 of the most prominent artists in the public arts organization Creative Time family, sitting on a bench, and then strung them together to make a seamless scroll (above is a tiny slice). The results were meant to be an interactive timeline.
Design: Peter Buchanan-Smith
Photography: Michael Schmelling
“The Wilco Book”, (Picture Box, 2004)
We spent 2 years working closely with Wilco, Michael Schmelling, and Picture Box Inc. (the publishing company we co-founded) to create a collaborative and visual analog of the rock band Wilco. The book offers a substantial glimpse into Wilco, being a rock band, and making music. We started this project from scratch, worked closely with Wilco to determine a broad outline and plan, and then commissioned photography that documented everything (from guitars to backstage vegetable platters), and published original texts by Rick Moody, and artwork by Fred Tomaselli and Bern Porter. What makes The Wilco Book special is how, it encapsulates the world of the band Wilco (or the brand Wilco). It wasn’t conceived as a typical fan book, it was new and unexpected material for current fans, and an alluring invitation to people who didn’t know Wilco. The book sold out, and received national acclaim (Rolling Stone picked it as the best music book of 2004).
Design: Peter Buchanan-Smith, Lindsay Ballant
Photography: Michael Schmelling
.
“Muhammud Ali by Magnum Photographers” (Harry N. Abrams, 2004)
We designed the book about Muhammad Ali, by photographers at the legendary photo agency Magnum. We worked closely with the editors at Harry Abrams and magnum photograher Thomas Hoepker to tell this compelling story.
Design: Peter Buchanan-Smith
Photography: Thomas Hoepker, Abbas, Philippe Halsman, and Danny Lyon.
.
CD and album design for Wilco’s “A ghost is born”
During the making of The Wilco Book, the band approached us to design their forthcoming album. The idea of the egg came to us shortly after the title for the album was decided. Among other reasons, we love the egg in general because it’s the perfect design object, so we were very happy to use it in this unexpected context. Other parts of the design, including panels of the cd, and eventually the 12 inch vinyl edition, all stemmed from the original concept of the egg as the iconic and defining image. The design for this album won us our first Grammy award (best package design).
Design: Peter Buchanan-Smith with Dan Nadel
Photography: Michael Schmelling
.
12″ vinyl package design for Wilco’s A ghost is born
Photography: Michael Schmelling
.