i want

Company: iwant design,
Type: illustration, graphic design, web and art direction.
Based: London, UK
Staff: 2 full time


I want design comprise of John Gilsenan and Bruce Allaway. John originally studied fine art for turning to design and working at a London design agency, whilst running club nights in London. Bruce studied design communications and has worked in the design industry for several years working for London's major arts organisations.

I want have undertaken a variety of work since their inception, putting equal effort into club flyers, websites, music packaging, art direction and work for the fashion industry.

This company initially came to my attention prior to my decision to return to college to study design. I am an acquaintance of Ben Watt, who has worked with i want over the last few years for the identities for his various ventures such as Everything But The Girl, Buzzin Fly Records and associated club events and branding. My background pre-college is in dance music, clubs and all that stuff, and I had seen Ben's identity and knew I liked it. I have since looked into that direction more, and read some pieces on i want in Eye and Creative Review.

In addition to their music identity work, i want are also doing work for Brent Council and short-film makers Misty Films and Future Shorts, who are an organisation who are showcasing short films. I like the idea of doing other work, some variation. I have emailed John from i want to ask if their approach is financially working.

I also asked a few other questions:

Is it just the two of you, or do you work with any freelancers or people to help you do anything?

Yes, there is just the two of us and no, we don't use freelancers or have any help for anything. However, we are becoming more stretched and need a new premises, a junior and somebody to concentrate on all web and new media aspects.

Does the music design pay enough to scrape a living or is it just a labour of love?

I suppose music design in all it's facets does pay enough to scrape a living and more. But it depends who you work for, how much work you do, what kind of work you do, if you are in any kind of demand and so on.

Is the income from your very groovy looking work feasible?

Groovy work - ooh that scares me. We earn a decent living and most of the work we do is creative and work we enjoy. However, we could probably double what we earn if we had the time to manage things better and get a few more people in to handle the everyday crap that we shouldn't waste our time on. I think we are carving out a space in an extremely difficult and saturated market but it's difficult to gauge how you are perceived and on what level.

any hot tips?

Hot tips. mm it's not easy, sooo many people think setting up as a freelance or starting a small company will be a walk in the park but it's tough. Winning, and come to think of it, losing pitches is haaard work. We have found ourselves pitching against the likes of Neville Brody and Peter Saville so we must be doing something right.

Pros: They look like they do great, satisfying work, somehting to be proud of, and after a bit of research, it seems that it's possible to make a decent living if you don't mind hard-work and are a bit lucky.

Cons: They are in London, and are fairly small. I do however think that if were to work as a freelancer, they have an interesting business model, and one I think I could tap into.