Episode 546 – Rian Hughes

Virtual Memories Show 546:<br /> Rian Hughes “The word ‘graphic’ means explicit, and graphic design at its best has that straightforward, punchy, explicit aspect to it. That’s the kind of bold design that appeals to me.” Writer, graphic designer, typographer, illustrator, comics writer/artist, and photographer Rian Hughes rejoins the show to celebrate the US release of his fantastic novel, The Black Locomotive (Pan Macmillan). We talk about how he wanted to follow up 2020’s XX with something more plot-driven & less philosophical and wound up celebrating his love affair with London while getting in touch with his inner JG Ballard. We get into his integration of prose, typography, and graphic design in the new book, what he’s learned about writing (and the new novel he’s working on), the nature of font-design (and the real difference between sans-serif & serif fonts), and what he thinks about AI image-generation and its impact on creative fields (and what it says about popular tastes). We also discuss Rayguns & Rocketships, the recent book of his collection of vintage science fiction book cover art, the collector impulse and how to short-circuit it, the fun of writing the song for a fictional club of train aficionados & having his sister set it to music (and then hearing it remixed by Scott Hoffman), his fear of accidentally kicking off a flamewar among stream-train enthusiasts, and a LOT more. Give it a listen! And go read The Black Locomotive! (And go listen to our 2020 conversation!) “I think AI represents one of those moments where so many industries will pivot, and I’m excited by that. But I’m also aware that a lot of industries will change beyond recognition.” “It just sings on the page when you get it right, when the font is speaking in a voice that you envision the character having, when the layout is emphasizing the cadence of t