Our current poster design comp was won by one lucky Patrick Niall. He has lived in Cambridge, North Carolina Sydney and now Leeds, and is currently planning a ten-week trip around Mexico and the US. Taking a break from the road, he is currently working with Urban Outfitters on a line of merch for American band Paulson. When he returns from his next trip he'll be starting a course in Interactive Media Design at Northumbria University.  After 19 years he has finally managed to whistle (just the once, and only one person heard it).

Right before this interview I was... doing a lot of idea generation for a designer play set on a 1950's B-movie theme. Young adults with a scalpel (and not a lot else to do) can cut out scenery, monsters, characters etc and make their own low budget B-movie on their desk. I also just ate a great £10 meal at a dingy Japanese restaurant.


Ticket no. 460071642

How difficult do you think it is to get employment working in design?
In my experience, people don't turn down design; if you ask, you shall receive. I have had to do a lot of running round and offering my services, and I can't dismiss that as luck. I think you can rely on luck, but as cliché as it is, it's best to get off your ass and make your own.

Some of the dice are missing in my Don't Panic poster... for cosmetic reasons. I just thought that the image needed breaking up a bit, because a whole A2 sheet of red 2cm dice would be a little hard on the eyes, and to be honest, a little boring. I could try and be deep and say that it's because sometimes people can steal your luck or whatever, but I try to focus on making my work visually appealing, not unnecessarily enigmatic.


Reverse for Xincbox EP
   
I don't believe in luck because...  as I said, a lot of the time hard work is more reliable than luck. That's not to discount luck entirely though. I went travelling for five weeks in the summer and had a lot of 'in the right place at the right time' moments. I met a Mexican on a bus between a tiny village in southern Spain and Alicante, and we got on great and are travelling together this summer. I consider myself to be lucky to have met her, as none of it was my doing. With any luck, I'll still be able to afford it when the summer comes…


Cover art for Duloks single Red Wizard/Lovelorn Unicorn

The worst luck I've ever had was when... I had my first shift in a new job at a clothes shop, and it had been raining all day. I was just walking to the shop, and a van ran a red light, and splashed me, drenching me head-to-toe in muddy water. That just might have been when I developed an opinion about road safety…



Cover art for Xincbox EP

My favourite piece of my own work is... the set of covers for an EP by my friend Xincbox, who produces some fine Leeds IDM (Ed - rather good actually, check him out). I decided that I should physically make and photograph something for it, and so I made a 'xincbox'. Then I coupled photography and some post-production to create a cool sculptural box for the front cover. To go with it I modeled the back cover on a package sticker, which ended up looking fairly nifty. I was paid 10p (mates rates) and got to keep the box.

See more of Patrick's work at www.myspace.com/padraigniall