Morgan Gibbons is an Artwork Manager for SEGA Europe. We spoke to him about his day to day work and his past as a graffiti artist in the early 90’s.

Squidge Magazine: How did you get started in design?

Morgan Gibbons: Well I guess you could thank my mum for that, pretty much as soon as I could hold something she’d stick crayons in my hand to keep me quiet. When I was 5 my younger twin brothers were born and I found myself having to keep myself occupied, so I’d sit in my room and draw spaceships and cars for hours.

As I approached my teens Hip Hop and Graffiti were just arriving in the UK from the States and this immediately caught my interest. The manipulation of text in graffiti was so inventive I had to get involved. This is probably where my graphic design skills started proper as I find I’m still using skills I learnt then for work I do now. School was typical with nothing to note apart from being suspended on the last day for tagging up all the toilets and getting caught!

After school I started A Level Art and BTEC Art & Design which I didn’t complete due to personal circumstances, so I started working full-time in restaurants and sports shops and the like – I was 19 at this point. 2 years passed until my step-dad asked if I wanted to take a job at the newspaper printers where he worked. This was 1992 and when my career in graphic design started. I was at the printers for 5 years and this gave me good knowledge of what can and can’t work in print. I meet a lot of designers now that don’t know much about the print process and this shocks me.

After working at the printers in the pre-press department I decided I wanted to learn more about desktop publishing so I worked my way through various companies over the next 10 years to get the relevant skills… newspapers, fashion agencies, internet agencies, creative agencies, marketing and promotion agencies and advertising agencies. I ended up starting my own company and freelancing here and there. This led to SEGA.

SM: Apart from whining about wrong logos and colouring in pictures of Sonic the Hedgehog in-between the lines with blue crayons, what do you do day to day?

MG: Firstly our Head of Creative Services would fill me in on any pressing tasks for the day, and then I’d check over my emails. As we oversee creative for all of Europe and Australia there may be assets to supply or problems to solve from any of the local offices. My role is then divided between hands on creative artworking which usually involves talking an existing piece of artwork for a front of pack or advert and re-purposing it for our European customers, and managing the artworkers in the studio and helping them produce their particular job.

I love what I do as it can be so varied, from designing the logo for a game to making a design for a promotional item such as a T-Shirt to searching through our archive of artwork to find the packaging for an old title that we’re re-releasing on another platform. I’m also responsible for the templates that come in from Microsoft (360 and Games for Windows), Nintendo (Wii and Nintendo DS) and Sony (PlayStation 3 and PSP). I make sure everyone is up to speed on how a title would be produced using them if they’ve changed.

SM: Do you get much creative input in terms of the boxed designs or is it pretty much already set in stone?

MG: It all depends on the title in question. Usually on titles developed in Europe we’ll have more creative freedom. This is not always the case though.

SM: Do you still keep up with your own artwork or is it just a work thing?

MG: I wish I had more time to do my own art but with work and two children it’s not very easy finding the time. Saying that I recently got in touch with some of my graffiti mates on Flickr and that got my creative juices flowing again. Every Sunday morning my daughters and I sit down and do some drawing together, I can practice my graffiti skills and get to teach them as well.

SM: When was the last time you went out to bomb up Brentford?

MG: That’s wishful thinking; I gave up illegal graffiti activity almost 20 years ago!