James Drayson

Background

About James Drayson

I am passionate about design and typography and love crafting great digital experiences: from ideation to low fidelity wireframes to fully responsive user interactions, driven by real data and user insight. I am experienced in working with small design studios as well as working as part of cross functional, agile, product development teams within larger companies, forming tight knit relationships with other disciplines to fully realise ideas and create beautiful work. I live and breathe typography; it’s the first thing someone notices and reads when discovering a brand or product, although it’s a fundamental often overlooked. I’m happiest when creating clear visual hierarchies and making the most of typographic subtleties to ensure a great user experience. To maintain a balance between digital and analogue, I can often be found covered in ink and oil, setting wood and metal type and printing various letterpress things using antique equipment. This passion of mine lets me disconnect digitally (the cabinets are full of lead type which helps!) and get lost in the slow but rewarding process that letterpress printing fosters, such as handling the white space and fiddling with hair spacing to ensure the typographic details are just so. You can see some of my journey and the ever-growing collection of type and equipment on Instagram (@draysonandstock). My latest obsession is gardening and I’m currently turning my front garden by the sea into a fully functioning kitchen garden complete with 17 fruit trees (so far), while encouraging as much wildlife as possible.