Fraser Muggeridge is known for his deft use of colour and type – particularly his elegantly undone letters, which gently bend the conventions of typography. His practice, Fraser Muggeridge Studio, has been making work for the past 20 years, with a focus on the art and cultural sphere. Muggeridge has worked on several projects in partnership with Jeremy Deller, including the recent Thank God for Immigrants poster.

Here he talks to CR about his journey from a logo-obsessed teenager to a successful studio owner; discusses his ‘knowingly wrong’ approach to type; and share his thoughts on how and why design should become less inoffensive.

A teenage fascination with letters I was always really into lettering. When I was young, my mum asked me – like all parents do, when they’re trying to get you interested in something – if I wanted to play the guitar, or learn trumpet. I asked for calligraphy lessons. So the local graphic designer in town gave me some. I wasn’t very good at it, but it got me talking and thinking about letterforms.

Watching out for the Blue Peter credits I used to copy sports logos, and I always used to see, at the end of TV programmes, this word ‘graphic designer’. I always dreamt of doing that. Maybe I didn’t really know what it meant at that time, but I used to watch out for the graphic designer on the end of Blue Peter. That’s how I got interested. I wasn’t very good at art, but I was quite good at technical drawing and that led me to graphic design.