Paul Brown continues his Creative Sparks interview series with Bex Grimble, a hugely talented and supremely creative Freelance Sports Designer, who has worked with the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, England, West Ham, BBC Sport, BT Sport and Southampton.
YOUR BACKGROUND
Name
Bex Grimble / B3x Graphics
Position
Freelance Sports Designer
Work for
Self-Employed, owner and founder of B3x Graphics
Companies you’ve worked with
Tottenham Hotspur, Southampton FC, Liverpool FC, Aston Villa, West Ham United, Hibernian FC, Gloucester City Rugby, UEFA Champions League, The FA, England National Team, BBC Sport, BT Sport, LiveWire Sport, Amazon Prime Video Matchroom Boxing, Rugby League World cup, Ineos Grenadiers Cycling Team and more.
YOUR ROLE
How did you get into design and illustration?
When I was in school, about year 7 or 8, we had access to Photoshop. As a kid, I always loved technology anyway, so I was always intrigued by Photoshop and that made me want to learn how to use it. I started playing around with stuff, clicking random buttons with no clue what I was doing! With football being such a huge part of my life, I started making designs using footballers as test subjects. Mostly Spurs players! I later got myself a Twitter account and I suddenly came across all these people who were doing the same thing as me, but the difference was – it was their job! As time went on, I started to realise that I had stumbled upon a huge industry and the skill that I had been teaching myself was actually a viable career option. I started taking on loads of voluntary work making things like Twitter banners and graphics for fan pages to get my name out there and build a foundation for myself. I continued to do this alongside my GCSEs and A-Levels. My routine was to plough through all of my schoolwork during lessons, lunch breaks and free periods so that my time at home was free for me to be able to do client work. Fortunately, the hard work paid off as I had built a foundation and a network of people that meant I was able to finish college in 2020 and go straight into freelancing full time. I have loved every second so far and haven’t looked back since.
What’s the most important personal quality for working in design and illustration?
I think the big one for me is ambition. It is something that you can carry into every aspect of being a creative. As well as life outside of work. Whether its sharing ideas with clients or your future career ambitions. There are lots of qualities that I think are extremely important to have but I feel that having the passion and strong ambition for what you do, acts as a base for everything else. In an industry that is constantly evolving, you need to evolve with it and I think it would be difficult to do that if you don’t have that determination to pave a way for yourself.
I take a lot of inspiration from Kobe Bryant’s renowned Mamba Mentality. There is always something new that can be learned or something that can be improved. I carry this into everything that I do. When I am working on projects my go-to isn’t to settle with the first idea. It’s “right, we have a base, so how can we push this further?” Having the mindset of not just settling for something good or something that just “does its job” makes you a stronger person as well as a better creative. This doesn’t mean overcomplicating a design but exploring avenues that could help take it to the next level and really make an impact.
What do you love most about working in design and illustration?
Honestly, most things! I love being able to work in sports. As someone who initially wanted to be a footballer as a young kid, it’s a privilege to still be able to do what I love and be right in the thick of the sports world. I have been fortunate to work on some incredible projects and it is so special to be able to play a part in ones that are so important too. I also love the collaboration between myself and my clients. I think sometimes people forget that while we bring a specific skillset to a client, they also bring their expertise to us as well. It’s a huge opportunity to learn new things and build some good relationships with other talented people. When the collaboration clicks, that’s when we can really start to create something that makes a difference.
Where does your inspiration come from?
I take inspiration from everywhere. Whether that’s other sports creatives or artists outside of the sports realm. Not only this, but everyday life as well. If I see something in a video or on the street that I think looks good, I will take a photo of it for future reference. Most of the time I will ask myself “Why do I like this graphic? What makes it good?” That breakdown and analysis helps me in my own work because when you do this often, you find repeating patterns, i.e Poster X made me stop in the street because the design is dynamic and the typography is engaging, Billboard Y down the street captured my attention for the same reason. You start to notice real world consistencies as to what makes good design. I take a lot of inspiration from Nike as well. I love their brand, their style and their powerful marketing. Always an inspiration for my work. Their innovative values are things that I always want to achieve in my work as well.
Tell us about your approach and style – how do you describe yourself?
This is a tough question because at a base level, I would say my work thrives on that rough, graffiti, painted look and feel. But having said this, I am also not the type of designer that likes to stick to one style. I like to branch out and constantly try new things. You don’t learn and grow by doing the same thing on repeat every day, it’s important to continue developing your skills. One consistency that I pride myself on in all my work, regardless of style, is colour. I like my work to be bright, bold and full of life – regardless of style.
You’ve worked with Spurs, UCL, England, The FA, LFC, BBC Sport, Southampton, BT Sport, Aston Villa on some terrific projects – what’s been your favourite?
I am so fortunate to be able to work with all of these people and the brands they work for. There are so many projects that are right up there for me and it’s impossible for me to only pick one. Creating promo graphics for the FA Cup Final, illustrations for the UCL POTY award videos, Euros content with both England teams and recent matchday artwork for West Ham have all been some of my favourites.
What’s it been like working with your country, England and your club, Tottenham – and what’s been your favourite project with those?
It has been an absolute dream come true. Both sets of people are such a joy and a privilege to work with. My favourite project with England has to be the illustration that I did of Raheem Sterling during the Euros. Simply because it was the first project that I worked on with the team and it’s not only athletes who get excited when their national team comes calling for them!
For Spurs, I have been fortunate enough to work on a very long list of projects over the last year that I’ve been with them. One of my favourites has got to be recently working with the team and agency MATTA on all of the 22/23 kit launches. Being involved in working on one kit launch is already something worth mentioning but being across five, with the club that you have grown up supporting, is something I never thought I would be able to talk about this soon into my career.
YOUR THOUGHTS
What’s been the best work you’ve seen in sport from a fellow creative?
Neil Jameison / The Sporting Press. My word. I know a lot of fellow creatives will agree with me when I say that man is a graphic design machine.
The visual identity that he developed for both men and women’s England teams throughout the Euros is on another level and you have to mention the high level of work that he produces for Chelsea as well. His style is instantly recognisable, bold, unique, creative, everything that you could possibly ask for in a creative.
In terms of industry peers, who do you most admire?
Matt Lange, Dan Beltran, Sammy Silverman, Neil Jameison are all creatives whose work I love and hugely admire. Their work is top level and they’re all people who I love to see doing so well. They’re designers who aren’t afraid to do something different and keep on pushing those boundaries. Something that motivates and inspires me to push myself even more as well.
What’s been your proudest piece of work?
There are a few that I could pick from and some that I can’t currently share but it would have to be between the FA Cup Final promo graphics, the Raheem Sterling piece for England and the first matchday graphic that I created for West Ham. I am still really happy with how those FA Cup pieces came out and to create something for such a historical competition is a pretty cool opportunity.
What’s been the best piece of artwork you’ve seen outside of sport?
There is a poster artist that I follow on Twitter, his name is Julien Rico Jr. (@RicoJrCrea) There was this Star Wars poster that he created as a tribute to the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+ and I just love it. I love the flow of the entire piece. The way that the sand dunes flow into Darth Vader makes it seamless and I love how there is a “dark side” of this poster as well – clearly referencing a well-known line from the movies! I just think it’s a finessed and polished piece of artwork. I only started following him recently but the illustrations he has created are fantastic. The posters he has illustrated for Marvel are awesome too.
YOUR PREDICTIONS
What to look out for with design and illustration in the next year?
Animation. Graphic and illustration combinations mixed in with motion is something that we are starting to see more of across various platforms. Motion design is something that I would like to learn and add to my armoury one day in the future too and I think as an industry, we are going to start seeing more of it soon. I think this is impacted by the direction that social platforms are heading in now. With Instagram basically becoming TikTok, there is a higher demand and expectation on short videos. We have already seen that football clubs and its players have been creating a lot more video content since TikTok burst on to the scene, I think it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing motion incorporated into a lot more design projects. Not just socials either, commercial sports design as well. You may already notice that your marketing emails now have GIFs, video links or some pulsing “Buy Now” button to capture your attention. Even if you have received emails like this in the past, it’s certainly something that is occurring more frequently.
Finally, any exciting projects you’ve got in the pipeline that you can tell us about?
I do, but unfortunately nothing that I can share publicly currently!
Paul Brown 