{"id":12,"date":"2017-01-06T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-06T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/everpress.local.com\/?p=12"},"modified":"2018-05-29T20:28:32","modified_gmt":"2018-05-29T19:28:32","slug":"get-to-know-josh-mckenna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/get-to-know-josh-mckenna\/","title":{"rendered":"Get to Know: Josh McKenna"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey Josh, Tell us about how you first got into design:<\/h3>\n

When I graduated from University I moved straight to London. I worked hard to secure contacts in the industry whilst I was getting to know everything about the design and illustration world. I picked up small jobs to start with and before I knew it I was creating work for window displays on Oxford St.<\/p>\n

\"Josh
Josh McKenna, Debenhams Summer Window 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How did you come up with the concept and visuals for the Everpress page?<\/h3>\n

I worked together with Everpress Founder Alex to come up with the four concepts. I initially drew them up before stripping them back to keep things nice and simple. The challenge came with introducing the bright Everpress green as it\u2019s a colour I would never usually work into my designs – but I added a milky tone to it and a complimentary pink and it worked out really well.<\/p>\n

\"Josh
Josh McKenna, Everpress Support Page Illustrations<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What do you usually look for in a t-shirt?<\/h3>\n

Simplicity! I like them to be structured, heavy cotton t-shirts that fit like old American work shirts. I prefer more formal shirts to be boxy with square sleeves and a thick collar. I\u2019ve done some work for Acne Studios and love the colours from their collections – the Acne Pink for example is very complimentary to my work.<\/p>\n

What has drawn you to feature so many palm trees and tropical plants in your work?<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m from Cornwall and the summer there is very tropical. Palm trees are everywhere and there\u2019s beaches and crystal clear water all around – I guess that my inspiration stems from there. I also visited Barcelona a few years ago which gave me a similar type of inspiration.<\/p>\n

\"\u2014Josh
Josh McKenna for Refinery 29<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Who\/what are the main influences in your work?<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s quite easy to say my work has been inspired in the past by the 80\u2019s decade. It was such an expressional decade; the adverts were sexy and surreal and just a bit bizarre. I like to use them as inspiration and apply them to my work. My colour palette is very LA \/ art deco inspired, I love warm summery tones and have kept my palette quite minimal and strict.<\/p>\n

What are your favourite pieces of merch that you\u2019ve seen over the years?<\/h3>\n

In the summer I really liked the NTS and Carhartt merch designed by Adam Tickle. I got a really nice pink tee with a script typeface on the back saying \u201cSend Me Your\u00a0Love”.<\/p>\n

\"Adam
Adam Tickle, NTS x Carhartt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you could work with one other designer who would it be?<\/h3>\n

Braulio Amado is a great designer I was lucky enough to meet once. I love his work, It\u2019s very surreal, a bit dirty and very cool, grotesque figures and distorted limbs with beautiful gradients and shapes. I would love to work with him.<\/p>\n

See more of Josh\u2019s work here<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Josh
Josh McKenna, Sun\u2019s Out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We caught up with East London illustrator and designer Josh McKenna.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13,51],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2244,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions\/2244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}