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Episode
30

A Life of Food & Restaurant Branding with Louise Fili

An interview with
Louise Fili

Introduction

On this weeks episode Ian Paget interviews Louise Fili, an Italian-American graphic designer who’s specialised in brand development for food packaging and restaurants for the past 30 years. We discuss how she discovered her niche, her logo design process, typography design, her incredible books and so much more.

Louise Fili is a member of the Art Directors Hall of Fame, and has received the medal for Lifetime Achievement from the AIGA and the Type Directors Club.

Louise Fili Interview Transcription

Ian Paget: Following an art director role at Pantheon Books, I understand that you started your own business to work on brand development for food packaging in restaurants. What was the reason why you chose to start out on your own?

Louise Fili: Well, when I started out as Art Director at Pantheon, it was kind of a grim time in publishing. No risks were being taken. Everyone seemed to think that type on jackets had to be big and vulgar. But I was on a mission to prove that you didn’t have to shout to capture someone’s attention. The cover that I did for The Lover, by Marguerite Duras, was probably the best example of that. Because this author was relatively unknown in the U.S., although she was a celebrity in France. And in spite of that, and in spite of the very understated cover that I did, the book became a runaway best seller. So, I think I proved my point.