Margo Chase on entertainment design

“The Buffy [the Vampire Slayer] project came as a result of the logo we did for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. For a few years we got every vampire project there was. Style can be a trap though. When I got tired of designing for vampires, it took years and lots of fast-talking to convince more conservative clients that I had breadth. They were afraid they were going to get ‘Buffy the Cosmetics Line,’ or ‘Dracula the Financial Services Company’ if they hired me.

Working with celebrities has its good and bad aspects. It’s wonderful to work with talented artists who have great vision. Designers who work with celebrities like Madonna get lots of exposure and even some celebrity by association. And, of course, it’s fun to do cool work. The downside is that design for entertainment isn’t usually valued in the same way that design for other products is. Design doesn’t sell music; music sells music. Design for the music business is often seen as a decorative commodity, so the budgets are often quite small and the deadlines are extremely short.”

— Margo Chase (via Women of Design)