Spotlight: Lawrence Azerrad

Alumnus and independent graphic designer and art director Lawrence Azerrad runs LAD studio out of Los Angeles producing work in film, print, and digital media since 2001. He also is an instructor at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and also has taught at The Academy of Art University, Graduate School of Graphic Design in San Francisco, as well as serving on the Graphic Design Thesis review committee at CCA.

LAD clients include UCLA Live, Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, Spa Luce, surf legend Laird Hamilton, and Heal the Bay. Music-industry clients for whom Azerrad has worked, both as an art director at Warner Bros. + Reprise Records and as an independent designer, run an impressive gamut: Wilco, Foo Fighters, Paul McCartney, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Miles Davis, and Elvis Costello.

Azerrad created the artwork for many of rock band Wilco’s releases, including the critically acclaimed Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Ironically, Azerrad had not planned to attend Wilco’s unprecedented four-night appearance last year in Chicago at which the band played its entire catalog. Yet his wife, a record company executive, emailed him insisting he fly out at once. That experience became one of the defining moments of Azerrad’s career.

“I was in the balcony waiting for the concert to start,” he explains. “I’m looking down on the audience, and as the band comes out the whole house fills with screaming Wilco fans, and I was thinking to myself that all of these people have interacted with a piece of art that I’ve made. It’s really fulfilling to realize that.”

Despite the wide array of clients and the remarkable accomplishments and successes, Azerrad considers his work with Wilco to be some of his most satisfying work. “It’s probably the most recognizable work I’ve done, and it’s been great to be a part of such a cool experience.”

Azerrad had decided to work in the music industry while still a student at CCA. He had chosen to attend CCA because he was attracted to the unique balance of perspectives the teachers offered coupled with the tangible sense of community the college offers. “Other schools seemed to have some real extremes in the pedagogy,” he explains. “CCAC had a really rich and diverse balance of conceptual and critical thinking, but also a level of application that was really inspiring.”

Initially part of CCA’s Illustration Program, Azerrad quickly changed his major to graphic design after attending an on-campus lecture that addressed graphic design. “It was standing room only in Macky Hall, and David Carson spoke. I had no idea who he was or what he did, but he made me realize I wanted to be a graphic designer.”

Azerrad recognized a connection to society through design. It was a lightbulb-turns-on moment for him: “Working in the music industry has given me the opportunity through album package art to connect to people emotionally through design,” he explains. “People remember certain album covers at certain points in their life. If some element of design that I’ve had a part of can be a part of someone else’s life, that can be really fulfilling.”

Born in 1973 in Los Angeles

CCA degree:
BFA 1995, Graphic Design

Residence:
Los Angeles

Current occupation:
Principal, LAD Design

Influences at CCA:
Larry Sultan, Michael Vanderbyl, Bob Aufuldish, Barry Katz

Website:
www.laddesign.net