ABOUT
Niall McCormack is a commercial artist based in Dublin, Ireland. He specialises in music packaging and book design.
A graduate of the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Niall has created numerous LP and CD covers for Ace Records as well as sleeves for Vampisoul, Tru Thoughts, Domino, WFMU, Demon Music Group, Planet Mu and Fire Records. His artwork graces book covers published by Vintage, Faber & Faber, Profile, The Lilliput Press, Gorse and Poetry Ireland.
He writes about Irish book cover design on his blog: Vintage Irish Book Covers and has curated exhibitions of book cover art including a retrospective of the work of Dutch designer Cor Klaasen and Green Sleeves: The Irish Printed Record Cover, 1955–2017, co-curated with Dr Ciarán Swan. He wrote the introduction to Vintage Values, a book of cover art from the Catholic Truth Society of Ireland archive spanning the 1920s to the 1960s.
Niall is a member of Illustrators Ireland, the Society of Illustrators and the Ephemera Society.
Contact: niall [at] hitone [dot] ie
CLIENTS
Music Industry
Ace Records / Kent Records / Big Beat Records / Vampisoul / Munster / Tru Thoughts / Innovative Leisure / Fire Records / Domino / Demon Music Group / WFMU / RTÉ / SGO Music / Planet Mu / White Plague / Transduction
Publishing
The Lilliput Press / Faber & Faber / Profile Books / Vintage Books / Gorse / New Island / Little Island / Martello Publishing / UCD Press / Chartered Accountants Ireland / Poetry Ireland / The Book Show RTÉ
Promoters / Arts Companies
U:mack Productions / Farcry Productions / Young Hearts Run Free
EXHIBITIONS
Solo
Two Dozen: U:mack posters by Hi Tone, The Bernard Shaw, Dublin, February to April 2018
Group
The Liffey Swim, Damn Fine Print, Om Diva, Dublin, August 2019
Welcome to the Flock, Illustrators Ireland, Garter Lane, Waterford, May 2019
CULTure, Damn Fine Print Risograph Exhibition, Frame, Dublin, November 2017
Slangover, UsFolk, Framewerk, Belfast, Belfast Design Week, November 2017
The State of Us, Illustrators Ireland, The Chocolate Factory, Dublin, June 2017
Colouring Between the Lines, curated by Offset at Só Collective, Kildare Village, March 2017
The Big Screen Print, Damn Fine Print, Dublin, December 2016
Drawn to the Music, Society of Illustrators, New York, November 2016
Without the Words, Illustrators Ireland, Luan Gallery, Athlone, November 2016
Judging by the Cover, Illustrators Ireland, Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick, October 2016
Dancing in the Moonlight, Damn Fine Print, Bram Stoker Festival, Dublin, October 2015
Comics, Covers & Children's, Illustrators Ireland, Central Library, Dublin, October 2015
Culture Vultures, Mashmob, Belfast, September 2015
El Arte del Reggae Exposición, Chetumal, Mexico, August 2015
Facial Expressions, Illustrators Ireland, United Arts Club, Dublin, March 2015
The Bernard Shaw Xmas Exhibition, The Bernard Shaw, Dublin, December 2014
Gorse No. 2 Launch, The Library Project, Dublin, November 2014
Mythical Beasts, Illustrators Ireland, United Arts Club, Dublin, July 2014
Illustrating Our Landmarks, Society of Illustrators, New York, June 2014
Illustrators 56, Society of Illustrators, Travelling Show, 2014
Illustrators 56, Society of Illustrators, New York, Jan 2014
Sounds Damn Fine, Block T, Dublin, Nov 2013
Mess It Up! Movember Poster Exhibition, RHA Gallery, Dublin, Nov 2013
Hollywood Babylon, Poster Exhibition and Season Launch, Block T, Dublin, Oct 2013
The Art of Superstition, Illustrators Ireland, The Copper House Gallery, Dublin, Oct 2013
Giselle, Pointe Blank 4, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Belfast, Dublin, Birmingham, July 2013
The Illustrated Beatles, Illustrators Ireland, Dublin, Newbridge, Belfast, Boyle, Skerries, 2012/13
Illustrators Ireland, United Arts Club, Dublin, Jan 2013
Damn Fine Dublin, Block T, Dublin, Dec 2012
Screenadelica, Liverpool Sound City, Liverpool, 2010
Curated
Grand Stuff: Label Art from Ireland, National Print Museum Dublin, November 2022.
Green Sleeves: The Irish Printed Record Cover 1955–2017, National Print Museum Dublin, May 2017. Co-curated with Dr. Ciarán Swan
Vintage Irish Book Covers, Marathon Irish, Dialogue Cultural Space, Vyner Street, London, September 2012
Cor Klaasen: Jackets, Cover & Sleeves, Design Week, Dublin, November 2010
Vintage Irish Book Covers, Culture Night, Mary's Abbey, Dublin, September 2010
Irish Book Cover Art 1930s – 1970s, The Winding Stair Bookshop, Dublin, March 2010
AWARDS
AOI World Illustration Awards 2017 (Shortlisted)
The Design Observer in association with AIGA, 50 Books | 50 Covers 2015 (Winner)
Society of Illustrators, Illustrators 56 (Silver Medal)
Irish Print Awards 2015, Book Printer of the Year, Nicholson Bass for On Leaving by David Monahan
Associazione Autori di Immagini, AI Annual 2015 (Selected)
Association of Illustrators Awards 2014 (3 x Shortlisted)
International Reggae Poster Competition 2014 (Selected)
COLLECTIONS
The National Gallery of Ireland Collection, swimswamswum, The Liffey Swim Collection, Damn Fine Print
TALKS
ART/POP, In conversion with Steve Averill, Dún Laoghaire Vinyl Festival, November, 2018
Young Hearts Run Free at Another Love Story with Ruan Van Vliet, August, 2018
Put It On: Insights into the Creative Process of Representing Sound, Spirit Store, Dundalk, March 2018
Myth and Meaning: Visual representations of Irish traditional music on printed record sleeves produced in Ireland, 1958–1986, Nótaí/Notes: Music and Ireland Research Symposium, NUI Galway, March 2018
Two Dozen: U:mack posters by Hi Tone, Talk, The Bernard Shaw, Dublin, March 2018
Green Sleeves: Constructing the Exhibition, Green Sleeves Symposium, May 2017, with Dr Ciarán Swan
Irish Book Cover Design, 1920–1970, DIT, April 2017
Hiding in plain sight: Irish commercial label art, an overlooked letterpress aesthetic, From craft to technology and back again Conference, National Print Museum, Dublin, March 2017
Institute of Designers in Ireland, Bread & Butter, Dublin, June 2016
New Irish Publishing panel discussion, Offset Dublin, April 2016
Soul Type: The Ludlow Typograph and 1960s Chicago Soul 45rpm Record Label Art, Face Forward Dublin, December 2015
Peter Maybury in conversation with Niall McCormack, Face Forward Dublin, December 2015
Publishing Ireland Design Day, September 2015
The Dublin Metropolitan School of Art and Irish Book Designers of the 1930s and 40s, Heritage Week, Drumcondra Library, August 2015
Graphic Design in 20th Century Ireland, panel discussion with Mary Ann Bolger and Linda King, Offset, March 2015
Book cover design panel discussion, Offset, March 2014
Irish Book Cover Design, 1920–1970, DIT, February 2014
Illustrating Design – Past, Present & Future, The Copper House Gallery, Oct 2013
Reading Pictures, a celebration of Irish children's books and illustration, RHA Gallery, March 2013
Ballyfermot College of Further Education, March 2013
Typography Ireland, GradCam, NCAD, Feb 2013
Offshoot 4, Presenting the work of Cor Klaasen, Sugar Club, Nov 2010
WRITING
Grand Stuff: Label Art from Ireland (Hi Tone Books 2022)
Foreword, Throw Away: Dublin Club Flyers 1990–1999, edited by Ciarán Nugent and Peter Maybury (2022)
Myth, Meaning and Modernity: Printed Record Sleeves and Visual Representations of Irish Music, 1958–86, co-written with Dr. Ciarán Swan, Éire-Ireland, Spring/Summer 2019
Victor Penney Advertising Artist: Commercial art in Ireland in the 1930s and 1940s, Campaign No. 12 (ICAD 2016)
Face Forward: Pressing Ahead, The ideological bias of letterpress, Design Observer, March 2016
Design in 20th Century Ireland, WaysAndMeans, Issue One, 2015
Vintage Values – Classic Pamphlet Cover Design from 20th Century Ireland (Veritas 2013), Introduction by Niall McCormack
Cor Klaasen, Jackets, Covers & Sleeves: Groundbreaking design from the Sixties and Seventies (Vintage Irish Book Covers 2010)
PRESS/INTERVIEWS/FEATURED WORK
No No No No Yes, edited by David Dunn (D&B Books, 2019)
World Illustration Awards 2017, catalogue, AOI, Sept 2017
Creative Dublin: Niall McCormack, Commercial Artist, interview, Dublin.ie, June 2017
Help Jamaica! Calendar 2016, HELP Jamaica!, Kingston, Jamaica, Oct 2015
AI Annual 2015 (Associazione Autori di Immagini)
Ace Records interview, Jan 2015
Illustrators 56 (Society of Illustrators, 2014)
Raw Data: Infographic Designers' Sketchbooks, Steven Heller & Rick Landers (Thames & Hudson/Princeton Architectural Press, 2014)
Le Cool, Dublin, December 2013
Illustrators at Work interview, October 2013
The Irish Times, Friday, June 8, 2012
Mojo Magazine, Issue 213, August 2011
Hot Press, 800th Issue Special Edition, February 2011
Totally Dublin, June 2009
State Magazine, May 2008
Underground, Image text sound editions, 2008
LINKS
Twitter: @hitoneie
Hi Tone Books: www.hitonebooks