Simon Halfon is a graphic designer most noted for his work with

The Jam The Jam were an English mod revival/ punk rock band formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, Surrey. They released 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December 198 ...

The Style Council The Style Council were a British musical ensemble, band formed in late 1982 by Paul Weller, the former singer, songwriter and guitarist with the punk rock/New wave music, new wave/mod revival band the Jam, and keyboardist Mick Talbot, previousl ...

, and

Paul Weller Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul m ...

. Halfon has also worked with

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

Nick Heyward Nicholas Heyward (born 20 May 1961) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He came to international attention in the early 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter for Haircut One Hundred. He and the band parted ways after their first alb ...

and

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

, among others. Halfon's most visible work has focused on solid inspiration from the design of the 1960s. He has, however, displayed examples of a more current and sleek style as well. His work on the Style Council's house music efforts was noticed by

, who had Halfon apply a similar approach to his '' Listen Without Prejudice'' album in 1990.

Designs with Weller

Halfon began working for Paul Weller in 1983. Designing record sleeves for The Style Council starting with 1983's ''

Café Bleu ''Café Bleu'' is the official debut album released by the English band The Style Council. It was released on 16 March 1984, on Polydor Records, produced by Paul Weller with Peter Wilson. It followed the compilation '' Introducing The Style Cou ...

'' The Style Council sleeves had a contemporary feel with a close eye on sixties design. The Style Council made a bold turn into contemporary Rhythm and Blues in 1987. Halfon designed the

International Orange International orange is a color used in the aerospace industry to set objects apart from their surroundings, similar to safety orange, but deeper and with a more reddish tone. Variations of international orange Aerospace The Advanced C ...

gatefold sleeve for their ''

The Cost of Loving ''The Cost of Loving'' is the third studio album by English band The Style Council. It was originally released in February 1987. The album was recorded over a period of three months in 1986, at Solid Bond Studios (owned by their lead vocalist, P ...

'' album. The shade of orange is noted for its use in "setting things apart from their surroundings", but in the case of the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...

it is also seen as a master stroke of beauty. The Style Council's sleeve was a hefty gatefold containing two solid slabs of 12" vinyl EPs and was swathed entirely in the color, opening the gatefold reveals high-contrast black and white photographs of the group, a crisp visual contrast that might have been a commentary on music as well (black and white). This was Halfon's homage to Richard Hamilton's cover art for The Beatles 'white album'. Halfon borrowed from Peter Blake's "The First Real Target" for the debut single by The Paul Weller Movement. On Weller's "Out of the Sinking" single, it seems Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin On" cover may be referenced. The single came from an album (1995's '' Stanley Road'') that made deliberate reference to the Beatles with its title and Peter Blake ('' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'') cover

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

(design supervised by Halfon). After "Out of the Sinking", and as the album was released for journalistic review with the Blake cover, the British press started hailing Weller's renewed stature in British rock history. Halfon has also worked with Oasis for many years designing record sleeves and taking behind the scenes photographs of the group. 2006 saw Halfon reuniting with Peter Blake to work on the cover of '' Stop the Clocks'', The Best Of Oasis. Halfon has created record sleeves for numerous artists including The Who, James Brown and John Lennon. He is also known for his work with George Michael most notably 1990's ''Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1''. A simple yet iconic album cover using

Weegee Arthur (Usher) Fellig (June 12, 1899 – December 26, 1968), known by his pseudonym Weegee, was a photography, photographer and photojournalism, photojournalist, known for his stark black and white street photography in New York City. Weegee w ...

's famous Coney Island photograph.

Film

In 2007, he produced his first feature film, ''

Sleuth Sleuth may refer to: * Detective *Sleuth, collective noun for a group of bears Computing * The Sleuth Kit, a collection of forensic analysis software *SLEUTH assembler language for the UNIVAC 1107 Entertainment and media *Cloo Cloo (stylized ...

'', starring

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

and

Jude Law David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972) is an English actor. He received a British Academy Film Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, two Tony Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. In 2007, he received an Honorary Césa ...

. The film was directed by

Kenneth Branagh Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Branagh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and has served as its president since 2015. He has won an Academy Award, four BAFTAs (plus t ...

with a screenplay written by

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halfon, Simon British graphic designers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)