Nick Bax is a British designer whose practice has spanned the fields of graphics, creative direction and art. Bax was part of the world-renowned Designers Republic team for 15 years before launching the creative agency Human in 2007. Bax is also co-founder of the Computer Club music label. Bax is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and a visiting lecturer in design and visual communication at various universities and institutions. He is currently a trustee of the charity Sheffield Flourish and ROAR, an ambassador for Eureka! National Children’s Museum, an advisor on cultural engagement for the University of Sheffield and serves on the Partnership Advisory Board for WRoCAH.
Early life
Nick Bax was born in Huddersfield, England in 1970. He attended Maltby Comprehensive School from 1981–1986, studied art and design at Rotherham College of Arts & Technology from 1986–1988 and graphic design at North EssexSchool of Art from 1988–1990.
In 1990 Bax became a member of The Designers Republic and helped to establish it as one of the most influential graphic design companies in the world. Activity during this time was primarily for the music industry, including record covers for Pop Will Eat Itself, The Orb and Warp Records.
In 2007 Bax founded Humanstudio, a multi-disciplinary design team. Human have worked with various music artists including Dubfire, Richie Hawtin, Deep Dish, Application, Supergrass and The Black Dog. The team have completed design projects for organisations such as MTV, Roewe, Swatch, Kilgour, TIGI, University of Sheffield, Arts Council, The Hepworth Wakefield, Seaborn, Channel 4 and Urban Splash. Human have produced artwork for numerous music labels including SCI+TEC, CPU, Shabby Doll Records, mau5trap, Virgin EMI, Deep Dish Records, Dust Science, Soma, Computer Club, Parlophone, Warner Music and K7 Music. Work by Human has featured in various publications and websites around the world including Design Week, Eye Magazine, and The Guardian. The team have exhibited work extensively in galleries and venues in Europe, Japan, Brazil and the United States. Human created visuals for 'Sounds of the Cosmos' which was performed at The Octagon Centre, The Crucible Theatre and Latitude Festival 2015. The exhibition 'SHEFFIELD>>>TOKYO + <3' took place at the Calm&Punk Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, in October 2015. The show featured a combination of 3D printing and animation created by the Human team. In 2016 Bax was one of 50+ artists commissioned to create an elephant for the Herd of Sheffield citywide art event. His design 'LIZZIETRON 2.2' was displayed outside the University of Sheffield Diamond building from July–September and the Meadowhall Centre, 14–16 October 2016. The piece was auctioned at the Crucible Theatre on 20 October 2016, raising £5,900 for Sheffield Children's Hospital. 'The Art of SCI+TEC', an exhibition of Human's designs for the SCI+TEC music label was shown in Barcelona during June 2017, 2012 and 2011.
