Michael MacGarry is a creative director based in Johannesburg focused on engaging, practical audience-centred solutions across print, interface, moving image and exhibition applications.
As a visual designer Michael has twenty years experience both locally and in Europe. Michael’s design practice specialises in editorial, corporate identity, print, exhibition and interface design applications. He is the author of Skill Set One: Graphic Design, a 35 000-word, 180-page reference book on South African graphic design, published by DK Publishing. As a commercials director Michael has five years experience working with brands such as Toyota, DSTV, Tiger Brands, Chivas Regal and Appletiser, his work features a cinematic sensibility coupled with a strong graphic look. Michael’s piece for Albany ‘Small’ was voted South Africa’s favourite television commercial by Millard Brown (2015). As a freelance writer Michael has written for Design Indaba, House & Leisure, and Business Day Wanted magazines.
Michael holds an MFA (Distinction) from the University of the Witwatersrand, is a recipient of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award (2010) and a Fellow of the Gordon Institute of Performing and Creative Arts (GIPCA) at the University of Cape Town. As a filmmaker Michael has shown internationally for more than ten years including TATE Modern, Guggenheim Bilbao and Iziko South African National Gallery, and included on over 40 international film festivals including VideoBrasil (Sao Paulo), Film Festival Oberhausen, International Film Festival Rotterdam and Les Rencontres Internationales (Paris/Berlin).