IF you know Glasgow then there is no doubt you’ll know their work.
Andrew Stevenson and David Whyte are the creative minds behind some of the city’s most instantly recognisable branding.
They dreamt up People Make Glasgow, they branded the Commonwealth Games and they even developed the imagery for the Turner Prize.
But while you recognise the distinctive hot pink logo declaring People Make Glasgow, you might never have heard of David or Andrew.
The pair own and run Tangent Graphic - a small studio that has helped create some of the largest designs in the city.
And the largest of those is the huge People Make Glasgow wraparound on the former College of Building and Printing.
Having their design brandished in such a visible way on the city centre building is a particular honour - as this is where the pair studied and became friends.
Andrew, 34, said: "We were both students at the College of Building and Printing, where we got to know one another.
"When we left, we both got jobs but were also freelancing a lot.
"After a couple of years we wanted to have a go at doing our own thing. Freelancing had brought us in some good clients and it just built up from there."
David, 38, added: "The name Tangent was chosen to represent the fact we were not fixed in any one direction but could go work on a range of different projects for different types of clients - we could go off on a tangent."
The very early days of the business saw David and Andrew take on clients such as Cafe Gandolfi, in the Merchant City, the SECC, the River Festival and Merchant City Festival.
Andrew said: “Our work spoke for itself. If people see our work then they’ll ask, ‘who did that?’ and so you end up with clients through word of mouth.
"We were still in our early 20s and we didn’t really know what we were doing but the freelance work lead to us having bigger and bigger clients.
“Because we started the business so early out of college we have always done things our own way. You would normally learn your craft in other agencies then do your own thing but we have done it our own way from the start.
“We didn’t have account managers and design teams - it was just us.
“First and foremost, we were - and still are - designers who run a business."
David, from Bearsden, added: "Eventually we took on a third member of staff and it was such a big deal - hiring another member of staff. It seems like nothing now but at the time it was a huge milestone - we almost couldn't believe we were doing it."
In 2010, Tangent took on its biggest piece of work yet - the firm had successfully pitched to design the branding and dress Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games.
The project meant designing absolutely everything Games-related - from the pictograms showing each sport at the Games venues to the branding for the BBC to all the written materials, tickets, maps and passes.
Four companies - two large and two small - pitched for the Games.
Andrew said: "We were always the underdog but we weren't surprised to win and we didn't think we were getting ahead of ourselves because we knew our pitch was good and we knew we could do the work.
"After we won the pitch we began to upsize our staff - but we were taking on one new staff member for every 500 the Games organisers were taking on."
Although the staff swelled to 20 during the Games, it was all hands on deck to make sure the entire city was dressed for the event.
Some of the work was especially hands-on.
Games boss David Grevenburg is a former wrestler and so he wanted to cast a close eye across the branding for that sport.
However, the chief executive felt the pictogram wasn’t quite right... and when words failed him he decided to demonstrate - by grabbing Andrew and holding him in a suplex wrestling move, only just stopping short of flipping him upside down.
Tangent's designs adorned the whole city and reached a television audience of 1.6billion people.
Andrew said: "At the end of it all we had to step back and think, 'that was pretty intense'. It was a big crescendo to years of hard work.
"The lead up to the Games was exhausting but it was amazing to walk around the city and see our work literally everywhere. It was incredible."
The People Make Glasgow branding was launched at the same time as the firm was keeping on top of its Commonwealth Games work.
As the Games logos were so colourful, the Tangent designers had the challenge of choosing a design that would stand out - without clashing with the Glasgow 2015 colours.
This is why the People Make Glasgow sign is hot pink - or, as the designers call it, rubine red.
David said: "When we were designing the branding for Glasgow the Commonwealth Games branding was everywhere and we had to think, 'How can the city branding stand out from it?'
"We wanted it to speak of the city and of the people in the city - the design came from crowd sourcing, which was the first time this had been done - and it was all about the people.
"We wanted it to be really in your face - hence the colour."
Andrew added: "It was an honour to be asked. Although we were swamped with the Commonwealth Games, turn down the chance to brand your own city? We weren't going to do that.
"There was a little bit of controversy when the design was first revealed but we think the response was mostly positive and we hope people love it now."
With the Turner Prize in the city, Tangent's work can still be seen around Glasgow.
But now the firm is looking to the future with a partnership that will allow them to manufacture their own materials.
This, David says, will let them be even more creative in their endeavours to show of Glasgow to the world.
David added: "Our next step is to launch Look, which will be a move into manufacturing and an avenue into being able to do more inventive work.
"We have plenty of plans for the years ahead."
