Alex McDowell


Alex McDowell RDI is a British production designer and creative director working in narrative media.

Early work

Alex McDowell was born in Borneo, Malaysia, to British parents. His father, H Blair McDowell, was an engineer for Royal Dutch Shell, and his brother, Jonathan McDowell, is a London-based architect at Matter Architecture. He attended Quaker boarding schools in the UK from age 7 to 18.
McDowell studied fine art at the Central [School of Art and Design] in London. In 1975, he and Sebastian Conran staged the Sex Pistols’ first headline gig. He then designed and printed T-shirts for Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's King's Road shop Sex. In 1978, he and musician Glen Matlock co-founded graphic studio Rocking Russian Design. McDowell designed album covers for punk rock groups and musicians, including Rich Kids, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Clash, Athletico Spizz 80, and Iggy Pop.
In 1979, McDowell was commissioned to design Pop's Soldier album. He was production designer and producer of Iggy Pop's first music videos during that time. In 1981, he co-founded the design studio Da Gama, alongside typographer and designer John Warwicker. He began to work with director Tim Pope, designing a series of videos for The Cure. Pope and McDowell made a video with Depeche Mode at the Berlin Wall, with Queen in Munich, and Neil Young in California. In 1986, McDowell moved to Los Angeles.
During the late 1980s and 1990s, he designed the sets for music videos, including artists like Madonna, Michael Jackson, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, and others. He worked at Limelight, where he designed and directed music videos, including "Paradise" for Nigerian singer Sade. He later worked at Propaganda Films, designing sets for Madonna's videos "Express Yourself", "Oh Father", and "Vogue", and commercials for companies like Levi's, Converse, Nike, Pepsi, Revlon, Sony, Coca-Cola Company|Coca-Cola], and Chanel.
McDowell's first feature, The [Lawnmower Man (film)|The Lawnmower Man], was the first film to use virtual reality, with the advice of NASA consultant Scott Fisher. Following this, he designed The Crow.

Current work

McDowell is a Professor of Cinema Practice at the University of Southern California. McDowell was named the William Cameron Menzies Endowed Chair in Production Design in 2014. He directs the USC World Building Media Lab and World Building Institute.

World Building Institute

In October 2008, McDowell founded the World Building Institute. From 2007 to 2016, the World Building Institute hosted the Science of Fiction Festival every 18 months. Founded on McDowell's principle of "design is a sharp knife', the event's purpose was to break down the silos in the media industries and to promote an integration of design, technology and science. Its audiences were cross-industry, multi-disciplined and complex and included high school children and corporate leaders. The World Building Institute has also hosted workshops and events including at the Berlin Film Festival and at the Berlinale Talents.

Filmography

As Production Designer

As a Consultant

As Co-Producer

Awards

In 2002, McDowell won a San Diego Film Critics Society award in the Best Production Design category for his work on Minority Report and, in 2004, an Art Directors Guild award for Excellence in Production Design for The Terminal. In 2006, McDowell was named Royal Designer for Industry by the RSA, a design society, and was appointed Visiting Artist at the MIT Media Lab. In April 2015, McDowell was awarded the BritWeek Business Innovation Award.