In the first of a new series of monthly conversations, UNP Founder Grant Scott speaks with award winning creative director and editorial designer Mark Porter, about visual storytelling, design systems and how photographers need to stand out, to be seen.

Mark Porter
Porter was born in Scotland in 1960, where he lived until he was 6 years of age, before moving to England. He studied Modern Languages at Oxford University and his first design job was on a magazine about wine, selling advertising to Spanish winemakers. From there he worked on a contract magazine titled Expression; a magazine for people with American Express cards. He subsequently worked as the art director on magazines such as Colors with the iconic art director Tibor Kalman and the UK version ofWired magazine, before becoming Creative Director of The Guardian, where he introduced a design philosophy and visual identity, which helped it become one of the world’s most recognisable news organisations. The redesign was voted best-designed newspaper in the world by the US-based Society for News Design in 2006. In 2010 he set up Mark Porter Associates, working for a list of high profile clients such as The Sunday Times, Domus, Bloomberg Television, L’Express and the V&A Museum, amongst others, across print, broadcast, and digital media. Porter’s work has been been awarded multiple honours, including World’s Best Designed at the SND awards, Gold at the SPD awards, and the legendary D&AD Black Pencil. His work has been shown in numerous international exhibitions and galleries, including the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Design Museum in London. Porter has also written on design for the prestigous Eye magazine. He lives and works in Bath, England. https://markporter.com

Dr.Grant Scott
After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

© Grant Scott 2026