DiseĂąo Cultura Cultura del Progetto Design Culture
ChloĂŤ Galea - Deesign Context
- International Design Culture
Dise単o Cultura Cultura del Progetto Design Culture
- International Design Culture
02 - DiseĂąo Cultura, Cultura del Progetto, Design Culture
ChloĂŤ Galea
Contents
Contents - 03
Forward
05
The USA & Canada - Space Camp / Interview - Michael Freimuth / Case Study - Julien Vallée / Case Study
07 08 14 16
Scandinavia - Oh Yeah Studio / Interview - Lundgren + Lindquist / Case Study - Heydays / Case Study - Your Friends / Case Study
19 20 26 28 30
Europe
- Hort / Interview - Ice Cream For Free / Case Study - Conor Cronin / Case Study - Contemporary Dutch graphic design: an insider/outsider’s view / Essay - Musa / Interview
33 34 40 42 44
UK
- Made Thought / Case Study - Marque / Case Study - Design Process / Case Study - Non-Format / Interview - Practise / Case Study
48 55 56 58 60 62 68
South Africa - Jordan Metcalf / Interview
71 72
Asia
79 80 82
- Milkxhake / Case Study - Nakajima Design / Interview
Australia - Finn Creative / Interview - James Kape / Case Study - AFOM / Case Study
87 88 94 96
Latin America - Pablo Alfieri / Case Study
99 100
Map Acknowledgments Contacts
102 106 108
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ChloĂŤ Galea
Forward
Introduction - 05
‘More than any other form of art, graphic design directly reflects the prevailing historical, economic, political and social contexts. Its apparent significance or relevance is therefore altered (lost, improved or damaged) by a change of context. Graphic design does not exist in a vacuum. Its position depends on the system of relationships between the commissioner, public and designer.’ - Peter Bilak
Through the pages of this book I have collated a range of opinions, thoughts and case studies on the international design studios that have been a continual source of inspiration to me since I began my studies. The aim was to look at the effect of culture on the disciple of graphic design. By no means is this a thorough investigation and only observations not conclusions can be made from it. However this is not to say that it isn’t insightful, only the studios I have chosen to investigate and speak to are simply ones that inspire me personally, thus not taking in a full and fair range needed to draw conclusions on this large topic. These are the people I look to daily for inspiration and guidance. So much so it has been a pleasure to bring them together in this book as in many respects it has felt like visiting old friends. This book’s contents is a pared back and refined version of the context to my design, giving only a brief introduction to how I see the world of graphic design, and thus doesn’t cover all that influences my work.
The theme of international design culture is of much interest to me, and more often than not I am drawn to design from other countries. It is not only the design as a product that fascinates me, but also the studio culture and whole approach taken to graphic design. It has become apparent through investigation such as for this book, which cultures design I appreciate the most. In turn this has inspired me to learn more about the countries that create these incredible studios and it has also given me a focus to the countries I may wish to work in if the opportunity ever arose in the future. This book may seem a little chaotic in its content at first, looking at illustrators, designers, art directors and so on, but I think we can take inspiration from a vast range of creative material, even if it is not within the same discipline you practice. And as I said before it is often the mentality of the studio or its studio culture that interests me not just the work. However as a general rule you can start to see that I am drawn to colour, typography, materials, production, layout, pattern and negative space. These are things that span all design from all cultures and although our culture ensures we all see the world from a slightly different angle, one thing is certain: good design will always be good design. Even if we don’t understand the meaning, symbols or imagery being used, we know when it is good!
ChloĂŤ Galea
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The USA & Canada - 07
THE USA & CANADA - Design Culture
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Space Camp Interview with Blair Farrington
Text & images from www.thespacecamp.com
ChloĂŤ Galea
- creative director
Space Camp - Victoria, Canada - 09 Vintage inspired identity that emulates retro typefaces, colour palettes and materials, traditionally found on local independent high streets. Resolution has been produced to the ‘highest calibre’ using ‘traditional presses’. Space Camp pride themselves in putting ‘the tactility of paper in peoples’ hands so they can fell the difference themselves’.
Space Camp, based in Victoria, Canada, combines a working design studio with a gallery space. They create unique identities, drawing influence from both the past and present.
The interview took place via email. -
1 | 2 | Bouma Meats / Identity, stationary & promo
Chloë Galea / How would you describe the work produced at Space Camp? Blair Farrington / I would describe the work we produce as authentically inspired. We don’t just cruise the internet for inspiration...we hit the streets and go into antique shops, look at old signs, library and archives. I think we can break down the work we do into 2 categories...“classic” and “modern”. CG / Where did the name come from? BF / The name is a two parter. We run a art/photography gallery out of our design studio and that’s where the “space” comes into our name. And we’ve set up “camp” to work on our design services in the middle of our gallery. CG / How many people work at the studio? BF / Four people and a dog. CG / How do you work - 100% on screen, with your hands, printing, taking pictures..? BF / We spend a lot of time behind our screens but we get hands on whenever we can. We actually design with getting hands on in mind for almost every project. We
hand laminated the business cards we did for Timberwolf....meaning we had 3 pieces of paper and we glued them together with photo dry mount tissue with a heat press. We are in the process right now of coffee and tea staining product hang tags for a client in Toronto and for that same client I am sewing up a custom waxed canvas outdoor sign and Graeme (the other owner) is going to hand paint it. We also work closely with our neighbor who runs a print shop. He does nothing digital nor will he ever but runs all sorts of printing presses that deboss,emboss, engrave, die cut, and foil stamp. Working with him and with his printing services in mind lets us really explore many tangible possibilities. Also three of the four of us are trained photographers and so more often than not there we take pictures to make our designs look better. For example, if we build a website and the photos that we are given to use are terrible...well then that makes our design and website look bad. So we grab our cameras and make it happen. We pride ourselves on this “hands on” service
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we provide. We really care about the work we produce and we really care about our clients and providing them with the best possible product...no matter of how long it takes or how small their budget is.
Text & images from www.thespacecamp.com
Chloë Galea
CG / How important is the physical environment in which you work? Is there a link between the space and creativity? BF / All of use worked on a freelance level before we started Space Camp. Although we all have our homes set up the way we want, home is such a limiting place and it’s really easy to neglect your design responsibilities because your in the comfort of your own home. But we love our physical environment. It’s super inspiring to be surrounded by amazing work (photos/art) in our gallery and just have a space that represents us design wise.
and rivers. With all of us growing up on Vancouver island we had adventure at our doorstep which harvested our mean case of curiosity. The wilderness of Vancouver Island really shaped us for who we are today. I think that child-like sense of adventure is still in all of us and we can feel it and subconsciously bring it into the design process. CG / How have you customized the space? How is it set up? BF / Our space is one giant room. We’ve set up a bar serving clients beer, wine or water. We also built an indoor stair case (the stoop) that is five steps deep and goes no where - just into the wall! This is a sitting feature we designed up and it can seat up to about 8 people comfortably. We have James Bond’ed up a hidden room by creating sliding gym lockers. It’s pretty rad! But for the most part it’s one big room with a client sitting area and our work space area.
CG / Does geographical location have any part to play in defining your design practice? BF / We’re based out of Victoria BC Canada on Vancouver Island. The Island is absolutely gorgeous with an enormous amount of forests with pristine lakes 1 | Space Camp / identity & stationary 2 | Timberwolf / identity & stationary 3 | The Studio
Space Camp - Victoria, Canada - 11
CG / Are you friends with the people you work with? BF / Yeah. It’s tough at times and at others I wouldn’t want it any other way. CG / Is work fun? BF / I don’t consider my work as work, more just life. But we make it as fun as possible... loud music..beers on the clock from time to time...jokes...laughs...you tube sessions. CG / How would you define your studio’s culture? BF / I don’t know how to associate culture with anything other than music so that’s how I’m going to define it. We all have
similar tastes in music..mostly Indie Rock... rock & roll..like Bob Dylan...The Rolling Stones..Tom Petty...etc. CG / What studios or designers do you admire? BF / Jon Contino does the best hand type I’ve ever seen and Caleb Owen Everitt of Ptarmak in the US is a very talented designer. CG / Do you have a favourite typeface? BF / I’m going to have to say my favorite typeface is chalet comprime-cologne eighty.
CG / What recent trends in graphic design have you noticed? BF / There is a massive trend of “union made” style of work....I think it’s dubbed as Labor chic..I don’t know. Everyone is doing it over here and I’m just trying to pin point what’s next. It’s hard.
Having the photography/art gallery space in the studio allows for the designers to be surrounded by a constantly changing and inspiring collection of work. In addition it engages the studio members is a new manner, provides a good place for social activity and breaks down the boundaries between the creative disciplines.
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CG / How would you describe Canada’s design scene to a foreigner who has no experience of it - essentially me really?! What makes it unique? BF / There’s really nothing that makes Canada’s design scene unique...Our design scene is identical to the US. Canada is heavily influenced by the US in all cultures...We just have a different political system. CG / A lot of Canadian design I have seen recently has had a nostalgic feel - is this a fair observation? BF / I think that’s a fair observation but it’s not Canada’s to credit...I think that’s just what’s current here in North America. CG / What’s your opinion of British design? From an outsiders point of view what do you think characterizes British design?
Text & images from www.thespacecamp.com
Chloë Galea
BF / To be honest I’m not familiar with the authentic British Design and for me to comment on it would just be an embarrassment because I’d be trying to sound like I know something when I don’t.
I can guarantee that I have come across/ even inspired by British design but have not had the knowledge to label just as that. My apologies...I blame it on the internet! CG / Has the internet killed individuality and produced a global culture where geographical location and individual cultures no longer impact on the work produced? BF / Hahaha need I say no more...My last answer should sum this right up. ∆
Space Camp - Victoria, Canada - 13
Space Camp 622 Broughton Street Victoria BC, Canada, V8W 1C7 1(778) 430 5547 www.thespacecamp.com
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MICHAEL FREIMUTH
michael@michaelfreimuth.com www.michaelfreimuth.com
Case Study Michael Freimuth is an art director, designer and
Text & images from www.michaelfreimuth.com
ChloĂŤ Galea
illustrator based in New York City. He graduated of Rhode Island School of Design and since worked for a range of clients, though mainly boutique clients. He currently works freelance and has won numerous awards for his work and received much coverage.
The strength of his work lies in his attention to detail and eye for composition, colour and typography. Print is his forte, as is sophistication and designing for high-end production.
1 | Jack Purcell / promotional newspaper
Michael Freimuth - New York, USA - 15
2 | MatĂŠrial Issue 002 / newspaper
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JULIEN VALLÉE
5333 Casgrain Montréal Québec, Canada H2T 2S2
514-774-4839 hello@jvallee.com www.jvallee.com
Case Study
Text & images from www.jvallee.com
Chloë Galea
Julien Vallée is a graphic designer and art director from Montréal, Canada, who creates tangible images for clients from The New York Times Magazine to Swatch and MTV-One. “I’m not sure if you can describe one as young as Julien Vallée as an expert in his field, but he must be very close. Dexterous hands and an enthusiasm to make his ideas reality
have held him in good stead and seen him pick up many high-profile commissions and admirers. As adept at creating either static or moving images, Julien always seems to add an unmistakable stamp of quality execution to everything he does.” - Alex Bec and Will Hudson, If You Could Collaborate Exhibition.
1 | Computer Arts / magazine cover installation 2 | MTV Hits Australia / promotional video 3 | Art ID / tv ident
Julien VallĂŠe - MontrĂŠal, Canada - 17
4 | Aol Artists / instilation 5 | Offf Paris / promotional film 6 | Smile On Your Brother / deck design 7 | We Love Fantasy / identity and poster
ChloĂŤ Galea
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Scandinavia - 19
SCANDINAVIA - Design Culture
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Text & images from www.ohyeahstudio.no
ChloĂŤ Galea
Oh Yeah Studio
Interview with Christina Magnussen and Hans Oren - design duo
Oh Yeah Studio - Oslo, Norway - 21
Oh Yeah Studio hailing from Oslo, aims to seduce, inspire and create emotional responses to all visual projects. Not only this they believe a design solution should of course also be innovative and communicative. Their work spans many disciplines, bringing together brand identity, art direction, web design, editorial, typography, illustration and packaging. What makes them stand out is their eclectic typographic treatments mixed with hand-drawn illustration and photography; all completed in the slickest of manners. An alternative introduction to this talented duo would be “Everyone and their mother can go against the grain. But those who say “fuck it, let’s do this,” to their dreams, and succeed? Those are the ones who deserve a big bonerific medal. Oh Yeah Studio , the strong graphic design duo of Christina Magnussen and Hans Oren from Oslo, Norway, have done just that, turning a hobby into full-time work.” - Karen Aragon, Impose Magazine”
Interview conducted by Inoue Ryota for Hits Paper, Tokyo - available at www.antenna7.com Que / How did you get involved in graphic design? I’d like to know your background. Hans Oren / I was pretty old when I started working with design. I always knew that I wanted to be creative and make something, it didn’t matter so much what it was, I could just as well been into music or writing, or even filmmaking. The main thing is that I get to express myself, but of course, also communicating and exploring subjects that I care about. But I ended up with graphic design and I’m still doing it and loving it!
1 | Paddington / poster
Christina Magnussen / It was a bit different for me. I took art classes during high school but it actually took a while before I figured out that I wanted to do this for a living. I got into a school in Oslo, Westerdals school of communication, and this is where I met Hans! So maybe it was worth the wait. We both studied graphic design and after Westerdals, we moved to London together where I took up illustration and Hans communication. As we developed our own style and expression it became clear that we both wanted to collaborate and see what we could get out of merging our styles and ideas. This is how Oh Yeah was born. Que / Was there any kind of inspiration or focus that led you to your current work? CM / Like everybody else, all things around us like nature, people, art, books, photography, architecture, dreams, etc inspire us. But some of the latest projects are based on the art by Gunnar S. Gundersen. He was a Norwegian modernist painter from a small place on the west coast called Høyanger. He was acknowledged as one of the leaders in the abstract art form in Norway and he is now
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regarded as one of the most significant painters of the Norwegian post-war period. HO / I wanted to make art based on his philosophy; “ I think that clean colours and shapes are strongest. The less noise and elements you work with, the stronger and clearer it will be. The more simplicity and restriction, the more strength.” This fascinated me so much that I had to try it and experience it.
with very few elements, using Gundersen’s philosophy (explained in question number two). The other one was based on animals and also abstract elements. This was an experiment by merging drawing and vector graphics, this became a new expression for us. The whole exhibition was fun, but very expensive! Que / What is your working process?
Que / What kind of thing did you give your presentation on in Pecha Kucha, Oslo?
Text & images from www.ohyeahstudio.no
Chloë Galea
HO / We talked about Oh Yeah Studio, who we are and what we do. As you may know, Pecha Kucha is a place for inspiration, so it was important to us to try to give the people there a sense of our drive, why we do this in our spare time, without getting paid. In other words, we tried to inspire by showing things that inspire us. We also presented work from the exhibition, “Three Weeks”, because at that time it was our latest project. Que / Could you tell me about your first exhibition “Three Weeks”? CM / First of all, the exhibition was called Three Weeks (tre uker in Norwegian) because it was open for three weeks. Simple reason! We had 2 different series. One was based on nature, abstract elements and Gunnar S. Gundersen. On this series we where trying to visualize the fjords and the mountains in Norway
CM / It depends on the project I guess, but we are always going for doing something new. Something that people looks at twice, but we try not to think too much about this. It’s more important that we have made something that we are satisfied with and pushed ourselves so far we can go. Our goal is to always evolve and play with new techniques/medias. Que / What excites you at the moment? HO / Photography! We bought a new camera Leica digilux and P-Sharan selfbuild camera. Hans have been 2 weeks in the sognefjord, Norway, testing them. We haven’t seen the result of the P-Sharan camera yet but we are really looking forward to it. We also bought an old 16 mm Russian Kpachoropck-3. Just need a new project to kick things off!
Oh Yeah Studio - Oslo, Norway - 23
Que / What do you think that the most important thing is for creatives? CM / The most important thing is to be interested and curious. Every new project has to be explored and embraced. Love it and hate it. Also, it is important to on new technology, never give up and work hard.
project is to save the whales and give the money they make to Greenpeace. So yes, absolutely, art and design can contribute and help with serious problems in the world
Que / Do you think that design could be the solution for serious problems happening in the world?
Que / Do you have a routine?
HO & CM / Absolutely, design is a communication tool! All the channels that designers uses, are outputs where we can reach a large audience. Design can have a big impact out there, with the right message. We go through huge amounts of visual noise every day, and it takes a lot to get someone to stop and care. A couple of seconds is all you have. Art projects can be just as powerful as a designed ad. Regardless of what output or contacts you use, the main thing is that you have something to say. And this can be done in different ways; you can for example set up an exhibition or gather other likeminded designers and create a campaign. We are actually in the process of making an image to an exhibition in Florence, based on a project called whaleless. (The exhibition will be held inside the Festival of Creativity, in October.) The aim of the
CM / Well, we try to be strict about getting out of bed and start working at nine. We feel it is important having routines to stick to so the job gets done. We actually have Monday meetings, just the two of us. We go out and get some nice coffee and some cookies and plan the whole week. It’s a nice way to get in the right spirit. But we’re not maniacs about it. It’s also nice sitting at home, listening to music, drawing and working together into the night.
Que / What other design teams in Norway do you admire? HO / The great Grandpeople from Bergen. Their technique and level of detail is mad. And of course Anti in Oslo.
2 | 3 | Beautiful Decay / custom type and illustration 4 | Oh Yeah Studio / promotional print 5 | 6 | Summer Party in Sunnfjord / custom type and poster
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Que / What’s the music scene like? CM / There is a scene and seriously good stuff is coming from Bergen. I don’t think I should go out and define the Norwegian music scene, but I will say this: listen to Sivert Høyem if you haven’t already. And Kim Hiorthøy who is also a great designer and artist. Also: Katzenjammer, Harrys Gym, Kings of Convenience and Datarock. Que / Who would your dream collaboration be with? HO / We’re hoping to collaborate within the music industry in the near future. CM / If I could choose I would do Sivert Høyem’s next cover, wow! HO / I would like to do some work for Bob Dylan, tarantion and David Lynch. There are so many great people out there, just mentioning a few is almost kind of unfair. Que / Could you tell me about your future plan?
Text & images from www.ohyeahstudio.no
Chloë Galea
HO / I’m about to join Norwegian Ink, a design company founded by two of my friends, Frode and Jacob. They have been working as a duo for about three years
but it was time to expand. They are firstly graphic designers, but they have been working a lot with motion graphics, which is very exiting. To mention other things, I want to learn how to play the piano, be a better photographer, I want to have a new exhibition and get a new Iphone because someone stole the one I had! CM / I have two things in my near-future plan, I don’t like to have too much to stress over, so; I will draw more and learn motion graphics (I just love sketchy short films). And of course, to keep working on new projects for Oh Yeah Studio. This will keep me busy for months. And is probably the reason I only have 5 friends..! Que / Thanks a lot ! in conclusion , can I have the message from you to Japanese people? HO & CM / Be interested, throw out your TV and be kind do animals! ∆
Oh Yeah Studio - Oslo, Norway - 25
Oh Yeah Studio Nordengveien 39 0755 Oslo Norway 0047 4121 8106 www.ohyeahstudio.no
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LUNDGREN + LINDQUIST
Karl Johansgatan 72 SE-414 55 Gothenburg Sweden
+46 (0) 736 909 011 hello@lundgrenlindqvist.se www.lundgrenlindqvist.se
Case Study Lundgren + Lindquist is a Swedish design studio
Text & images from www.lundgrenlindqvist.se
Chloë Galea
offering services within branding, design for print, digital, illustration & art direction. They believe good design in more than just ink or pixels on a surface; it’s about how it is experienced and the message conveyed. For each project they let the message dictate the media, embracing digital design with the same attention as they do print. The product of
their design process is beautifully crafted, simple, considered deliverable that communicate in a simple, yet elegant manner. Based in Gothernburg, they have a wide base of national and international clients including corporations, media and cultural institutions. The core team in kept intentionally small but a larger network of creatives are pulled in when needed.
1 | Lundgren + Lindqvist / identity, print and web
Lundgren + Lindquist - Gothernburg, Sweden - 27
2 | Johanna Lenander / identity, print and web 3 | Loft Investements / identity, print and web
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HEYDAYS
Vibes Gate 17 0356 Oslo Norway
(+47) 905 19 260 hey@heydays.info www.heydays.info
Case Study
Text & images from www.heydays.info
ChloĂŤ Galea
Heydays are an Oslo-based multi-disciplinary design studio specialized in printed media, creative direction and graphic design. They work within a wide range of projects, from corporate identities, interactive websites, magazines, books and packaging. They strive to find a balance between idea, function and aesthetics in each of our projects. They reckon they are like a young Marvin in his hey!
1 | Arena Afrika / publication
Heydays - Oslo, Norway - 29
2 | Berg & Berg / identity, print and web 3 | Anthon B Nilson / annual report
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YOUR FRIENDS
Fredensborgveien 6 0177 Oslo Norway
(+47) 412 31 570 hello@yourfriends.no www.yourfriends.no
Case Study Your Friends is an Oslo based graphic design studio,
Text & images from www.yourfriends.no
Chloë Galea
founded by Carl Gürgens and Henrik Fjeldberg. They work in different fields of graphic design and develop solutions for identities, posters, music packaging, book design, editorial design, typefaces, exhibitions, curation etc. Their work is focused around both commercial and self-initiated projects, specialising in print.
They believe in strong ideas and strive to push boundaries within solutions based on conceptual thinking. “Beauty without depth is just desperation.” – Alan Fletcher
1 | Utformasjon / exhibition
Your Friends - Oslo, Norway - 31
2 | State of the Arts / annual review
ChloĂŤ Galea
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Europe - 33
EUROPE - Design Culture
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Hort An amalgamation of interview answers put together for me
Text & images from www.hort.org.uk
ChloĂŤ Galea
by Elizabeth Legate - administrator
Hort - Berlin, Germany - 35
Hort - A creative playground. A place where ‘work and play’ can be said in the same sentence. An unconventional working environment. Once a household name in the music industry. Now, a multi-disciplinary creative hub. Not just a studio space, but an institution devoted to making ideas come to life. A place to learn, a place to grow, and a place that is still growing. Not a client execution tool. Hort has been known to draw inspiration from things other than design.
The questions and answers here were collated by Elizabeth Legate of Hort from a vast range of interviews the studio have undertaken, in order to answer some of the questions I posed. The answers here give a beautiful glimpse into a unique studio that breaks many boundaries - no limitations are put on the work they do, the clients they service or the ideas they come up with. There certainly is a sense anything is possible if it serves a purpose, gets people to think and communicates. It may seem to be all about fun, but I think it’s about freedom and an openness for discussion. Ideas are let loose before they are reigned in. There is no sense of fear. They don’t care if its never been done before - it might work, it might not. Que / How would you describe the work produced at Hort? Hort / Hort are willing to give most things a go. I mean how are you supposed to learn if you don’t try. Right? Whether it’s an illustration for Wallpaper or The New York Times; creating an interior hotel space for Volkswagens Project Fox; working for the big guns i.e. Nike and Universal Music; endeavouring with smaller companies like Get Physical Music; or simply initiating something ourselves. (hort.org.uk) Que / Where did the name come from?
Que / How many people work at the studio? H / There are Tim Sürken, Tim Rehm and Tobias Röttger; they have been at Hort now for 6 or more years. And then there are young guns like Ina Liesefeld and Tim Schmitt. Or Adli Bylykbashi from Australia; she wanted to travel through Europe, met me and stayed at Hort. There are the super young guns like Sebastian Pataki, Sebastian Wehner or Jacob Klein. And we have always 2 or 3 interns at the same time. At the moment there are Dimitri from Switzerland and Nathan from California. All of them studied graphic design and are great personalities. And I shouldn’t forget Marion King, she manages the studio;
1 | 2 | ZPYZ / record sleeve
she originally came from the advertising industry and is also doing lots of business coaching etc. They ARE Hort. They come from all over the world, all with different backgrounds and biographies. (INTERVIEW GRAFIK TASARIM MAG TURKEY, May 2008)
H / “Hort is an Old German word for kindergarten. A place where children play and a place where they are safe and people take care of them. Kids learn by playing. And they start playing when they feel safe.”(idnworld.com)
Que / There are lots of you at Hort, and it seems like a very flexible set up. How do you keep quality control with your work, and what are you missing at Hort? H / At Hort I am missing nothing. This is the place I was looking for when I was
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1 | Christina Rosenvinge / record sleeve 2 | Booka Shade / record sleeve 3 | Kieler Woche / poster
young. A place were you can learn and grow, where there is someone supporting you in the way you are, taking care of you. I never found it, so I opened it by myself. All of the people here are wonderful characters and they are allowed to stay the way they are, we have a very open structure. Most important is respect and the possibility to say something without worrying. (Interview Eike König)
Que / How you spend your days as Hort? H / Playing is learning in a safe environment. That’s the way we grew up. By playing we allow ourselves to change perspectives and cross boarders. That’s what we need in the process of a design development. I support the people at Hort to grow, to try out new things, to be radical and I allow them to fail. I want them to come up with their own ideas and I support them to get the idea alive. I’m fighting for every good idea and I’m fighting for each of them. And… we play together. That means, we share ideas, discuss, push. We are a team and this is very important for me. (INTERVIEW GRAFIK TASARIM MAG TURKEY, May 2008)
Que / Which media do you use most?
Text & images from www.hort.org.uk
Chloë Galea
H / Most of our work is print. But we also design spaces, do motion graphics, websites etc. Whatever the job needs we’ll do it. (INTERVIEW GRAFIK TASARIM MAG
Que / Whose works do you like these days? Anyone/agency/team you get inspired by? H / I like the work from the people we are connected to. Friends, like vier5, hi-res, c505. There are many more. I’m a big fan and supporter of everyone here at Hort. These people who work together with me are one of my heartbeats. I love them and I fight for them. They inspire me every single day. (INTERVIEW GRAFIK TASARIM MAG TURKEY, May 2008)
TURKEY, May 2008)
Que / Is work fun? Que / How do you balance the creative and the commercial side of a project?
H / If it’s not fun I won’t do it. (Interview with Plikums, 14th March 2011)
H / At Hort there’s no commercial OR creative job. I accept only jobs where people want me to be creative. So we don’t get rich, but happy. That’s more important for me. (INTERVIEW GRAFIK TASARIM MAG TURKEY, May 2008)
Que / Who have been the leading lights? H / Well, there are a lot: Alexander Rodchenko and the Russian Avantgarde in general. Bauhaus of course. Karl Gerstner.
Hort - Berlin, Germany - 37
Archigram or Hipgnosis… I could tell you many more. But only to give you some names, wouldn’t be correct, cause there are always artists, designers or creative and interesting people from other disciplines, that influence me even today. (COMPUTER ARTS MAGAZINE 10/19/2008)
Que / What trends do you think lead the graphic design world today? H / Sorry, I don’t really think about things like this. Graphic design is becoming more and more a product and I hope that we don’t loose the content. (INTERVIEW GRAFIK TASARIM MAG TURKEY, May 2008)
Another trend is that there is a huge amount of graphic design without a job or client-request that means, lots of people just do it for fun and create stuff on their own and not for the purpose of a job / work. The last thing worth to mention here is that graphic design is more and more related to products. That means, it becomes the surface of a product. Graphic designs are more and more used and printed on different kinds of products (fashion, furniture etc.). But at least I don’t want to evaluate all these developments cause its not relevant whether I say that one trend is good and another one is bad. That doesn’t make sense. (COMPUTER ARTS MAGAZINE 10/19/2008)
Que / What’s ‘happening’ now in design? Is there anything you love or hate? H / A lot of different things are happening in the field of design. On the one hand it depends on the continent, where you are working, which differentiates and influences design. Another thing is, that design becomes more and more popular, but less paid. Everybody is talking about it, but it is less appreciated in terms of valuating the effort that is behind good design.
Que / Design is always recycling and reinventing itself, is there anything in particular that’s getting looked at a lot right now? H / I don’t know and I don’t care! (COMPUTER ARTS MAGAZINE 10/19/2008)
Que / How are the concerns of world in general - ecology, terrorism and financial meltdown - affecting the work produced? H / Yes, of course! Those political, economical and societal developments have a huge impact on the design business. Since in a world full of fear, there is not much or at least not any space for development. In a crisis torn surrounding the bravery to try something new, to experiment or to play around diminishes. So the client becomes anxiously, and is not that much open minded anymore for creative and extraordinary solutions. The higher the impact of the crisis on society and economy, the more the client wants to be on the safe side and only use designs that are already approved or less risky. (COMPUTER ARTS MAGAZINE 10/19/2008)
Hort have unique approach to design that both appeals in terms of the studio mentality of freedom and play, but also scares me as there is no rules, nor right or wrong. In my opinion Hort is unique to mainland Europe as I believe such a studio culture would be almost impossible to successfully implement here in the uk.
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Que / The various elements of design are always shifting in popularity. How do you see the balance between illustration v photography v typography at the moment? H / At the moment, illustrations are very popular, but these trends are shifting constantly in the same way times and styles change. In addition to that, the boundaries between these 3 disciplines are blurring. For example, photography is more often combined with illustration or typography is set in a photographic setting. But there should not be that kind of classification and separation whether it is just photography, typography or illustration. For me, it is more important, that you focus on the question of what you want to communicate, and after that, you decide which techniques you use or combine with each other. (COMPUTER ARTS MAGAZINE 10/19/2008)
Que / Why did you move to Berlin, what’s wrong with Frankfurt? H / Nothing’s wrong with my city. We have a football team, we have a river, we have sun and rain but it dawned on me that either I would die in one of the hospitals that I saw every day, or I could take the chance and move to somewhere else. I had never moved before, so at 39, it was quite a new thing for me. (Interview Eike König)
Text & images from www.thort.org.uk
Chloë Galea
Que / Has the way you work changed since the move? H / No! When we left Frankfurt it was a decision between Zurich and Berlin, I asked my people here at Hort, who are all younger then I am and they said BERLIN! It’s a nice city and we found a great place here in Kreuzberg in an old tobacco factory. We have lots of space but the way we work hasn’t changed. There’s a lot going on in the city so I’m more often on the road, but there’s also a big hype about Berlin that I don’t believe in, there are no jobs for designers. It’s cool for us, we work for other people internationally, so we don’t need Berlin. I don’t want to stay in Berlin forever, it’s nice here, but I think I will move on in a couple of years. (Interview Eike König)
Que / How is the graphic design world in Berlin ? H / I really don’t know. I’m not interested in this scene. I do my own things. We know a couple of designers. There are thousands here in Berlin. Berlin is cheap for living and a lot is happening. Music, art, fashion. There are graphic designers from around the world living and working in Berlin very international. So it’s just a good place to be. (INTERVIEW GRAFIK TASARIM MAG TURKEY, May 2008)
Que / Do you think your cultural background has any influence on your work? H / Sure. A lot. I’m surrounded by it. I grew up in it. It influences me every day. I’m interested in everything and nothing. I’m just an open person who can fall in love with lots of small things. (LST Interview 12/08)
Que / Do you think design can change the world ? H / It can. A little. But every drop is helping to make it a better one. Many things you can do. For a better understand. For more beauty. For social things etc. etc. (LST Interview 12/08) ∆
Hort - Berlin, Germany - 39
Hort Hagelberger Strasse 52/HH D - 10965 Berlin Germany +49 (0)30 818281-08 www.hort.org.uk
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ICFF
Lobeckstrasse 30-35 Building C, Studio 206 10969 Berlin Kreuzberg, Germany
+49 (0) 177 628 3161 hello@icecreamforfree.com www.icecreamforfree.com
Case Study
Text & images from www.icecreamforfree.com
Chloë Galea
Ice Cream For Free are a Berlin based design and illustration studio founded in 2005 by artist Oliver Wiegner. With an understanding of its commercial application and viability, they prolifically create collage, illustration and pattern. The work is surreal, erratic and full of colour.
Clients have a tendency to come from the music industry, but ICFF have also completed work for Adidas, Wired Magazine and Computer Arts. I quote, they are ‘bubbling with ideas, ICFF™ is ready to go’!
1 | Miscellaneous / illustration 2 | Dipsie As Well Records / album artwork
Ice Cream For Free - Oslo, Norway - 41
3 | Miscellaneous / illustration 4 | Various publications that ICFF have contributed to / illustration
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CONOR CRONIN
+34 697633692 conor@conorcronin.com www.conorcronin.com
Case Study Conor Cronin is an art director & graphic designer
Text & images from www.conorcronin.com
Chloë Galea
currently based in Barcelona, Spain. Born in South Africa and educated in Ireland, he should know a thing or two about how different cultures have different values, opinions and thus different visual output. Cronin’s work is characterised by simplicity and order.
The message is pared back to its elemental form and delivered through beautiful finish, high impact photography or minimalist typography. Despite the splashes of colour the tone of the work collectively is serious and often quite conservative.
1 | Bufete Alfonso López / identity and web 2 | Alan Taylor / identity, print and web
Conor Cronin - Barcelona, Spain - 43
2 | Adaption / art direction 3 | Simone Rocha / identity, print and web
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Contemporary Dutch graphic design: an insider/outsider’s view by Peter Bilak
Available at www.typotheque.com First published in HD, New Dutch Graphic Design, ACTAR, Barcelona, 2001
It is too simple to suggest that Dutch graphic designers have an easy working life. The ‘official anarchy1 ’ of the design scene is often romanticised, but like anywhere else, the country has its share of mediocre designers and conservative clients. One still has to fight for a good idea.
Text from www.typotheque.com
Chloë Galea
However, the position of a graphic designer in the Netherlands remains very different from other countries, even neighbouring ones such as Germany or Belgium. It is impossible not to notice the impact of graphic design in everyday life. Take a traditionally conservative client such as the national bank: instead of the portraits of national heroes or symbols of power common to almost all other countries’ banknotes, the Dutch ones feature a bird, a sunflower and a lighthouse. Even more remarkable is the fact that these motifs were proposed by the designer himself. The reason why the Dutch currency is so out-of-step with other countries is, of course, due to the attitude adopted by the commissioner – De Nederlandsche Bank. Although the series of banknotes dated 1977 has since been partially replaced, the position of the designer has remained privileged. The new series employs wholly abstract images2. In their book Graphic design and Idealism, Leonie ten Duis and Annelies Haase describe the designer’s position: ‘With the idea that client and designer had separate responsibilities, the Bank never felt the need to take over the job of the designer or issue an aesthetic veto. Dutch money was the result both of the designer’s extensive autonomy and of the Bank’s flexible attitude as the client.’3 More than any other form of art, graphic design directly reflects the prevailing historical, economic, political and social contexts. Its apparent significance or relevance is therefore altered (lost, improved or damaged) by a change of context. Graphic design does not exist in a vacuum. Its position depends on the system of relationships between the commissioner, public and designer. The
exhibition in the RAS gallery presents work which was created in a different country under its own specific conditions. In order to understand graphic design stripped of its original environment, further clarification is necessary. Dutch graphic design is affected by a number of factors – the relatively small scale of the country, its long arts tradition, and prosperous economy – which have resulted in a uniquely creative atmosphere. In particular, the government’s generous cultural funding system is often purported to be the main reason for the ‘advanced’ nature of Dutch graphic design – the constant flow of money facilitating unconventional approaches. This central financial support is deeply rooted in the country’s history: artists have enjoyed a relatively high social status since the Golden Age of the Dutch monarchy. The old benefactors have been replaced by the government’s own commissioning strategies. Some larger companies have ‘aesthetic consultants’ responsible for selecting suitable designers for specific projects. The Dutch Royal Telecom (KPN), for example, runs an Art and Design department in charge of commissioning designers, and has long been one of the most respected graphic design clients in the world. The Dutch government itself is also a prime commissioning body. Each ministry strives for its own, unique form of visual expression much envied by designers from abroad for their courageous, risk-taking approach towards their visual output. Such progressive attitudes are not new. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, company directors and their consultants were busy supporting culture, which included promoting design and its impact on society. These efforts were often idealistic, a natural reaction of a small country surrounded by English, French and German speaking neighbours. Designers were asked to collaborate in creating a ‘contemporary look of companies’. In a relatively short time, the design profession managed to secured its ground, upon which the succeeding
Contemporary Dutch Graphic Design - Holland - 45
generations could build. The tradition of intelligent design policies are apparent in both the public and private sectors. The existence of young, small studios in The Netherlands is made possible though financial grants from various cultural funds. The BKVB (The Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture), for example, subsidised more than 5000 artists and designers in recent years, enabling them to concentrate on developing their work, to keep afloat in day-to-day practice or finance their personal projects. Such support offers newly-starting designers an opportunity to establish themselves without major financial difficulties. Although most of the stipends come directly from the central Ministry of Culture, the funding institutions make their selections independently, employing juries of experts. Many designers in the RAS exhibition benefited directly from this process.
More than any other form of art, graphic design directly reflects the prevailing historical, economic, political and social contexts. All this is possible because of the history of country’s welfare. Built primarily on centuries of naval trade, the Netherlands’ prosperous economy created a healthy business environment and unique position for design: there appears to be enough work for everyone, and the scene does not seem overly competitive, at least by international standards. Finally, the Netherlands’ long arts tradition has created superior conditions for its artists and designers, with a clear lineage through generations and styles. To take a random example from the
people present in the RAS show: designers from Pingpong were students of Mevis & Van Deursen, who both spent their internships with Gert Dumbar, one of whose teachers was Dutch design godfather Piet Zwart. Such connections are very common. Outsiders are often surprised how closely the scene is interlinked. Because of the country’s small scale, Dutch graphic design is a hermetic world. To continue the story: all the members of Pingpong also used to work at Studio Dumbar; Linda van Deursen studied at the Rietveld Academy where she now teaches along with Experimental Jetset and DEPT, all of whom studied under her. Jop van Bennekom, who also teaches there, was a student of Armand Mevis at the Jan van Eyck Akademie. The designer of those original Dutch banknotes, Ootje Oxenaar, was also once the director of the ‘Aesthetic Design Department’ of the PTT. He recalls his years as the head of the Design department as being ‘in the business not of making profits but of spiritual well-being’. This idealistic remark is now somewhat outdated, as the PTT and KPN are both privatised, and very much market- and expansion-driven. The KPN now responds to market mechanisms as much as any other multinational corporation, yet maintains its art and design department to ensure certain standards. The RAS exhibition of young Dutch graphic designers lists an impressive array of alreadyestablished designers, though it is difficult to identify any commonalities across the generation. These designers share little other than an assertive attitude. Whilst another godfather, Wim Crouwel, fought for the idea of neutral information transfer, the new generation demands that their work be anything but neutral; it consists rather of contemporary expression and personal messages. Of course, the Internet offers limitless space for self-expression, and Dutch designers are zealously embracing it. There has never been a smaller gap between ‘new’ and ‘old’ media. The current
46 - Diseño Cultura, Cultura del Progetto, Design Culture generation realises that there are no fundamental differences; each medium requires specific solutions, but the laws of communication remain the same. •••• The position of the graphic designer is constantly changing. What was once described as a problemsolving industrial art no longer considers itself merely subservient. We are currently witnessing the designer’s urge to establish his or her own voice, which includes the creation of autonomous (noncommissioned) work. It is not unusual for designers to be involved in specifying the exact nature of vague assignments, or creating and editing content, so the difference between the self-initiated and ‘real’ commissioned projects becomes increasingly blurred.
Text from www.typotheque.com
Chloë Galea
‘Low culture’ (music, television, computing, advertising, and the Internet) is more influential than previous generations’ theoretical preoccupations. The designers here have been (and are being) brought up in a media-saturated information society. This is the first generation growing up considering such conditions ‘normal’; not being shocked by constant technological changes, but accepting them as inevitable. Instead of petty complaints about the perpetual (re)definition of hypermedia, the Internet, the ‘computer as medium or a tool’ debate, etc., they use all available techniques to their advantage. This generation is fluent in expression, using the computer as both tool and medium. The overload of visual messages from all directions is making the public aware that all communication is manipulated. Designers now work in a situation where everything is questioned and nothing taken for granted. There is also a sense of nostalgia for a world defined by common values; what used to be simply polarised is now open for interpretation. In this context it is impossible to introduce a generic style (such as the ‘international style’ that originated in 1950s Switzerland). New forms are short-lived, with immediate counter-forms resulting from a constant search for the new. Robin Kinross viewed this trend with skepticism: ‘Despite its air of freedom, such an approach has deep limitations. Not only it is reactive (against what has gone before) rather than constructive (attending to the needs of its time), but it also reproduces the rejections already worked through by avant-garde of Dada and early typography. Forms that once carried a charge of social criticism become domesticated in the comfortable circumstances of western design culture.’4 The contemporary design scene is characterised by polyphonic voices, diverse styles and methods with apparently contradictory aims and audiences. In the words of the Dutch expat designer Max Kisman, the style of Dutch design ‘is the style of styles. There is pluriformity which is unique to Holland.’
Although contemporary Dutch design is impossible to label stylistically as a whole, one contemporary trend is the tendency against overdesigning. It is an obvious reaction to the visual gimmickry and slickness which was so highly valued in recent decades. Simplicity is appreciated again, as well as ordinary or obvious solutions in which the designer’s hand is practically invisible. This approach embodies a paradox: work radiates the appearance that it is not made by a professional, whilst actually being made by an expert. As such, ‘undesign’ is itself a design strategy. Designers combine conventions with unconventional approaches. To adopt art terminology such work might also be described as postmodern or ironic; combining the incompatible, referring to conventions and clichés, and staying free of doctrines. Another prominent feature is self-referentialism or work made to appeal primarily to design colleagues or design competitions rather than responding to actual questions. Felix Janssens and Mark Schalken were frustrated by the current conditions so much that they issued their own Manifesto of the Sober Thinking Society : They present their aversion to formal voluptuousness, far from the substance of design: ‘Perhaps graphic design is doing so well in the Netherlands because not a great deal of thinking is put into it. What is the sense of this ever expanding stream of images. What is behind this ever renewing language of forms? Knowledge strangles, Dutch designers design, leaving other things out. Being illiterate, if anything else, you can always become a designer. The sunny image we get from graphic design is merely a facade. Considering the real developments, graphic design is not doing well at all. Changes are required.’5 So: Solid traditions and respect for graphic design; open, progressive education, funding to begin a practice, and a broad range of clients with subsidised projects. ∆
1 Term borrowed from Max Bruinsma’s article Official Anarchy, published in The Low Countries, Arts and society in Flanders and The Netherlands, A Yearbook, 1997 - 1998 2 The series of banknotes designed by Ootje Oxenaar between 1977 - 1985, has slowly been replaced by a new edition designed by Jaap Drupsteen, soon to be replaced by Euros. 3 The World must Change, Graphic design and Idealism, Leonie ten Duis, Annelies Haase, p.180. 4 Robin Kinross, Modern Typography 1992, pp. 139-140 5 Felix Janssens, Mark Schalken, the sense of design, manifesto of the Sober Thinking Society, 1993
Contemporary Dutch Graphic Design - Holland - 47
1 | Le Cent Quatre / identity and poster by Experimental Jetset 2 | Arnhem / identity and poster by Experimental Jetset 3 | No Poetry To Reciete / poster by Experimental Jetset
48 - DiseĂąo Cultura, Cultura del Progetto, Design Culture
Musa Collective Interview with Raquel Viana
Text & images from www.musacollective.com
ChloĂŤ Galea
- designer
Musa - Lisbon, Portugal - 49
1 | 2 | Indusria Let’s Play / flyer
Named after the traduction of the mythological word Muse, Musa Collective was formed in 2003 by Raquel Viana, Paulo Lima and Ricardo Alexandre, a Lisbon-based collective of graphic designers. Musa works with as many aspects of design as possible, from artistic/experimental to commercial. The first headline-making event that the collective was involved in was the “MusaTour” in 2004, in support of the MusaBook project, the first Portuguese emergent graphic-design book ever compiled, published by IdN! More precisely, Musa aims at promoting the Portuguese design and the new trends among the new generations, contributing to the development and exteriorization of brand new art pieces.
Chloë Galea / How would you describe the work produced at Musa? Raquel Viana / We try to do work that’s personal and that distinguishes us from other studios or graphical styles.
(www.hypemeanseverything.com - 7/9/10)
CG / Where did the name come from? The interview took place via email. Portugal appears to be a country trying to forge a name for itself in contemporary graphic design. Actively leading the way, Musa believe that for Portugal to make a name for itself the emerging design must be daring, unexpected and surprising.
RV / Musa means Muse in English. The ancient goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. CG / How many people work at the studio? RV / 3 resident designers at the studio and outsourcing freelance resources when necessary.
Musa’s work is both beautifully designed, yet raw around the edges. There is a sense of unabashed experimentation, but what I find most successful is their ability to use colour. In many ways the work is as bright as the sunny country they hail from. -
CG / Who are your clients? Do they come from a certain sector? RV / We have very different clients from different areas, but it seems that the
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luxury, fashion and cultural brands/clients like us most :) We also love them too!
CG / What recent trends in graphic design have you noticed?
CG / Does geographical location have any part to play in defining your design practice?
RV / We think now there are so many mixed trends that it’s difficult to specify one of them. But we notice that many designers have become more rational and less impulsive. Perhaps to be more assertive because of demands of the market and the global economic crisis and budget investments.
RV / No doubt that the space and time constrain creativity. Our location has conditioned us to access to information and perception of external stimuli. Even with the globalization we always have local roots and we try to preserve it to make some difference. CG / How have you customized the space? How is it set up? - One large room, individual rooms, a meeting room? RV / It’s just a single studio where we try to give a warm atmosphere like being at home because this is where we spend most of our time. CG / Is work fun? RV / Almost always :) CG / Are there any particular trends or working styles that influence you? Maybe swiss design, hand drawn type, just to pluck a few examples out the sky . . ?
Text & images from www.musacollective.com
Chloë Galea
RV / Yeah, lots of external influences. To be honest we think we assimilate everything and then try to recreate something new and different. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
CG / Is there a strong tradition of graphic design in Portugal? RV / Unfortunately we don’t have an history or strong tradition of graphic design. Only a few names around for the past fifty years. But for the last 10 or 15 years a young inspired generation of designers and agencies have become more active, putting Portugal in the international design scene with a different styles/graphic approaches and high standard projects. Although there are already some well known names, probably Portugal will need more years to have a consistent role in the global design scene.
Musa - Lisbon, Portugal - 51
CG / What’s your opinion of British design (honestly - I will certainly take no offense!)? From an outsiders point of view what do you think characterizes British design? RV / We think the British design has always been a source of inspiration for abroad designers due to its large international exposure mainly promoted by the musical and cultural industry. Since we were kids we are used to see British bands album covers. And it become a reference in our lives because we grew up influenced by the British music and fashion. However, we think the British design is a melting pot of visual approaches that reflexes the cultural diversity that the country is today. What occurs us to say about the British design is that it tries to always be ahead and create new trends. CG / Has the internet killed individuality and produced a global design culture where geographical location and individual cultures no longer impact on the work produced? RV / We think you’re right but we think people are looking and thinking again for local, original and cultural geographical references that could make works different. ∆
1 | Estoril Fashion Art Festival / invitation boxset 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Home & Abroad / catalogue
52 - Diseño Cultura, Cultura del Progetto, Design Culture
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Pensã Ibérica / catalogue
Musa’s best work in my opinion is their publications. Often
Text & images from www.musacollective.com
Chloë Galea
produced primerily in one colour plus stock, the impact and beauty they achieve with just these two colours is quite astounding. So much so that they inspired the use of colour in this publication. Another point of note is their layouts, which combine the sensibilities of tradition with much more experimental typography to stunning effect.
Musa - Lisbon, Portugal - 53
Musa Rua da Rosa No14 E6 1200-387 Lisboa Portugal +351 21 0134530 www.musacollective.com
ChloĂŤ Galea
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United Kingdom - 55
UNITED KINGDOM - Design Culture
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MADE THOUGHT
9 Rathbone Place Fitzrovia London W1T 1HW
+44 (0) 20 7636 1287 info@madethought.com www.madethought.com
Case Study
Text & images from www.madethought.com
ChloĂŤ Galea
Made Thought is a multi-disciplinary design agency that is adept in brand identity and development, artdirection, packaging, printed matter and interactive design. Their core clients include luxury and lifestyle brands plus art institutions. Made Thought is known for a deliberate and crafted aesthetic, and for this it has won many awards. They believe in the strength
and purity of rigorous graphic application and are at a size and strength now to be able to implement full branding strategies. The work is pared back, simple, clean and elegant, with beauty found in every detail and function.
1 | The Future Laboratory / publication
Made Thought - London, UK - 57
2 | Yauatcha / identity, print and packaging
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MARQUE
2nd Floor 33 Cork Street London W1S 3NQ
Marque is a branding consultancy with a contemporary view of the world who work collectively across the London, Glasgow and New York studios. Their specialisations are positioning, identity and communications. To these they bring energy, dedication and sensitivity, which is most visible in the unique identities they create with
confidence. What makes them stand out is the use of creative typography, colour, crafting, elegance and attention to detail. Their best clients are ones that share their approach. Brands that are driven to be about individual preference, to be entrepreneurial in their outlook and that cherish the crafted qualities within the products they offer.
+44 (0)20 7318 0400 www.marquecreative.com
Text & images from www.marquecreative.com
Chloë Galea
Case Study
1 | Haunch of Venison / invitations and promotion 2 | The Galerist / identity, print, promotion and web
Marque - London, UK - 59
3 | The Nolitan / identity, print, promotion and packaging 4 | Dmitriy and Co / identity and print
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DESIGN PROCESS
Second Floor 80A York Street Leeds LS9 8AA
+44 (0)113 234 1222 enquiries@designproject.co.uk www.designproject.co.uk
Case Study Design Project have a history of creating distinctive
Text & images from www.designproject.co.uk
ChloĂŤ Galea
visual communications that deliver outstanding results for clients in industry, the service sector, media and the arts. They specialise in brand identity, print and digital media and use a multi-disciplinary approach to ensure every project, regardless of
scale or budget, results in a functional, effective and crafted solution. The work is about communication in its purest form - aesthetics are kept simple to aid message delivery and production is kept high to ensure an effective vehicle to engage the audience.
1 | Henry Moore Foundation / promotional publication
Design Process - Leeds, UK - 61
2 | Re-Bag / identity and promotion 3 | Coporate Workspace / branding, print and promotion 4 | Numiko / branding and promotion
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Non-Format Interview with Jon Foress and Kjell Ekhorn
Text & images from www.non-format.com
ChloĂŤ Galea
- founders
Non-Format - London, UK - 63
Non-Format are Jan Forss and Kjell Ekhorn. They have a passionate following among designers, art directors and design fans who respond to the duo’s fluid and luxuriant style, and their apparent freedom from the normal constraints that renders most graphic design into bland statements of the obvious. Yet despite the seemingly autonomy of their work, Forss and Ekhorn regard themselves as following in the notable tradition of problem solving graphic designers. They reject the notion that they are part of the we’re-only-here-to-please-ourselves wing of design. Their studio set-up is as eye-catching as their work. Forss lives and works in Minnesota, US; Eikhorn lives and works in London. Up until Forss’s departure to the States in 2007, they occupied a studio in London, where they sat side by side with their monitors turned inwards so that each other could see what the other was doing. Despite being separated by the Atlantic Ocean, they still work in much the same way, using Skype to talk to each other constantly.
next few record sleeves for those labels as a bit of a collaborative moonlighting exercise. At that point the underlying thought was that if it worked out we would start up something on our own, since we were both keen to exit the world of fulltime book cover design and pursue clients with a more diverse and complex range of design briefs. Que / For nearly all designers who eventually start their own studio, there is a important point when something happens that causes them to know that the time has come to make a move. Can you recall your moment? Jon Forss / We’d already designed a few record sleeves together when we were approached by the independent music monthly magazine The Wire to take on the art direction of the magazine. Given that we both had day jobs at the time
Interview and additional copy taken from Studio Culture: The Secret Life of the Graphic Design Studio by Tony Brook and Adrian Shaughnessy, published by Unit Editions, 2009. 1| LoAF / album artwork
Que / When did the desire to start a studio hit you - was it there from the start? Kjell Ekhorn / Both of us were pretty much in full-time employment in the publishing industry when we were introduced socially by a mutual friend. We soon found that not only did we like to discuss design and ideas with each other, we also had overlapping perceptions of what we regarded as good design. After a year of meeting sporadically we decided to try working together on some freelance projects to see if we were as compatible when it came to tackling actual design briefs. Jon had already established a relationship with The Leaf Label and Lo Recordings and we used the
and the job designing a magazine was simply too large to take on, we really had no other option but to make the leap. At the time The Wire staff were in the process of buying the magazine form the previous owner, so there was a bit of an entrepreneurial spirt going on that we were happy to tap into. In fact, we received a lot of help from the accounting firm that was working for The Wire and it was on their advice that we established ourselves as a limited company. We had no grand scheme or elaborate business plan - it as a matter of changing circumstances and pieces falling into place around us.
64 - Diseño Cultura, Cultura del Progetto, Design Culture we chose the name Non-Format - which we thought sounded like some kind of creative problem solving robot sitting in the corner of our studio.
Que / Did you have a studio that you wanted to model yourself on? KE / We couldn’t really say we had any designers or studios we wanted to model ourselves on, but we had few design heroes at the time that were running successful studios - the likes of M/M Paris, Graphic Though Facility and Designers Republic to name a few. We looked at and discussed their output and had a tangible dream that one day we might manage to produce work of equal impact and quality. Que / You started off working under the name EkhornForrss, then you changed it to Non-Format - can you explain this?
Text & images from www.non-format.com
Chloë Galea
KE / Once we’d completed our first collaborative piece of work we found ourselves sitting in front of the Mac wondering what to type in our design credit. We were amused that we both had Scandinavian surnames so we simply chose to adopt EkhornForss as the name. It must have been inspired by advertising agencies who often base their names around the founder’s surnames, and it certainly felt pretty honest and straightforward. This was in the early part of 1990s and the internet had yet to play a major part in our design live, so the thought of being a pretty incomprehensible web address didn’t strike us as a potential problem at the time. NonFormat came about once we’d completed an illustration for The Wire, quite soon after we’d started art-directing the magazine. We didn’t want to credit it to ourselves so
JF / The name comes across from an article in an issue of the US design magazine Emigre. The article dealt with the inherent obsolescence of data storage formats and suggested that even the mighty DVD might one day be replaced by a ‘mythical nonformat’. Being a couple of fairly introverted people we instantly connected with the anomoyty that the name suggested. Besides, we’d been using the name EkhornForss for quite a while and not only where we getting rather tired of having to spell out the name every time anyone called up, but we’d started to notice that of all the work we had in our portfolio it was the more illustrative stuff, credited to Non-Format, that seemed like the most successful work, it was time to ditch ErhornForss and start using Non-Format full-time. Que / Despite a growing international reputation, lots of awards and the publication of a handsome monograph, you are still only two people and employ no staff - not even an occasional intern. Can you talk about this? KE / There are quite a few reasons for this. Here are a few: first, neither of us could be described as astute businessman. We didn’t set up the studio as a means of becoming rich - all we ever wanted was to produce good work and be in control of our careers. We felt that if we produced strong work, moneyed clients would eventually come our way and we weren’t all that keen on the ides of having to go out and find them. We figured that if we were to employ other designers we’d have to focus
Non-Format - London, UK - 65
sweat and only a modest economic reward for any employee. KE / We’ve certainly mellowed somewhat as we’ve found our feet over the years, but we’d still much rather work with freelancers when we need to than take on young designers on a more permanent basis and risk a dysfunctional working relationship. The very fact that we now work on different sides of the Atlantic makes the prospect of being a larger design studio even more remote. Maybe we’d benefit from working within an environment where there are other designers, illustrators, photographers and resources we could draw from, but any thought of the traditional design agency set-up doesn’t really appeals to us. Que / what is your attitude to growth? more on making a healthy profit, or at least make enough money to pay our employees. In truth, the idea of going without pay for a couple of months was more appealing than having to take on dull projects just to pay for extra staff. We’d always been happy to turn away a project if we didn’t feel it would be enjoyable to work on. This is a fine policy for jut the two of us, but we couldn’t expect an employee to be quite as understanding. JF / The other factor is that we’re pretty much total control freaks, especially in the early days. We knew if we were going to aim high we had to be very critical of our own work and we adopted an understanding that either one of us could ask the other to scrap an idea if we felt it didn’t meet the standards we were aiming for, no matter how far into the process the piece of work had progressed or however painful it might have felt to do so. If we’d had a team of people working for us, we would have had to be far more nourishing of their talents; we would have had to give them the freedom to grow by making their own aesthetic decisions without us constantly hanging over their shoulders. Our somewhat fascistic attitude to design would have offered little more than pain,
KE / We have every desire to grow and develop as designers. Beyond that, growth seems like an abstract concept that - at least in the Western world - seems to have become a position of merit in itself. Growing a business that isn’t injecting anything worthwhile into society isn’t growing and developing but merely becoming obese. Que / You have mentioned the importance of doing work that has some value beyond just making a profit. Yet you cant make a loss on every job you do. How do you maintain the balance between creativity and profitability? JF / We have to be very selective with the projects we choose to accept and those we turn away. One of the toughest decisions that we face is deciding which projects will offer us the best opportunities.
1 | Hatchback – Zeus & Apollo / album artwork 2 | Very ELLE magazine / art direction and design 3 | LoAF / album artwork
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Of course there are many kinds of opportunities; so we make sure to balance our workload between projects that offer the greater creative freedom and those that offer the greatest financial rewards. We figured out fairly early on that it’s important to take on as many projects as we can that offer complete create freedom. That way we have a focus or developing as designers, which in turn leads to more commissions from clients that want to see those developments applied to their won projects. In effect, a high-paying client (usually an international brand or adverting agency) allows us the freedom to pursue the projects that offer far less money but gives us the chance to progress and explore new creative avenues. As a two-man team we have to be very careful not to bite off more than we can chew. It’s important to us that each project is given the attention it deserves, so we have to make sure we can devote the time it needs. This has meant we’re had to turn down projects with potentially high financial returns, simply tioensure we keep the standard of our work as high as possible.
Text & images from www.non-format.com
Chloë Galea
Que / You have made a really dramatic and unusual move. One of you is based in the US and the other remains in London. How does this work? JF / Now that we’ve been working like this for a couple of yard, it feels like we have more of a handle on the situation, and so far it seems to work out quite well. It’s certainly true to say that more of the business calls come in to the London studio, but we’ve long been advocates of conducting business via email, which means that both of us can keep track of each project as it progressing. One of the great advantages of working with six time zones between us is that the combined studios have a much longer working
day than we used to. Therefore we once used to work side by side from 10.00am to around 6.00pm everyday, we have a situation where, for example, a project that Kjell has been working on all day can be handed over to me at the end of his day so I can continue to work on it. In effect, Non-Format has something like a 14-hour working day, which comes in handy sometimes. KE / It’s certainly true that we can no longer glance over at each other’s screens, but we do still swap files freely between us, and with the use of Skype, the VoIP application, we can video chat with each other for as long as we like, for free. We sometimes sit working together on projects with our Skype connection on in the background. We aren’t necessarily chatting all the time, but its reassuring to know the other is there if we need to ask them something. That window into each other’s world is something of a lifeline. We owe a great deal to our high-speed internet connections. Without them, it would be hard to imagine how we could continue to work together so effectively. Que / Do you split studio duties between each other? Does one look after finance while the other updates the website? KE / When it comes to the website, we update it whenever we have a new project to showcase and that can be handled by whichever one of us is less busy at the time. When Jon was still in London he handled the finances, simply to avoid any confusion about whether or not something had been taken care of. Now that he’s in the US, he still generates the invoices but I have to handle the day-to-day banking and deal with the accountants and quarterly VAT and so on. JF / I actually quite enjoy the financial side of things. I put together a pretty tight system when we started so that we’d avoid a situation where, for example, we might
Non-Format - London, UK - 67 end up with a pile of receipts and no idea what they were for. So long as everything is put into the right folder straight away, keeping track of invoices and expenses is quite easy. What makes things easiest of all, though, is that we have a firm of accountants in Sheffield that handles the end-of-year accounts and makes sure we pay our VAT bill. They cost a little money each year, but we figures its well worth it.
that our work isn’t going to suit everyone, we offer a very personal service and devote our time to each project very carefully. We spend a lot of time exploring new creative avenues because we know it’s the experimental work of today that has the best chance of becoming the most soughtafter work for our clients of tomorrow. ∆
Que / If you could start all over again, what would you do differently? KE / Nothing really - I’m enjoying every aspect of Non-Format on a professional level, and as both Jon and myself have met our wives more or less directly as a result of different Non-Format projects, I see me reason to dwell on what we could have done differently. Where we are is a result of all the small and large decisions we’ve made over the past decade and if there is anything we feel needs to change then it’s just a matter of doing so. I’m all for being analytical and learning from the past, but seeing the potential in what we can do next is a far more complex and interesting task. Que / Ok, this really is the last question: how would you define your studio’s culture today? JF / We try to offer a service that’s not unlike a bespoke tailor. Although we have a very clear idea about the way we like to cut our cloth, so to speak, and a recognition
Non-Format despite their unconventional working habits, or maybe because of them, are totally unique in the illustration and design that they create. Each project is finished to the very last detail and the continual quality of work is incredible. Not only do they create the slickest illustration but the format, colour, finish and typography are all produced to the highest level, demonstrating incredible skill across a whole range of disciplines. The approach and aesthetic isn’t that expected of a British design company and it appears that the Scandinavian background of the duo plays a part in influencing the work they create. Comparing and contrasting Non-Format with other creative studios it is the ones from Norway, Sweden and Denmark they have most in common with.
1 | 2 | Red Snapper - A Pale Blue Dot / album artwork and art direction
Non-Format +47 95 42 62 91 +1 651 603-0767 www.non-format.com
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PRACTISE
+ 1 [312] 397 4071 studio@practise.co.uk www.practise.co.uk
Case Study
Text & images from www.practise.co.uk
Chloë Galea
Practise was established in 1999 by James Goggin upon graduation from London’s Royal College of Art. Although recently moving to Chicago Goggin used to run Practise from his North London home. Clients are mainly arts-related with the Tate being the most obvious. The work spans books, posters, typefaces, identities, exhibition, signage, web and digital, with strengths lying in the type, art direction and ideas.
Goggin has previously been described as “a member of the new wave of intelligent, typographically sophisticated and conceptually minded British graphic designers that emerged in the last years of the old millennium.” - Shaughnessy.
1 | Momus Ocky Milk / art direction and photography 2 | Momus Otto Spooky / illustration and photography
Practise - London, UK - 69
3 | Critical Notice / album artwork 4 | Spring Snow - A Translation / publication 5 | Dear Lulu / workshop and lecture promotion 6 | Teaching, Airport, Hair Salon, Bakery, Snooker / publication
ChloĂŤ Galea
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South Africa - 71
SOUTH AFRICA - Design Culture
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Jordan Metcalf Interview with Jordan Metcalf
Text & images from www.jordan-metcalf.com
ChloĂŤ Galea
- illustrator
Jordan Metcalf - Cape Town, South Africa - 73
Jordan Metcalf, based in Cape Town, South Africa is a contemporary illustrator and creative type designer whose work is simultaneously artistic and commercially viable. The interview took place via email. Chloë Galea / How would you describe the work you produce?
CG / How do you work - 100% on screen, with your hands, printing, photography?
Jordan Metcalf / Like most people there are visual ideas and aesthetics that I have an affinity for that seem to string my work together somehow, but the type of work I do is pretty varied, so describing it is difficult. On any given day I could be working on anything from a wooden typographic sculpture, to a logo, to packaging, to storyboards, to a character
JM / I try do a bit of everything. I think it’s pretty important to be as open to all creative fields as possible. I’m not always good at that, or at least my mind doesn’t always think outside of what I’m used to using. But I’ve discovered that often it’s production/execution methods that can lead to ideas, so the more things you try and the more things you learn about, the bigger range of options you give yourself going forward. CG / Who are your clients? Do they come from a certain sector?
1 | 2 | Nike / commercial illustration.
design, to a painting. I think defining your work often limits you into making yourself and clients think that that’s all you’re capable of. I wouldn’t want to try define myself or my work as one thing at the possible cost of being anything else. CG / Do you work alone? JM / I did for quite a while when I first went freelance, but I have been sharing a studio with 4 other people for the past year.
JM / I have done work for loads of different clients, from big international companies to small start-ups. I wouldn’t say that there is any particular link between them. Recently I’ve worked on branding and apparel work for Nike, packaging for a small micro coffee roastery with a colleague, a range of illustrations for X-Games, character design for a commercial animated and directed by Psyop, and a illustration that will be painted on the outside of a creche in a poor community in Cape Town. The lack of day to day continuity is what makes it fun to be freelance. CG / How important is the physical environment in which you work? Is there a link between the space and creativity? JM / Definitely, but I think the importance depends on the definition of the physical environment. There are various radii of what we can consider our environment: I share a studio with 4 people in an old industrial building filled with creative studios, in a very run down but vibrant area called Woodstock, in the breath-taking but contradictory city called Cape Town, in the
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beautiful, complicated and often harrowing and inspiring country of South Africa. The Environments we work and live in largely affect our work and creativity, from the desk space directly surrounding us to the countries and continents we inhabit. CG / How have you customized the space? How is it set up? - One large room, individual rooms, a meeting room? JM / Our space is a large room in an industrial centre, with concrete floors and big windows. We have slowly but surely added bookshelves, furniture, a kitchenette and some paint to the wall. Our studio is in a slow but constant organic state of improvement. We were the first people to work in the space after the floor of the building was subdivided with dry wall. So when we got it is was pretty much a dusty slab of concrete with walls. CG / Is work fun? JM / Most days. CG / What influences you and your design?
Text & images from www.jordan-metcalf.com
ChloĂŤ Galea
JM / Conversations, books, music. I have always loved words, and have always read compulsively. I think this led to my interest in type when started getting into design, and has been something that has continued to influence and inspire me daily.
CG / What studios or designers do you admire? JM / The people I admire and who inspire me the most are the people that I know and interact with daily, both for their work and everything else. Looking at amazing work on the internet or in books only helps you appreciate the end product of a process; a type treatment, a logo, an image. The nature of how we consume media online can only ever lead to the most superficial of inspiration, so I think knowing the person and the thought process and the headspace taken to get to that end product is far more inspiring. Once someones philosophy, motivation and process are added to your view of an image, it becomes something worth really admiring.
Jordan Metcalf - Cape Town, South Africa - 75
CG / What recent trends in graphic design/ illustration have you noticed? JM / I think design and illustration are probably less single trend based than they have ever been. We are seeing lots and lots of different ‘trends’ as people try to diversify the
great to have any sort of homogeneous style/tradition to it. Our traditions are more sub-cultural, based on the histories and traditions of the various cultures who live here. So there are many very different ‘design’ traditions within our country that only in the last few years have started to truly cross-pollinate.
CG / How would you describe SA’s design/ illustration scene to a foreigner who has no experience of it - essentially me really?! What makes it unique?
CG / What’s your opinion of British design/ illustration? From an outsiders point of view what do you think characterizes British design?
JM / Knowing what makes it unique would require knowing much more about foreign scenes. I can only really speak from the perspective of the Cape Town design/art scene which is very close knit. It’s a small community, most of us know each other and everyone is pretty supportive of each other.
JM / I honestly feel that for the most part Graphic design can no longer be classified by country or area as the internet has made our access to outside influence so much greater that style has become more of a matter of what resonates with you personally, as opposed to where you were born. I think it’s unrealistic and maybe counter productive to believe in and hold onto distinct national identity in the face of the globalisation we face today.
CG / Is there a strong tradition of graphic design/illustration in SA? JM / In some ways yes, but I don’t think we have a design tradition/identity in the same way that many countries in Europe and Asia do. Graphic design as an industry is too new here and our mix of cultures too
1 | Fearless Leaves alphabet / typography 2 | Idea / typography
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CG / Has the internet killed individuality and produced a global design culture where geographical location and individual cultures no longer impact on the work produced? JM / I think the second half of that sentence is partially true, but I don’t think that it has in any way killed individuality. Homogeneity has always existed in design and local ‘ design cultures’ may often develop as a lack of individuality. All the internet has done is greatly expand the pool of influence for people who may have always relied on influence to produce work. Perhaps If anything being less constrained by local cultural expectation, if they do/ did exist, has probably produced more truly individual artists and designers than before. ∆
Text & images from www.jordan-metcalf.com
Chloë Galea
1 | Friend of Foe / illustration 2 | 3 | 4 | No Lies Just Love / applied typography
Jordan Metcalf - Cape Town, South Africa - 77
Jordan Metcalf +27 (0)82 568 3385 www.jordan-metcalf.com
ChloĂŤ Galea
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Asia - 79
ASIA - Design Culture
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MILKXHAKE
mix@milkxhake.org www.milkxhake.org
Case Study
Text & images from www.milkxhake.org
Chloë Galea
Milkxhake is a Hong Kong-based design unit co-founded by graphic designer Javin Mo and interactive designer Wilson Tang in 2002. They mainly focuses on graphic and interactive mixtures and have established themselves as one of the most energetic design studios in Hong Kong. In addition to this they are one of the few Asian design studio’s making a name for themselves outside the continent,
gaining accolades such as the Young Guns Award from the New York ADC and a D&AD Award. In their approach and aesthetic it is easy to see the influence by global culture. The work combines elements of European design culture, the English language and Hong Kong’s history and heritage to produce unique, confident and colourful design.
1 | Like Carbon Free! / brand identity and promotion
Milkxhake - Hong Kong, China - 81
2 | Asia Art Archive / brand identity and promotion 3 | Design 360ยบ / publication, art direction and design 4 | 3030 Press / brand identity and web
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Nakajima Design Interview with Hideki Nakajima
Text & images from www.nkjm-d.com
ChloĂŤ Galea
- designer
Nahajima Design - Tokyo, Japan - 83
Que / Can you talk about design studios in Japan? Were there Japanese studios that inspired you?
Nakajima Design, is run by Hideki Nakajima. His character is like his work; restrained, introspective and disciplined. Ask young Japanese designers about him and they talk with a sort of quiet awe. Nakajima is the son of a kimono tailor and grew up surrounded by traditional Japanese design motifs, which awakened his embryonic sense of design and pattern. In a recent interview he said: ‘I believe graphic design is originally a Western art. That is what I was taught and that is why I am influenced by lots of Western forerunner in most of my creative life. I am inclined to believe that my intuition is my major source of inspiration. I have never admired work based solely on concept or marketing strategories.’
Interview and additional copy taken from Studio Culture: The Secret Life of the Graphic Design Studio by Tony Brook and Adrian Shaughnessy, published by Unit Editions, 2009. -
HN / There are different kinds of studios in Japan. Some of them are modelled on the London studios of Alan Fletcher or Pentagram. The Japanese studio that inspired me most was Tsuguya Inoue’s. He was doing ‘on-the-edge’ design work for Comme des Garçons. I visited his small studio with my portfolio several times trying to get hired, though there wasn’t a job on offer. I didn’t receive an offer. Que / Where you able to turn to someone for help and advice when you started your studio? HN / Mr. Youichi Shibuya, who is the CEO of Rockin’on. When I started my own studio, he kindly let me keep working on the art direction and design of Cut magazine. Having my own studio with staff costs and rent was more expensive that I expected. Having a monthly job with Cut magazine helped me a lot, both economically and mentally. The relation between Mr.Youichi Shibuya and me continues today and I’m still working on the art direction and design of Cut magazine. Que / Keeping ambitious designers motivated is a difficult task. Can you talk about the techniques you use to get the best out of designers - are you a sympathetic art director or do you demand obedience?
Que / What prompted you to start at studio? Hideki Nakajima / I wanted to have my own studio before I became 30 years old. I knew that it would be necessary to gain a lot of experience with many clients before setting up on my own, When I was 30 years old, I got a job as an art director at a publisher called Rockin’on, which focused mainly on music. Rockin’on established an in-house design department at that time and I was the first art director. I worked mainly on the art direction and design of magazines such as Cut, Rockin’on Japan, H and Bridge. But it wasn’t until I reached 34 that I had my own studio.
HN / I never ask my staff for their opinions. But I don’t think I demand obedience. To keep the studio productive and healthy there is no need to be overly sympathetic. Designers need to keep challenging, but their ideas and opinions often come from a narrow point of view. While they are working in my studio, I ask them to work on my ideas and opinions, and after they leave my studio, they can fly off in any direction they like. I think this is the best way to motivate staff in my studio. On the other hand, I am hoping my staff will have great futures after leaving me. This is a Japanese custom.
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Que / How do you attract new clients? HN / I’m not sue, but one of the reasons may be winning prizes worldwide. Being featured in many books may be another reason. In Japan those accolades can raise a studio’s profile. But actually, I don’t believe in such a value. Que / Do you mean that the ‘value’ is superficial? Are you saying that studios should be judged on their work, and not the number of times that they win awards or appear in magazines? HN / Yes, I think so. It used to be important to me to increase the number of awards I won, and the number of time I was featured in magazines. But I soon got used to it and it became less important. To keep my motivation, I need to keep re-creating new starting points. Que / What is your attitude to intern? Is there a tradition in Japan of employing them in studios?
Text & images from www.nkjm-d.com
Chloë Galea
HN / It is not common in Japan, and because my studio is small, it is difficult to employ them. Also, I think usually they will leave the studio before they get used to the job. I want to take enough time to develop my staff.
Que / So does this mean that you see part of your job as educating staff? HN / Yes, it does. My staff need to get used to the way I work and how my studio is run. But on the other hand, they are not robots. Though working in my studio, I believe they need to face the truth that life can be richer, but at the same time it is lonely, sad and tough. Que / Tell me about the physical environment of your studio. Is the environment you work in important to you? HN / My studio is messy. The working space is important, but I don’t have time to keep it tidy. Que / I am surprised! The Japanese tradition of interior design is famous all over the world. I thought you might have incorporated some traditional Japanese thinking into your studio? HN / It is a shame but my studio is very small and untidy. My staff know where everything is, I do not.
1 | Cut Magazine / art direction and design
Nahajima Design - Tokyo, Japan - 85
1 | Skinless / packaging 2 | Ryuichi Sakamoto /04 / publication
Nakajima Design 1-8-5, Shimouma Setagaya-ku Tokyo, Japan 154-0002 +81-(0)3-5430-1081 www.nkjm-d.com
ChloĂŤ Galea
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Australia - 87
AUSTRALIA - Design Culture
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Finn Creative Interview with Kevin Finn - founder
A+B+C=D Text & images from www.finncreative.com.au
ChloĂŤ Galea
Art
Business
Company
Design
Finn Creative - Brisbane, Australia - 89
Kevin Finn is the founder of Finn Creative. In the past he has worked all over the world as a designer at a number of leading design studios in Dublin, Ireland, Wellington, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia, as well as Joint Creative Director at Saatchi Design, Sydney. He currently lives in Kununurra - a remote town in north Western Australia.
The interview took place via email. To those of us outside the country Australia’s design scene appears unexciting but on closer inspection there is much talent - it just doesn’t seem to make it across into the British consciousness. Beautifully designed publications such as Open Manifesto designed by Finn Creative and Process Journal by Hunt Studio are slowly changing this - opening up new arenas to showcase Australian work and spark discussion. Chloë Galea / How would you describe the work produced at Finn Creative?
1 | Open Manifesto / publication ‘Open Manifesto is currently the only Australian based magazine/journal devoted to critical writing on graphic design, visual communications and media, as well as social, cultural, political and economic issues. It began simply as a platform for debate, a means to facilitate the views and opinions of Australian designers and thinkers with regard some of the bigger issues relating to design and society in general.’ (www.premiereissues.com)
CG / How many people work at the studio? KF / Just me - for now.
Kevin Finn / Strategic, ideas-led design that encompasses the craft of our discipline, the business requirements and which is conscious of the cultural context in which it is produced for. CG / Where did the name come from? KF / Finding a name for your company is difficult. I had to set up my company rather quickly as my wife and I moved to a remote part of Australia for personal reasons and there were no design studios there for me to join. Since I had to set up my own studio I decided to follow a simple and common approach, my surname (Finn) with what I aspire to achieve daily (creative). I looked at using the word ‘Design’ but there was already a Finn Design registered. That said, I’m happier with Finn Creative as it feels like there are more options available for being a ‘creative’ than only being perceived as a ‘designer’.
CG / How do you work - 100% on screen, with your hands, printing, photography . . ? KF / I work as needs be. However, working on screen is a more efficient use of my time. As a solo operator working across multiple projects and business requirements, it is best to be more efficient with time and my Mac allows for this. However, before anything is started - and throughout the entire creative process - I use my mind. My process is simply to: first think and then visualise that thinking. CG / Who are your clients? Do they come from a certain sector? KF / My clients come from a variety of backgrounds and locations, including Aboriginal organisations and art galleries, sophisticated technology companies, recruitment companies, arts festivals, a TV
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station and even an ex-hostage (who is a photojournalist was abducted in Somalia and held hostage for 15 months). I would hope the common thread between these disparate clients is that they are all likeminded people, lovely to work with and who are willing to challenge their category conventions. CG / How important is the physical environment in which you work? Is there a link between the space and creativity? KF / On a personal level, we need to work where we are comfortable and happy. In a location sense, we are always influenced by where we live. I’ve been lucky enough to have lived in big cities and also in an extremely remote small town in the Australian outback. In my opinion, we need to absorb our immediate surroundings with a global perspective and draw from that for our creative endeavours. CG / Does geographical location have any part to play in defining your design practice? KF / Sometimes, but only in terms of the available facilities rather than defining any creative outcome, unless the location is intrinsic to the project, as was the case for some Aboriginal projects I designed and produced in remote Australia.
Text & images from www.finncreative.com.au
Chloë Galea
1 | 2 | 3 | Gelganyem Aboriginal Trust / catalogue
CG / How have you customized the space? KF / For ease, I am currently working from home. We have a mezzanine level that I have converted into a small one-room studio space. I’m a simple kind of person so my space is filled with books, my computer, some drawers and my printer/scanner. I don’t have my work or the work of others stuck to the walls. There is only one A4 sheet of paper with black type stuck to my wall, which displays a quote from someone (that, unfortunately, I now forget), but it sums up many things: “We don’t necessarily need more ideas - just better ones.”
Finn Creative - Brisbane, Australia - 91
CG / Do you have a favourite typeface? KF / I’m partial to Clarendon and DIN and Globale. But I love type and many of the varieties within this spectrum. CG / What recent trends in graphic design have you noticed? KF / The biggest trend in design (across all disciplines) is ‘design-led thinking’ as a process, rather than a service. CG / How would you describe Australia’s design scene to a foreigner who has no experience of it - essentially me really?! What makes it unique?
CG / Are you friends with the people you work with? KF / Yes, I get on well with myself for the most part :) CG / Is work fun? KF / I try to ensure it always is. Working for oneself I have more control over the projects I take on and how they are driven. Those that don’t work, or clients I find too difficult and unreasonable, I fire at the first chance. CG / What influences you and your design? KF / Everything. I don’t mean that as a cop out. I am honestly influenced by life and the experiences I have. CG / Are there any particular trends or working styles that influence you? Maybe swiss design, hand drawn type . . ?
KF / Very varied. I think in many ways it might be described as experimental but in approach more than anything. There is the pioneering Mambo (which was for a long time experimental in Australian vernacular and irreverence) there is the experimental typographic work of Marg Gowing and David Pidgeon, there is the irreverent and experimental work of Mash Design and there is the intelligent European influenced experimentation of studios like Fabio Ongarato Design and Three Deep Design. And there are type designers, like Stephen Banham, who are looking at interesting Australian influences. However, if you look at the history of Australia, there is a huge European, and now Asian, immigrant population so Australia is a rich and mixed bag of multiculturalism with a sense of the ‘pioneering’, so I feel this is a huge unconscious part of the creative output of the country. CG / Is there a strong tradition of graphic design in Australia? KF / Not historically because it is a relatively young field in this country, but I feel there is a strong design culture emerging. CG / What’s your opinion of British design?
KF / - I like a lot of design, but I am not overly influenced by trends. Work like Alan Fletcher’s and Pentagram has been a big influence over the years, simply because they are ideas-led, which is the kind of work I feel most comfortable doing and which comes most naturally to me. But I am generally influenced by good design and this ranges from Stefan Sagmeister to Bruce Mau to Muller Brockmann - and anything good in between.
KF / From an outsiders point of view what do you think characterizes British design? - I’m Irish and I grew up being heavily influenced by British design. I still am. To answer this general question means I will inevitably fall into using generalisations, but, for me, British design seems
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split into two main categories: the ideasdriven approach and the aestheticallydriven approach. In both cases there are amazing practitioners and crap ones - like anywhere - but British design has consistently been at the forefront of significant and influential work from these two approaches. CG / Has the internet killed individuality and produced a global design culture where geographical location and individual cultures no longer impact on the work produced? KF / This is a huge question and I don’t have the time to answer properly, suffice to say, the internet has radically changed our world and how we work. In terms of globalisation, yes it has influenced the design fields, but it essentially comes down to how individual designers use this to their advantage. I wouldn’t necessarily blame the internet for bad or bland design. I’d blame the designers for using it to do so.
Text & images from www.finncreative.com.au
Chloë Galea
CG / “I’ve always been fascinated by how studios look different in different countries. Everybody in London works in spaces that we wouldn’t even go into. Where British studios have eight people, we’d have two. They work in spaces that are incredibly small. My designers in Germany would just say ‘you gotta be joking, there’s no way we’’ll work there’ . . . Or you go to Tokyo and they work standing up. Why do Americans love partitions? They love their reception areas, and having their work on the walls... And in our case - in Germany
- it’s much more clinical. It’s much more industrial design. In the Uk a lot of studios look more like artist’s studios; Britain is very art-based. British design-studios never have a reception area. You always walk straight into the studio.” - Erik Spiekermann Although this observation focuses mostly on the environment, it does highlight some insightful cultural differences between design studios in different countries. What other observations have you made based on different cultural characteristics in design? KF / Culture and practical constraints will always drive our differences and similarities. I don’t believe talking on this level - of how studios are set up - is really that relevant to identifying a specific creative output of an individual, a studio or a country. It does affect what we do, but we use what we’re most familiar with and what works best for us to produce the work we do, regardless of who we are or where we come from or where we are based. ∆
Finn Creative - Brisbane, Australia - 93
Finn Creative GPO Box 448 Brisbane QLD 4001 Australia +61 (0)7 3358 2670 www.finncreative.com.au
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JAMES KAPE
1 (347) 369 3966 mail@jameskape.com www.jameskape.com
Case Study
Text & images from www.jameskape.com
ChloĂŤ Galea
James Kape has spent the majority of his working life in Australia, but has recently moved across the world to New York to take up a job at the exciting design studio - NR2154. His work is both beautifully created and designed with detail, interactivity and its tactile nature in mind. It is also fun, colourful and engaging.
His skills span many disciplines, including, design, photography, 3D craft and art direction, which come together, amazingly succinctly, to create a coherent and rounded portfolio of work.
1 | Park Life Festival / identity and print
James Kape - Gothernburg, Sweden - 95
2 | Sometimes Magazine / publication and invitation
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AFOM
Case Study
A Friend Of Mine design studio is a Melbourne
Text & images from www.afom.com.au
ChloĂŤ Galea
based design practice working with a range of clients small and large across a variety of industries. While AFOM has experience in a range of disciplines such as art direction, custom typography and signage, their forte is applied identity design using high-end finishing and the upmost attention to detail. Every project undertaken at AFOM is approached creatively and communicated unequally.
Suite 2, Level 5 Curtin House 252 Swanston Street Melbourne 3000 Vic, Australia
+61 (0) 417 767 860 suzytuxen@afom.com.au www.afom.com.au
Run by Suxy Tuxen, AFOM collaborated with a number of talented individuals to ensure bespoke and creative results. As specialists in our field we recognise that the best results are achieved by artistic and multidisciplinary collaborations. With years of experience locally and internationally AFOM is constantly building on a wide network from the global creative industries.
1 | AFOM / self promotion
AFOM - Melbourne, Australia - 97
2 | Carla / brand identity and promotion 3 | Huddle / brand identity, custom typography and promotion 4 | Pixel Flix / brand identity and promotion
ChloĂŤ Galea
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Latin America - 99
LATIN AMERICA - Design Culture
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PABLO ALFIERI
5411 4706 1989 pablo@pabloalfieri.com www.pabloalfieri.com
Case Study
Text & images from www.pabloalfieri.com
Chloë Galea
Pablo Alfieri is an art director and graphic designer from Buenos Aires, Argentina. After working as an art director in local studios he decided to create his own place“Playful”, where he dedicates all his passion to graphic design, illustration and typography. His work is characterized by a constant
search for simplicity in geometric shapes and a mix between chaos and order. It is both detailed and impacting, its colourful and energetic and through the type, illustration and structures he creates worlds of hyper reality.
1 | Odyssea 2010 / type design and poster 2 | Playful / type design and installation
Pablo Alfieri - Buenos Aires, Argentina - 101
3 | Playful / type design 4 | Playful 08 / self promotional posters
Chloë Galea
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Space Camp - Victoria, Canada Julien Vallée - Montreal, Canada Michael Friemuth - New York, USA Pablo Alfieri - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Design Process - Leeds, UK Made Thought - London, UK Marque - London, UK Non-Format - London, UK Practice - London, UK
Oh Yeah Studio - Oslo, Norway Heydays - Oslo, Norway Your Friends - Oslo, Norway Lundgren+Lindqvist - Gothernburg, Sweden
Locations - 103
Hort - Berlin, Germany ICFF - Berlin, Germany Conor Cronin - Barcelona, Spain Musa Collective - Lisbon, Portugal Jordan Metcalf - Cape Town, South Africa
Milkxhake - Hong Kong, China Nakajima Design - Tokyo, Japan James Kape - Sydney, Australia AFOM - Melbourne, Australia Finn Creative - Brisbane, Australia
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Chloë Galea
‘Graphic design is a lot like la beautiful and enigmatic. Gra culture to culture, influenced and way of life. Just like art a aesthetics differ from culture t common elements found in on not found in others and vice v
Quote - 105
anguages. It’s an identity; aphic design varies from by a country’s history and music, graphic design to culture. There may be ne culture’s graphic design, versa.’ - Rachel Arandilla
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Chloë Galea
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments - 107
A special thank you to the design studios and designers who got in touch and answered my questions so carefully. It was you who offered a real and first hand insight into international design culture and elevated this publication from a book of case studies to one that holds real interest and allowed me learn more about the world and discipline in which I have entered.
You include:
Blair Farrington, Space Camp Elizabeth Legate, Hort Raquel Viana, Musa Collective Jordan Metcalf, Jordan Metcalf Kevin Finn, Finn Creative and Richard Hart, Disturbance (I’m sorry you didn’t make it into the book)
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AFOM
Conor Cronin
Suite 2, Level 5, Curtin House 252 Swanston Street Melbourne 3000 Vic, Australia
Design Project Second Floor 80A York Street Leeds LS9 8AA
+61 (0) 417 767 860 suzytuxen@afom.com.au www.afom.com.au
+34 697633692 conor@conorcronin.com www.conorcronin.com
+44 (0)113 234 1222 enquiries@designproject.co.uk www.designproject.co.uk
ICFF
James Kape
Jordan Metcalf
+49 (0) 177 628 3161 hello@icecreamforfree.com www.icecreamforfree.com
1 (347) 369 3966 mail@jameskape.com www.jameskape.com
+27 (0)82 568 3385 hello@jordan-metcalf.com www.jordan-metcalf.com
Marque
Michael Freimuth
Milkxhake
2nd Floor 33 Cork Street London W1S 3N
2nd Floor 33 Cork Street London W1S 3N
2nd Floor 33 Cork Street London W1S 3N
www.marquecreative.com
michael@michaelfreimuth.com www.michaelfreimuth.com
mix@milkxhake.org www.milkxhake.org
Oh Yeah Studio
Pablo Alfieri
Practise
5411 4706 1989 pablo@pabloalfieri.com www.pabloalfieri.com
+ 1 [312] 397 4071 studio@practise.co.uk www.practise.co.uk
Lobeckstrasse 30-35 Building C, Studio 206 10969 Berlin Kreuzberg, Germany
+44 (0)20 7318 0400
ChloĂŤ Galea
Nordengveien 39 0755 Oslo Norway
0047 4121 8106 post@ohyeahstudio.no www.ohyeahstudio.no
Contacts of Featured Studios & Designers - 109
Finn Creative
Heydays
Hort
GPO Box 448 Brisbane QLD 4001 Australia
Vibes Gate 17 0356 Oslo Norway
Hagelberger Strasse 52/HH D - 10965 Berlin Germany
+61 (0)7 3358 2670 info@finncreative.com.au www.finncreative.com.au
(+47) 905 19 260 hey@heydays.info www.heydays.info
+49 (0)30 818281-08 contact@hort.org.uk www.hort.org.uk
Julien Vallée
Lundgren+Lundqvist
Made Thought
5333 Casgrain Montréal Québec, Canada H2T 2S2
Karl Johansgatan 72 SE-414 55 Gothenburg Sweden
9 Rathbone Place Fitzrovia London W1T 1HW
514-774-4839 hello@jvallee.com www.jvallee.com
+46 (0) 736 909 011 hello@lundgrenlindqvist.se www.lundgrenlindqvist.se
+44 (0) 20 7636 1287 info@madethought.com www.madethought.com
Musa Collective
Nakajima Design
Non-Format
Rua da Rosa No14 E6 1200-387 Lisboa Portugal
1-8-5, Shimouma Setagaya-ku Tokyo, Japan 154-0002
+351 21 0134530 info@musacollective.com www.musacollective.com
+81-(0)3-5430-1081 nakajima@nkjm-d.com www.nkjm-d.com
Space Camp
Your Friends
622 Broughton Street Victoria BC, Canada, V8W 1C7
Fredensborgveien 6 0177 Oslo Norway
1(778) 430 5547 info@thespacecamp.com www.thespacecamp.com
(+47) 412 31 570 hello@yourfriends.no www.yourfriends.no
+47 95 42 62 91 www.non-format.com
Diseño Cultura, Cultura del Progetto, Design Culture, through interviews and case studies, takes a look at a collection of design studios from around the world to try and understand the part culture has to play in defining today’s graphic design.
Chloë Galea
Cg
+44 (0) 7889 350 599 hello@chloegalea.co.uk www.chloegalea.co.uk