Lundqvist & Dallyn « A joint effort »
DUO:
LUNDQVIST & DALLYN
DUO: magazine Issue n°3 – Spring 2020 DUO: magazine is a collaboration between Adrien and Clotilde Heury, brother & sister — both designers. Concept, design & Publishing : Heury & Heury. In conversation with : Sara Lundqvist and Sam Dallyn. Contributors Pictures of the duo by Emmie Dallyn. All illustrations by Lundqvist & Dallyn. Printed by Newspaperclub. Font in use Space Mono (Colophon Foundry) Akkurat (Laurenz Brunner) Alterra (Lundqvist & Dallyn) Proxy-mono (Lundqvist & Dallyn) Contact us hello@heuryandheury.eu
ISSUE 3
Edito Thanks for even reading the editorial. A studio's name with an ampersand and with Scandinavian consonance, the use of the Akkurat typeface (a favourite of Clotilde), a picture of football player (a sport that Adrien is fond of) and who claims simplicity in design and a love for geometry, all of which concisely presented on a bold black and white website necessarily attracted our curiosity... Two years after the last issue (so long!), the magic of algorithm enabled us to come upon our third lovely duo, a family duo to be exact (a couple): Sara Lundqvist and Sam Dallyn. To tell you the truth, we set aside our magazine and it was before the last summer that Adrien made contact with Sam. Lundqvist & Dallyn was a duo that we did not know (yet) but DUO: is very much about focusing on people that we have a certain admiration for –sometimes a very long admiration but sometimes it is a sudden crush– and we can't wait to learn more about them to the point of asking them to join us for an interview and to ultimately receive a positive response! Unlike the two previous issues, our duo is not based on the other side of the Atlantic but much more closer to France, on the other side of the Channel (we will not talk about Brexit okay!) in the “rural Oxfordshire” as Sara and Sam say. Bref, we finally launch our third issues of DUO: in an extraordinary context: QUARANTINE. So, sit confortably, take a cup of tea and escape to the meadows of the Oxfordshire to meet up with two personalities that seem very complementary and who give their vision of what a duo is, a strangely timely topic : “a joint effort”. We hope that you will enjoy this interview as much as we do. And if so, just let us know!
Adrien & Clotilde Heury Duo of editors. 3
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LUNDQVIST & DALLYN
Can you introduce each other with some words? Sara is the ice Swede who Sam —Dallyn
brings sanity and stability to our partnership, always focusing on the larger project to keep things running smoothly.
Sara —Lundqvist
Sam has an amazing eye for detail and beauty and is a typeface geek!
How did you two meet ? We met as teenagers, going to the same youth club! We’ve always been great friends who had a similar sense of humour.
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How was your collaboration born? Our collaboration was born through Sara always being asked her opinion and insight into projects that Sam was working on; she’s been an unpaid art director for years! We both have a very similar taste and love for Scandinavian aesthetic characterised by simplicity, minimalism and functionality.
When did you decide to work together? The company has always felt like a joint effort, but officially once all our children started school and the number of clients and needs also started grow we thought this was the right time.
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Do “Lundqvist & Dallyn” have a specific style ?
We aim for a timeless minimal style, something
which won't look dated in two years or so.
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to take it over one day!
as our family name... and who knows if the future Dallyn’s want
the reputation that Sam had built up and continue to use Dallyn
mutual love of Scandinavian design. We also didn’t want to lose
we decided to combine both our names, which helped bind our
Sara - Lundqvist is my maiden name, and I’m a proud Swede, so
How did you choose your studio's name?
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Looking back, how do you now see the first year(s) working together? I would say...
it’s been amazing.
How your work has been evolved since you started? Our work is always changing and hopefully improving as we continually access our work.
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What are you better at than the other? Sam is more of a worrier than
I think sometimes I can see
I am, so I feel I keep the pressure
the hidden potential in the
off sometimes.
project which sometimes Sara misses.
What skill do you want to steal from the other? I would love to take Sam's
I would Sara's calmness
vision sometimes, he is better
and kindness in occasionally
at seeing what things could be.
tight situations.
What are your favorite tools ? Photoshop and Indesign.
Illustrator, currently Figma and also Sketch.
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Together we’ve leant to help each other in those low and high points.
When you’re on alone, it’s easy to doubt yourself or even inflate your ego.
What is the you’ve learned
top 2 lessons starting your duo?
Working, on the whole, is a lot more fun when you’re a team, and we often joke around, but sometimes it’s hard to switch off from work. We TRY to have definite time we stop working.
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What is the best advice has been given to you? One bit of advice we've felt invaluable as a business is never have one client you depend upon for all of your income.
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What drives you to design? We love design but we always find it hard work it's keeping that drive to get through a project to finish things.
How would you define an effective design? You know if a design works when it lasts the test of time. I guess the Scandinavian culture comes through here: we want to make timeless designs for our clients.
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What “duo” means to you? “Duo” to me means a joint
For me, “duo” is that person
effort. When you work on
who is always there to give you
your own on a project for a
honest feedback good or bad.
while you can begin to doubt yourself and maybe overthink things; two minds are always better than one.
Do you think that male/female duo is an extra benefit for your work? Yep, we both have very slightly different ways in which we view things that might be very subtle though.
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How do you work together and distribute work? We work together by Sam is the leading designer, and Sara works more behind the scenes, organising and putting things into place and is always a fresh pair of eyes on the design front.
What do you like about co-working? We love working together because we have our best friend by our side. When you’re alone, self-doubt can creep in. We’re also good in helping the other not to overwork and take time out.
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How do you present your work to your clients? We always make a document which shows a journey without words, so it's to understand how we got from A—B. Any explanation we can give only helps in the understanding of our solution.
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How do you find clients?
98% of clients come to us through recommendations. Word of mouth is more important than a slick site.
How do you choose what project you want to work on? We choose projects that we feel passionate about and feel that we can bring something to it. But, we’re less picky when things are quieter.
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Describe a day at your studio. We take the dog for a walk, kids to school, then start with a strong coffee and chat about what projects we have on. Then, we work through our projects, listening to music. We have short lunch, then back to work in. Later, we pick up the kids and have dinner together and then, often, we do a couple of hours in the evening, but we make sure it's fun work, may be a
make things better for you and your family like living in greener, cleaner area, then why not? We've both worked in cities in the past, so we feel we've been there and done that.
a very tight deadline, but we're usually pretty good with time.
Life is stressful enough, and if you can
We also try and finish strictly on time unless we have
Your studio is based in rural Oxfordshire, what does that mean for you?
What are the rules at your studio?
personal design project, creating a typeface, that kind of thing.
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“An exciting project is always just around the corner.”
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Can you tell us about the projects you are working on? We are currently working on a branding project for a shampoo and also a large e-commerce electric store and Glasses app for Ditto.
What are your top 2 goals for the future? 1. We would both love to work on another Nike brief... 2. Travel back to Sweden and best more time there through the summer.
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Sam
Which designers inspire you? Josh Moore, Mark Ury and LĂşcio Rufo.
Marcus Eriksson and Peter Hong.
The best typefaces that work well together? NB International & Space Mono.
Futura and Proxima Nova.
Which studios inspire you? Stockholm Design Labs have always been our favourite design agency and one we’ve always been inspired by.
Concerns or fight Is the project good enough and why did the client
Sam overthinking things!
not like what we did ?!
Sara 22
The random quiz
Musics for intense working 90s hip hop from Lauren Hill to A Tribe Called Quest.
No music.
Top mobile apps Civilization VI
Péché-mignon We’re both coffee snobs, we know a good black coffee when we have one. Lynwood & Co Café is the best coffee near where we live.
Books that change your lives Typography: Macro and Microaesthetics: Funda-
A Smile in the Mind: Witty Thinking
mentals of Typographic Design by Willi Kunz (also
in Graphic Design by B.McAlhone,
someone borrowed my copy and never gave it back)
D. Stuart, G. Quiton & N. Asbury.
and Paul Rand by Steven Heller.
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1. Alterra typeface. 2. NeonTube typeface. 3. Experiments with typography. 4. Experiments with typography. 5. Experiments with typography. 6. Experiments with typography. 7. [ART]work for Ditto Tech. Inc.
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5.
7.
Also: P12 [ART]work for Ditto Tech. Inc. P13 [ART]work for Ditto Tech. Inc. P20 [ART]work for Hyper Science.
P8–10–11
Alterra typeface.
P21 [ART]work for Ditto Tech. Inc.
P17–22–23
Proxy-mono typeface.
How do you live the quarantine? Working from home/office is fine, we're used to that, it's our normal. But everything else and the overall downturn in the economy is scary. Fortunately, we're working with quite a substantial company at the moment.
“Things are changing daily, and we know things are challenging for everyone. We're in this together. We live in hope.�
Activities to do in pairs We’re both love to run and walk our dog in the beautiful countryside near where we live.