The Work Of
SCOTT HANSEN
Scott Hansen is a San Francisco, California based graphic designer and musician. For his musical endeavors, he goes by the moniker “Tycho”, while his graphic design alias is “ISO50.” He has spent time as a freelance designer and was employed by several companies, the most notable being Adobe. After a while, however, he stopped his freelance design practice to further pursue his own design and music. He feels that this total self employment allows him to participate in the style of design that he most enjoys, not having to fall victim to the latest
design trends or the opinions of stubborn clients. His past freelance experience, however, is what he feels shaped his design perspective and he is thankful for it. The pieces he crafted for himself and friends, he feels, are his design at its most pure and the best expression of his ideals when it comes to design. He has done several commissioned pieces for the UK’s Computer Arts Magazine, as well as written a tutorial for the magazine, sharing his method and style. He has spoken at OFFF, a festival based on “artists that are breaking ground and shaping new standards in media and design.� His
style often has strong organic elements, with watercolor and paper textures used in conjunction with sweeping, curving vector elements. Hansen has never studied design and holds no college degrees, but has independently practiced design for ten years now. He feels that he has a firm grasp on what types of design influences his pieces, as he accredits a lot of his inspiration to the Bauhaus movement of the 1960’s. He does a great deal of looking to the designs and designers of the past for inspiration and style, always add-
ing his own unique twist. While he does sometimes create illustration pieces, the majority of his work is graphic design, with pieces such as logos, event flyers, album art layouts, and strong typographic pieces rounding out his portfolio. With his illustration pieces he seeks to develop something beautiful or striking. With his design he adheres to these same goals, but he also strongly believes in efficient design, searching for minimalism to “constrain the process and limit the content.� In this sense he believes of breaking away all the excess of illustration and fine art and finding the core message and
making it instantly recognizable. He created ISO50. com with the intention of not only showcasing his work, but furthering the exploration into what drives him as a designer. The site contains a shop where you can purchase prints or shirts of his work, and
also a blog. In the blog portion he takes time to talk about his influences and inspirations. He shares many fantastic examples of design from the past, which ranges from simple poster design, to well designed houses, all having inspired his pieces in some form or another. Hansen’s sun-drenched design style effectively echoes his musical senti-
ments, which he began to indulge in with his 2002 release of “The Science Of Patterns EP.” This was followed in 2004 with “Sunrise Projector,” his first full length album. Both of these albums won him the praise of critics and a successful underground career, leading to collaborations and projects with other musicians.