- Interview: Graphic Thought Facility 04 - Interview: Katachi Magazine 14 - raff designweek 36 - kate moross 46 - Intervju: Danny Yount
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- Workshop: Visual Food /
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Interview: Graphic Thought Facility Well known in Britain for creating the brand identities of some of the bastions of British design: Habitat, the Design Museum in London and Frieze Art Fair, Graphic Thought Facility is one of the most progressive and creative design studios working in both two and three dimensions. Both comprehensive and innovative, GTF’s design work cuts across commercial and cultural practices and high- and low-tech modes of production. Committed to the expressive power of images and typography, GTF is known for pushing the boundaries of materials and methods. Whether designing exquisite publications, exhibitions, or brand identities, GTF encourages its viewers to take notice of the richness of our world.
You’ve been in the business for over 25 years, and are still one of the most progressive graphic design studios of today; how do you stay progressive? Some of it is simply young blood in the studio. I think that is key. Like in any good practise it’s not just about the people with a name on the door, it’s all the talent you’re working with. I think that’s a huge part of what keeps it alive and fresh. But I think the main thing is finding the right clients to keep you inspired. In the beginning you’re just trying to find someone that will pay you, then you get lucky, fall into it, a sequence of meeting people and clients where you’re right for each other. They’ve got a vision of what they want, they trust your work and give you freedom, and it doesn’t get polluted by a lot of marketing or vox box testing. It just happens. Another thing is a phrasing of partner Paul: the Creative Space in a project. When all the factors of a project are assembled: subject matter, budget, deadline, what people may, or may not expect from an outcome, the life span of a project. All these things are factors that feed intovwhat the final outcome looks like, and what we’re trying to do is tick of all those boxes and find that little something that is a result of all these factors and making it into something we’re proud of.
So, how does one find the right clients? I think rather then trading up clients thinking «wow, that clientis much bigger and pays a lot more», it’s trying to trade up clients in a sense of opportunity and fit. We’re trying to keep smallish, there are about 12 of us, and I think being so small, you don’t need a lot to be busy or very stretched. Sometimes you just stretch because a lot of deadlines come aside, but sometimes also because there’s a job that looks so good you don’t want to say no. Hopefully when those opportunities come along you can take the chance to do it. And maybe that’s where the collaboration thing helps as well, in keeping it fresh. We work with other studios in term of architects and interior designers or curators. It’s not like we just have to sit there and everything comes from us. You’re reacting to the people’s ambitions for a project, and how you can satisfy what they want out of it, and hopefully get something out of that. I think we’ve learned over the years to trust that work will come along, so if a job doesn’t feel just right;
nstinct and think «We’ll just see. What happens, happens» and hopefully more often than not, a few weeks later maybe something comes up that makes you think «wow, I’m really excited about how this could happen», and then you’re so glad you didn’t sign up for the other thing. which might be the creative opportunities not feeling quite right, or the set up with the client being tricky, I think it’s good to trust your
typical ‘GTF design process’? We probably do, but I’m not quite sure I could quantify it. I think in some instances, an idea might come quite quickly and maybe be very simple. Then it’s about how it’s made in detail and that it can be worked out quite logically; who can we work with to produce this, what time have we got. You rationalize it. The idea is key, but it can be the result of one 20 minute meeting. Then we’ll spend six months making it. I don’t think there’s a normfor the studio, but for myself I’ll probably try to write about a project and that will help me crystallize what we are trying to get to. I think if I can single out a paragraph for myself about what we’re trying to achieve with something, that helps.
You mentioned incorporating Sketch Up and basic technology in your design process. After many analogue years, would you say you embrace technology? I think we do, I mean, not in the way that we have our own 3D department or film department, that’s why we still work with collaborators. If we need a really good web programmer, we know where to find them. We certainly embrace how it can help us, but I would say that a lot of the things that come out of our studio are very imaginable pre-computer. They could have been done before computers. Obviously it’s very rare a project ends up not going through a computer. But very few of our projects depend on the computer. So yeah, we embraceand use technology, but maybe more so when we use, and interact with materials. You can do wondrous things with aluminium, because they’ve got new technology. There are so many brilliant materials out there; these fantastic technical laminates, fireproof, sound proof, that bring radio connectivity to the inside of a building. You look at them and are like «wow, great!» because they’re like this mint/pink foam.
Going back to talking about choosing which projects to work with; was it a conscious choice for you to centre so much of your work aroundthe cultural sector; art, music, design and so forth? No, there wasn’t really any grand plan. When we started out we had to fill out a form for the bankso they would lend us money, and we put down that we were going to design three record cover a month, whilst we’ve ended up probably designing three record covers in 32 years! At the timewe were teaching to make a living, as well as doing our work. An ex-student from St.Pauls wasworking for Habitat as a designer, a new guy comes in on marketing, asking who to talk with inLondon, wegot introduced, through Habitat they started an art programme, through that we met the director of Frieze. So it really just happened that way. We didn’t set out in that sense that we wouldn’t work for big city boys, but in the years we did end up working with those kinds of projects, we didn’t enjoy it. So I think we ended up finding the clientswere we could do the work we wanted to, that paid a living. In the beginning it was hard, because we were broad. We weren’t book specialists or record designers, and people then were like «I like your work but it’s not square, so you can’t do record covers». It really was as mindless as that often, so that was a problem earlier on. But after 20 yearsit’s a great advantage. So no grand plan, we’ve just been lucky. talk with in London, we got introduced, through Habitat they started an art programme, through that we met the director of Frieze. So it really just happened that way. We didn’t set out in that sense that we wouldn’t work for big city boys, but in the years we did end up working with those kinds of projects, we didn’t enjoy it. So I think we ended up finding the clients were we could do the work we wanted to, that paid a living. In the beginning it was hard, because we were broad. We weren’t book specialists or record designers, and people then were like «I like your work but it’s not square, so you can’t do record covers». It really was as mindless as that often, so that was a problem earlieron. But after 20 years it’s a great advantage. So no grand plan, we’ve just been lucky.
How does working with creative clients influence your work? We very much enjoy working with other designers, like product designers, as we often do. It’s really nice presenting to a client that gets it. I remember doing a presentation for a book we did on Ron Arad for Phaidon, and Alan Fletcher was Art Director. It was great, we could just show him the idea as a scribble, and he immediately got it. If we had to present the same idea through a layer of marketing people, we’d have to work it up on a much larger scale.
If you had to choose a
And I think that again is that collab-
completely different profession;
orative
what would it be? Maybe it wouldn’t be completely different, but I think if I had to work in another creative field it would be as a set/theatre designer. I think that’s the one I’d really like a go at. I’m not sure I’d have any talent at it, though. I don’t go to the theatre so often but every time I do, I’m blown away by it, and just absorbed by it.
thing working with light, people, set builders, choreographers and directors. Being part of a collaborative team, working towards a total wow-experience for the end user.
Have you got any piece of advice for young aspiring designers? Without making it sound like it’s all about networking; when we now look at clients we’ve been working with, we can trace the history way back to college. It might be a furniture designer we did a little thing with or were friends with at college who’s now kitting out a hotel somewhere.In whatever discipline there are people you’ll share an attitude with, and those links are great.
people you get on with. Ten years
education, it was easier to start
might pass until the right project comes
slowly, and I think today’s students
up, so I think thinking outside your
feela greater pressure to leave and get a
discipline and making contact with people
job or get clients. When we were young
outside your field is important. When we
we didn’t But I think my advice would
look back it’s been fantastically fruitful for
be: Keep doing the work you like doing.
us. Writers, photographers, curators,
Keep finding people to collaborate with,
people who do something completely
even though it’s not great paid work.
different. They’re just people you get on
Over time, I believe that network will
with. So keep those connections in a
build and bear fruit. You might have to
genuine way. I think that’s a good thing.
work in a magazine laying out things to
It seems circumstances are very different
pay the bills. Still, keep an eye on the
now. It’s much harder for young people to
work you want to do.
start a studio these days. When we were young we didn’thave to pay for an
Interview: Katachi Magazine Katachi is an interactive magazine about design, people and business. It is exclusively designed for the iPad, and chronicles globa l design culture, individuals who transform society and the ideas that fuel our collective imagination. Infusing publishing on the iPad with a lifelong appreciation for print, web and broadcast media, Katachi draws from each but emulates none. New ways of communicating have emerged by adding technology as the secret ingredient for telling stories. Katachi capitalize on the innate interactivity of the iPad to create beautiful, multi-sensory content that engages our readers.
In one sentence, what is Katachi? Katachi is a publishing company creating the future of books and magazines.
First of all, congratulations on two gold medals in the Visuelt awards. How does it feel, it must be a great acknowledgement? It’s very nice to be recognized for the work. We have been working so hard and so long (2 years) to get things in order to be able to work this way. There has been many a month when we’ve fought off the idea of giving in and pushed forward. So to see others appreciate the approach and effort we have made is really reassuring.
You literally built Katachi from scratch. The contents, the whole technology... Can you tell us shortly about that process? I think a lot of it begins with arrogance. We think our vision of the world is better, and should be heard and seen. When theiPad first was announced a lot of organizations said they would beleveraging their existing content onto the iPad. We think that’s aterrible idea. I’ve done several interactive TV projects when I lived in LA and I can tell you from experience forcing content from one medium into another is a less than ideal situation, giving you a less than ideal experience in the end. In the 90’s we saw how usability people managed to kill the creativity in web design because the designers were both unwilling and had no tools to fight for an option that was both exciting and made money. We don’t want that to happen again, and the only way to make sure of that is by providing an alternative. So when it comes down to it, we think we have the solution (not the answer) and we want to make sure it’s available to designers. The answer is out there waiting for people to invent it. We have started, but it will take a lot of designersto push it forward. After we decided make Katachi we quickly realized that there were no tools to do what we wanted to do and it would be far too expensive to code every issue from scratch. started planning our perfect interactive design tool. This processessentially began with our frustration using flash, html editors etc.
We wanted to make something less technical, more for a graphic designer than web designer. In this process we needed to figure out what features and functions a designer would need to make “any” touch experience. This process is extremely difficult, as we don’t really know what will be made in the future. The medium is so young that we don’t have much to work from. We came up with designs for the magazine based on designing for the content in the articles and then build features that could make the designs we came up with. When we had the tools we would try them out and see if they worked. This back and forth process happened for about 18 months and s still happening now. Creating the content for the magazine has been very difficult and interesting. First and foremost I need to say that Jonni, our Photo Director has been extremely important in the process. We have spent many, many late nights shooting, experimenting, trying and failing until we got it right.
You mentioned incorporating Sketch Up and basic technology in your You are making a new way of interacting with a magazine, in a way changing the way weread... We have all been reading the same way since Gutenberg. What do you think of creating a whole new experience for people? You can look at it from that point of view. We are sharing our grand vision of how you should read an iPad magazine. But we don’t see it that way, we look upon it as we are a part of the process to both figure out what works best, and explore the options available. We have indeed designed the magazine to be read in a certain way, and that will continue to progress over time. There is no such thing as better readability, just popular readability. Zuzana Licko said that we read best what we read most, and there is really nothing to it more than that. When we eventually figure out what works, it will be because it feels right, not because it feels familiar. We are looking to the future with our work, not the past.
How do people respond to that? That part is kind of interesting. The biggest push back we have received has been from print magazine people, and ironically indie print magazine people. I think a lot of people in the print world have read too many of these print-versus-table and print killer articles. We don’t have any competitive feeling toward print. We love print and this has been in part why we seek out indie magazine publishers, because we like what they do. But most so far have been less than excited about collaborating.If we grab the iPad and show people the magazine for a couple of minutes, then they often don’t really like it. But when someone seeks it out, buys it off of iTunes, they are really happy. Our iTunes ratings speak for themselves. We have great ratings all over the world. In the beginning we had some purchase process bugs that pissed a few people off, but they still said they liked the magazine once they managed to buy it. Those bugs have been fixed, by the way.
It’s still sort of a tactile
in the mathematic sense. We design
experience? Getting all the
something on screen and then put it on
senses together through pictures, videos: you were talking about adding a
the iPad to play with, and even if it’s not so exciting on the computer, once you touch it, that touch magnifies the emotional value of the work by an x factor.
soundtrack in your next issue? It’s all in perspective. It is very much a tactile experience, but not in the same way as print. It’s very hard to describe because we really don’t understand it fully yet ourselves. The best way I can describe it is as an x factor
Can all these possibilities benegative as well? Or do you just see opportunities? I don’t’ think it’s negative at all. We see the role of Katachi as a platform for looking at the possibilities and exploring.
We do very different work when the
You need to use the medium for what its
design brief is different. If something
potential has to offer. The problem is that
needs to be extremely usable then we
we haven’t even scratched the surface of
don’t go to that level of experimentation.
the potential yet. In this case, the medium
I guess the negative thing is that it’s
is the message and these critical theories
unexplored territory so we don’t know
are always going through our heads as a
where we are going with it, that can be
way of trying to understand what we are
stressful under deadline.
doing and where to go.
What challenges do you meet? It’s a little like standing in front of a canvas with paint, but having never seen a painting before. Photographs are one way of approaching it, but that’s not very interesting.
Who is the typical Katachi reader? I think the typical reader is very much like us. 20 to 40, highly media savvy, economically well off, well travelled. I
Can you see differences in the readers, Why the East-West approach? How did that come about?
would say about 50% of our readers are in the design business or related creative
Very simple; I spent my first four years out
industries like advertising, fashion etc.
of high school living in Japan. I speak
Then there’s maybe a 20% group of
Japanese, and I absolutely love the country.
magazine people, journalists etc. So it’s
On top of that their publishing industry is
largely media related people.
the most mature in the world, their magazine industry is just amazing with 100,000+ titles. The Japanese like to consume media. Also I’m a professor at Beijing University. China is super exciting and full of life and energy.
Can you see differences in the readers, demographically? Are Japanese readers i.e. overrepresented because
non-technical. Japanese readers only represent about 8% of our readership We have large readerships in China, the Middle East, France, Brazil and Russia. Just as a sidebar, the Japanese use their iPads very
of their familiarity to technology?
differently than we do in the West. In most
That’s a myth about Japanese people.
the public. It’s primarily a home device or a
Most Japanese people are very
private device. We almost never see iPads
circumstances they do not take them out in
in public, but you can’t buy the iPad 3 anywhere in Tokyo these days, they’re all sold out...
How does the content form the technology and vice versa? Content is king, period. Technology offers us as designers inspiration simply because the medium is so young. We look at the content, design ways to communicate that content, and have the technology make it happen. Once we have the thing working it usually inspires us in new directions and ways to communicate. But never, NEVER does technology sit in the drivers seat.
You have made this software, specifically designed for the iPad. Have you got plans of putting it in different types of media? Like educational books etc? We have made a tool that can create iPad-based publications, books and other story telling media. We are currently working with children’s books, reports, educational books, experimentations and art books as well as magazines, of course. We want to push the medium forward and see the possibilities. This means that we question all of these ideas and try to mash them together to see what comes out the other end.
Can you monitor how long people spend on each page? In that case it gives you quite an advantage. A lot of print magazines would do a lot to get such information. Yeah, we have content-based analytics so we can see what our readers are doing and how they use the magazine. The results have been very satisfying. The reader typically reads 11 pages per session, and reads one page on an average of nine minutes. In general readers use our magazine a good amount and regularly. We are extremely happy with how theyuse Issue 1 and 2.
You are sort of locked to the iPad system, although it gives certain benefits; how do you feel creating something specifically towards a big brand like Apple, and the iPad? Our goal has always been to create the best experiences, not the most common. We chose the iPad because it allowed for us to be able to achieve that. We are always looking for other platforms to expand into, but we have not found any yet. Right now the iPad dominates the market. We looked at Android on several occasions but it’s just not unified enough, it’s a bit like design for all the web browsers, multiple OS version, screen sizes, touch technologies etc. We leave this to Adobe, they provide the tools to publish on all platforms, but the experience is sub standard because of all the limitations from working with so many variables. Also the customers are very different. iPad users spend more, use them more and download more apps. Eventually there will be a competitor to the iPad (not in the near future) and when they emerge, we will be there.
How have you managed to finance such an intricate project like Katachi? Gone into spend my savings, gone into debt, worked really hard. If you believe in something, it’s important that you stick your neck out and really go for it. We probably could have got investors in the beginning. I think you should finance things yourself in the beginning, because it makes you try harder. Now it’s a bit easier, we have positive cash flow and are moving in the right direction, and are now looking for investors.
How many people are working with Katachi on a daily basis? Fourteen people in Oslo, St. Petersburg and Berlin, and then another ten or so, freelance.
What’s a typical day at the Katachi office like? We don’t have a typical day at the office yet. Everything is still very new and changing regularly. I guess the most typical thing is that we try to meet problems we run into on a daily basis by solving them very quickly.
Who are the people behind Katachi? This is the core team: myself Ken Olling, I run Katachi and manage all of the aspects of it. Max Berg is responsible for Katachi Magazine and oversees other magazines. Max runs Katachi when I’m not there. Erlend Halvorsen is our CTO and works with me on the development of Origami Engine. Karianne Hjallen runs the book publishing part of the business and helps me with the licensing of our tools. This said; we all wear many hats on a daily basis.
The magazine is published in English, Japanese and Norwegian. We aim to weave together Eastern and Western culture through our editorial profile and graphic, colorful and most importantly, interactive design.