Design
for
Print May 2011 £3·99
La Boca “A renaissance in film poster design?” Chip Kidd “Ignis mos conemquo tectur acepro optaquis et dolupta ecabo. Litatia”
Fabien Baron “Ignis mos conemquo tectur acepro optaquis et dolupta ecabo. Litatia”
City ID “Ignis mos conemquo tectur acepro optaquis et dolupta ecabo. Litatia”
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Design
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for
General Manager:
Regional Advertisement Manager:
Jamie Jouning
Albert Read
Heather Mitchell
Deputy Circulation Director:
Managing Director:
Regional Senior Sales Executive:
Richard Kingerlee
Nicholas Coleridge
Beth Hardir
Brand Sales and Marketing Manager:
Directors:
Regional Sales Executive:
Odin Madsen
Jonathan Newhouse (Chairman),
Krystina Garnett
Subscriptions Director:
Nicholas Coleridge (Managing Director),
Head of the Paris Office:
Patrick Foileret
Stephen Quinn, Annie Holcroft, Vivien
Helena Kawalec
Subscriptions Promotion Manager:
Mattews, Pam Raynor, Simon Kippin,
Advertisement Manager Paris Office:
Claudia Long
Jamie Bill, Jean Faulkner, Shelagh Crofts,
Natalie Walther
Subscriptions Manager:
Albert Read, Patricia Stevenson, Chris
US Advertising Director:
Eleni Ruffels
Hughes, Jonathan Newhouse (Chairman,
Shannon Tolar Tchkotoua
Subscription Executive:
Conde Nast International)
Italian Office:
Emma Carvalho
Publishing Director:
Valentina Donini
Senior Subscription Marketing Designer:
Jamie Bill
Classified Director:
Gareth Ashfield/Anthea Denning
Business Manager:
Shelagh Crofts
Production Director:
Sarah Cocks
Classified Sales Manager:
Sarah Jenson
Associate Publisher:
Lydia Lerner
Production Manager:
Justin Barriball
Senior Classified Sales Executive:
Joanne Packham
Head of Fashion Advertising:
Stephanie Organ
Commercial Production Manager:
Vanessa Kingori
Classified Sales Executives:
Xenia Antoni
Senior Account Manager:
Claudia Grove/Natalie Spence
Senior Production Controller:
Rachael Dunn/Hannah Kafanke
Associate Research Director:
Sam Dearden
Promotions Art Director:
Gary Read
Senior Production Coordinator:
Anne Prendergast
Marketing Manager:
Sherri-Lee Estabrook
Promotions Manager:
Susie Brown
Commercial Production Controller:
Alexandra Nesbit
Marketing Executive:
Rachel Hutchings
Acting Promotions Manager:
Laura Paterson
Display Production Controller:
Mark Service
Media Research Manager:
Louise Lawson
Promotions Art Director:
Miranda Withams
Group Property Director:
James Warner
Media Research Executive:
Fiona Forsyth
Promotions Art Editor:
Dionie Newby-Bowes
Marketing Director:
Nick Paterson
Circulation Director:
Jean Faulkner
Retail Markets Editor:
Vivien Mattews
Financial Control Director:
Giorgina Waltier
Director of Press and Publicity:
Penny Scott-Bayfield
Events Director:
Nicky Eaton
Finance Director:
Michelle Russell
Manager Conde Nast Digital UK:
Pam Raynor
Regional Sales Director:
Emanuela Pignataro
HR/Personal Director:
Jaren Allgood
Publisher Conde Nast Digital UK:
Amy Stein
Published by:
Square, London W1S 1JU (Tel: 020-7499
The Conde Nast
9080; fax: 0870 242 9498; telex:27338
Publications Ltd, Vogue House, Hanover
Volon)
Design for Print / / May 2011
Contents F e at u r e s :
Regulars:
Fabien Baron
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simillumet.”
simillumet.”
La Boca
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simillumet.”
simillumet.”
City ID
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simillumet.”
simillumet.”
Chip Kidd
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simillumet.”
simillumet.”
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Design News Heading
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Harcim quam re et hilla quost eturior
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sequaes verum faccaessunt, que essequi dendamusam int velenih
exeria cusdae accatur acculliquam,
iciisci deribusae et eos ium doleserum natis dus adis voluptatur
voloren imilles iur? Cesti nihillo rationet
a ditatem aut eum quam quae et velestempor mincto vollesto
earchil id mo volorum inci aditatet atam
doloria vendanderum, occat fuga. Name est opta evenimil inctis
iumqui cus.
coraepu dandae nonseque conecat ectectu ribus, cusant arum
Nem adio et experio. Name pa niste-
aceprorum eum endaestio earum ditaepudis ullaudi temoloria
cabore simagnis adis moloreh enihiliquod
siniae. Em. Aquam re peror autem eturia que et ut officab inim
quibusam earum nulla quis solumquatus
que apistibus que pera cus, sequi cumquae prorem hiciis denda pos quibus, inctust, earunt mil inum reratur mintem ut pa denis moditas et harum autes elest, est, sundus, as quis cum quidi culparum quo blam aliqui rerum fugit quae
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exeria cusdae accatur acculliquam,
Accus ut occupid mi, estis quatur sam fuga. Volutem con nim et
earchil id mo volorum inci aditatet atam
faccatus si ut quis plitat laceptatus, occati dolorrum earupti non-
iumqui cus.
sequaes verum faccaessunt, que essequi dendamusam int velenih
Nem adio et experio. Name pa niste-
iciisci deribusae et eos ium doleserum natis dus adis voluptatur
cabore simagnis adis moloreh enihiliquod
a ditatem aut eum quam quae et velestempor mincto vollesto
quibusam earum nulla quis solumquatus
voloren imilles iur? Cesti nihillo rationet
doloria vendanderum, occat fuga. Name est opta evenimil inctis coraepu dandae nonseque conecat ectectu ribus, cusant arum aceprorum eum endaestio earum ditaepudis ullaudi temoloria siniae. Em. Aquam re peror autem eturia que et ut officab inim que apistibus que pera cus, sequi cumquae prorem hiciis denda pos quibus, inctust, earunt mil inum reratur mintem ut pa denis moditas et harum autes elest, est, sundus, as quis cum quidi culparum quo blam aliqui rerum fugit quae
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Nem adio et experio. Name pa niste-
Accus ut occupid mi, estis quatur sam fuga. Volutem con nim et
quibusam earum nulla quis solumquatus
cabore simagnis adis moloreh enihiliquod
faccatus si ut quis plitat laceptatus, occati dolorrum earupti nonsequaes verum faccaessunt, que essequi dendamusam int velenih iciisci deribusae et eos ium doleserum natis dus adis voluptatur a ditatem aut eum quam quae et velestempor mincto vollesto doloria vendanderum, occat fuga. Name est opta evenimil inctis coraepu dandae nonseque conecat ectectu ribus, cusant arum aceprorum eum endaestio earum ditaepudis ullaudi temoloria siniae. Em. Aquam re peror autem eturia que et ut officab inim que apistibus que pera cus, sequi cumquae prorem hiciis denda pos quibus, inctust, earunt mil inum reratur mintem ut pa denis moditas et harum autes elest, est, sundus, as quis cum quidi.
Design for Print / / News
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Design for Print / / Editorial Design
Fa b i e n B a ro n “Putting too much interpretation into design is not good... For me, the reasons behind it are more primitive than philosophical or sociological”
F
abien
B a r o n was born in Antony, France in 1959. He
studied at Arts Appliqués in Paris from 1975-76 before taking a job in the art department at L’Equipe. In 1982 he moved from Paris to New York, first working at Self and GQ magazines. In 1987 he designed the prototype for New York Woman and was the magazine’s art director for its first year. While there, he was appointed creative director of Italian Vogue and began dividing his time between New York and Milan. He returned to New York in 1990 to open his company Baron & Baron and guide the relaunch of Interview Fabien Baron was born in Antony, France in 1959. He studied at Arts Appliques in Paris from 1975-76 before taking a job in the art department at L’Equipe. In 1982 he moved from Paris to New York, first working at Self and GQ magazines. In 1987 he designed the prototype for New York Woman and was the magazine’s art director for its first year. While there, he was appointed creative director of Barney’s store. In 1988 Baron became creative director of Italian Vogue and began dividing his time between New York and Milan. He returned to New York in 1990 to open his company Baron & Baron and guide the relaunch of Interview magazine. In 1992 he became creative director of Harper’s Bazaar, for which he has won numerous awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors and the Society of Publication Designers. Baron & Baron has designed advertising campaigns for many of the leading names in fashion, including Issey Miyake, Hugo Boss, Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Pucci, Micheal Kors and Norma Kamali. Baron is creative director at Calvin Klein. The studio’s portfolio also includes creative direction of Madonna’s Sex book, Erotica video, and album packaging; the design of Robert Altman’s Prêt-a-Porter book; and graphic identities for Ian Shrager Hotels. Baron has overseen a number of fragrance launches, including Issey Miyake’s L ‘Eau d’Issey and Calvin Klein’s cK one…
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J. ABBOTT MILLER: How did you come to design magazines in the first place? Your father was an art director, wasn’t he?
Did you go to art school? Just for a year. I wanted to check it out. I enjoyed it, but I thought it was a bit slow. I was already focused on what I wanted to do, so I decided I might as well move on to what I wanted right away. Was it a classic design fundamentals course, or was it more trade oriented? It was more general arts – photography, design, sculpture,
FABIEN BARON: Yes. He’s done several magazines and a lot of newspapers.
painting. It’s a good idea for someone who wants to be in the art field but doesn’t know where to go because you have the chance to play with many different media. It wasn’t a Bauhaus-inspired introduction to the fundamentals of design? No, no. Even the design course was primitive. I think of French design as dominated by illustration and not very typographic. Yet the direction of your work has been towards a strong emphasis on typography. Maybe that’s why I left France – it didn’t really offer the opportunity to do anything different. At any rate, I felt the need to come to the US intuitively. What was formative in your early jobs? There were some jobs that were so tedious you cannot imagine it: staying all day long in a stat room at a desk doing
Design for Print / / Editorial Design
“I don’t break the rules just to break the rules – that’s not enough. Things have to make sense.”
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mechanicals. But I did the mechanicals, and I would say,
So when I moved to a big magazine with money where you
“Wouldn’t it be easier if you had three columns on top?”
can do whatever you want and I saw people getting stuck, I’d
And they began to say, “Hmm, maybe you should do more
say, “Don’t worry”. Because I’m used to doing things with
than just mechanicals.”
nothing.
So when you arrived at Conde Nast, you were still at a relatively
If an art director is just someone who does the job, what is a
low level?
creative director?
No! I was an art director already, for a music magazine. But
It’s exactly the same thing. I’m the art director, I’m the
what is an art director?
designer, whatever. Basically I’m part of a team of talented
That’s one of my questions. It doesn’t mean much. It simply means someone who is doing the job. At first I had to do everything, there was no
people and we’re trying to put a magazine together. Does being the creative director make you equal to the editor? No. The editor is still the editor.
team. But it was fun, and I was designing a lot, giving ideas
A lot of stories in Harper’s Bazaar are intrinsically “design”
to different magazines.
stories in that they rest on a visual conceit. Do you suggest
Were you consciously bringing some particular aesthetic to those magazines? Definitely. Can you define that?
stories? Sometimes. At Bazaar everyone can come up with ideas – it has nothing to do with your position on the masthead. Liz Tilberis wanted to do the best fashion magazine and you
No. It’s funny, but when I look back, I see a little of what’s
can’t achieve that without being open to the people you
going on today. It’s very clean and organised and well put
work with. That’s her strength and it’s a very modern way
together. I had to invent a lot things because I didn’t have
to edit a magazine. It’s why we all have great respect for her
much to work with and I wanted to make it interesting.
leadership. She’s the best editor I’ve worked with.
That’s what creates ideas: solving problems with nothing.
You are creative director at Bazaar, but you are also an
independent consultant to designers such as Calvin Klein and
from Franklin Gothic, to Didot, Helvetica, and now Letter
Issey Miyake.
Gothic.
Yes, I have my own company. Does that create any conflicts? I don’t see any problem.
How long do these typographic moments last? It depends on the mood. With Letter Gothic, that’s enough.
Well, does the conflict arise from Bazaar
We’re changing in September’s Bazaar. When I was doing
or from your other clients?
Italian Vogue, I would do one story in Franklin, another in
It comes from other designers, editors, other people in
Didot. The way it was designed was a breakthrough, but
magazines who wish they could do the same thing. I think
it was not very consistent. Interview was totally consistent
sometimes people see a conflict because they’re jealous that
– each issue would be one typeface, one colour, consistent
they can’t do more than one thing themselves. I was smart
throughout. I think the readership should understand what
enough to be able to do a magazine, advertising, packaging,
is your voice and what is the voice of your advertisers.
television stuff. And I don’t see why I shouldn’t be able to
But that’s the line people see as blurred when your own
do that as long as I’m professional about it and can separate
advertising work appears in Bazaar.
the jobs. When I’m at Calvin Klein, I’m working for Calvin
It is not. I think they only see it because I am the author of
Klein. When I’m at Bazaar, I’m there for the interests of
both. If someone else did exactly the same thing in my style
Bazaar.
there would be no problem. After all, no one would criticise
I think part of the concern is that there is supposed to be a division between editorial and advertising.
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Yes. When everybody catches up, I say, “Okay, we change.”.
a photographer for doing both editorial and advertising. Do you pay much attention to the work of other designers?
It’s all communication. Bazaar has to sell a product, which
I don’t really look at other’s people’s work. I flip through
is a magazine. Calvin Klein has to sell clothes, which is
things and sometimes I find something interesting, but on
another product.
the whole I’m influenced by other things – by painters or
But in scanning the magazine, there’s a page of Calvin Klein
signs in the street. The way people write “On sale now”
underwear followed by a page of editorial which looks a lot like
in shop windows attracts me more than the most serious
it.
design. It’s not that I don’t find anyone good. But I think it’s I could pull out billions of magazines and find pages where other advertisers rip off Bazaar, but there’s not conflict
dangerous to get close to someone else’s work and swallow it. Do you see anything that intrigues you or that you admire?
there, right? Are you saying that I cannot use my style, but
There are tons of things I think are very cool. David Carson
other people can rip it off and put it on NBC or wherever
and Neville Brody have both done new things.
they want? It doesn’t make sense. And anyway, Calvin
There seemed to be similarities between your work and Neville
Klein’s image has nothing to do with Bazaar. They would
Brody’s at a certain point.
never use the type of pictures I do for Calvin at Bazaar and
Yes, though I was not aware of his work at that time. I think
Calvin would never pick the type of picture I do for Bazaar
Neville is the designer I like the most because he’s coming
for his own ads.
from a very specific point of view and everything I’ve seen
Because the identities are so distinct?
of his has a lot of power, an aggression, and a simplicity.
Totally. Calvin is sexy. He likes simple, sexy, strong images.
He’s a great designer and I think he’s the one who is the
At Bazaar we don’t do articles with sexy pictures, we cover
most intelligent about his work. Brody’s work comes out
fashion.
of the English punk movement and Carson’s is tied to
The photographers you work with are one of the primary things
California beach culture. You have to watch out when you’re
you brought to Bazaar. How closely do you art direct the shoots?
tied to something so specific. What happens when punk
I art direct some shoots, but a lot of the look comes from
disappears? I never wanted my work to be tied to anything
the editors and photographers. The beauty of Bazaar is the
cultural, I want it to be more about something in my head. I
teamwork. Sometimes we disagree, but that’s a strength.
think it’s the classical approach.
You mentioned the use of your style by other people. Is there a
And that concern for classicism distinguishes what you’re doing
point where you feel people are stealing your work?
from more self-consciously experimental work?
Yes, obviously. At the beginning I might not say anything,
I don’t break the rules just to break the rules – that’s not
just think, “Hmm that looks familiar”. But there are so many
enough. Things have to make sense. I don’t want to do
examples now, it’s scary.
things people won’t be able to read. You have to have a
Is it flattering or does it make you angry? I guess it must mean I’m doing something right. Sometimes it makes me laugh. And I take it as a challenge and move on. You’ve gone through a series of distinct typographic phases,
Design for Print / / Editorial Design
couple of words that define your work. “Elegant” and…? “Simple.” “Powerful.” “Beautiful.” No more “elegant”, I’m tired of hearing that.
Pa porruptas re mos experum fugiatur? Da sita num rem quam, con cus rem alignitas eicatus, simetus et que nam, nullanditium lis
Much has been made of the parallels between your tenure at
pick something generic like a Franklin or a Didot and do
Bazaar and that of Alexey Brodovitch. Is that something you’ve
something new with it. That’s the hardest thing to do.
cultivated? Anybody working here would have been compared to Brodovitch. He’s not a particular hero of yours? My father mentioned Brodovitch to me when I was 16. And I though, “Wow, this guy must be a genius because my father
Negative leading and tracking have become a very quotable trademark of your work. I was doing that with Xeroxes before the computer. It’s been done for a long time. How much of your work is done on a computer? Everything, eventually.
is telling me he’s a genius.” But it was only when I came to
But a lot of your ideas are still independent of their realisation
Bazaar that I had a chance to get really familiar with his
on screen?
work. So your choice of Didot was not an attempt to recall the Brodovitch tradition? No. At that point I was finishing the Madonna book, where I
I like drawing. I draw a little something first. But new technology is good. When I was 16 I was doing things in metal. What kind of publication was that?
used a lot of Bauer Bodoni. I really wanted to do a typeface
I don’t even remember – it was a little magazine. I think you
for Bazaar that would be more like the classic Didot. I
have to be careful with the computer so that work doesn’t
couldn’t use something like Franklin Gothic. We used Didot
look like computer design where the designer is absent. I like
because it’s very feminine, not because of the magazine’s
metal, I like wood, I like computers. It’s like having a new
history. When we started at Bazaar things were very elegant and the direction of the magazine was about elegance. Then the grunge movement happened. What was your response to grunge?
pencil. How directly do you design the magazine? I design most of the type pages and I oversee everything. Johan Svensson, the art director, is the best right hand
That’s when I started to use a lot of handwriting and very
I could ever find. He’s involved in the design of all the
light typefaces.
magazine.
Did you know there’s a font called Kate Moss? It’s even lighter
How did you make the transition from graphic design to
than Helvetica Extra Light, whisper thin.
directing?
That’s cool. The problem with computer typefaces is that
I just wanted to do it. I think it doesn’t matter what you
they look good at text sizes, but when you blow them up
do: design is design. It has to look good, whether it’s a pack
they look too fat, out of proportion. All these new computer
of cigarettes, a lighter, a magazine, clothes or even music.
typefaces are not for me. I find it more challenging to
Directing is the same thing, you can say, “This is good. This
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is not good. This is visually striking. This is visually powerful.
space reminds me of death.” It was funny, but a little sad.
This building looks good. This building looks bad. This page
For me, design comes out of you. The reasons behind it are
in this magazine looks good. This page in this magazine
more primitive than philosophical or sociological.
looks bad.” If you have some kind of philosophy about the
But because your work reaches such a large audience, people are
way you like things to be, you can apply it to anything.
interested in its possible sociological impact.
I think people channel themselves too much. They think,
It has sociological impact, yes. Whatever is around you
“I’m an art director, I work for a magazine, and I’m going to
influences your mood, your behaviour. I believe that the
do that all my life.” Why? It’s just a medium. Of course, it’s
environment has an effect on the way you think, which is
going to take time to learn a new language if you start work
why I try to improve it.
in a new field. But you’re still tapping into the same place in
What are your mistakes? I think people get the impression that
your heart, in your head. It all comes from the same source.
you’ve had a flawless career.
Your work is in mass media, which exists outside of so much of
I make mistakes, you have to make mistakes. I think it’s very
what is going on in the more internalised debates taking place in
important. Nothing can be perfect, but that’s the beauty
art schools and design publications.
of it. I like the idea of reaching for perfection, but I don’t
You’re talking to me in Chinese now. What do you mean? I think there is a disagreement about the role of theory and political and social issues in design education and practice. My God! You shouldn’t tell people how they should design
like the idea of being perfect. If I were perfect, I would be inhumane. What fashion designers do you respect? Are they also your clients?
things. You should let them find out for themselves, see
One of them is. Calvin, I really like. He’s a genius. He’s very
what they have to say. You’re putting walls around them
open. When he has new ideas he just has to say three words
and they may never get rid of those walls. Putting too much
and I know what he’s talking about. And my answer to him
interpretation into design is not good. Someone did a piece
is three words, and he gets it. I think we’re similar in the way
on me, and she wrote something like, “The use of white
we see things. I like the clothes he designs and he likes the
Design for Print / / Editorial Design
Left: I’m making a nice living. But I work overtime. Maybe I’m the best-paid art director, maybe I’m not,
“I make mistakes, you have to make mistakes. I think it’s very important. Nothing can be perfect, but that’s the beauty of it.” 13
things I design. It’s a good match. And Madonna is also a good match?
consuming and financially it’s a big burden. It’s not what we’re about. We don’t take jobs because there’s a lot of
She’s fun. She’s more like my wild side. She’s so out there,
money to be made from them. We take a job because we feel
she’s breaking so many taboos. I think it’s very good. I find
we can do something good.
my best work is done with people I don’t have to talk to. When I’m doing the work, I’m not thinking, “I hope he’s going to like it, I hope she’s going to like it.” I know that it’s right. There’s no question about it. Do you go after work or does it always come to you? I never have to look for work. I’m very lucky. How much money do you make? I’m making a nice living. But I work overtime. Maybe I’m
What is the future of Baron & Baron? I think we’d like to develop a line of products, become our own client. Personal care items? Furniture? What kind of products? Anything we feel is lacking. It’s an idea I have for a store. We would carry all the things you can’t find. Perhaps you could become the Martha Stewart of the avantgarde. You could have your own cable programme…
the best-paid art director, maybe I’m not, but it’s like being
No. I don’t feel what I’ve done is so big that is deserves so
the best-paid plumber – all my clients make a lot more
much attention. But I’m glad my work has some influence.
money than I do.
When I see car advertising or Coca-Cola – all those big
It’s interesting that you call your company Baron & Baron
names – and it looks like my work, it makes me happy. It’s as
Advertising.
if I’m part of American culture. I came here like the poor
That was my thinking when I started the company. We do a
little French guy, with only in my pocket, and I became part
lot of advertising. But we do a lot of design too.
of American culture. I like that.
Do you see a difference between advertising and design? If it was really an advertising agency, 50 per cent of the
This article can be found at:
company would be geared towards placing advertising.
http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature.php?id=50&fid=58
But we decided not to do that because we find it very time
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Design for Print / / Poster Design
Making
the
Cut
La Boca’s recent work for Black Swan may suggest a renaissance in film poster design but, with multiple executions and a tortuous approval process, this remains a complex, frustrating industry to work in. By Gavin Lucas
H
owever, these posters,
created by London-based studio La Boca, were
only part of the campaign for the film. Movie specialist Bemis Balkind (for the US and international markets) and London-based Empire (for the UK market) were also commissioned to produce more mainstream versions featuring the film’s star, Natalie Portman. Such a mixture of approaches, aimed at different audiences, is becoming increasingly prevalent in movie marketing. And before these final designs were approved and signed off by the film studio, dozens, if not hundreds of poster design concepts by several artists will have been rejected. “I’ve worked on campaigns where there are as many as 400 to 500 pieces of artwork to look at and to choose from,” says Charles Reimers, creative director at Bemis Balkind. “A film studio usually hires two or three shops, such as ours, to get started on a movie campaign. Each shop presents their work to the marketing department at the studio and 99% of the time the person making the final decision isn’t present. The marketing guy then presents the work to his or her boss, the president of the studio, and then the work gets shown to the producers of the film. Once it gets to the producers, then it needs to run a gauntlet of yet more people, depending on the movie and the actors involved. Sometimes big name actors get creative call on poster artwork. There’s a big rabbit hole you have to shove this work down and if you’re lucky, your work can get to the end of that process without being shifted and watered down and changed too much. By the end of it, you hope you’ve got something you can be proud of.” This method of working isn’t every designer’s cup of tea. California-based Corey Holms worked in the movie poster industry as a designer for just over ten years but maintains that in that time there are probably less than a handful of completed posters Opposite:
he’s truly happy with. “Every poster is a compromise,” he says, “and I think that a lot
“I’ve worked on campaigns where there are as
of designers have the same feelings that I do, which is that when you look back at your
many as 400 to 500 pieces of artwork to look
work, all you see is what could have been ... the typeface that got changed, or the shot
at and to choose from,”
of the star smiling which I was required to use that removed the intended tension in the
15
poster.” And that’s just the posters Holms completed. “The most difficult part of the movie poster industry is that 99% of what we do is thrown in the trashcan,” he says. “We generate a phenomenal amount of work – six to ten unique posters per designer, per round, and you rarely have more than three or four days to complete them. For me, the most frustrating thing is the incredibly difficult balance between caring and not caring. If you care too much, then every single revision and comp that dies rips your heart out, so you have to be detached from the work. And if you don’t care enough, your work suffers. Part of the reason I left the industry is because I genuinely care about the work I do and there’s so much amazing work generated that never sees the light of day. I can only have my heart broken so many times.” London-based illustrator and designer Olly Moss used to work at a film production company in LA where he regularly saw colleagues produce huge volumes of great work only for it to be overlooked or watered down by studio marketing departments. “It was heartbreaking,” he says, “so what I tend to do now is create posters for film festivals or events or special screenings. These often then get licensed by the studios to be used as alternate posters or other promotional material.” Recent work includes a set of three Star Wars movie posters commissioned by LucasFilm and film poster company Mondo and a poster for Let Me In, the artwork of which is going to be used for the DVD. He is currently working on a poster for Duncan Jones’ latest movie, Source Code. “I tend to prefer working with film festivals or with a director or a film company directly
16
Below:
because the design doesn’t have to go through so many levels of marketing before it’s
London-based illustrator and designer Olly
approved, meaning I usually get a large degree of creative control,” continues Moss.
Moss used to work at a film production company
“There are other advantages too, the posters are often beautifully screenprinted on nice
in LA where he regularly saw colleagues produce
stock and limited to small editions. These, admittedly, are collectors’ items rather than
huge volumes of great work only for it to be
marketing tools, but I much prefer doing them. It’s easier to get excited and inspired
overlooked or watered down by studio marketing.
when you know that something you make will definitely be used, even if it won’t be ap-
Design for Print / / Poster Design
pearing on the side of a bus.” Creating beautiful artwork to appeal to a niche collectors’ market is one thing. Creating a functioning marketing campaign that perfectly communicates the tone of a film to a global audience is something else, but it is possible to avoid cliché. “Every film has a different story to tell and that is why what we do is always such a brilliant challenge,” says Charlie Loft, creative director at London-based film marketing company AllCity, which has recently produced an illustrated poster for Mike Leigh’s
“Erum dolo molorernam sequam voluptas cus, solupti omnimet offic temolore, ut quibeaque ium sim ducia volorro quuntintota dolest, sundandunt volupis”
Another Year, and also an award- winning poster for Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love. “We don’t subscribe to one style of creative, it’s boring, which is why we like to collaborate with many talented individuals. Whether they be illustrators, typographers or photographers, they all add an extra flavour to the overall concept.” Creating a bespoke look for every film isn’t always easy to do when faced with a marketing team at a studio keen to repeat the success of previous movies. The age-old creative problem of having a client saying ‘we liked that thing you did for something else – can you do that again’ is as prevalent in movie poster commissioning as anywhere else. Nurturing client relationships and developing trust is, of course, essential. “The client is often a large part of the equation when you’re talking about the quality of a finished product,” maintains US-based designer Neil Kellerhouse who got into film advertising through working with Disney/Pixar and New York-based Criterion Collection. Kellerhouse recently worked on the ad campaign for David Fincher’s film The Social Network, liaising with the director. “The movie industry has built a very strong vernacular to communicate their product. For better or worse, when you see a movie poster these days you know exactly what you’re in for. Everyone knows the language, even if you can’t verbalise it. It can be very difficult to do anything different. David Fincher and his producer Ceán Chaffin, gave me the opportunity with The Social Network. And [Fincher] really led me to the solution to that campaign.” Of course, there’s no point in being different for the sake of it. “If the art overpowers the film, then it’s not going to work,” says Reimers of Bemis Balkind. “I work with great artists [like Akiko Stehrenberger whose posters featured in our January Monograph], but it is challenging ascribing the right one for a particular job. If I was working on what we call a ‘tentpole’ movie – something that’s got money behind it and is expected to have a big, red carpet premiere such as Harry Potter – then those kinds of movies need a certain type of approach.” The positive reaction to La Boca’s Black Swan posters (prints of which Fox Searchlight is selling online) has reinforced this message. Are we looking at a possible renaissance in the art form? Danny Miller, who publishes illustration-rich, film-focused title, Little White Lies, and who runs creative studio The Church Of London, reveals that, “About a week after the La Boca Black Swan posters hit, Momentum [Pictures] called us asking if we’d produce something similar for The Fighter, so I’d say this is definitely a good sign for the film poster industry.” However, he points out that the La Boca Black Swan posters “are a bit of an anomaly in that they were created as a secondary campaign. I prefer it when great poster art is front and centre – not just consigned to the walls of art house cinemas and the pages of design magazines, but in newspapers and on the tube. Film-goers are a sophisticated bunch, and if they’re not I’m going to treat them like they are anyway. Great artwork will always resonate.” It’s an optimistic take that will be welcomed by designers but there is one big elephant in the room: many poster sites are now becoming digital. When the poster site turns into a screen, how many studios will resist the urge simply to play a trailer instead? Let’s enjoy the posters while we can. This article can be found at: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/current-issue/black-swan
17
Designing a Legible City By Mark Sinclair
18
Bristol’s City ID is redesigning the way we experience urban areas. Its latest project, for Southampton, hopes to put the UK city firmly back on the map for residents and visitors alike.
Design for Print / / Environmental Design
19
20
Design for Print / / Environmental Design
CREATIVE REVIEW: City ID is quite unusual in that you focus specifically on urban design and wayfinding projects for cities. Can you tell us a bit more about the studio? MIKE RAWLINSON, City ID: We’re a small team but we’re pretty unique in the UK in that our focus is a mix of urbanist design thinking and an understanding of people in places. We’ve moved beyond just signage and information systems, things that are just added into cities. We think about the whole journey that a resident or a visitor might make and all the elements of that journey: from websites to street paving. It’s about seeing the city through the eyes of its various user groups. How do City ID’s Legible City projects work? The idea is to help glue and connect a place together and to think about an identity that is necessary for that place. A lot of our work is synthesising a city’s environments and to make the confusing simple. We’ve worked in Sheffield, in Newcastle, for example, with each project taking on local characteristics and issues like the economy and transport. It’s highly collaborative work with product designers, typographers, planners: a lot of it is about balancing clients, transport people, councils. We have an ‘open studio’ so we move the whole team to the particular environment we’re working on, enabling us to be more immersive. City ID’s philosophy is partly based on that level of engagement. You have to read the city you’re designing for. Bristol Legible City was, in 1999, our first project that thought about what people really need to use when they’re in a city centre. We wanted to improve the ‘user experience’ of Bristol and did so through some 40 projects over a five- year period. The work won some awards and other cities then looked to Bristol for how to improve communications with their residents and visitors. How does the Legible City concept relate to your ongoing work in Southampton? The design process is transferable and has been of interest to many other cities from as far away as Japan and Australia. Off the Bristol work we held a Legible Cities conference so designers could see how to market a city. Legible Cities acted as a touch paper and Southampton was interested. Other offices started thinking Left:
that this was an idea that they should explore. When Bristol needed more funding
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for the project, it looked to the EU as there they see it as a good idea to explore
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the role that design has in differentiating places. Bristol came together with a small
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group of cities like Southampton, Kaiserslautern, Leverkusen and Bruges and they
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got EU funding to develop their individual projects. What do you bear in mind when looking at what a city’s identity actually needs?
21
In terms of our initial engagement, one of the things we do is question the brief and the wants of the client. We’ve noticed that if people have an idea, they’ll want to go straight to the solution, not get to it through the thinking. Certain clients just want what we did on our last job but that just creates potato-print environments, non-places, clone towns. That kind of design underplays a city’s differences, which can’t be good for the economy. We should encourage a design culture that supports ingenuity and difference. You need efficiency and some standardisation in the work, but when you’re in a place, you want to be somewhere special and unique, with locally derived ideas. Design doesn’t think about places enough in this way. Some architects merely parachute from one project to another. So as a designer you have to get to the psychology of a particular place, in the belief that people really do make places. What were the problems you saw with the existing identity of Southampton? The identity of the city had been developed in a fragmented way. It wasn’t a holistic approach. The city has a wonderful past – it’s the home of the Spitfire, fibre optics and it occupies a global position as a cruise terminal – but many people sense that it’s a city in decline. As with the Portsmouth regeneration programme, we needed to do something here that would support the economy, attract businesses, make it a more engaging place and improve the quality of life. But how can a new identity achieve all that? If you have the opportunity to develop a visual identity for a city, you work on thousands of touchpoints all over that city. We look at a visual identity as encompassing not just a logo and a strapline, but texturing, colour, type, how the city is communicated across in print, product and web design. It should glue common services together. The city can then have its own voice reflected in myriad different things. And the city’s voice is very important – there’s
22
the whole issue of marketing to people who want to invest and develop the city, so they need to see there’s a vision there and something they can use to develop themselves. A city has its own dna and what we’re doing is plotting a path between the elements of the dna. The Las Vegas’ of this world [have that naturally] but for most of our cities they need to find another path. Distinctiveness is therefore of relevance to the economy and not just for tourism or for visitors. Residents need to still feel part of a place, and feel connected to it. It’s hugely powerful, understanding people and their needs and, in Southampton, the voice wasn’t threaded through the different parts of the city. We have to thread together the journey experience, from taking a bus to walking, through a range of products and services. Pull together the bits that then make sense to the user. So how does it work, do you start by actively researching the city itself ? Yes, to get the overall picture of a place we employ lots of different techniques. We trail members of the public, do urban analyses of the city’s structure, look at their web presence, how the city already communicates. We explore it through the user perspective, basically, be it through the web or public transport. We do market research, eg is it better to invest in new tourist information centres, or new digital or mobile technologies?
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Design for Print / / Environmental Design
What specifics did you look to bring in to Southampton? We looked at the structure of the city – it’s fragmented and quite difficult to understand, so we developed an idea of an information ‘thread’, or a wayfinding
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thread, that could direct people from point to point. The transport system was woven into the pedestrian system, for example. This threading idea aimed to link a series of hotspots within the city, the key retail destinations, the education clusters and the hidden areas of the city that are interesting. We felt we needed to shine a torch on various parts of the city and thread them all together. These were then over-laid with the transport systems. And how did that impact on the graphic work that City ID produced? The thread idea informed a graphic concept and also a product concept for the signage. We looked at tabbing on maps, through the use of pictograms and text, highlighting points of interest, where to go for a drink, see something cultural etc. We wanted to put the idea of threading into the rationale behind the pictogram design and type and so worked with Dalton Maag on this aspect. When do you test the work as a whole? We held sessions all over the city, worked in different environments, churches, arts centres, with design managers, institutions, stakeholders, even the football club, which raised the contentious issue of what colours we were going to use. In that the red and white of Southampton FC were already strongly identified with the city? Our early analysis – and our gut feeling – was that the city’s colour was red. This was based on the football club, old imagery of the cruise liners and the portside landscapes of containers. But for our visual thread, we wanted a regular base colour and consistent typography, a visual point of reference for any document or product. Why not try to start from scratch and design every item unique for the city? We thought it was important to develop a background colour that functioned in a system, so we chose a range of sea greens, the colours of the city itself. These colours could also be overlaid with other colours to highlight various services. As well as the red of the football club and transport within the city, there are the orange colours of the containers and cranes, while brown was the language of heritage and cultural places. The colours had to work psychologically but also represent certain facets of the city itself – hence we ended up using a broader colour palette than just the teals and sea greens. What stage are you at now with the project? The project is rolling out. There are four major online portals for the city, recoloured using the design language, print communications, the maps we produced for the city centre – all carrying the same identity as the wayfinding system. The long-term aim is to extend it through the transport system but not overbrand the city. It should connect the neighbourhoods but also go into the parks and public spaces. It’s a living idea, not just one project with one solution. This article can be found at: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/back-issues/creative-review/2008/ december-2008/designing-a-legible-city
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Design for Print / / Environmental Design Design for Print / / Book Jacket Design
The P ro b l e m Chip…
with
A few monthes ago, I was in New York and invited by Debbie Millman to see Chip Kidd’s new band. We headed downtown and found our way into a dark club. Chip wasn’t performing yet, but it was clear he was the headliner. There was standing room only, and audience poplulated by the young and hip and, judging by hair and eyeglasses, design-minded. Chip’s fans, all. Entering the club was similar to the scene in any western when the stranger walks into the local saloon. The doors opened, we walked in, all heads turned toward the door. I was immediately aware that, in that context, I looked like a wayward father looking for his runaway teenage daughter. But in his typical gracious way, Chip saw us and pulled us into his booth. This is the problem with Chip. He is a great designer, writes books, has remarkable personal style, is in a cool band, and is, unfortunately, gracious and charming. It is unfair for one person to be all this. I was determned to find the flaws. But, in the end, I have yet to find one…
25
SEAN ADAMS:
involved. But I also buy very much for the long term, so
Chip, we first met at a dinner during the AIGA conference in Las Vegas. You wore a beautiful coral-colored shirt. I remember thinking anyone who wears coral deserves high marks. Which leads me to a shallow question: You have such a unique personal style. Most designers opt for the standard black uniform, but you don’t. Where does this come from?
years, 20, etc. It should be noted that I try to apply this rule to my book jackets as well. OK, first, the polka-dot socks were originally Dana Arnett’s. I stole them. Second, talking about your clothing choices may seem stupid, but it points to an aspect of your work. You seem incapable of simply following trends or imitating others. The work you produce has a strong understanding of image as
CHIP KIDD:
language, and it has a unique vision. Where does this originate?
First of all, before we get started, I just want to remind you
Most likely from a childhood fortified by a steady diet of
that at that conference in Vegas, you left your socks in my
after-school television, a tidal wave of comic books, album
hotel room, and I never got a chance to return them. If you
covers, movies, commercials, etc. “Image as language”
want them back, let me know … except now there are holes
was instilled in me, however subconsciously, since I was
in them. Sorry.
post-fetal. As it has been now to anyone born in the Western
Anyway, I’ve just never been inclined to wear black, except
26
whatever it is, it has to be wearable five years from now, 10
World since, what? 1960?
for formal occasions where it would be rude not to do
Good point. I know that Sarah T.—Portrait of a Teenage
so. I’m not sure where this comes from, but one possible
Alcoholic drives most of my work. There are many camps in
explanation is that someone gave me The Official Preppy
the design world: designers who are interested primarily in
Handbook when I was in the 10th grade, and it totally
form, designers who eschew formal issues and focus only on
changed my life. Seriously. It woke me up to class difference
the conceptual, designers who follow only one narrow vision or
in America and how it works. And looks. This was just as
set of rules. Your solutions use a wide range of formal choices,
Ralph Lauren was “coming into power,” and to this day I
always are based on an idea and typically employ a degree of
wear more of his clothes than any other designer. This is
wit. Is that variety a necessity in the context of book covers?
hardly unheard of, except my rule is I won’t wear anything
The necessity has as much to do with me not getting bored
with a visible Polo logo. That still leaves a lot of great stuff,
as it does with any kind of needs—specific or otherwise. But
believe it or not.
really, of course they all have to be different: The books are
That disdaining black frees me from the cliché of “looking
all different. I honestly don’t understand why any designer,
like a designer” is just a by-product, not a goal. The clothes
of anything, would want to impose the kinds of restrictions
that interest me, for myself, are what I would call Classic But
on themselves that you mention, unless it’s some shtick that
Interesting, which means there has to be some sort of color
pays well—but even then, how soul-deadening.
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Design for Print / / Book Jacket Design
What do you enjoy about book covers over other assignments?
about Batman?
I’m just an old-fashioned print guy, frankly, so that’s a start.
OK, let’s hold that thought a sec. So, just what does an
But I’m also inclined to never throw anything away, so
obsession with “It’s a Small World” entail? The lyrics
by extension I don’t want anything I design to be thrown
tattooed onto your thighs? Sneaking after-hours into the
away, either. I sort of walked backwards into a book design
ride at Disneyland? Little Dutch Boy outfits? Spill, dude.
career, but it turns out it’s perfect for me, because it’s all
Anyway, as for explaining my Batman jones, anyone can
automatically archival. Or is supposed to be, at least.
get plenty of that by Googling, so I won’t repeat myself
In addition to the many nonfiction books you’ve contributed to,
here. The main thing to stress about this—along with the
you now have two fiction books under your belt as an author:
other things we’ve talked about—is that my design work
The Cheese Monkeys and The Learners: The Book After “The
for Batman- and comics-related projects grows directly
Cheese Monkeys.” How did you come to the decision to write
out of a deep love and respect for the material. In short:
books yourself ? And what led you to the narratives in your
Passion makes great design. This is borne out again and
books?
again in graphic design history. David Carson loves to surf
I was very lucky, because I happened upon two stories I
and creates Beach Culture; Dana Arnett rides a Harley
wanted to tell that actually hadn’t been told before in a
Davidson and ends up completely redefining—and saving—
novel. Which was rare and key, and also why, for now, I’m
the company; Abbott Miller’s enthusiasm for dance results
pretty much stymied on writing a third.In The Cheese
in 2WICE [an award-winning semiannual periodical and
Monkeys, I wanted to recreate for the reader the experience
foundation that supports art, film, dance and performance].
I had at Penn State—taking the graphic design classes I took
This is one of the best messages we can impart to design
and, more important, sitting through the critiques. I thought
students. That by combining a passion for something with
that if I could do it right, it would be just as compelling and
skill, we can preserve and sustain it.
harrowing as a good legal thriller. Because, really, during
See what I mean about the Small World thing? You’re not going
a critique you are very much on trial.With The Learners
to return my calls now, and since I mentioned it, nobody will
the goal was to take this idea a step further via the Stanley
return my calls. I was speaking with someone who saw you at
Milgram Obedience experiments, which put the subject—
the AIGA GAIN conference and is convinced you should be
the reader—on trial to prove his/her very humanity. And in
a stand-up comic. Every day I sit next to Noreen [Morioka],
both books I played it all for laughs.
whom I’m also told should go into stand-up comedy. When the
Obsessions are always difficult to explain. Everyone has their
two of you sat next to each other at this year’s AIGA Gala, I was
own, and they are rarely logical. I have a disturbing obsession
concerned it might be too much for one room. Designers are
with “It’s a Small World.” Trying to explain it leaves people
supposed to be serious, wear black and dismiss humor. Is humor
staring at me and slowly backing up. Given that, can you talk
important to you? Why?
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Yes, Noreen had been urging me to get up on stage with her
worse—OK, better—my romantic ideal (older, grayer) is not
at the gala, and I was afraid if I did, we’d spontaneously
the kind of person who routinely shows up at my lectures
combust. I get the “You should do stand-up!” thing all the
(younger, largely body-hairless). This works out best for
time. But let me tell you: Having friends who actually are
everyone, especially my boyfriend, who is older and grayer
in that area of show business, I really don’t think I’m cut
and very, very patient.
out for it. You see, here’s the difference between cracking
Damn your good morals. I was hoping for licentiousness. When
people up at a design lecture and trying to do it for a living
you’re out there speaking or judging competitions, or just seeing
at 2 in the morning in front of three dozen drunken NYU
design in general, what do you think about the current state of
students at Caroline’s Comedy Club: The former carries no
the industry?
expectations of levity whatsoever, and the latter is weighted
I’m terrible at this kind of question. I never feel like I have
with far too many of them. No one goes to a design lecture
my “finger on the pulse” of what’s going on, especially since
to heckle … yet, anyway. As for humor being important, yes,
I haven’t really taught for 10-plus years now. I’m perpetually
of course. I’d rank it right up there with food, oxygen and
clueless, really. Although: Living in New York City helps a
duct tape.
bit, because you’re exposed to so much interesting visual
I often get requests from around the country for opinions on
information, whether it’s the new Roundabout Theatre
potential speakers. Usually a “rock star” is needed, and you’re
campaign or a stencil of a wrongly-imprisoned Zimbabwean
typically at the top of the list. So, what’s it like being a rock star?
someone has spray-painted onto every street corner in Soho.
Do people throw money at you and offer romantic liaisons?
The problem with most of it is it’s almost never clear whom
Oh, no “Hampton Inn sword fights” for me. First, I’m in
or what is responsible for the work. But since you bring up
a relationship going on 14 years now. Second, for better or
judging, I have to say that the depressing thing about it, especially regionally, is that those with the most money to enter things tend to be those with the least amount of taste and skill. I think all design competitions should have a pro bono work category that doesn’t cost anything to enter. That would very likely bring in more interesting stuff that deserves recognition.
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I’ve been doing this column for quite a while now, and there are consistent threads that link all of the designers I talk to. Typically they all have a remarkable amount of energy and are not satisfied doing one thing only. Obviously you have this trait. You have a job, write, make music, maintain a relationship. And god knows what else you’re up to. I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me you were working with the Peace Corps on the weekends. How do you do this? And, why? You know you could just lie around and eat ice-cream sandwiches. If I ever tell you I’m working with the Peace Corps on the weekends you will also know hell has frozen over, because that would mean I’ve finally become a responsible, compassionate adult—and babies, that’s just not in the cards. I’m a selfish, narcissistic pig, stuck in a hedonistic limbo of perpetual post-adolescence. I’m not proud of it, but I’m not in denial about it either. As for getting all this stuff done, the shocking thing is that if you hung out with me for an entire day, you’d be even more amazed—no one can piss away time like I can, no one. I appall even myself. But there are several logistical factors that enable me to actually produce. Chief among them is I don’t have a family to take care of, not even pets. So, basically that means I can Sat. Ad consum mentilint, uturnih ilina, num
work any time, and I do—evenings, weekends, etc. And
mantiss enatuam tio auter iae timmoverei con
for all intents and purposes, I’m married to a workaholic
EtrumSimil cum interid erfeces vilis, con tem am
who’s even busier than I am, so the dynamic is inspiring and
norum sendem hor intria res firmium demurninati
functions well.
Design for Print / / Book Jacket Design
The “Who are your heroes?” question seems wrong for you. Maybe a better way is to ask who has affected you in life, outlook
“Nimodign ihilitas debis etur? Ost perum unt ad est, verspero to cum arum et mo cum sum delesti ntiusdaepero.”
and in work? I hate to name-drop, but this reminds me of something Madonna once told me. She said, “If you don’t stop trying to follow me, my bodyguards will make you sorry you were ever born. I mean it, dick-stain.” Actually it was one of her assistants who told me that—shrieked it, really—but it was just the most amazing piece of advice I ever got, and it’s always meant so much to me. So I’d say in terms of influences it’s pretty much her … and Paul Rand, who told me the same thing. There is a need for the public to pigeonhole individuals with notoriety. We tend to assign one-dimensional archetypes easily: Britney Spears is shallow, George Clooney is smooth and suave, Jennifer Aniston is nice. This happens in the design world also, and it’s easy to be assigned a character. But all of us are three-dimensional, complex individuals. Are you always in good humor? Do you have a dark side that you’d like to reveal? Oh, my god, how much time do you have? Actually, I only show my dark side to my proctologist. Rim shot! Sorry. Not that this has much of anything to do with your question, but the fact I’m still referred to in articles as a “wunderkind,” however flattering, is frankly kind of odd. I’m 44. But you are a remarkably well-maintained 44. I’m 44, and people congratulate me on turning 50. So, tell me about a typical day for you. Frankly, I really didn’t think STEP was that kind of magazine—dwelling on cheap, tawdry sleaze. Shame on you. It’s not STEP, it’s me and my sad need to live vicariously through others. Do you have fun when you’re working, or are there lots of screaming and weeping? Tell me, who exactly said you can’t have fun while screaming? Didn’t you ever hear the expression, “That was a total scream”? Yes, I love working, especially when one achieves those braingasms. Which leads to the weeping. Yesterday an interviewer asked me why I became a designer. My first impulse was to joke and say I’d probably be working at a Kentucky Fried Chicken, or maybe I could be a senator if I weren’t a designer. But I actually think—and yes, this is corny— design chose me. I didn’t have a choice. If you weren’t designing, what would you do? It’s funny that you brought up Kentucky Fried Chicken—I have a great story about that. Less than a year ago this friend of mine was in line at a KFC on East 14th Street, and at the front was this skinny little guy who ordered three 20-piece buckets of Original Recipe. So the woman at the counter rings him up, and says, straight-faced, “Is that for here or to go?” Now, this man was obviously there alone and would be taking all of it to some sort of party or whatever, and he said: “Are you fucking kidding me? How would I eat all of
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this here, now, by myself ?” To which, the woman replied, sharply, “Bitch, I don’t know your life!” This has since become my new mantra, replacing, “This is a nightmare. A total, endless, nightmare.” I love that story. Bitches, I do not know your lives. That is fantastic. And you are so good at answering a different
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“Exerio. Min eos aritaer feritinvenis sit dis et ad everatus, sit amuscil milicidel et, verovidenis atum solorpori unt ust te velluptur?”
question than the one asked. What was your favorite project? Why? I never know how to answer this one either, because I’ve been so tremendously lucky regarding the things I’ve been able to work on and generate. By now I’ve had so many favorite projects, I should be put against the wall and shot for excessive ecstasy. The novels, the books on Batman and Peanuts, designing everything for Cormac McCarthy, James Ellroy, Michael Crichton and Haruki Murakami—I often worry it’s all downhill from here. It’s been said that adult life is exactly like high school but with more money. We all just become a more exaggerated version of ourselves when we were 16. I have a twisted habit of imagining all of my friends as they were in high school. Noreen was the funny girl who played basketball and everyone liked. I was a jerk and will forever be making up for the horrible things I did in high school. How about you? What were you like? Exactly what you’d expect: I was the skinny band-fag who made people laugh in order to be accepted and not get beaten up. Which of course in no way guaranteed that I was either accepted or not beaten up. Unless you’re getting smacked around backstage at conferences, you’ve gotten past that. Finally, you’re not shy about pushing people’s limits. I truly admire your fearless approach. Have you ever gone too far, crossed a line you regret? I do regret that I threatened to kick Ann Coulter in the vagina when we both appeared on the Today show. That just wasn’t fair to Matt Lauer. After all, it’s his show, not mine, and he should’ve had the first chance. Other than that, I really can’t think of anything. This article can be found at: http://www.stepinsidedesign.com/STEP/Article/28932/ index.html
Design for Print / / Book Jacket Design
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Design for P r i n t
Design for P r i n t
Design for P r i n t
Fabien Baron
Fabien Baron
Fabien Baron
Chip Kidd
Chip Kidd
Chip Kidd
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