I think it is great to experience diverse art fields when you are still young. Some of my friends come from other fields like transportation design or graphic design. Even if they didn’t major something related to animation or concept art, sometimes they have more ideas or skills in many unexpected ways.

You are a very skilled concept artist. Have you always wanted to become an artist? What motivated you?

I grew up in Seoul in South Korea. I always liked to draw and read manga as a kid. Comic books and animation always fascinated me. Later on, I wanted to learn how to become an animation artist.

Apart from studying art in college, I see from your resume that you were mentored by visual development artist Tyler Carter. Tell me more about this mentorship.

Tyler Carter is a visual development artist at Blue Sky studio. When I was still at school, I went to CTN to get some feedback or internship position. Since Tyler has already been popular on online, I wanted to get some feedback about my portfolio. He liked my work and asked if I can do some mentorship program with him next term. There were about eight people in the program. We saw each other through Skype. During the time, he showed us the demo and gave some advice about each one’s artwork. We learned how to use the color and light. Also, it was great time to hear how the animation industry is working.

You previously worked at DreamWorks Animation as a toy design intern (which is so cool!). You designed the Kung Fu Panda plush toys, is that right? How was that, for you? What were the challenges and did you like it?

It was one of the greatest experiences that I’ve ever had in my life. Even if I did intern from some places, I’d never worked at big animation company before. When I first went there, I was the only intern working something related to art. Rest of them got hired from business related departments.

Even if I was very nervous, my boss, named Ray, super welcomed me. Since it was the first day, he gave me some free time to stylize Kung Fu Panda characters in drawing. Since I loved the drawing, it was super fun and exciting. I showed all my drawings later and he really liked it. And then, later he decided to ask me to design all the toys and figurer for Kung Fu Panda 3. It was really fun and great time. Even if I designed the characters, sometimes 3d artists didn’t follow up my designs. At that time, I had to give them the directions to do it right. Later, when I got the products that I designed, I was really proud and so happy.

Working in LA, what is that like (I see you have also worked in Hollywood, previously)? Do you think you have better opportunities just for being there?

As I mentioned above, I grow up in South Korea. Its animation industry is very small compared to America. I think overall, it is really better to be here. Here its about treating artists well and giving better payment.

You work at Blizzard now. What is your work there? What projects do you work on?

I am a cinematic concept artist working on trailers and cinematic. Currently, I am working on upcoming cinematic for their IP.

Has working at a big gaming company like Blizzard helped you become better at what you do? How?

I am currently working for Blizzard Entertainment, working closely with art directors and other artists. I have a lot of fun there and I have great colleagues. When I need some feedback, they are always there to give me some inspiring advice.

I see your work includes both background painting as well as character design. Is it a challenge doing both? Or is it something common? (from what I know, usually people specialize in either one or the other, so I’m really curious how it works).

In my opinion, if you build up strong foundation, you can do both. Personally, I wanted to be good at both because I don’t want to show any weakness and I wanted to work on lots of things in the works. If you are specialized only in one area, it means you will do that in most of your life at the company.

Do you use real life references in your work? In other words, how much of your art (backgrounds, characters) is real life and how much is your imagination?

I grew up reading Japanese comic books and watching Disney and Pixar movies. All of these things influenced me a lot. In artists, I always get inspired from Shiyoon Kim, Helen Chen, Dice Tsutsumi, Robert Kondo, Ryan Lang, Mathias Verhasselt, Woonyoung Jung and Jeff Turley.

What is your work process? Do you start on paper, with sketching…?

I mostly work digitally and mostly use Photoshop. I just do some brainstorming, sketching, and painting. I don’t really have a special work process.

You must have days when you feel demotivated and in no mood to work. How do you deal with these days, what do you do?

When it happens, I try to avoid art, I do something else like watching movies, doing shopping, going for a walk and so on.

What about discipline? Do you have rules, to work more efficiently? What is your work routine?

No, I don’t have specific rules to follow. I just to try to balance out my mood.

What do you hope to accomplish, in the future?

My long-term goal would be to become a production designer and an art director for feature films. And then later, I’d love to make my own films and inspire people with them.

What do you think is important to do, in order to become a concept artist? For aspiring artists, how can they get to where you are?

I think it is great to experience diverse art fields when you are still young. Some of my friends come from other fields like transportation design or graphic design. Even if they didn’t major something related to animation or concept art, sometimes they have more ideas or skills in many unexpected ways. Therefore, experiencing new fields has a lot of potential and can be even better than focusing on only one path.

Check out more of Yewon’s work on her: website | artstation

The post Interview with Yewon Park, concept artist at Blizzard Entertainment appeared first on Friday Illustrated.

Although he is new in the business, having just started out this year, his projects vary from packaging design for a wine label, illustrating colored books, t-shirts, designs for a street festival, collaborations with magazines and events. That’s pretty impressive  On top of that, Patiño also spends some time doing personal work, because he loves what he does and always wants to learn new things.

PS: He also shares his drawing process on his website, every time he posts something new, so make sure you go and see.

You already have a style that I think is easy to spot and recognize. How did you get here?

My style is a mix of elements and influences from different cultures.

It came really naturally, I just drew what I like and my strange characters came to life like this. I have also been influenced by a lot of artists, of course. I think that if you know what you like to see and to draw, your style will come out.

But if you look more at my work you can see kind of different styles. I mean I have some really funny characters (like my animals or monsters) which are influenced mainly by street art, other are weirder and influenced by pre-Colombian art for example. But I also like to draw and paint more expressive human beings, which are influenced by expressionist artists from the last century.

I also work with different techniques like digital, ink, acrylic, pencil, watercolor, etc. So that’s why I prefer to speak about my «universe» rather than my «style».

What do you wish to communicate, through your drawings?

I think that when I’m drawing I just try to communicate my emotions on that moment. For me, drawing is a way to express yourself and let your emotions come out and take life on paper. On my personal projects I don’t really try to express one idea or transmit one message. Instead I prefer to express different ideas, emotions or meanings and let the viewer to interpret them freely. I like it when you can have a kind of mystery on an image, when you can find different meanings…

But when I’m working on a commercial project, I work as a graphic designer. I mean I need to solve a problem and communicate something to a specific target. So according to the aim of the project I communicate different ideas or emotions.

What is the most important aspect, for you, when you draw a new piece? What is the one thing you care about, the most?

If it’s for a personal work, I always want to learn something new. To improve my skills or my universe. It can be a new technique, a new composition, new colors, new characters, new atmosphere, new textures etc.

If it’s for a commercial purpose, the one thing I care about it’s if I communicate the right message and if I’m reaching the right target. And if I can do it right and at the same time learn something new, that’s the perfect project!

Do you ever feel the need to change your drawing style? Do you ever get bored and want to do something different?

Even if I would like to change my style radically I couldn’t do it because my style is who I am and what I can do.

For me it’s very hard to draw in 3 dimensions with perspective or to draw realistic things for example. But I don’t like to do it neither! When I was in art school they told me to draw realistic figures and things like this, but I just didn’t enjoy to draw this, so I was very bad. That’s why I say, if you draw WHAT YOU ENJOY, you will find your style. So I could say that my style comes from my weaknesses!

But as I said I always try to add new stuff into my art. For the moment I don’t get bored because I think I can add so many things into my universe. For example I sometimes try to add some lettering, some organic or vegetal textures, some abstract forms, things like that. And as I also try new techniques or compositions all the time, I can’t get bored, for now.

What inspires you?

So many things! The first thing that inspires me are other artists. But I’m also really inspired by nature, science, books, documentaries, music, philosophy, spirituality, sociology, etc etc.

You mention other artists. Any examples?

Every week I discover new crazy talent illustrators and artists. But to name a few that I really admire: Pat Perry, Michael Sieben, Dulk, Barry McGee, Doze Green, Alexone, Jeanspecial, Niark1, OS Gemeos, Nate Williams, Greg «Craola» Simkins, Interesni kazki, Rebecca Dautremer, Shaun Tan, Bernard Buffet, Goya, Da Vinci, Daumier, JJ Grandville, Jim Flora, Modigliani, Picasso, Dali, Magritte, Bosh, Van Gogh, Klimt, and so many more!

How do you get your ideas for new illustrations? Do you keep a notebook to keep track?

Yeah, I have a sketchbook where I draw and write down some ideas or words that inspire me. I also spend a lot of time looking at other artists’ work from now and from the past. They can give you so many ideas!

You once said in an interview that you mix a lot of characters and influences in the same composition, all while respecting the same unity and coherence.
How do you manage to do that? How do you define this coherence?

Yes, for me to keep a coherent through all my works is very important. To keep a coherent “universe” or main ”style”. Especially for an illustrator it’s the most important thing to have if you want to find work. That’s why even if I try different things I always put crazy monsters, animals or characters.

Also, if the composition and the color is good enough, you can mix different influences into the same image and it’ll work.

When you look back on your work in the past, do you like what you see? Or, do you consider you had many “bad” illustrations, before getting here?

It depends, they are some illustrations I did that I don’t like and others that I like. But I think that the majority of the illustrations I did on the past were quite bad (but I can still like them)! Even if I don’t like an illustration I know it was a good thing to do it because it’s like this that you can learn and improve.

I’m kind of an unsatisfied person, so when I finish an illustration, even if I’m happy with the result, I always think I could do better next time.

Do you draw all your illustrations on paper?

If you mean when I start a new illustration? Yes, I always need to draw manually on paper. I can’t draw directly on the computer without a sketch, even with a Wacom Cintiq.

Do you have any advice for illustrators who can’t decide on their style? Those who always want to try something new and can’t find a style to define them (like myself)?

I’m a young illustrator, so it’s hard for me to give advice… But as I said, I think that when you are an illustrator it’s very important to have a really specific “style” or “universe”. You can try new things all the time but you need to stay coherent and consistent if you want to find work as a freelance illustrator, because art directors need to know what kind of work you will do when they ask you an illustration.

My advice for those who can’t decide is: just know what kind of illustration you like to see, what you have fun to draw and what you can draw, and focus mainly on this. And your style will come naturally because at the end it’s just your personality: who you are, what you like, what your strengths and weaknesses etc.

It’s also important to understand what you draw. It can be useful to write about your work, to try to describe it for example. It helped me understand better what I was drawing.

See more of Patiño’s work on his: website | facebook  | behance | tumblr | instagram

The post Developing your unique style – Interview with illustrator Patiño appeared first on Friday Illustrated.

12 years of improvement! I found a sketchbook from 2004 and decided to revisit a few of the drawings with my current skillset. I remember what I wanted to achieve at the time but couldn’t because I was struggling with volumes, gesture, and confidence in my linework. I always recommend this exercise to people who are struggling with art block so they can see how much their work has evolved, even if it’s just over the course of a few months – it really helps put your skills into perspective!

 

It’s pretty cool to notice the difference. I felt the need to share this, because I think it can be a nice motivation for anyone out there who wants to evolve as an artist. It’s proof that constant work and showing up everyday can achieve great results.

And I think overcoming art block is a big part of that, because everyone gets there sooner or later. The more you want to evolve and improve your work, the more likely it is that you’ll develop art block. I’ve been dealing with this myself (and I don’t even consider myself an artist, although I do enjoy doodling and illustrating every other day) and I can think of a number of reasons why you can get art block, but the question is “How do you overcome it?”. 

So I wrote to Loish, asking her to tell me more about how artists can overcome art block.

Loish: “I think it helps when artists realize how much progress they’ve made. Artists are often very hard on themselves and don’t realize how much they have improved over time because they are only looking at the flaws. There are many different types of art block but one of the most common types is the result of artists having insanely high expectations and not being able to meet them… making them anxious, stressed, and terrified of failure.

In that case, one way to overcome art block is to stop being so hard on oneself. Stop comparing their own art to professionals, stop beating themselves up when it doesn’t look perfect etc. Revisiting older work with improved skills really helps to see your artwork in the context of your own growth as an artist (so comparing you to yourself… not to other artists) and also helps focus on the positive – improvement!”

I couldn’t agree more, although it’s never easy. High expectations probably come hand in hand with one’s desire to evolve and learn. But it’s good to remember, when possible, that being hard on yourself and having high expectations can also hold you back.

I have found that sometimes, accepting the idea that your next work might be rubbish is what actually saves the day. Because when you accept that not everything you do has to be great, you take the pressure off. For me, that’s when my most popular illustrations got created. With me being tired of trying to achieve something great and instead just going “Let’s just draw something for fun, no commitment”. That’s when I’m at my most creative, because that’s when my limitations disappear.

If any of you have experienced something similar to art block, I’d be curious to know what you think. And if you have any tips for me, go ahead and leave a comment!

[If you want to get in touch with Loish, she can be found on her: website | blog | deviantART | facebook | twitter]

The post Evolving as an artist and overcoming art block appeared first on Friday Illustrated.

This is my first interview in the form of a podcast (so go easy on me)  I’ve been wanting to do a detailed material on brand identity design projects, but from the perspective of a self-employed designer. That’s because, while the design process might be the same for every professional up to a point, it’s clear to me that freelancers and business owners have their own specific challenges. So I wanted to cover these challenges, focusing on the business angle too – which, when you’re running your own business, can be even more important than the design job in itself.

So my guest for this first ever podcast is designer Tom Ralston, Partner & Creative Director at Core (agency he founded along with his business partner, Tim Reid). I talked to Tom about what their process is when designing a brand identity and how they work out every aspect that comes with it. It’s a pretty specific talk and we went into a lot of detail, which was a lot of fun for me – since it’s a pretty wide subject and Tom has the experience to share some valuable stories here.

Hit play (or read the transcript below) and enjoy!

Friday Illustrated: Hi, Tom!

Tom Ralston: Hey Miruna, how are you doing? Nice to meet you!

F.I.: Nice to meet you too, thanks for doing this interview! Starting with a little bit of a background, about you. You’ve been working as a designer for how many years now?

T.R.: Yes. For 7-8 years now. Yeah, yeah, it is a bit of a blur at this point but it’s about 7 years.

F.I.: You’ve been working as a freelancer for a while and now you have your own agency, right?

T.R.: Actually, I’ve kind of started an agency first, because I was at art school with my friends – and now business partner, Tim – and we kind of came out of art school, having done some sort of painting background final. We use to make short videos. We were just messing around, really, having fun and then, a couple years later, we realized, oh my God! We’ve got to get jobs; we got to do something – and that was after doing administrative jobs and all sorts of boring stuff. 

Yes, so, we decided that we should be doing something creative, but at that point we did not have the experience to start freelancing – we did not have the portfolio. So we set up the business in order just to get into the industry. And now, seven years later, I have done lots of freelancing in that time. But the business has always been our main focus. 

F.I.:  So, when did you start the agency?

T.R.: Uhm, it would have been in 2008 I think. The reason why it’s been a blur is because, in those early days, we did not have the confidence to stand up and say “we’re a creative agency”. We were just going around to our friends and saying, “Hey, do you have any work we can do for you”, you know?

And I’d always been interested in creating logos. I remember creating a logo for my brother’s yoga studio, many many moons ago, you know. And back then, I don’t even know, it might have been in Microsoft Word or something (laughs). You know, pulling elements together however I could. That’s kind of how I started back in the day. 

F.I.: What is a good brand identity design?

T.R.: It’s a tough question because it’s very subjective,  cause what I like you might not like. I suppose, breaking the question apart, just the term “brand” is a very evasive term, lots of people argue about what they believe a brand is.

There are different audiences for different brands. I have to make an analogy. Look at it in music terms: there might be a fantastic logo for a kind of Hackney Hardcore rave kind of act, but it wouldn’t appeal to a heavy metal audience. But that doesn’t make it a bad brand identity, it just doesn’t appeal to that particular audience. So in that sense it’s a bit subjective.

F.I.: Is that part of the brand identity, researching the audience…?

 T.R.: Absolutely! A hundred percent, yeah. Whatever audience the client is trying to reach, that is who you’re designing for. And of course you’re designing for the client as well. And if they’re doing a good job at what they do, they should know their audience inside out. And of course, what I’ve learnt many times over, is that often that isn’t the case (laughs). Often the client they might be amazing at what they do, they might have a fantastic product, or a great voice, but they don’t know how to connect to that audience, or perhaps they are going after the wrong kind of audience. 

F.I.: Or sometimes they have no idea who their audience is.

T.R.: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And if never ceases to amaze me how often that happens. 

F.I.: So, what do you do in this case?

T.R.: It’s basically a conversation. That is how it always starts for us. You know, often times people approach us and they think they have one problem,  when we get into a discussion with them. We kind of realized the main problem is, as we were saying, they don’t know the audience. 

Going back to branding, to me, a brand is a projection of who we are, of who we want to be and how we want to be perceived. That’s where we want to get at, in the initial conversation. Trying to understand what they do, how they want to be perceived and how they should be perceived, if they’re gonna sell their product or reach their audience. A brand is carving out little corners of the worlds and saying “this is where I’m staking my claim, this is my niche, this is who I want to be and how I want to communicate” and that’s what we try and help people do.

F.I.: I noticed lately that designers talk about a system when they talk about brand identity design, so instead of just putting together individual elements, they think about creating a system which they can later adapt and grow with the brand. What is this system? How would you define it?

T.R.: Again, it’s all kinds of interpretive terminology. To me, I think of system as a visual language. Do you mean the stuff that surrounds the logo effectively?

F.I.: I think it’s the whole brand identity, when you create everything that you conceive for that brand.

T.R.: I think the reason systems are more and more frequent these days is because of the technology, of the platforms and because of everything developing so quickly that it’s no longer just logo or colour. Now, illustrations can move. The logo can move. Dynamic logos are a really interesting trend right now. And I think it’s a danger in itself, that this is a trend; but when used properly, I think it can be fantastic. When you have logos that are always shifting, as long as they are staying true to what they are designed to do, it’s fantastic.

There is a company called A to B. Their logo is spelled A-2-B and I think they sell travel products? I got stuck with this logo in my head because the A-2-B basically moves all the time, it stretches out and it reflects people’s journeys. And I always thought this was a fantastic example of a dynamic logo.

The fun part as a designer is exploring. It’s part of the process: when you’re designing a logo, you create a system that it sits in, a visual language. The logo itself is just a stamp but once you have that visual language, it sets the tone for the brand and it can be immersive and I think that a visual system allows you to communicate more consistently and with more confidence. Typography is a subtle way to speak volumes in your company and your ethos. And I think today there are so many more elements to visual systems, especially when dealing with technology. Patents and colours and everything shifting: you can even see these metamorphoses and it’s not just technology and computers, it’s also the environments, particularly for retail. The possibilities are endless basically.  

F.I.: So basically, having so many platforms that you can use the identity on, this represents the system? I mean, having all these platforms together.

T.R.: Yes. I think that everyone has this feeling to some degree when you’re out and about and you see, for example on the internet, that someone has created a bus stop that has an interactive billboard. I always get that feeling that I’m living in a film, you’ve entered the future somehow. There was even that interactive supermarket, I think it was in China but I’m not sure. They had products in a train station so while you were waiting for the train, you could use your phone to swipe barcodes and select the products you want for your shopping. 

F.I.: I saw something similar, it was in a bus station I think. You could pay with a credit card in order to donate for a charity cause and there was an interactive video thing with the hands. It was a close-up on hands with handcuffs, do you know it?

T.R.: That’s right, I’ve seen that. 

F.I.: Yes, and you’d swipe and the hands just move. It’s amazing. 

T.R.: And there’s something creepy about it. It feels like you could be attacked by advertising anywhere. I mean, this is the kind of stuff that was in old sci-fi movies. 

F.I.: Exactly, you could see it in movies like 10-15 years ago and now it’s happening. 

T.R.: Yes, remember “Minority Report”? When did that come out? Must have been a decade ago. We’re getting there: advertising that speaks to you. 

F.I.: Yes, it’s exciting!

T.R.: Yeah. And when people don’t react well is because the company isn’t adhering to that tone. It just feels awkward when a brand that has a particular tone, maybe it’s kind of conservative and suddenly does an installation that feels very futuristic and doesn’t quite work. I think that’s when stuff become a bit gimmicky. For me, it all comes from the brand and as a designer; I don’t do interactive stuff like that. Usually, we’re there for the inception of the brand. When we start, it isn’t a brand and we start focusing on the identity and finding the tone of voice and the visual plan. 

F.I.: I also have a question about the system and how you created it. I’m not sure it’s a good question because it might be too vague.

T.R.: It is a tricky question because it’s hard to narrow it down. It all comes down to that initial conversation with the client where we talk broadly about what their problems are in terms of design and how we can help them, but it’s also about probing them and trying to find out where they should be positioned on the market and then, from the technical design side, we start off with the logo, the wordmark, and that opens all these doors to choices that affect that wider system. It’s the information we drag out from that initial conversation that might hint at what direction they should be heading towards and that might just affect the colour palette and the colour palette affects the typographic choice.  And it’s an experiment for us, to see what works. 

And the brief that we create, from that initial meeting, is always mentally running in our minds, we are always turning to the original brief, to check that the decisions make sense.

So the question that we absolutely love to ask our clients is: the adjectives that they use to describe their company. And often times, how they would describe themselves, if it’s a smaller company. For example, we say are you more young and energetic, or are you traditional, or more conservative, you know, whatever springs to mind. And if they say young and energetic, that will absolutely affect the logo and then from there it will affect the colour palette and the typographic choices.

That doesn’t mean everything has to be young and full of energy, but it’s creating a sense of who you are and what the company stands for. That’s kind of how we begin to create a system.

F.I.: So the brief is the core of it.

T.R.: Absolutely, you got it. And so, hence, that’s my company’s main core. 

F.I.: That was a good choice of words!

T.R.: Well, it is becoming embarrassing now, because we chose the name, you know, because that is what we believe in. That’s what we are passionate about. But it’s always really awckward now because it comes a in every meeting, when we want to say, you know, “This is the core…”  and, you know, you can’t drop your company name in a conversation like that. 

F.I.:  Or maybe this is your brand name, you know. This kind of branding.

T.R.: Yeah. Totally. I tell you, there is nothing harder than branding your own company.

F.I.: Oh, yeah.

T.R.: Yeah. We’ve done it twice now and we agreed that the next time that we’re gonna approach another agency… cause it’s just hard. When you get so immersed into someone else’s questions, you start to get kind of crazy.

F.I.: Yeah, and you never get to the right thing – I know, I have this problem with my own personal branding, I haven’t been able to do anything yet. 

T.R.: Yeah, well I love  your site.

F.I.: Aah! Thank you!

T.R.: I spent a while just reading all the interviews.

F.I.: I actually just redesigned it few weeks ago, so it is brand new right now. 

T.R.: Aha, I wish I’d seen it previously.

F.I.: It was ok, but I wasn’t functional and… anyway. This is great. I like it now.

T.R.: So, was it like a huge nightmare? 

F.I.: Kind of, but the good thing is that I spent exactly 10 minutes doing the logo and that was it. And I actually hired someone else to do the design and the programming and I just kind of, interfered, you know, gave a direction mainly.

T.R.: Well, it sounds like everything is right because if you try to do it yourself, you don’t have that time to interfere. 

F.I.: And you could probably spend probably a year just, you know, working and working on it and not getting anywhere. 

T.R.: Exactly. I think it was 2012 when we did our own website, the first time, you know. And you’ll never be happy with that either, right?

F.I.: Yeah. Because you did it and known that you could have done it better in another way and it’s crazt. So the best thing is: hire someone else, get it over with and move on. 

T.R.:  Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. But, yeah, it looks great, so congrats. 

F.I.: Thanks, it’s great to hear. How do you make sure that this system that you create is a flexible system, because I keep reading about this and designers keep saying, “Ah, you know, systems should be flexible to adapt, when the brand grows and so on.” So how do you define flexible and how do you make sure you make it flexible? 

T.R.: Yeah, yeah, it is an interesting one. Quite honestly, I’m not sure how flexible systems should be. I think there’s a kind of paradox in design – in that we keep talking about creating timeless logos, timeless brands and even we say, you know, we have a logo check-list. It is quite a common thing for designers to say this, “we have a checklist of things”. I don’t know who came up with this originally, but the idea is that it’s simple, it’s memorable, it’s timeless, it’s versatile and it’s appropriate. And that third one, timeless, we use it all the time but we admit that it’s a bullshit term. No brand is timeless. No identity is timeless.

F.I.: Otherwise they would not change their logos, even the big companies. 

T.R.: Exactly, exactly and you know, they are Coca Colas of the world who, you know….The logo itself has been around long time. As you said, the idea of being flexible is just admitting the company has changed. You know, company drastically change sometimes. And you know, sometimes is pays to change overnight, but they never do because there is always some kind of time lapse between the decision to change and then rolling it out. 

I think the term “flexible” to me is about rather than every 5 years having a radical overhaul of your brand – just saying, “We need a re-brand and, you know, do you want to change our name? Where do we stand and what’s our position in the market?” I think the idea of being “flexible” is just having a strategy where you are looking a bit further ahead and it’s the technology that we are dealing with these days. You can be more counterintuitive and you know, you can start to roll those changes. And especially big companies, you can start to roll out slight changes to your design and kind of test the waters and see how it goes down. 

The other problem nowadays is: the minute you change something, your social media audience, wherever it is… you know,  everyone has an opinion: “Oh, I hate it!” or “I love it.” So I think the flexibility idea comes from all of those elements saying, ok, look, we don’t have to wait 5 years to have a crazy rebrand. Let’s try and explore some of these ideas live. But yeah, I don’t know what a flexible system should be. I think the longer I have been doing this, the more I realize… I used to think creating a logo, once you finish the project and it’s live on the website, it’s out in the real world, you kind of say, “Yeah! We are done!”

F.I.: Yes, it’s over. 

T.R.: Yeah. It’s over but of course, that’s the beginning of the brand and the logo. So I think “flexibility” is kind of being able to work with logos and brands at a time.

And in terms of flexible systems, I mentioned dynamic logos, but we have done work for parent companies in the past, ones that have subsidiaries. That’s how I traditional think of a flexible system in more literal terms, whereby, the subsidiaries might change: they might change ownership. 

Sometimes, brands merge and that’s the different ways in which brands system can be flexible. The subsidiaries might have different colour coding, but use the same colour logo.

But I’m not really sure what a flexible system should be. There is a lot of thoughts, I guess. 

F.I.: I’m listening to you now and I’m thinking perhaps the flexibility comes from defining a very clear personality. This core that we were talking about, just have it very clear. 

T.R.: Totally, totally! A part of that brand is a business strategy. And it’s less so for some of those running a small business. For big companies, the brand is the strategy; it’s being able to send out a really consistent and compelling message over a long period of time and not deviating from that message. And again, you can be flexible, you can adapt, you can realize that the message is slightly off course. But then, you make kind of fractional changes. Unless you take a look at it and say, “you know what, we’re appealing…”, that’s when market research company comes into play.

F.I.: If you are lucky to have it.

T.R.: Yeah. Yeah, exactly, if you can afford that. Sorry, I’ve forgotten what the question was. 

F.I.: That’s fine. It was why it was flexible. I think we kind of nailed it. I understood what you said.

Now, the fun question is, when you create a new identity for the brand, what are the steps you follow?

T.R.: Well, as I said before, it goes back to the initial meeting and, effectively, we have a process that overtime we learned that the more we deviate from this process, the more all sort of things can go wrong. And the more we stick to a process, the more things run smoothly and it is something that we developed over the last 7 years. And I don’t think it’s a radical process. It’s unique to us but I don’t think it is unique to the industry, but the process basically begins with us basically having a conversation. We speak to the client first – and most of our clients come just from finding us on the internet or word-of-mouth and for other clients – we’ve never really done any advertising.  

So, once we have that initial conversation, as I said before, we start working out what their mission is. Something we’ve gotten into recently and in a big way and I’m kind of obsessive about: what is your manifesto? What direction do you want to be heading in and what’s your mission? And as I said before, a lot of companies don’t know their audience. And they also just don’t know where they want to be heading in. When you are branding yourself it’s really hard to look at yourself and say, “Where do we dream of being in 10 years?” It’s tough. So we are really into finding out what their mission is and that’s kind of our first conversational step and then, of course, is finding out what are their unique selling point is. What is it that they offer that is really valuable. 

F.I.: …And different than others. 

T.R.: Yeah, yeah and everyone has that. Again, starting out, I used to think there is this list of 7 or 8 things an I’d be like “which of these things is unique?”, but over time you realize that businesses are a cross-pollination of people and it depends where they’re from and how they grew up and all sort of _different things. There is always something unique, even if it is not obvious. And again, the designer part of that is, delving into that and finding out what that is.

F.I.: Yeah.

T.R.: Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes it’s not and sometimes it’s literally like getting blood right out of stone.  It’s because some people resist that kind of thinking. They might be very business minded. They might be kind of… you know, they know how to sell it, they’re great sales people, perhaps, but, there might be an easier way of doing sales because they haven’t thought specifically about what the target audience is or what demographic they should be going after. And sometimes they come with a business plan already and they just sent the email over straight away and we’re already racing off. Either way we have a big, nice conversation about it. Sometimes we can get that done in an hour and we know pretty suddenly the direction that we are heading in.

That’s kind of the initial conversation. And we’re including in that conversation what their problem is, why is it they’ve approached us in the first place. You know, what the history is, why they do what they do. And within that, as I mentioned earlier, sometimes they come with a certain problem, perhaps they just need a re-brand because they have not updated their identity since the ‘80’s or whatever, but often times when we tried to work out manifesto, we  kind of find other problems, perhaps – other areas where they haven’t focused, their design, their aesthetic. But it’s usually way more about business and strategy.

F.I.: Yeah.

T.R.: And as a company, that’s what we’ve developed in “leaps and bounds”. Design is kind of bi-product of that, and I can confidently say we’re getting much better as designers as well, yes, but the actual “leaps and bounds” for us is coming to the design strategy in helping clients. 

F.I.: Well, the design is the easiest part, right?

T.R.: It is, it is and I use to think it’s the most fun part but sometimes, in a meeting, when you look at a client and they say, “You know what, this makes sense to me now. I’ve being doing this for years but now I have a different perspective on it”. That’s really exciting! It’s pretty exciting and sometimes it is hard for us to get that out as well. Not every client we come across, we can help in that way. Sometimes the problem is bigger than us, you know. We are a small partnership of two people, we don’t have a research team. But when we do get to those breakthroughs, it’s really exciting.

So yeah, we are helping them find their audience and from that meeting, we go away (Tim, my business partner and I) and we put together a proposal which includes a quote and it’s basically us writing down everything we’ve learned. So, it starts to act as a brief as well, first. It is also as a fantastic way for us to debrief from the meeting and sit down and say, “What have we learned from that?” And so, this proposal… we have these modules, templates, so we can bring in different case studies to show them, case studies that we have done in the past that may be kind of linked to their industry and they’re trying to do. And that’s something we’ve only been doing only for the last year or so, maybe two years. But we find that really useful. It gets everyone on the same page. 

F.I.: Exactly. It’s helpful for them to be able to imagine what you’re going to do.  

T.R.: Exactly, and what we do initially, depending on what the client is looking for, we start doing some early research. And at this part this is all pro-bono, we haven’t received the payment. But what we’re doing is to offer the client value straight away. And we present it all in a mooboard so they can start to say, “Ahh! This is what it could look like. This is the direction we should be heading in”. And it makes a really big difference with that, to be able to show, visually show clients something after a conversation, so they know what we’re talking about, to be able to show them how their brand could potentially look and that’s been a real game-changer for us.

F.I.: Yeah and I don’t think many people do that. 

T.R.:  No. We didn’t even to do that. We used to go into a meeting and we didn’t even introduce ourselves, we’d just jump in and almost have the sketch book open. We just start drawing logos. We did no research, we wouldn’t ask the right questions. Because we were fine-art students. We’ve learned all this in time, by asking other people questions.

F.I.: We’re gonna have to do another interview to talk about this because I think it is really interesting and I would love to know how you get here, how you learned all this. 

T.R.: Ok. Sure, love to. 

F.I.: Yeah.

T.R.: My girlfriend thought I was joking because I end up talking to her about all this stuff. And for her it’s just “bla, bla, bla”. It’s really boring for her. She was just begging me not to bore you to death with lots of waffle. Sorry if I’ve done that. 

F.I.: It is very interesting to me because I think you can become a good designer, but if you’re a freelancer or you have your own business, you need to understand business, so that you can help other people, you know, with theirs. 

T.R.: Absolutely! And going back to your first question, I think it was what makes good identity design…

I think it’s being able to look at something (and from a designer point of view, this is my answer), is being able to look at a brand and to be able to see the strategy and the thinking that has gone behind the scenes. And I think… I can kind of see, when someone’s really put a lot of thought into it… Sometimes you can see the most beautiful brand, if you’re looking at the work of the design itself, the colour pallet, the typography choice, they’re beautiful and they work together but there’s something about it, you can see hasn’t really come from the real world.

Perhaps the designer is working in some kind of vacuum, perhaps there isn’t an end client. Perhaps they just made it up and I don’t have a problem with that, it is absolutely fine, it’s a great way to practice. But I suppose that in terms of creating a brand, you have to get to the heart of the strategy and you can see that they’ve really understood the client. 

F.I.: …And sometimes it’s not the shiniest product.

T.R.: No. No. Absolutely. Exactly, there’s a very practical aspect of it. 

F.I: Because I’ve seen those projects, on Behance and on Dribbble, where you just create something out of thin air and you just put it on some mock-ups and it’s really sexy, but it’s not real. And if it would have been real, ah, it wouldn’t have looked like that. 

T.R.: No, no, it is a fascinating thing. On a quiet Sunday afternoon I sat down and just thought, I’m a little bit bored, I’m a little out of practice and it’s maybe been a while since I created a logo. I will give myself a fake brief and just practice and sometimes the results are really fun, but again, it’s exactly as you say. It might look fantastic, but it will never have that life… kind of breathe into it from a genuine brief. 

F.I.: It’s art, practically.

T.R.: It’s always interesting, this disection between art and brand and design. 

F.I.: So, getting back to the steps that you make. After this discussion, you have the brief. What’s next?

T.R.: We settle on the proposal and hopefully they’ll accept it. 90% of the time, depending on the client, we have enough information to get started. Even if it’s just from that 1 hour chat. Sometimes, we need to ask more questions, sometimes they need to send over like a visual audit of all their previous branding, the stuff they previously used. And then we just need more research. And usually, because we are so keen to start, we start sketching. I always recommend getting research done and then start sketching.

F.I.: Does that research include the mood board?

T.R.: Yes, we send them the mood board but for us to delve into the images that we present to the client, it would make no sense to them, because it’s just visual cues for us. And at this point, because of the way the process is laid out, this could be a week or a month or even 2 months after we’ve had that initial conversation. It just depends on their timelines. 

We’ve already got ideas buzzing around in our heads. From calculating this research, we have chats internally, Tim and I and we start to sketch out our initial ideas. From then on, it’s all about design process, we always return to the brief and thinking if we’re designing this specifically for this industry, this target audience, this client. The clients and end consumers, of course, they are the people that need to respond to the design. Ultimately, the ideas that are at the top will start to be vectorized in Illustrator and that’s when you end up with a giant mood board that’s full of colours. And I think that’s where our partnership really works, because we both go into our separate offices but then come together to share our work. And it’s from that sharing of work that you can sort of compare ideas or mash 2 ideas into a single one. That’s the experimentation stage. I guess that part of our approach is that we only really present one logo.

F.I.: You don’t come out with more options, you just present the one you think is right.  

T.R.: Well, in the past we have done hundreds, maybe thousands of iterations to the logos, but that’s internal. It’s like a funnel: you throw all your ideas in but you’re looking for that one little gem that will drop at the bottom rather than everything getting stuck.

And of course, if the client says “I love everything about it, but I don’t like this”, we are open about it. Just because we created one logo doesn’t mean it is THE only logo to represent… After exhaustingly exploring everything, it is our professional opinion that this is the best choice. If the client is not happy with the logo, in our mind we do have a backup of 3, 4 logos that could work as well. But presenting too many options does an injustice to the client. When people have choice, they struggle to make a decision. 

So, we have that one concept approach. We’re always revealing the process as we go along so it’s not a case where we go away and the client doesn’t hear from us for a month or 2. We will check in with them and they will see how it’s developing. 

F.I.: When you send them the first concepts, are they in the stage of sketches? 

T.R.: We have done that in the past. Another part of the process is a PDF presentation. As opposed to the proposal, where we’re trying to show the client value and try to sell them a potential re-brand or whatever it is, the presentation is a linear these-are-our-ideas… and it might literally start with a page of sketches.

The initial presentation actually might have a few options in there but we clearly state to the client that this is just for feedback, to see if we’re heading in the right direction. It might be more about typographic choices, they’re very… you know, setting a kind of tone. We’re saying things like “If you want to be an authority, or you know, a leader in your industry, you should use upper case as opposed to lower case, for your titles”. So if they agree with that, you know, … that’s a decision that isn’t set in stone at that stage, but it helps shape…

A big part of it is just letting them know that it’s a collaboration. Again, in the past we would just go away, hide away, doing lots of logos and then just appear a month later and just show our logo. And that’s not fun for a client. A client often sees these processes as something that should be fun. And they want to be an active part of that rebrand. And that’s something that we’ve struggled with, to be honest and we’re getting better at it, sharing our ideas. As designers, we are often very precious and we’re scared that people might not like our designs. As I get older, there’s far less of that for me… but I think it’s native in most designers to be precious and to hope and pray that the client likes what we’ve done. I think that sharing work a bit more regularly, in presentations, helps for them to feel like they’re collaborating. Which they are, you know, ‘cause then we get feedback and then we make changes. No one knows… ideally, no one really knows their brand and their product better than the client. As we’ve discussed earlier on, that’s not always the case, but it’s their industry. They’ve been doing it for however long. So, you can’t work in a vacuum in that sense. 

F.I.: I think that comes from experience as well, because you have to be pretty experienced in order to be confident enough to just go along with the client and do it together.

T.R.: Absolutely, and knowing when to say “I respect your opinion and I see your reasoning but I think you were wrong. And this is why.” And have the confidence to explain yourself. And I’m quite an introverted guy so it took me a very long time… I remember going into meetings and just being terrified, you know? It’s not just the design aspect, it’s the general courage to be able to stand up to someone and say “No. And this is why, you’re wrong. You know… respectfully, this is why you’re wrong.” It’s a great feeling when you do it, especially if you can convince them that the reasoning, perhaps, is a little misguided. And, as you say, that comes with time and experience.

F.I.: Yeah.

T.R.: Yeah, in terms of process. I think we’re almost there now, we’ve shown them the presentation and that goes back and forth over time and we’re constantly refining all of our ideas down to one idea, one logo. We do different kinds of projects. Not every project that we do is strictly brand identity, so we’re not always necessarily creating logos. We always follow that same rough process.

So basically, as I mentioned before, it’s about building up the visual assets, the visual sistem, along with the logo and as the presentations go along (it’s usually only 2 or 3, depends on the complexity of the project), it starts to shape into something. The final presentation should almost look like guidelines. That’s what we’re aiming towards. So you have one logo perhaps in different formats, perhaps a secondary logo and you break down the icon: why do we make it like that? How does it work? Then presenting a wordmark, perhaps showing it in reverse to show how it’s gonna work in different scenarios.

F.I.: Negative or something like that.

T.R.: Yeah, and then filling out the colours, the typography, tone of voice – we don’t always get to design for our clients. And sometimes we develop that final presentation into a full set of brand guidelines. And once that’s approved, we’ll start rolling out different elements of collateral. You know, stationery, print, web, pieces and if the client is happy, we’re transferring files over.

And from a technical point of view, as a company, we always request 50% of the payment upfront and we try to get everything into a contract, that we both agree upon beforehand, something that protects us but also protects the client as well. If we’re doing a large scale project, we’ll probably be requesting payment in phases but basically the idea is that it’s a fair exchange. You know, when we were starting out, it happened for us to be 3 months into the project and the client would decide they changed their minds. This is also related to experience because, at the beginning, we would basically work for anyone. Now, we’ve become more discerning. And saying “No” is probably the biggest part of our process.  

F.I.: Yes, especially since your time is limited. You’re two people there and you can’t do everything. 

T.R.: And it’s funny what happens when you start saying “No” because we actually sent out a quote yesterday and we said “This quote is high, we apologize, we just can’t take on a small project like this. So we apologize for the high quote, we hope you understand, you know, we hope we can continue to work together, but it has to be in a different capacity”. And they replied and said “No, that’s absolutely fine.”

Part of it is that we didn’t want to do the project but the other part of it is that we learned something over time: we used to take on so many projects and what happened was that predominantly, there would be so many lower budget projects that would take up a little bit of time. And the problem with that is that little bit of time on a Monday with a little bit of feedback on a Tuesday and the files you send on Wednesday… and what effectively happens is my best part of the week is done. And it kind of bleeds out over into other projects and we’ve realized we need to be a bit more sparring and take on quality projects. It’s really just about how we invest our time, I suppose.

F.I.: Yeah, I discovered actually that taking on a small project, like a simple logo requires almost the same energy you spend on creating a whole new brand identity because you do the brief, you do all these first steps on the same quality. So…

T.R.: I could not agree more. That’s so true. Sometimes it’s funny: we spend longer on pro-bono projects because we wanna get it right, than we have (spent) on identity projects for banks, where it’s very lucrative and there’s a huge approval process, but somehow with the small projects it just spirals out of control. And much of it is actually a professional business mentality. When we give stuff away for free, the work could be beautiful but those people aren’t investing in it, emotionally or monetarily…

F.I.: Are they more picky?

T.R.: Either that or they really don’t care. They don’t see the amount of work we’ve put it. If you’re cooking a meal and you spend hours in the kitchen, it tastes better if you’ve put your sweat into it, if you’ve worked hard on that delicious meal. …Not literally putting your in it (laughs). I think that when people don’t pay for things, they don’t fully appreciate them. There’s no value to them.

F.I.: The same goes for discounts. If you lower the price, you can see that people start being more unsatisfied, they ask for more from you, they don’t appreciate it.

T.R.: Totally. So what we actually end up doing is we try to find ways of giving people more value. So when we put together our initial proposal, we’re looking for ways in which we can surprise them by saying “Not only are we going to do everything we’ve said in the meeting, but we also think you need this, we’re going to do this for you as well.”

We used to charge an hourly rate and we’ve realized that’s just arbitrary. You can spend every hour in the year working with a standard rate but you will only ever earn a certain amount. And I think what we’re really offering, hopefully, is value and we’re trying to price now the value we’re offering people.

What that means is if a friend comes along and says “Hey, I’m looking to start up a very small enterprise. I’m not looking to make any money off it but we need a logo.” What it means is I can say is “Ok, we’re offering you this value, this is what we’re creating for you. This logo, this brand system may not create any money for you but because we’re doing this, we might be able to exchange services” or whatever it may be. And basically what that’s done for us is allow us to quote for really big institutions who have big budgets for projects and it also means that we can help small start-ups with shoe-string budgets because rather than saying “Each hour of our time is worth $100-$200” or whatever it is, what we can say is “this is what we’re gonna offer you and this is how it’s gonna help you and we can’t kind of scale up and down”. Because what would happen is our friends would come along and say “no, no, we wanna pay you, we respect what you do. But you can’t charge the same amount to Fortune 500 that you would to your friends.” Ideally, you want your friends to be able to say “No, I want to pay you something” and a lot of time, for us, it’s just a token amount to show that they’re invested in what we’re doing. You know, we don’t want their money, we want their investment in the project. 

F.I.: You want them to appreciate the help.

T.R.: Exactly. And even the sweetest, nicest and most decent people… I think that it’s just human nature, when you get something for free, you don’t appreciate it as much as when you do when you have to work for it. Saying it like that sounds like common sense, but it took us a long time to work that out! (laughs) 

F.I.: …to actually realize it, yeah. Especially since I think you always give your clients work on in order to be able to get all the info that you need from them. You ask them to do some homework.

T.R.: Yes, and that’s a big red flag for us. Occasionally, you get requests from people who seem very business minded and they say “This is what I want” and we say “Ok, let’s arrange a conversation.” Sometimes, people just have an idea of what they want and they can’t communicate it. There are so many little red flags that again, over time and with experience we’ve just learned to pick up on. Yeah, and I think that’s one of them. It’s a fascinating thing, I think design more and more about psychology, really. It’s about creating things for humans, for consumers to interact with but also, the clients, to state their claim, you know: “this is what I do, this is what I’m passionate about”. It’s fascinating.

F.I.: Do you think designers come in the last place? As in, you create something for the end-customer, the client, they should be happy and other designers, maybe… I mean, I don’t think you should necessarily create something that other designers would like as well. That’s not a priority.

T.R.: Totally. Yeah, that’s a big mistake that I think a lot of young designers make. I mentioned before about the dynamic logo trend. Every designer who sees that… it’s hard not to be like “Oh, that is so cool, I’m going to do that on my next project.” But in your next project, that may not be applicable in any way, shape or form, it might not have anything to do with your end goal, the brief, the audience. I think that designers doing what designers want to do, instead of attending to the client’s needs and blindly following trends is a big pitfall.

F.I.: That’s really good because I was just going to ask you what are the 5 most common mistakes that you can make when working on an identity design. So that’s one of them. 

T.R.: Definitely, that’s probably number one.

F.I.: Designing for designers.

T.R.: It’d funny, I’m working on a project at the moment and I have Illustrator open and there’s a funny thing that happens when you’re in Illustrator: ideas lead to other ideas. It’s almost like a mind-map when you’re looking at a giant page full of designs. And I’ve realised that oftentimes, whatever is down to the bottom white, is ideas that have almost nothing to do with the project: it’s stuff that going through my mind while seeing other things that I like. And, for some reason, all the work trails down to the bottom line that really has nothing to do with the project. It’s just stuff that I’ve seen and I wanted to get on the page basically. I think that every designer does that at some degree.

Looking at trends is important, I think, but what’s more important is the industry that the client is in. The paradox is that you want the client to fit into the industry and be recognised in that industry – so that’s where the fun choices of colour and just the general aesthetic are important, so that it fits in the industry. But of course the paradox that comes there is that you want them to stand out from that industry, so it’s trading that fine line between trying to help them stand out but also getting them to fit in, so that when the consumer passes by that product in the supermarket, they know it’s the thing they’re looking for, but it also stands out. So designers doing what other designers want instead of doing what the clients want is a huge problem. 

But other mistakes… I think most mistakes that designers make are not technical mistakes. If you make a mistake when you’re creating something or sketching something out or coming up with ideas and concepts, those kind of mistakes and accidents and failures… they often lead to fantastic outcomes. Those kinds of mistakes are fine, you know, as long as it’s not in front of the client (and it rarely is, I never design in front of my clients), then those mistakes are great!

I think the mistakes that people make are business and strategy mistakes. So forgetting that what you’re doing is for humans and that people are behind everything us designers do. So forgetting your demographics and… A big one is just assuming that what you’re creating is for everyone. There is no one universal demographic but, a lot of times, clients insist that what you’re creating, it has to be for everyone. That might be their own goal, maybe for a company like Coca-Cola. The big part of their brand is their universal aspect to it. And you can argue about whether or not that works.

F.I.: …I think they always have a niche though, a main pool of target customers. 

T.R.: Yeah, exactly. 

F.I.: Like Coca Cola has the teens. You know, the young crowd.

T.R.: Totally. And they’ve always been young, but lately, the adverts… I mean, literally there are no parents in it. And that’s the thing, if the client is saying “We appeal to everyone”, they’re wrong. And when you’re exploring ideas… You know, design is all about boundaries: the smaller the window you have to work in often the easier it is, I think. At least for me. And if you’re trying to appeal to everyone, you’ll end up appealing to no one. So yeah, forgetting the people.

What else? A big one, as well, is not doing research properly. You can create a logo that makes sense, it’s possible to create a logo for an industry based on some cliché. Let’s say it’s a bank. And part of your logo is a square, being safe and rigid and kind of protected. So you’re doing a box. If you’ve not done your research, you may not now that there is a bank that has the exact same colours, it’s in the same continent or in the same region. So research stops doing identical designs.

F.I.: It avoids cultural mistakes as well, you will not create something inappropriate. 

T.R.: Totally. There is only so much research you can do, no matter how big your budget is. But doing basic research, you can even do a Google search, that’s definitely… You know, I have stuff in my sketchbook, creative stuff, and I’ve had other designers say “Hey, that looks similar to some of the stuff I created”. Again, what we’re doing is for people, there are universal ideas and themes, so not doing your research and missing something like that can bring on a lawsuit for the company… and that could come back and bite you.

And then, generally speaking… I think that our mistakes arise when we break up from our process and when we start to say “We don’t need to do this much research” or “Let’s just jump into sketching before we’ve had a full talk with the client“.

F.I.: Because it’s tempting.

T.R.:  Oh God, it’s tempting. I think that every young designer has to find their own process and they will inevitably make that mistake. In time, you get to know your process better and it becomes a native of what you do. But yeah, every once in a while I catch myself doing something before I should be doing it. 

Another mistake that we’ve definitely made in the past is just undervaluing what we do. Again, it comes with experience and time and confidence…

F.I.: Do you mean with time or in financial terms?

T.R.: Time and money, yeah. What your time and the value of your work is worth. There are young designers who are overly-confident about that and charge too much. And that’s kind of a good starting place. If people know how much they want to spend, I would always error in the side of charging more. For far too many years, we were kind of fearful of money and undervaluing what we do and undercharging our clients, so I would say that’s a big pitfall as well. Most designers are creative people and they’re in it because they like the artistry and the creation, so business and money don’t often come aside with that.       

F.I.: People incline to like more one of the other. 

T.R.: Exactly. And if you’re running a small business like we are, you’d absolutely have to be on top of that.

F.I.: Probably finding a partner who has what you don’t have. That’s the perfect pair. 

T.R.: Absolutely. I talk about that so often because Tim and I don’t do that at all (laughs). We are so similar and we share predominantly the same….

F.I.:  The art gene.

T.R.:  Yeah, yeah. On a micro level, we both have the same talent. We’re both illustrators, so our strengths are predominantly the same in terms of design as well. Fortunately, Tim does more animation and he’s also a very talented musician. I’m more likely to do this kind of crazy drawing. So we have that. But fundamentally, we’re both designer illustrators. But we have fun doing what we’re doing, so it’s not too much of a problem. And I think over time we’ll grow and we’ll take on… I think now we’re at a point where we realise what we’re lacking and that will be our next high. 

F.I.: You always grow, right?

T.R.:  Yeah. And that’s what’s amazing about working with the clients that we do: we get to see a lot of mistakes they’ve made over time. It’s fascinating that we get to see different industries. We also get to see how people make mistakes as businesses. Whether or not we learn from those things, time will tell. 

F.I.: It’s frustrating because you know you can’t do anything for them, to help them for real.

T.R.: I’m not even sure that’s true. Sometimes we have the conversations where we recognise… We had a meeting recently and the client that we were meeting with, it was very apparent that she was overworked and stressed, and the more questions we asked, the more it was really obvious the leadership of the company was basically just really passionate about what they did, and it was really amazing, but they also didn’t think about hiring more staff      and growing and… I’m sure they knew that, but for us, asking the questions, it became abundantly clear that was the problem. And I think, sometimes, just taking a step back and talking about your manifesto and with the probing questions that we ask, we can kind of help people explore those areas. And I think design does allow the opportunity to make these changes. And I think it should. 

F.I.: I think so too. It’s great if you can actually influence them and be able to help them to at least see something, you know, clearer.

T.R.: Absolutely. And for us, this is a really interesting thing. We were thinking that we’re just getting into this for the aesthetics of creating logos. And a lot of people come to us and say “Right, we just need a logo, how much is that going to cost?”

F.I.: Yes, “just spend 5 minutes,  you know, just do a quick logo!”

T.R.: Yeah, oh my gosh, the amount of times I’ve been asked that is mind boggling. The other one I love is “Here is a napkin, I drew a logo on it, can you make it?” And that’s fine, there are people who do that, there are plenty of websites.

F.I.: …Yeah, you can find them on Fiverr or Elance.

T.R.: Absolutely. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It just depends on whether or not the potential client is willing to have a conversation. The big part of it is educating clients, as well, and doing it in a way that isn’t patronizing. It’s a funny thing going through the process we’ve talked about before. Design doesn’t come into it, ‘till way down the list of things, you know. Most of it is exploring, researching, talking and understanding and being really good at listening.

F.I.: Yeah. And coming with a big background of experience to being able to put it all together and make something of it. 

T.R.: Yeah, hopefully, hopefully.

F.I.: Thanks a lot. This was actually a great interview. I learned some great things, thank you. 

T.R.: I really enjoyed that, thank you so much. 

F.I.: Tell me, where can people find you.

T.R.: My personal website is tomralston.info and my business is Core, and that’s core-agency.com. And everything else is linked to those. 

F.I.: Great. Thank you. It’s been great talking to you.

T.R.: Fantastic. That’s my first Podcast. 

F.I.: My first one too! Thanks again!

T.R.: Cheers!

The post The process of designing a brand identity – Interview with designer Tom Ralston (Core Agency) appeared first on Friday Illustrated.

Today I’m talking to graphic designer Juana Alvarez about creating brand identities.

Juana has a very interesting background, having worked as a designer for more than 10 years and having traveled quite a lot in the meantime, from her home in Buenos Aires, to New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, Spain and finally, Florence, Italy, where she moved four years ago. She says that the “nomad” gene runs in her family, which is why she loves to travel and she always takes her work with her everywhere, even on holidays. She loves her job and thinks that deciding to study graphic design was “the best choice she ever made”.

By day, she works at web design company Lean Panda, by night, she does freelance work for clients from all around the world. One of the projects that caught my attention was the brand identity she did for Tealicious, which I actually printed and pinned it somewhere in my office, because I find it so inspiring. That’s how I decided to do an interview with Juana and learn more about her work process.

F.I.: I love the Tealicious brand identity you designed. What’s the story?

J.A.: Tealicious. That’s a project that I also love. Because I love the person behind it, she’s a good friend of mine and she lives here in Florence. We have two passions: she has a passion for the tea and I for design, and when you mix that you can’t go wrong, it’s impossible! She has her own shop and she does everything by herself, so I offered to do the branding, as my gift to her. Sometimes I do things like this, for free or as part of an exchange, although other designers would kill me for saying that, but I believe in exchange, you know? Not everything’s about money, it’s a great way to move around and do the things you love, but I think it’s important not to go crazy with it. It’s also nice to be able to help others with your work, and in my experience, every time I did something like this, I’ve got rewarded in greater ways!

Tealicious had a different branding before and I used to go to the shop every time and said “Marcela, we need to change this, I cannot look at your logo anymore!!” (laughs). I’m the kind of person that’s always trying to make things better, more beautiful, even if I have to work the extra mile, even if I don’t sleep, but I need to make it better!

So after a few tries I finally convinced her that we need to change her logo and the packaging. She needed to have a single label that she could use for all her different blends, because she changes her blends all the time. She is a one person company, so she does everything and also she has her own laboratory. Every day she’s inventing new stuff and mixing ingredients. So she needed something that is versatile, where she could write the name of the tea, show the ingredients used in each blend and also specify the temperature and the time of immersion. That’s why we made this label where there are four temperatures and four different times, so she could make a small circle around them. For her that was great, because she just made one print and that’s it.

She needed something that is versatile, where she could write the name of the tea, show the ingredients used in each blend and also specify the temperature and the time of immersion.

I think design should be super functional. Because sometimes we, designers, like to do the best, you know? But then there’s a reality, there’s people who don’t have the money, there’s people who can’t afford to print like seven different labels, and not because of that you don’t have to make something beautiful for them, you know? So I tried to understand what she wanted, to know what she could and couldn’t do, and tried, with these elements, to do my best. And it was great, it was a success and I’m happy because she got a lot of recognition as well, and I enjoyed doing it a lot and now we are even thinking to do a new packaging. Tealicious is growing constantly and has more needs, in the future we may come up with something different!

F.I.: How did the concept for Tealicious begin, where did you start from?

J.A.: Marcela [the client] makes all the blends herself and she has all these little jars, with different leaves and natural flavours. She spends all day doing each blend, grabbing a little bit of this and a little bit of that… she’s like a magician! And her teas really make magic in you, every sip is like a journey to a world of beautiful fragrances.

I did this collage because I wanted things that represent this feeling, like leaves, and nature and all these different fragrances. Because when you enter her little shop and you have all these smells, it’s so wonderful! And I wanted to be able to see the label and enter her universe, something like that, you know? I wanted the packaging to represent all the experience that is, for me, to go to her shop and drink her tea.

F.I.: Before starting a new project, what do you ask the client?

J.A.: Of course, what they do, who they do it for. It’s very important to know who uses their products, who the clients/the customers are. I ask them how they see themselves in the future, if they plan to change, if they’re planning to grow. I ask them a lot of things and I give them a lot of homework (laughs). Because for me, communication is very important. I try to get inside their minds, you know, like a psychologist or something like that. So I ask them all sorts of questions about what they do and I try to understand what they do outside their business, always in a very friendly conversation with them. This way, they get really relaxed, and when you’re relaxed, you’re more open to communication. I try to keep a relaxed atmosphere and sometimes I even end up friends with my clients! (laughs). Well, not super friends, but I have a really good relationship with them. And that’s very important for me, because sometimes, instead of going out and get a drink at night, I sit here and I work. And this energy they give me is my fuel to do nice things and to be happy, you know? Of course, it’s not like I love to work on Saturdays, but if I have to work, I’d better enjoy it, no? Because if you are in a good mood it’s much more likely you’ll end up doing a much better work.

I feel very grateful because I have clients from all around the world, from the States – San Francisco, New York, from Paris, from London, from Singapore, from Australia. And this allows me to keep learning everyday from different cultures, and when you’re working in remote, without knowing each other physically, it’s very important that you create a nice environment, made of trust and understanding.

F.I.: How do you find a concept for a new project?

J.A.: It’s not easy and it’s not always the same, for me. Usually, I try to find inspirations that are similar to what I want to do. Like, I look at a lot of designers, because most of the things have been done already! I think it’s great to get inspiration from other talented designers but also one of the homeworks I ask the client is to make a Pinterest board with the things they love. You know, anything! It doesn’t have to be exactly what they want on their brand, but I ask them to add the things they love, so I get an idea as well of what their tastes are.

I think it’s great to get inspiration from other talented designers but also one of the homeworks I ask the client is to make a Pinterest board with the things they love. You know, anything! It doesn’t have to be exactly what they want on their brand, but I ask them to add the things they love, so I get an idea as well of what their tastes are.

So after I get all the inspiration, I think about it in the shower, while I eat, all the time, I think, think, think! And then suddenly you say” I know what I want to do! I know it, I know it!”. And then you do it and you say “oh no, it wasn’t this!” (laughs). “This is s**t! Let’s try something else, you know?”…

So I do a lot of stuff, and sometimes it takes me a long time, sometimes it takes me nothing. I’m usually pretty fast. In six hours I can do a lot of stuff. This is hard for me, because I charge by hour! (laughs).

F.I.: As long as we’re on that, do you use a tool to keep track of the hours you work?

J.A.: For each client I use a Google doc, where I have all the columns with what I did, how long it took me, how many hours I worked, how much they owe me, how much money they paid me so far. I always get a small advance payment, so when I finish those hours they do another small payment and so on until we finish the project. They have access to the Google doc, so they can track all my hours, so everything is open. It takes them about two weeks to get super comfortable, to know that I do all the work I say I’m going to do, that I’m not cheating with the hours, or things like that.

F.I.: When you start to work on a new branding identity project, what are the steps involved, usually?

J.A.: Step 1. Communication.

You meet the client, ask all kinds of questions, try to get to know them, ask about the brand, the name – does it have any particular significance? Because sometimes, you can relate something to the name, sometimes not, it’s up to us. When was the brand created, how many people work there, what are their goals, what is their target. You ask about the market – if they work in one country, or world wide, if there’s any graphic done so far, any attempts of a logo? Any colors related to the brand, or any preferences?

Step 2. Research.

After having a good idea about the brand, I start looking for inspiration, things that are similar to what I have in mind. It could be photos, color palettes, typefaces, other brands that do something similar, you need to research the competitors as well, you don’t want to end up doing something similar to them, you want to be different. So this is important as well, to see what other brands that work in the same country or in the same city do.  So you need to do something better than the competitors – but not only graphically, but functionally as well. I work a lot with web design and it’s important to do functional things, things that work. For example, if you choose a typeface that’s hard to read, that’s not working.

Step 3. Typeface.

When I finally get to work, I usually start with the typeface selection. I first try to define the personality of the brand, as if it was a person. From there you can filter a lot your research, for example you wouldn’t use a serif font if you are talking to a very young crowd. So after I’ve applied this filter I try the name in different fonts, for me this is a very sensitive part, it’s like I let the type talk to me, and try to find a proper type that gets along with the brand universe.

F.I.: You have a library of favorite fonts?

J.A.: I use myfonts.com a lot. I think that’s really cool because there are a lot of options there. Usually, I don’t go crazy with typography, in the sense that I’m very classic, I have fonts that I just love. You can use the same font for different brands, and it’s not like the brand will look the same, because when you mix it with the whole branding, it changes, Maybe you use Futura in two logos, but they look totally different.  The sans-serif fonts that I use a lot are Brandon, Futura and Gotham, Helvetica for instance I use every day less and less, and for serif I love Didot or Caslon. I think for all designers there’s typefaces that when you see them you just go, “I love you!”, you know? It’s like love a first sight, haha.

Step 4. Icon.

Sometimes the brand needs an icon to go along. Is not easy to come up with a cool icon, not too obvious and communicative enough. Sometimes literal is good, and depends a lot on the style of the icon. For me is super fun to create them, it’s a very mental game, I can spend hours just trying to find the right concept, and then when you have the idea you spend other lots of hours simplifying it, in order to make it work. There’s so many possibilities to an icon and it’s a great exercise to learn how to use little resources and still be able to communicate an entire brand. And the satisfaction of achieving a good icon is amazing!

First, the icon needs to be simple and needs to communicate the brand identity. Then, you need to try it really small, to see if maybe you need to do an adaptation of the icon. Usually you check to see how it looks in print – in 1 cm, or 3 cm, and if it doesn’t work, maybe you do a small version of the icon. For instance, if you use the icon on a business card, maybe in a small size you cannot read the shapes inside anymore. So you need to make it simpler. But if you’re going to use it in a poster, you need it with detail, so in this case is perfect to use the big icon. That’s why it’s always a good idea to have two options of the icon, and use the one that works better in each scenario.

Step 5. Proportion.

It’s not always easy for me to match the icon with the name, so I’m always trying different positions, and to come up with the right proportion is a challenge!

Sometimes, you  have done the icon and you have chosen the type, but when you put them together they may not work! It’s important, when you do the icon, to keep the name close (if you’ve already chosen the type), or maybe you do the icon and then you choose the type, so it can be the other way around. So the proportion is always a challenge! How big is the icon going to be? There are some logos with big icon and small writing, some the other way around. You can put the icon on the right, on the left, on the top, on the bottom, there are so many possibilities and there are not many rules for that, it’s all a matter of taste and proportion, something that you know is right when you see it.

Step 6. Color.

The color is usually the last thing I do. First, I do everything in black and white, making sure that it works like that. I think a logo should work first in black and white, and if I like it like that, then when you apply the color is like an explosion! It takes the design to another level.
Then you have to make sure it works in negative, too. For instance, and this happened to me a lot of times, you do an icon that’s a face (human or animal), and in color it’s all very beautiful, but when you put it in negative, it just doesn’t work. It looks like a demon, you know? (laughs).

So what you do is, I’m gonna give you an example. The studio where I work – the name is Lean Panda, we have a little panda face, very cute I must say, but when we went in negative (for the business cards), it looked terrible! It looked dead, it looked like he’d been in X Rays, you know? In this case I fix the issue by adding a border around it and then I fill the middle with a plain color, keeping the face the same as it was before.

As for color, you can look for inspiration in things like flowers, photography, you can research color palettes on the street, in the architecture of the buildings, you can search the web, there are a lot of inspiration sources for colors.

Step 7. Pattern.

A lot of times clients come to me and ask me to design patterns along with the logo, so most of the times I do them simultaneously with the brand, I try to see how they work together. It’s important when your are doing a pattern that you choose elements that relate to the brands world, patterns can be a very important ingredient for the look and feel of the brand.

Step 8. Presentation.

All these steps are repeated several times in the first stage. I usually do at least 3 or 4 propositions of the logo, depends on my inspiration, and then I do a presentation and send it to the client. It’s important to do a nice presentation, don’t do jpegs and send them by themselves in a email. No, that’s not the right way. You need to do a presentation with a cover, like “Hello! This is the cover” then you put, logo 1, logo 2 and so on. Each logo can be followed by an explanation of the concept you use, and if you have time, you can show them the inspirations you use and you can also show the process a little bit, how you came up with the icon.

For example, I’m working on a project that is called Hi Kitchen. So I came up with this idea for the icon, a mix between the word Hi and the word Kitchen. The icon is a dialog icon, and on top, instead of being rounded, I put the cooking hat, you know?  So in the presentation I’ve explained where this idea came from, the mix between Hi + Kitchen. So it’s good if you can explain in detail where your concept is coming from, that way you can bring the client on the same path with you. It’s never in vain to explain your ideas, in fact for me it’s a must!

Step 9. Feedback.

I wait very anxious for their response! This is the most adrenaline part of the job. If they don’t like anything, it’s a terrible thing! Usually this doesn’t happen (thank God!). What sometimes does happen is that they choose different elements from each proposal. Like “Oh, I like option 3, but could we have the typeface from option 1 and I love the color from option 2! Could we mix it all together, like a smoothie?” (laughs). And it looks like a Frankenstein!! So then you need to be good enough to mix all the things together nicely and still make something beautiful.

Step 10. More options.

We pass to the second stage, where I do a second round of options, more specific this time, because they may have chosen a font and an icon already, but nevertheless I try to present more options, so they are completely sure about their final choice.

In my experience, I can tell the client almost never likes the very first proposal presented. If you nail it the first time, it means something is wrong.

Because it’s not like you put all your effort to do a perfect logo. You just throw out ideas. What I can say to you, like an advice, is don’t kill yourself 10 hours for each idea. Try to have a few different ones, not very worked out, just to have them choose a path. They have to look beautiful, but not super polished. It’s something you learn in time. You can have 8 ideas and not have to spend a lot of time on them. And it’s good, because the client loves to be able to choose, they just love it.

Step 11. Revisions.

The client reviews it and we keep this logic until we are both happy with the outcome. It’s very important that we are the BOTH happy – this is something I leave clear with all my clients from the beginning. For me it’s very difficult to do something I don’t like. Please don’t ask me. If I say no, try to believe in me.

Step 12. Brand Book.

I then prepare a brand book for them and export the logos in all the formats: PNG, JPG, SVG, in color, B&W, negative, vertical, horizontal, just type, just icon etc. So you need to make little folders with all the options, and you just give them the link (Dropbox, usually) for download, so they have everything.

F.I.: Brand book: What are the usual things a brand book should include?

J.A.: A basic brand book should present the logo in all the different variations (vertical, horizontal, just icon, just type…), logo structure, the dos and don’ts, example: placing the logo in colored backgrounds, which colors are ok and which are not, or if you place the logo over a photo, what treatment this photo should have; how you use the logo on printing materials, on website, on a banner.

The Don’ts are usually about rotating the logo, or not using the logo with this background color, not stretching the logo and all the things they shouldn’t do with it. You need to define the color palette, which is the primary and the secondary (if there is one), the typefaces you are using, patterns if there are any, illustrations if there are any.

Typefaces – usually I choose a font for print and, for web, I go with Google fonts and try to find a matching font.

Imagery – some brands use only illustrations or patterns, others photography, this is very sensitive, because bad photography can ruin your work in a second. It’s important to educate your clients to choose good photography, when used for website the photo should have a good resolution. Sometimes you have to do some extra work in order to create beautiful things. There are some designers that are lazy, there are some designers who are willing to go the extra mile. You have to choose which one you are… better the second one (smiles).

F.I.: How do you make sure the branding is really well thought through? Say they later decide to add new products to the brand, how do you make sure the branding “covers” anything new that comes along?

J.A.: I don’t think you can be really sure about that… can you? I think the brand should be able to last in time, without being old fashioned. What I mean is, you have to be really careful when you choose a typeface or a color theme, sometimes we let ourselves go with the trends, for example nowadays there’s a lot of this “Vintage look” kind of old school… I’m not saying that I don’t like it, but maybe in a few years that will look terrible, so the simpler the brand is the longer it will last, so if you want to go crazy with it, make it with the concept not with the poor font! (laughs)

F.I.: When establishing the concept for the brand’s identity, do you take into consideration things like brand personality and archetype? Or do you just follow your gut?

J.A.: It depends a lot on the type of client, sometimes it’s just necessary to determinate a personality, even to do a character! I have done a few brandings where the logo is actually a guy or an animal. And there’s a lot of times where I just follow my gut, it’s nice when this happens too, because you create the personality while designing.

Sometimes I do a character which is the whole soul of the brand. Like with Green Apes, the logo is this ape, and he became the entire communication, everything goes around him. People love it, they want to see it – it’s like a rockstar (laughs). And in this case, we’ve created the entire personality of this ape. And is like playing God, you decide if the guy is fat, if he’s tall, has small legs, and so on… it’s fun to create this character and all their universe!

F.I.: The first ideas you put “on paper”, do you create them as an individual concept, or within specific materials? Let’s say you start putting together the identity for a tea brand. Do you start by designing the label? Or do you just put together the elements (typeface, illustration, color etc) on a blank piece of paper, and only afterwards you adapt them to the materials (labels, posters, and so on)?

J.A.: If I have to design a brand + packaging I usually do it simultaneously. That’s because I like to see the outcome as a unity, but always giving more independence to the brand, because it has to work by itself, the brand has a whole entire role it has yet to play. As for the packaging it can not live without the logo, so when designing a packaging it’s important to always have the logo as part of the design.

It happened to me that I’ve created a great packaging, but when adding the client’s logo everything seemed very cheap… and sadly you can’t change your clients logo, most of the time.

Another thing when starting a project, always write down what you’ve said in your meetings! For example, this one time the client came to me asking to redesign their scone mix box packaging. I got so carried away that I’ve recreated their box in Photoshop and did all the options, and when I sent them to the client they replied: “Juana, remember we wanted to change our packaging from the box to a stand up pouch?” (laughs) So… I had to readapt all my options for another container and of course the whole design had to change! Packaging changes a lot depending on their container. You wouldn’t believe how much!

F.I.: When you show a client the first options of design, what do you present to them? What elements do you show them and in what form (do you show them product mockups, for instance)?

J.A.: I try to go as real as I can, if I’m designing a packaging I try to do it in the most real way I can. For the logo I usually don’t create mockups, but I’m about to change that, I think is super different to see a logo in white background, then seeing it on a business card for example, or a napkin, or even a wall. Sometimes there’s no budget to do all this personification of the logo, but I think it’s a good idea to do it.

F.I.: Client talk – how do you communicate with the client and how often? Do you meet, do you skype, what is your system?

J.A.: Most of my clients are abroad, so we usually do Skype calls, we exchange a lot of emails in the middle. Usually the first two times are Skype, then we start knowing each other and we don’t need to talk anymore, so we just write emails.

F.I.: Where do you put all the information you deliver to the client? Do you use email, or google files, or dropbox shared folders etc?

J.A.: Dropbox yes, I love it, I only use dropbox, all my files are there. Before it existed I struggle a lot with hard drives, it’s like all your life is in this tiny box that is so sensible, and the stress is too great! I also use Google Drive, for every client I create a excel sheet where I write down every hour I do for them, every payment the do to me, and the final balance.

F.I.: When creating projects for print, do you test the colors beforehand? Do you work with Pantone colors? How do you make sure the colors come out perfect?

J.A.: Pantone I don’t use it very much, usually everything is CMYK lately, it’s a matter of cost I think, but all my clients require the files in that format. I don’t usually work with huge brands, maybe for this kind of customer you are more likely to go for a Pantone, but with middle size companies, they usually print in CMYK.

F.I.: You mentioned that the illustration for Tealicious isn’t your work. Where did you find it? How do you proceed in cases like this, do you buy illustration (or typefaces, also) with licence for commercial use? I am curious about any advice/tips you have.

J.A.: Those are vintage images I find in internet, there’s a lot of sites where you can find images with free rights, for example in Wikimedia Commons. Also I like to buy old naturalistic books and I scan the images inside and use those too. I love creating patterns, it’s such a beautiful experience when you are able to put together these images and create something new, you can spend hours just moving things around, in order to create balance, and then you can play with the colors and the sizes, there’s a lot you can do, but it’s not easy to create something beautiful.

F.I.: Would you like to share any mistakes you made in the past, when designing brand identities, mistakes you learned from? It would be very helpful for me and any other designers wanting to improve, to be able to try and avoid some classic mistakes in this area.

J.A.: Mmm… Always have an extra pair of eyes looking into your designs! My major mistakes are always on the text! Here in Italy they call it the Argentinian style (laughs)! Also when you design in another language that is not the maternal one, it’s more complicated even, so better to have always a double check, yeah? You don’t want to go to print with mistakes.

Don’t hold on to ideals. Just try to listen, to put yourself in the shoes of your client, try not to think of yourself as “God of the graphics”

Always charge in advance!! I had some ugly experience… but luckily I’ve learnt from that and now I divide my work into small stages and ask my client small advance payments until we finish the work, they are more comfortable this way, as well, because most of the times they don’t know me either so is hard to ask them a 50% advance payment just like that!

And don’t hold on to ideals. Just try to listen, to put yourself in the shoes of your client, try not to think of yourself as “God of the graphics”, you know, because that will only harm you. Be more humble (that’s good also in everyday life). Also, try to enjoy your job, always with a smile, always with good energy and people will feel that and work well together.

Always with a smile! That’s my model, smile and never think negatively about your clients or about your projects. I think if you’re doing this job, it’s because you love it. So in order to keep loving it, you need to keep a positive attitude. That’s the most important piece of advice I can give you.

See more of Juana Alvarez’s work on her: website | behance | facebook

The post Designing a brand identity – Interview with Juana Alvarez appeared first on Friday Illustrated.

Ëlodie is a fashion illustrator living in Paris. Just like the city she lives in, her work is a combination of poetry and realism.

Her illustrations are all about beauty, in pastel colors and intricate textures, as she combines the digital with the traditional.

Her collaborations include brands like Nina Ricci, Rochas, Givenchy, L’Oreal and Victoria’s Secret and magazines such as Elle, Marie-Claire, Cosmopolitan and her work has been exhibited in USA, Europe and Australia. Before becoming a freelance illustrator five years ago, Ëlodie has worked in several companies of 3D cartoon animation.

I love to draw feminine and delicate illustrations with a touch of poetry and I always been attracted by faces, especially eyes

Have you studied illustration, or are you self taught? 

Since I remember I always drew. So after my degree, I naturally opted for a School of Visual Communication (ECV, Bordeaux). During four years I learned different drawing techniques, but also Graphic Design, 2D and 3D Animation and Web Design. All the knowledge is still very helpful everyday in my illustrator life.

Why did you choose fashion/beauty illustrations? What attracted you to it? 

Oh that was very natural I love to draw feminine and delicate illustrations with a touch of poetry and I always been attracted by faces, especially eyes. I remember filling pages and pages of eyes when I was young. Besides, fashion has always been a great source of inspiration for me. I often incorporate some fashion accessories that fit the spirit of my girls in my illustrations. For example in my last illustration, “Jenny 2015”, who is a modern version of the hippie Jenny Curan in Forrest Gump, I put some Pamela Love rings on her fingers and a Chloé blouse that fit perfectly the hobo/poetic style of my ‘Jenny 2015’.

You work traditionally, but you’ve also experimented with other techniques. What are they?

Most of the time I start drawing traditionally and then colorize my illustration digitally. But sometimes I need to push myself beyond the limits of my style to make it evolve.

A few months ago I created a serie of 3 watercolor illustrations based on Karlie Kloss almost entirely digitally. I scanned some beautiful watercolors stains and mixed them digitally playing with light. It was very fun to do something completely different with almost no drawing at all.

I draw most of the time with a pencil or a pigment liner. After that I scan my drawing and start colorize it digitally in Photoshop

Let’s talk about creating an illustration from scratch. How does that process look, for you? How do you start, what steps do you follow?

When I work for a client, most of the time it’s simple: I get a brief that I need to stick to (subject, size, colors and references of illustrations in my portfolio for the colorisation). But for a personal illustration I use to think a lot (maybe too much) before starting a new piece: Which size, composition, colors, theme, atmosphere, technique etc…

Then I start looking for inspiration on the internet (Pinterest is a great source for it). For me this process can last several hours until I have a click. Then I actually start building my illustration by mixing photos together. The most difficult part is to stick to what I decided at the beginning! Then the ‘production’ step begins: Drawing most of the time with a pencil or a pigment liner. After that I scan my drawing and start colorize it digitally in Photoshop (you can see a step by step video here).

What kind of projects did you use to work on, in the beginning?

In the beginning I mostly worked for private portrait commissions and French magazines. Some of them weren’t very famous so I didn’t get a lot of money from these jobs at the beginning.

You came to a point where you get to create art for brands like Nina Ricci, Laduree or Rochas and magazines like Elle, Marie-Claire and Cosmopolitan. How did you get here? How did you first start these collaborations?

The most complicated part in this job is to get the contacts. Especially in Advertising. For this part I think an agent is very helpful. My agent spends a lot of time doing prospection in agencies which is something I wouldn’t have the time for. Some of the Advertising jobs I get come from my agent. Other clients discover my work online and contact me or my agent directly.

The collaborations with magazines – how do they work? Are they a regular collaboration, or one-time pieces?

I had several collaborations in the past with BE magazine, Glamour Spain and this year with Votre Beauté magazine. But most of the time it’s a one-time piece.

I would love to know more about the work you did for fragrance brands. How does it work?

For Rochas, I had a detailed brief with the template of the packaging, the color theme. The perfume ‘Cascades de Rochas’ was about Iris so I had to illustrate those flowers in different techniques and also the egery of the brand, Olivia Palermo. The range of perfumes was composed of several fragrances but I just made a test for ‘Songe d’Iris’. Unfortunately the test wasn’t accepted by the client at the final step but it was a very interesting experience. It’s part of the game to work in competition with other illustrators and photographs for big projects like this.

In the morning I work on my brand: coding for my sites, designing new business cards, taking pictures of my drawings to promote on social networks, sending newsletters and in the afternoon I mostly draw or colorize a new illustration in Photoshop

I notice you have a great personal brand (and not many artists do). You use Ëlodie as your name (very catchy and easy to remember) and your website is very well done. Could you share a little bit about how you worked to build your image?

Thank you. Yes, I realized how it’s important to build a solid styled brand to be recognizable among the many illustrators. It’s very time consuming, but for me it’s not a problem because I love that!

Especially I love graphic design and coding for my website, sometimes it changes from drawing and avoids routine! I learned to do this in school so it’s nice to be able to use this knowledge in my job too. As I said it takes a lot of time to manage all the branding especially since I spent several weeks recently to build a new responsive website (a friend of mine was very helpful when I was stuck) and re-design my blog and shop, so now I find useful to split my day in 2 parts. In the morning I work on my brand: coding for my sites, designing new business cards, taking pictures of my drawings to promote on social networks, sending newsletters (those tasks demand more concentration) and in the afternoon I mostly draw or colorize a new illustration in Photoshop.

In the beginning I used the pseudo Miss Firefly and then Luciole art (ahah now I found those pseudos so childish!). Then I changed for Ëlodie which is more simple because it’s my real name, except I added the umlauts on the Ë to make a difference between my brand and me.

I always have new ideas for promotion so I use to write down all of them in a little notebook: On the left page I write down ideas about ‘BRANDING’ (ideas of promotion, modification on my website, blog…) and on the right page I write my ‘WORKS’ ideas (project for exhibition, collaborations). Unfortunately the pages are filling too fast and I’m not able to do all of these tasks ahah!

I always have new ideas for promotion so I write them down in a little notebook: left page – ideas for ‘BRANDING’ and right page – ideas for ‘WORK’

You are working with two agents who represent you. Do you find this necessary, for an illustrator? How is that helping you?

Yes. My agent is Colagene, they represent me in Europe, Canada and United States. I also have an agent in Australia, The Drawing Arm. I think it’s very necessary to have an agent if you plan to work in advertising. Most of the big projects are held by advertising agencies who prefer working with an agent who is able to propose several styles of illustration rather that only one illustrator with a particular style. Even if an artistic director likes your work, it doesn’t mean that he will make you work right now, because your style must fit with the brief of his client.

I think it’s necessary to have an agent if you plan to work in advertising.

A little bit about the business side of things Many artists have a problem when it comes to setting a value for their work. How did you learn how much to quote for your illustration projects?

Ahah that’s a tricky part. I forgot to mention that my agent will do all the work of discussing and quoting with the client, which is very helpful too.

I can only tell you about Fashion illustration in edition and advertising which is very different from child books, for example. The cost of an illustration is separated in two parts : the cost of production: Depending on how much time you spend on it, 400 – 500 euros for a A5 and 800 – 1000 euros for a A4 etc…

The cost of the rights: That’s the difficult part to quote because it depends on how your illustration will be used: which mediums? If magazines, how many; internet, TV, which territories? For how long etc… The rights of an illustration always belong to the illustrator. When you sell the rights of your illustration for a specific time, area… it’s exactly like a renting, so it’s very important to discuss with your client to know exactly how he wants to use it.

There is an online tool called Calkulator that might be helpful.

When you sell the rights of your illustration for a specific time and area, it’s exactly like a renting, so it’s very important to discuss with your client to know exactly how he wants to use it.

They say that no matter how successful you are, you always find new things to learn, new challenges. What is the latest major thing you learned?

I realize day after day, more and more, that working all by myself at home doesn’t mean I work alone. I have several social pages and I receive a lot of comments and emails every day. They are so encouraging and very helpful especially when I have some doubts about my work, and when I feel guilty not to be able to do all the tasks I wrote down in my little book

I try to answer all of them with honesty, because I think it’s also very important to show the human side of my brand/job, which is why I plan to share more pictures of myself on my websites soon and maybe videos, I’ll see !

See more of Ëlodie’s work on her: website | tumblr | behance | facebook | instagram

The post Fashion Illustration: Interview with Ëlodie appeared first on Friday Illustrated.

And if you think that, you are right: Nathan St John is an American illustrator and conceptual artist living in Paris.

He has a master’s degree in architecture from Yale and has spent the last ten years in London and New York, designing buildings. However, illustration was always a passion that he kept improving, up to the point when he managed to turn it into a full time job. He is now a freelance illustrator working on commissions of print and digital media including branding, promotional images, book covers and graphic novels. He agreed to do an interview with me and talk about his work with clients, his skills in illustration and the secrets to being able to come up with a good concept, for a certain project.

I’ve always wanted to live in Paris, so I’m enjoying making an illustrated journal of my first year here

You are an American freelance illustrator based in Paris. Why Paris?

I’m originally from Illinois, but for college and work I’ve moved fairly regularly since then, with stops in Chicago, Boston, Phoenix, London and New York. My wife is French, so after a couple very fun but hectic years in Manhattan we decided life in France made more sense for the long term.

How long have you been living in Paris?

I moved here last year, so it has been an interesting 6 months of acclimation, to say the least! Coming from New York it feels much more like a big village, but with a tremendous cultural and arts scene. I’ve always wanted to live in Paris, so I’m enjoying making an illustrated journal of my first year here. New journal sketches turn up on my blog from time to time, and I like how they are beginning to track the seasons in Paris.

As a freelancer, I find that projects vary from US comic book publishers to French start-up companies

What is it like to be a freelance artist, for you? What opportunities are there?

The industry these days is so globally connected that I still work with many of the same clients from the US. My agent, Erika Groeschel is based in New York, and I’m now getting to know the European market better through research and events in Paris. As a freelancer, I find that projects can vary widely from one to the next – ranging from US comic book publishers to French start-up companies. In a way that’s what keeps this industry so interesting, each week can bring a very different design problem to approach.

Has studying architecture influenced/helped your illustration in any way?

Absolutely. I have almost ten years of experience as a design architect – moonlighting as an illustrator along the way because I love drawing all sorts of things, not just buildings! I was fortunate to work for innovative firms like Foster + Partners in London and New York, where the design philosophy stressed the importance of each project’s underlying concept. The same thinking applies to visual arts like illustration – the strength of the artwork rests on a strong fundamental idea. Architecture has also helped me tremendously in terms of communication. Design – be it a building or layouts for a magazine – can be a very subjective and personal, so clearly communicating the design choices one makes is critical.

You create powerful illustrations, with satirical message. How do you get your inspiration?

Observation through personal experience and travel are important. I’m always taking photos, sketching and recording different colour combinations to see if they can come through later in my work. I have folders of sketch ideas, textures and colours that are important sources of inspiration when starting a new project.  I’m also an avid current events follower, so I’m always checking news and opinion sites on the web – I think there is tremendous inspiration to draw on from contemporary culture and world events alone.

The illustrations on your website – are those for commissions, or personal projects?

My website (and the associated work on Facebook, Behance and Tumblr) is a mix of commissions and personal projects. I like presenting personal work alongside commissions because it shows the topics I naturally gravitate towards and tracks my development as an illustrator. I feel both aspects are important to help art directors to get a sense of my abilities and approach.

How do you manage to express a concept so well? Is it something that comes to you effortlessly (sometimes, at least), or do you work on each concept and go through various different concepts before deciding on a final one?

I wish the concepts all came effortlessly! Some ideas for projects do come easier than others. Others are more challenging, but can often end up being more rewarding as a result.  A recent commission for Variety was one that clicked nicely. The art director, Cheyne Gateley, had a great initial idea and my concept sketches really got the ball rolling. We had the usual back and forth on details, but the overall piece gelled very quickly.

A more challenging commission was a recent poster commission I completed for film director Ben Wagner (for the 10th anniversary re-release of his film ‘Southbounders’). Working with some film stills from the movie, I tried a number of different layouts and ideas. Ben also had suggestions and very soon there were simply too many ideas competing for attention on the poster. At that point we realized we needed to take a step back and work via a process of reduction to develop a singular, powerful image for the poster. We are both very happy with the result, I think in no small part due to the hoops we went through to get there!

When a large number of creatives are involved, there can sometimes become too many options in play. The key is to generate consensus on the strongest idea and move forward on that

This is something that happens very often when trying to come up with one perfect concept: you get lost in too many possible approaches. Do you have any tips on how to “take a step back” and reduce everything to one idea? Especially when this is a team work, so it’s not just you?

Yes, I think when a large number of creatives are involved, there can sometimes become too many options in play. The key is to generate consensus on the strongest idea and move forward on that – though I know from experience that’s easier said than done. When I think a concept is looking watered down, I often try quick ways to really draw down on the message in the image – that can include simple tricks like increasing the scale of certain elements or cropping the image differently.

What technique do you use in your work?

The artwork is usually done with a combination of both traditional and digital techniques – starting with hand drawn concept sketches followed by tighter inks. Once the client and I are happy with the overall direction of the artwork, I take it into the computer to complement with line work with colouring, brushes and textures. I use a Wacom tablet for some of the digital work but still like to start everything with a pen and paper.

How long do you usually spend on a project (like the poster commission for Southbounders, for example)? From beginning to end?

It certainly varies on the number of illustrations involved and the complexity of the artwork. ‘Southbounders’ had a back and forth discussion going with the client for about ten days along with a series of progress sketches. The actual inking on the final piece was done in several hours.

Don’t underestimate what you can learn from personal work – I find that those personal studies can really open up a lot of new techniques and ideas

What would you say to someone who wants to become better at illustration? Any tips, advice, resources you could share?

Practice makes improvement… I suppose that advice follows the famous 10,000 hour rule.  Don’t underestimate what you can learn from personal work – I find that those personal studies can really open up a lot of new techniques and ideas. I also try to arrange my personal work around certain themes so there is a coherent focus to it. You aren’t sweating a deadline or worrying about how an art director will respond, so it’s a great opportunity to relax and follow your intuitive design moves.

See more of Nathan’s work on his: website | tumblr | behance | facebook

The post Paris Illustrated: Interview with illustrator Nathan St John appeared first on Friday Illustrated.

I worked in factories, I delivered things, I washed cars, I worked in restaurants. Those jobs make me appreciate that I’m the luckiest man in the world to be working in a job that is genuinely enjoyable and like a hobby.

How did you start working in this field? What was your first job?

I was always interested in how things look. I remember at school the art and the design classes were pretty much the only classes that captured my attention. I soon loved the design process, and became inspired to create nice, or clever, or useable things from nothing. It’s such an exciting thing to do – to create something from nothing or to turn a little idea or a thought in your head into something real that people react to.

I studied Art and Design at Chesterfield College (in England) and whilst studying, I obviously had to pay my way, so I went out and got a series of jobs outside the creative world, i.e. I worked in factories, I delivered things, I washed cars, I worked in restaurants etc, etc. These jobs, albeit weren’t in the creative realm, did help me a lot by installing a sense of work ethic and snapshot of what life could be like without design in my life. Although I had fun in all those jobs, and met some great people, of whom are still friends today – I wanted to be creating, and make things. Looking back today, those jobs make me appreciate that I’m the luckiest man in the world to be working in a job that is genuinely enjoyable and like a hobby. My first paid design job was self initiated, once I felt confident that my portfolio was good enough (and I worked hard on my portfolio), I went out and got some freelance clients that were in need of some design help. I created logos, websites, advertising pieces etc, etc.

I once promised a client unlimited design revs, that was a mistake – the clients chopped and changed his mind continuously, and there was nothing that i could do about it, I had to stick to my word.

You’ve been a designer for 7 years now and you have probably evolved so much since you started. What were the most obvious mistakes you made, throughout this time, on the projects you’ve worked on?

I’m scratching my head, thinking long and hard about what major mistake I have made in the past 7 years, and there isn’t a single big mistake that jumps out at me, I’m pretty happy with my path that leads to where I am now. My design skills have taken me from Derby in England, to San Francisco in California (via London, New York and Buenos Aires).

I guess we all make little mistakes and learn from them. I once promised a client unlimited design revs, that was a mistake – the client chopped and changed his mind continuously, and there was nothing that I could do about it, I had to stick to my word. Now if I have a freelance client, I don’t offer unlimited design revs.

I guess I haven’t networked as much as I probably should or could have – however that isn’t my passion – creating emotion-provoking work is; I realise that the networking part is important, as you need to get your work seen, however that’s the boring part of the job in my mind. It feels very much like administration. I’m happiest when I am knees-deep in design, listening to the radio whilst creating stuff. I do try to network a bit more now, and get my work seen and talked about, and it can be highly rewarding when you get nice compliments about your work.

I’m happiest when I am knees-deep in design, listening to the radio whilst creating stuff

You have lived in London, Buenos Aires, New York city and now San Francisco. Where did you like it better and why? Would you say that the opportunities, in general, differ a lot from one place to the other (or continent, for that matter)?

I’ve always enjoyed travelling and seeing new places. I do believe that travelling experience and getting out there and tasting and trying new stuff can influence your creative work, as well as your personality. I’ve really enjoyed all the places that I have worked, my portfolio has certainly benefitted from me geting out there and winning clients from all over the world.

In London I was just getting started, I moved down there from my home town city of Derby. I loved the potential opportunity that was everywhere in London. It has an exciting design scene with almost all of the worlds best agencies having offices here in London.

New York City was spectacularly exciting – The advertising world really inspires me. I’m a huge fan of guerilla advertising! I love it! I was interning at MSA Advertising where I presented a creative guerilla advertising idea for one of their clients – that was a real buzz. There’s no better place to work in the field of advertising than in New York City – I’d one day like to return there.

Buenos Aires is an amazing place, full of culture, interesting things and good people. At first it was a challenge working as a designer there, as I had to learn Spanish (which I later did) and I had to learn how to present my ideas, thoughts and opinions clearly and insightfully in a foreign language. That was a big hurdle to jump, however I did it and I am glad I did. There are some extremely talented designers and illustrators in Argentina. Gustavo Zambelli and Carla Corrales are great new illustrators.

And most recently I have been working in San Francisco and I love it! There are an amazing amount of great opportunities for designs, illustrators and particularly UX / UI designers. Its very competitive, but there’s definitely a lot of tech startups looking for talented designers. It’s exciting time in San Francisco and its an honour to be a part of it.

I’ve seen some of your logo design projects and simply loved the hand lettering you did. Dippy Dippy Egg is my favorite. How did you go about that one? What were the steps you followed?

The Dippy Dippy Egg project was fun! I had great clients for that project. After we agreed on a brief, and set some guidelines, and had long conversations about the brands short term and long term future, they just let me get on with it. The clients wanted to create a quirky, young and fun looking brand, and obviously the look and feel of the logo would visually drive that message.

I knew that the typography would play a major part in creating a quirky brand, so I created lettering that would compliment the quirky, young and fun feel that we set out to achieve. It was a process of experimentation and elimination before refining the details. For example I soon eliminated the idea of using serifs, as I felt they wouldn’t help the logo look fun and quirky. I also disregarded (after experimentation) the idea of creating typography that would have hard edges, as an egg itself has no hard edges, so why should ‘Dippy Dippy Egg’s’ typography? I also wanted the logo to have personality, so I opted to join up the letters. It was also important for the logo to feel confident and strong, as well as legible at smaller sizes – so I made the typography stroke thick and filling.

I think that it is important when designing logos that they have the flexibility to have a secondary mark what holds the same feel and values of the main mark

I placed the typography in the egg shape, to add further clarity on what the clients business does. I experimented with a series of different colours before landing on magenta – this colour stuck because it had a vibrant and energetic feel, it stands out and backs up the fun and quirky feel that we set out to create. I also created a version of the logo without the egg encompassing the typography. I think that it is important when designing logos that they have the flexibility to have a secondary mark what holds the same feel and values of the main mark, and the typography only secondary logo help achieve this. I refined and tweaked and perfected both logos and placed them in a number of different real life scenarios to make sure that both logos could be used seamlessly in a number of different situations and on a number of different medias.

How much typography knowledge do you need to have, in order to create a hand lettering logo? (I’m asking because I’m looking into learning this, myself)

You know what? I didn’t have a lot of hand rendered typography experience. I still don’t. It’s something I am keen to work on more. There are some great, great, great artists / designers that can create beautiful hand lettering and it is a proper skill, it is an artform and I am very envious of them. I imagine that they have put in hours and hours and hours of practice to perfect this admirable skill. People like Jessica Hische are leaders in this field.

If there’s anything unclear in the creative brief, you must ask questions until everything is crystal clear

When creating visual identities, what are the key steps you need to make sure you take, in order to do the best possible job? (including pitching for such a project).

I think that a key step is to know the company inside out. What it stands for, what it’s ‘personality’ is, what it aspires to be, who the target audience are, what aspirations the target audience have. You must spend time with the business owners or managers to ensure that you create and both agree on an excellent creative brief. (If there’s anything unclear in the creative brief, you must ask questions until everything is crystal clear). I think that this is your first step.

After you have a solid, understandable and inspiring creative brief, research is your friend. Research the audience, research the local area where the business is, research the competitors and research the industry. Look for what works well, and also pinpoint what isn’t working well and how you can change that. Interview employees, interview potential clients, interview locals. Remember to record your findings as you will one day have to present your research to your client.

After you have a solid, understandable and inspiring creative brief, research. Interview employees, interview potential clients, interview locals

Another important step, which is often scandalously overlooked, is think about the future of this brand. Remember, when creating visual identities for your client, think not only about the end result (be it a website, a logo, and marketing collateral), but also think about creating a solid and well presented brand guidelines book. This book should be the visual identity bible for that client, it should include technical information about what fonts (include stroke weights and sizes) the brand uses, as well as what primary and secondary colours (hex codes, RGB, CMYK and pantones) the brand uses etc etc. The brand guidelines book should also include information on the brand’s personality, rules on how various elements work together, for example how and when to use the logo with the tagline, when and which fonts can be bold etc etc. It should serve as an in depth guide that documents all information that is relevant to the brand and visual identity that you created. You client will appreciate this.

Another important thing, which isn’t a step, but an overall consideration – time and care. You are creating a visual identity for a brand. Yes, you are getting paid for it, but you shouldn’t see it as a job. You should see it as an honour. An honour that you are trusted to create and organizations look and feel. You should always remain professional, and always try to make informed and educated design decisions, you should treat the business that you are creating a visual identity for as if it was your own. Don’t cut corners. And aim to create a visual identity that will get people talking.

You must also be strong in your opinions, and back them up with detailed and compelling justification. Don’t get to the stage where the client is dictating everything and you are just doing it to make the client happy. Be passionate about your decisions and articulate why you think the brand would benefit from looking and feeling a certain way. Remember you are the expert in the design field – thats why the client hired you, so be act like the expert.

You are creating a visual identity for a brand. Don’t cut corners. And aim to create a visual identity that will get people talking

You are currently a Senior Designer at MuleSoft. What are the biggest challenges you face on this job?

I’ve been at MuleSoft for almost 3 years now. I started working for them as a graphic designer whilst living in Buenos Aires, before recently getting transferred to their head office in San Francisco to be their lead designer. It’s been, and continues to be a great experience. MuleSoft is a tech startup, that does software and application integration – which admittedly isn’t the sexiest or most interesting subject you could talk about whilst on a dinner date, however that’s the beauty and challenge of my job as their lead designer – to make software integration sexy, interesting and appealing to both a wide and narrow target audience. As their lead designer I have to make sure that we are making the complicated technical stuff look simple, understandable and digestible, yet still look robust and trustworthy.

Another challenge is dealing with the many passionate opinions or ‘cooks in the kitchen’. We have a vast marketing team, all of which care for the company and subsequently have strong opinions on design and how we look to the outside work, we regularly present our work, and get great feedback from the marketing team and beyond, however occasionally one piece of feedback contradicts another, a challenge is knowing which piece of feedback is the right call. Luckily for me and rest of the creative team, we work with really great and level headed Art Directors like Michael Hindman and Veronika Kainz – working with great people can make any challenge, or hurdle easier to surpass.

Whilst most normal people have lots of photos of night out with friends, nice moments with the girlfriend etc, mine is full of photos of nice lettering, beer bottle labels, nice packaging, interesting typogaphy and other random bits and pieces of design that I come across and admire

What do you wish to do in the future, professionally, that you haven’t done yet?

I have a number of passion or dream projects in my head that I would LOVE to work on. As a designer I walk around which ever city, town, street, or supermarket that I am in, and I analyze in my mind each and every piece of graphic design that I see. In my mind I look to see what could be improved as well as what designs have been done well, and what designs haven’t been done so well. I also imagine in my little head, what kind of designer worked on the projects or pieces of graphic design that I stumble across. You can always spot a lazy designer. I take lots of photos on my phone, and whilst most normal people have lots of photos of night out with friends, nice moments with the girlfriend etc, etc, mine is full of photos of nice lettering, beer bottle labels, nice packaging, interesting typogaphy and other random bits and pieces of design that I come across and admire.

You can always spot a lazy designer

In my ‘little graphic design dream world’, I occasionally think, I would have loved to have worked on that project, or I would have loved redesign that logo or that design.

My lifetime’s ambition would be to design a logo for a professional football (Soccer) team. I am a huge football fan, and I would love to combine my two passions – Football and Graphic Design to create something that passionate fans would adore. It would be such an honour the create something that represents a football club and their fans, something that player would wear with pride and fans would adore.

It is also an ambition of mine to create beer bottle labels. I think theres an art to creating a memorable beer bottle labels.

It’s amazing to think that you can visually say so much about a beer or the company behind the beer in just the 5 cm by 10 cm that they allow you. It annoys me when I see boring, or poorly design beer labels – I always think ‘I could have made that label more memorable’.

There’s so much that I want to do in the future. Other passion or dream projects include restaurant identity – I love the idea of walking into a restaurant that I have creatively influenced. I’d also like to design wine bottle labels and I also wanted to have my own t-shirt label, designing and selling high quality cool and edgy t-shirts.

Starting any venture is super exciting, I’ve love every minute of it

You recently started your own project, Desinion. Is this your first entrepreneurial venture? What has been your experience, so far?

I think most designers or illustrators, especially the good ones, have an natural entrepreneurial spirit. I am no different. I had the idea for Desinion rolling around in my brain for a good 3 months before I started design and development. I was sure that it would be valuable to the industry and offer something that isn’t already out there.

We launched Desinion just under 2 months ago and so far it has been an overwhelming and exciting success. Some very big design magazines, blogs and respected designers and illustrators from various countries have picked up on the potential and value that if offers to designers, illustrators and art directors, and have written and published some very positive pieces about Desinion.

Starting any venture is super exciting, I’ve love every minute of it. I’m no business expert, far from it. However I think what has helped me in the particular venture is that I am the target audience – I am a designer and have been for a long time, and like to think that I know how the good designers think, and what they need and what could make their lives and design processes easier, both in the development of designs and pitching to clients – I think that Desinion does offer something different, and useful to designers and illustrators. What also helps is that I want to do this for the good of the industry and the designer / illustrator, its not about making money, its about making something cool, that people gain value from and get excited about using.

If you had to guide someone new to graphic design, who wants to learn, what would you insist they do? (you can also include resources here, anything you feel is relevant)

There’s so many things. One important thing is when you are actually in the beautiful midsts of creating your designs for a client, you should question everything you do, every move you make. Try to justify every design decision, and make sure that your design decisions line up with what the creative brief asks for. For example: Ask yourself, why am I making that stroke 3px instead of 1px? Why am I choosing this font, over that font?, make sure that you are able to articulate and validate to yourself why you made the decisions that you made – at first this will be annoying and taxing on the brain, but it will help you become a better and more thoughtful designer. It will also help you when you have to present your designs to your clients. I used to design in a very visual manner, making design decisions based solely on aesthetics, which was fine up until a point, however when you are in front of a client, you have to justify your decisions, and the common line – ‘because i thought it looked good’ doesn’t cut it.

I would say experience over education. I would suggest to anyone (that wants to listen to me) that getting actual studio experience is worth a lot more than doing a university course. University has its merits, such as allowing you to dabble in different creative mediums, however the amount of hands-on knowledge, info about technical and creative processes and experience that you get from working 8-10 hours in a design studio per day is an unbelieveable learning curve. I would say that the tougher and more professional studio that you work, or volunteer / intern at, the better. Yes you may have a few uncomfortable design critique sessions, however all of this will put you in good stead in the future.

I would also say – stay creative outside of work. I was once at work, waiting in line to get some food, and a friend and our copywriter asked me, ‘Chris, what do you do when you are at home and you are not at work?’, I replied with – ‘It’ll sound sad and nerdy to you, but I design things’. And I do. I stay creative outside of work by designing things. Things that I want to design, I become my own designer and client. It’s not laborious, nor forced, its extremely enjoyable and fun. I still find time to have a good few beers with my mates, and go out and do some cool stuff, however designing and being creative is my job, hobby and passion all rolled into one. I would recommend that anyone wanting to get into graphic design does the same – stay creative, and enjoy what you do.

Keep up with Chris Payne’s work: website | twitter

The post Logo design and visual identities with designer Chris Payne appeared first on Friday Illustrated.

Originally the idea was to do mini icons which would later be used for applications and web pages. But the more work I did, more and more they became illustrations

How did the project start, where did the idea come from?

One day while I was lying on the bed I came up with the idea to do a project that I would have to work on every day. I wanted to advance some of my skills and maybe learn something new. This is how the idea of the “Icon a day” was born. Originally the main idea was to do mainly mini icons which would later be used for applications and web pages. But the more work I did, more and more they became illustrations. But I’m not sorry. I evolved a lot. And that is the most important thing to me.

Sometimes there is no inspiration, and that is when suggestions from my followers certainly help

What is your inspiration for these icons? Do you also do icons based on suggestions from your followers?

I get inspiration from everyday life, life situations and I also get suggestions from friends. And yes, I do get suggestions from my followers from different social networks. Any suggestion or proposal is welcome, as sometimes there is no inspiration, and that is when suggestions from followers certainly help

I have received a lot of positive feedback from people all over the world who have given me their support

What is the process you go through, when creating an icon? What are the steps, from draft to final result? 

I do not do sketches. For one reason only. I do not have enough time. I start with drawing lines of the illustration as I imagined it, and then go to the “coloring” where I change the shape and the meaning of the illustration if necessary.

An illustration takes between half and hour and five hours

How long does it take you to create one? 

It depends on the illustration I am working on. On weekends when I have more time I can work on the project even up to five hours. That is when I create my best icons, the ones I am most satisfied with. On the other hand, sometimes when I do not have time due to certain life situations, I can finish the icon in only half an hour. I recall making the “Donut” icon in only 20 minutes. Sometimes the time spent in preparation depends a lot on my current mood. If I’m not in the mood it will take me less and the quality of the illustrations will be worse.

Creating 365 icons in a year is a big commitment! Do you also have days when you don’t have the time, or mood, to create a new icon? How do you deal with those days?

Of course. Sometimes there is nothing I would rather do than call it an early night but I have to work on an illustration. Whenever I think of not doing an illustration I think to myself: if I got this far why give up now. I am a very persistent person when I set my mind on doing something. I am only half way there and I have no intention of giving up!

Whenever I think of not doing an illustration I think to myself: if I got this far why give up now?

What is the goal with creating icons? Can people buy and use any of them, for their websites (for instance)? Are they any different than any other form of art, do they have a practical purpose?

Of course. A lot of people are interested in buying. But that’s not the primary goal of this project. There were plenty of offers to do something according to the idea of a client that resemble the icons on icon-a-day.com page. I have received a lot of positive feedback from people all over the world who have given me their support.

Do you get many commissions, based on these icons people see?

Of course, almost every day. But unfortunately, due to the daily work load and the reduction of free time due to this project, I do not have the opportunity to accept all the job offers I receive. Maybe after I complete this project.

See more of Mark’s awesome icons on his: website | dribbble | behance | twitter

The post Icon a Day: Interview with Marko Stupic appeared first on Friday Illustrated.

Samnuts, or Samantha Fois (her real name), is a 27 year-old freelance graphic designer living in Montpellier, France. She has two degrees in graphic design and is specialised in 3D, web and multimedia.

Her art is lots of fun and consists mainly in creative doodles with little monsters in them. She likes to “mix and match” when it comes to the hand-illustrated objects she sells – and she does just that, selling stuff from skateboards to sunglasses or shoes. I found that particularly interesting, so I wanted to know more about how she does it

I’m inspired by street art, board culture and art, in general

I have an idea about where your nickname, Samnuts, comes from, but why don’t you tell me?

Haha! The first part is a diminutive of my name, Samantha, and the second part is because I’m kinda nuts.

Your art style is awesome, you have a lot of monsters doodles in your illustrations. How did you develop this style?

Thanks! I draw since I knew how to hold a pen, but I developed my style with the internet, what I saw everywhere.

What (or who) inspires you for your works?

Street art, board culture and all the news on art culture I can find.

I sell everything! Ukuleles, shoes, “the monster box”, some screen printing like bags/tees, phone cases…

What kind of projects (commissioned projects) do you usually work on?

I can work on everything but usually I like to work on paper, canvas, boards, sun glasses, shoes… You can order any customized objects from me (guitars, tables, wallpaper). I like to change my supports.

You sell a lot of products with your doodles. Tell me a little bit about that.

I started 2 or 3 years ago. I sell everything!  Ukuleles, shoes, “the monster box”, some screen printing like bags/tees, phone cases… I get my supplies in the art store in my city.

I start with an idea and I try to work on it. When I’m satisfied I start with a pencil then with posca. Sometimes I start direct with the posca. Finally I varnished my customs.

I don’t have any partnerships but as a freelancer I have some good prices

You use many materials, are the varnishes different too (from plastic, to wood, to textile)?  

I live in a small flat so I only use industrial spray can varnishes for now. It works on quasi all solid support. For the shoes I use a waterproof spray and the t-shirt are screen printing homemade!

How does posca work? Is it permanent, or is it easy to erase?

It’s not permanant but it’s adapted to all supports and it’s waterproof. Posca is water based paint, it covers well.

Art, first of all, is a passion! It is very hard to live from it, but not impossible

What tools do you use in your work?

I use pen, paper, posca, touch pen, spray can. Digitally, I use photoshop and illustrator a lot!

What is your best-selling product?

The sunglasses! They all are unique, the’re small, fun, you can take them anywhere and they fall within the budget of most people.

Would you say that selling your art is profitable, for illustrators? Is it, for you?

No I think it’s a passion first! It is very hard to live from art but not impossible. Like a lot of illustrators, I’ll take it step by step.

There are a lot of talented street artists in France, the art scene grows more and more

How would you define the (street) art industry in France? Is it super developed, are there many talented artists, is this skill wanted?

It’s a hard question, there are a lot of talented street artists in France. But street art is worldwilde, and so are a lot of artists. But I think street art in France grows more and more, I see a lot of new original art events.

What is your biggest challenge, professionally?

To be able to live from art is already a big challenge!

What would you like to do, in the future, in your career, that you haven’t done yet?

I’d like to work in co-branding with board culture brand or others. I’m open to everything, any collab.

See more of Sam’s awesome stuff on her: website | behance | facebook

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