Becoming a Graphic and Digital Designer

199 Section Three Chapter Eleven Understanding Change You always work in network, with designers, architects, researchers, editors, programmers, and so on. Is your role in the team that of a “cultural mediator”? Architects, writers, programmers, composers, theorists, curators, and other experts have played an important role in M-A-D’s evolution in bringing their distinct perspectives. These are usually complementary, but sometimes they introduce creative disconnects, which is when the big questions are raised. Regardless, the outcome is sure to be surprisingly interesting. The grass is always greener on the other side, yet learning from others can result in ending back on your own turf!

200 Véronique Marrier Graphic Design as a Cause Véronique Marrier is graphic design project manager for the CNAP (Centre National des Arts Plastiques), the French national center for visual arts. After graduating in literature in Bordeaux, she opened in 1996 the first gallery in France that was exclusively dedicated to graphic design. She then moved to Paris in 2000 and worked freelance for the Chaumont Poster Festival, the Graphic Design conferences at Echirolles, and a number of other cultural institutions before getting a job at the Ministry of Culture. “On top of my day job, I have always been involved in a half-dozen other projects,” she says, “a newsletter for an Italian paper company; the launch of B42, a small publishing venture; plus all the events, juries, initiatives, and conferences I organize, assist or attend.” L’épreuve du temps, Graphisme Can you tell us about your work so far? Do you now have an opportunity en France Right out of graduate school, I worked to help shape government policies Publisher: CNAP in a gallery in Bordeaux, Galerie toward graphic design? Graphic Designers: Léa Chapon, 90 degrés, an art space specializing In France, graphic design is not a Mytil Ducomet/Atelier 25 in graphic design. I was creating profession as much as it is a form 2011 exhibitions and events, doing every- of social, political, or philosophical thing from finding sponsors, curating engagement. The concept of official collections, booking speakers, and “policies” doesn’t exist. The way I can supervising the design of catalogues. help shape the future of graphic design In 2002, I worked in the press office in France is by being “engaged” myself of the contemporary art museum on a number of fronts. My “causes,” if of Rochechouart, a chateau in the you want, include issues of language, Southwest of France that is home to an the role of the new digital tools in important archive of the work Raoul defining how we communicate, the Haussmann—about 700 pieces, includ- history of graphic design, and contem- ing collages, photograms, and experi- porary French typography. mental films. Two years later, I got an assistant position at the Ministry of Were you ever tempted to become Culture, where I had an opportunity a practicing graphic designer? to develop a series of cultural publica- I am not a “practicing” graphic tions on the theme of graphic design. designer; however, “practicing” graphic

201 Section Three Chapter Eleven Understanding Change design is exactly what I do! I “prac- Les Graphistes Associés tice” by being an actor in the field, Group Show by creating opportunities for events, Galerie 90 degrés, Bordeaux conferences, publications, acquisitions, 1996 proposals, and research projects. My “practice” consists in developing, “<code><outils><design>“ analyzing, decrypting, interpreting, Graphisme en France curating, art directing, managing, and Publisher: CNAP promoting. All those different activities Graphic Designers: are what most graphic designers do Guillaume Allard, today on a daily basis. The profession Johann Aussage, is no longer just about communicating Vanessa Goetz/Pentagon specific ideas or messages—it is the 2012 coming together of various strategic pursuits having to do with visual expression. From your point of view, what is the main contribution of graphic designers to the digital culture? I am glad you asked this question because graphic designers have a very special talent: They think from the top down rather than from the bottom up. They come up with ideas that are all-inclusive rather than deductive. In other words, they have a capacity for integrated thinking. That’s why the digital age is the age of graphic designers! The merging together of experimental techniques involving visualizing, processing, com- puting, coding, scaling, and modeling comes naturally to them. If I give a graphic designer a brief for a publish- ing project, for instance, he’ll turn it around on its head and come up with something totally unexpected. The technological component is just one of the many factors a graphic designer will incorporate in order to be truly creative. By “creative” I mean inventive, uninhibited, willing to propose a differ- ent world altogether.

202 Typographie, Graphisme en France How do you define your mission as Publisher: CNAP a government-appointed advocate Graphic Designers: Capucine for graphic design? Merkenbrack and Chloé Tercé/ I want to help define graphic design Atelier Müesli as a “practice.” I want clients, 2010 patrons, and users to think of it as a discipline for taking advantage of Signalétiques, Graphisme en new opportunities and technologies, France but also as a chance to reimagine Publisher: CNAP how society functions. Because of Graphic Designers: Anna the phenomenal number of innova- Chevance, Mathias Reynoird/ tions today, graphic designers are no Atelier Tout va bien longer limited by technology. Their 2013 unique experience, their personal vision, and their particular history are just as much part of their métier as their proficiency when using this or that software. Today, you exper- iment—for better or for worse. You take chances. You come up with hybrid solutions. You collaborate with unlikely partners. You work without safety nets. It sounds exciting—but how do you keep it all together? Paradoxically, the new generation is incredibly disciplined, intellectually. As I mentioned earlier, the credit for this renaissance goes to French design schools. In the last decade, they have required that all students write elaborate research papers before they can graduate. Design his- tory and criticism are now part of the curriculum. By the time they hit the job market, young graphic designers are not only creatively mature and technologically savvy; they are also better informed than their potential employers and less isolated cultur- ally. I love working with them: They are a very articulate group.

203 Section Three Chapter Eleven Understanding Change Making Transitions: Returning to School with Barbara DeWilde Barbara DeWilde is a former book cover and magazine art director/ designer. These days she says, “I’m a designer. Period.” After many successful years in print design, she returned to school, the SVA MFA Interaction Program. She deliberately left her comfort zone, feeling that otherwise she would stag- nate: The print business was narrowing, physical books were selling in smaller quantities compared to digital editions, printed magazines were losing ad revenues. The creative opportunities were narrowing. But figuring out her next professional step, and how to go about it, hadn’t been easy. She saw User Interaction Experience She learned how code works, about AIGA Exhibition (UIX) as an opportunity, but returning business, entrepreneurship, and the Designer: Barbara DeWilde to school after 25 years of professional Internet. She learned that to create a new Client: AIGA experience was incredibly hard. “I was digital product or service, it’s essential to concerned that the learning curves develop an online persona, to be known NY Times Mobile Opinion App would be steep and that I wouldn’t have on the Web, and to network throughout Designer: Barbara de Wilde the digital chops to keep up with my the community. Interaction design is an Photographer: Creative Time classmates,” she said. “I was concerned open-hearted, open-source environment. Client: NY Times that I would embarrass myself with my People share. In the graphic design world, knowledge gap. I worried about what my there’s a lot of finger-pointing about who peers would think. And, finally, returning made what first, credit, and ownership. In to graduate school would not guarantee the digital world, everyone can make a anything in my future creative life. It was photo-sharing service and users can flock a leap of faith.” to the one that appeals to them. First to market or first to have an idea does not Leap she did, and what she learned mean the best or the one-and-only. was critical to her future: “In interaction design, you’re not designing to com- DeWilde would like to launch a digital municate; you’re designing for human product and bring it to market, to contrib- behavior,” she explained. “The designer ute to a team that makes digital product needs to do research, make observations, designs, and to shift away from print design, and iterate. More often than unless it is the best medium for a design not you are working in teams. With project. “To use a David Foster Wallace the exception of typography for mag- descriptive,” she said. “I no longer want azines and book interiors, which has print design to be my default setting. information design at its core, the I’m sorry I didn’t make the switch sooner. cover design work I had been doing I’m so anxious to clock in my 10,000 was largely emotional and intuitive. hours and to become an expert. I may Now, I’ve learned to alternate these two not have enough time to reach that goal.” approaches, methodical and intuitive, and to articulate my ideas more through models, diagrams, and writing.”

204 12 Eccentrics and Design Quirkiness The digital age, paradoxically, breeds quite a few eccentrics. Unlike “originals,” who initiate trends that others may adopt, imitate, and exploit, “eccentrics” defy categorization. You cannot replicate what they do— nor would you want to. Eccentrics are not leaders because they do not have followers; neither can they be described as pioneers, pathfinders, torchbearers. Their role in society is to be “different.” Free-spirited, self-motivated, with the courage to do their own thing, they also possess a mischievous sense of humor. Where would we be without these famous eccentrics: Pythagoras, James Joyce, Peggy Guggenheim, or Oscar Wilde? Oddball graphic designers fall agenda, they were probably not between the cracks, so to speak, trained as graphic designers, but but are able to develop unique when they stumbled on this disci- approaches, never realizing that pline quite by chance, they were they don’t fit into any identifiable quick to embrace it. niche. They take advantage of every new technology, fiddle with These relentless inventors seldom it, and make it work in ways that take the time to explain what they are unusual and offbeat. Mad col- do and why. But when they do, lectors of vintage artifacts, obses- as is evident in the next candid sive hobbyists, stubborn software interviews, they demonstrate that tinkerers, connoisseurs of cultural the difference between a graphic trivia, former musicians, chefs, or designer and an artist can be very athletes, with or without political small, indeed.

205 Section Three Chapter Twelve Eccentrics and Design Quirkiness Charles S. Anderson Celebrating Commercial Art Charles S. Anderson is a product, packaging, and brand designer living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Established in 1989, his company is famous for the graphic identity of his main client, French Paper, but also for its prodigious stock of original illustrations—the celebrated CSA Images. Although the majority of the collection was—and still is— created by in-house designers and illustrators, many are commissioned by independent designers worldwide. “I find inspiration in nearly everything ever designed or printed,” says Anderson, “from diverse sources, some well-known, others from obscure artists, designers, and illustrators. The majority of this inspiration comes from the past because (for now at least!) it’s more accessible than the future.” CSA Images One of your goals is to keep alive of the 1990s. We had to migrate the Art Director: Charles S. Anderson the heritage, look, and feel of ink images forward, over and over, to Designers, Illustrators, printed on paper—online! Paradox- keep up with the latest technology for Contributors: Numerous ically, in the digital age, the status of digital storage—otherwise, they would 1989–2014 paper and paper products is greatly have become irretrievable and, as a enhanced. How do you explain this result, completely lost. phenomenon? I’m fascinated with the idea of bring- You are putting all this effort into ing paper into the digital realm and conserving a digital record of vice versa. Print on paper used to be images from the past. Isn’t it a little perceived as ephemeral, but now, com- anachronistic? pared to the pop-up-and-delete nature Just as anachronistic are the fake of digital, it feels real and everlasting. 3-D, bubbly, glistening, gleaming, shiny, drop-shadow logos, and icons I own a perfectly legible, bound populating the Web. They are not more library of newspapers from various modern or dynamic but, rather, more countries around the world spanning gimmicky, usually in an attempt to the 1850s through the 1980s. Although jazz things up. The millions of cyber- a bit tan around the edges and some- slick, mathematically perfect, soulless what brittle, they still retain their clear vector images, with gradients in every and crisp print, which is more than I quadrant, are often created because it’s can say about my own archive that is quick and easy, not because it’s good or preserved digitally, since the beginning

206 necessary. The fact that you can make enamored, addicted, and distracted tion, from their origins in printing and something 3-D doesn’t necessarily by technology. commercial art through the digital mean you should. age—and continues to expand into Your creative output for French new applications and mediums. In contrast, digital images that mimic Paper is prodigious, and so is your nostalgic printed matter, complete ever-expanding contribution to the I assume that you are an obsessive with their dot screens, misregistration, CSA Images collection. Can you tell collector of graphic artifacts? and transparent overlapping inks, us how you manage it all? I am not a “real collector”—but I do have the ability to trigger powerful Over the past 40 years, more than 100 collect graphic artifacts, most of which visual and tactile associations of past different artists, designers, illustrators, occupy a substantial portion of the memories. photographers, keyword special- endless French Paper warehouses in ists, software developers, and rights Niles, Michigan. They have been crated For you, technology is just a tool, clearance attorneys have worked for us up and shipped there over the decades. isn’t it? and with us at CSA, to create the CSA Many haven’t seen the light of day since You bet. I’ve been ranting against Images collection. they were put into storage. I honestly phony rendered 3-D type and logos for don’t even recall what most of the crates the past three decades. Finally, Google We’ve spent a staggering amount contain or exactly where they’re located and Apple realized how lame this of time searching through every in the vast warehouses—possibly some- fake “skeuomorphic” 3-D approach conceivable type of historic printed where next to the Ark of the Covenant! is. They switched to flat and legible material to find the small percentage of design (like the traditions of ink images that are aesthetically interest- What type of collectible attracts printed on paper). In doing so, they ing. They are then simplified and made your attention? jolted out of their complacency every more graphic, and are, in some cases, I used to purchase individual paper lemming agency, marketing company, redrawn, colored, or combined with graphic artifacts from collectors, and design firm, and corporation that had other elements to change the context also plastic objects, which I view as mindlessly followed the 3-D trend. and convey new ideas. The constantly sculptures. Over time I began to realize We are in a profession that has lost its expanding CSA Images collection that I was using up a large amount of focus, is fragmented, and has become is continually inspired by the entire my life collecting and that I would run history of graphic design and illustra- out of time before my collections were complete. Either I had to collect more efficiently or somehow extend my lifespan. I devised a way to do both. From that point on, I no longer collected individual artifacts, but, instead I collected collections of arti- facts. With this approach, I gained the Poster Design Clients: AIGA, Pacific Design Center, Entertainment Weekly, De Pree Gallery Art Director: Charles S. Anderson Designers: Charles S. Anderson, Jovaney Hollingsworth, Sheraton Green, Todd Piper-Hauswirth. 1989–2014

207 Section Three Chapter Twelve Eccentrics and Design Quirkiness years spent by each collector whose Are designers who purchase CSA  Product Design collections I purchased. Meanwhile, images predominantly targeting an Client: Pop Ink my collection of plastic stuff has been American audience? Do you have Art Director: Charles S. Anderson growing for nearly half a century . . . buyers in Europe and Asia? In other Designers: Sheraton Green, 100,000 objects and counting. Our words, is U.S. pop graphic sensibility Jovaney Hollingsworth, Erik Johnson next project will be to scan these now truly universal? Illustrator: CSA Images plastic objects in 3-D, to make The CSA Images collection, although Writer: Mike Nelson products like jewelry, lamps, and the firmly based in American pop culture, 2001–2014 world’s most bizarre lawn ornaments. has grown more international and eclectic over the years. In fact, today, Beyond vernacular images, what we license more artwork outside of else inspires you? the USA than inside. Our images are In addition to images, I’ve also been popular in Asia and Europe. I’m not collecting letters, numerals, and sure if this means that the U.S. pop words—handwritten or typeset. graphic sensibility is universal or, We have 10,000 unique individual rather, just a pop graphic sensibility. words (not fonts) on the CSA Images Or maybe amazing, unique, diverse site, searchable by keyword. They illustrations created by hand are come from every imaginable printed universally popular everywhere. source and span the history of wood, metal, and phototype, including How do you imagine the future of shelf, or the digital realm. It is a design thousands of hand-lettered words that graphic design in the digital age? philosophy and approach that first we’ve created and compiled along the I see a different modernism in design acknowledges where we came from way. We’ve also recently added nearly evolving, one not based on anti- and uses that understanding to create a 2,000 of the most unusual individ- septic minimalism and an absence new path to the future. ual letters and numbers to our site. of humanity, but one that is rich These are all different single letters in cultural vocabulary and personal and numbers that don’t contain any expression; one that is equally at matching alphabets. home on the printed page, the store

208 Antoine Audiau and Manuel Warosz Over-the-Top Digital D.I.Y. “I look like I should be Antoine,” says Manuel. “And Antoine looks like a Manuel to most people.” Coprincipals of Antoine+Manuel, the two Frenchmen do nothing to clear the confusion—they want their work to bear a unique signature. Illustrators and type designers, they are best known for their theater post- ers, brochures, invitations, and wallpapers. But they do not limit their practice to print. All along, they have been developing video installations, 3-D environments, furniture, and creative playthings. Their decorative approach is highly original—and often controversial. There is always something sensory about their design solutions: A+M like things to be emotional and tactile, as well as visual. New Year’s Card, Since 2008, when you published In your creative process, are you Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris Volume One of your anthology, influenced by new technologies and Studio/Art Directors: A+M your work has drastically evolved. new techniques—data visualization, 2014 In what direction are you moving? interactive media, and so on? A: Back then, we were preparing our M: You bet. Digital tools help us a retrospective at the Paris Musée des lot. Thanks to computers, we feel Arts Décoratifs. We were exploring a free to go wherever our imagination number of different supports and ven- takes us. ues, including theatrical sets, furniture, housewares, and art installations. Many You also design floor lamps, chests, of our clients were—and still are— storage units, and ceramic pieces. theaters, dance companies, museums, Are you thinking of experimenting and contemporary art galleries. What with 3-D printers? is new today is the range of techniques M: We used laser-cutting technology that we are exploring. To our existing quite a lot in the past to fabricate parts assortment of skills and calligraphic of our creations. The 3-D printers are styles, we have added motion graphics, probably very similar, yet, somehow, photography, and glass design (for the they seem more whimsical. Corning Glass Museum). But drawing, painting, and printing are still the basis A: As soon as these printers become of our practice. available, we’ll have fun with them!

209 Section Three Chapter Twelve Eccentrics and Design Quirkiness But is your aesthetic sense influenced M: We were selected for this pres- diamond necklaces in the cases (which by the digital language of forms? tigious project because we were one wishes to look at with a magnifying M: We must generate our own imag- thinking like graphic designers, not glass) and the colorful, oversized motifs ery, without interference from sophis- like decorators. The other candidates looming on the ceiling. ticated software—otherwise, we cannot had come up with grand schemes to experiment freely. We are always play- spotlight the display cases. In contrast, Video Installation (above) ing with existing functions, tampering our proposal was subdued at eye level, Nuit Blanche Mayenne with systems, and pushing the limits of while dramatic overhead. Apparently, Studio/Art Directors: A+M whatever digital program we happen the judges of the competition were 2013 to be using in order to come up with seduced by our approach. They liked Side Table (below) visual innovations. That’s how we cre- the idea of a tapestry of baroque Studio/Art Directors: A+M ated the grandiose animated decor for images unfolding slowly like a huge 2007 the monumental ceiling of the Cartier psychedelic canopy. We were lucky to show at the Grand Palais in Paris. The have come up with a solution that ap- “Cartieroscope,” as we called it, was the pealed to both the museum curators and product of our digital D-I-Y approach. the exhibition sponsors. Dealing with tricky situations such as this one makes Why do you think that your it fun. As a graphic designer—and as a idiosyncratic imagery appeals child of divorced parents— I am a good to people who are in the world negotiator. of luxury and high fashion? M: We have so few fashion clients, it’s A: When Manuel first walked into the hard to generalize. The fact that we monumental space in which the exhi- have worked for Christian Lacroix and bition had to be installed, he felt tiny, now Cartier is not enough to draw like a child. He wanted to replicate, for conclusions. One thing is sure: The the visitors, this impression of being codes of graphic design are very dif- dwarfed by the grandiose environment. ferent from the codes of high fashion. We played on the contrast between the Crossing over is not easy—few graphic designers are invited into the closed world of luxury brands. A: I am sure that there are quite a few designers who are image makers and create visuals for fashion clients, but we don’t know them. The images you created for the Cartier exhibition were very “graphic”—they were over the top, yet they didn’t interfere with the jewelry displays below. How did you come up with this design solution?

210 Ludovic Houplain / Ludovic Houplain has always been a pioneer in the visual H5 communication field. In the 1990s, his name was associated with the “French Touch”—the celebrated record covers look Getting an Oscar for Graphic for techno music. In 1993, he founded a creative agency, Design H5, with Antoine Bardou-Jacquet, and they soon became known for their innovative animated music video clips. They’ve received many awards, gold medals, and acco- lades, including the prestigious Médaille de Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. But most gratifying was the Oscar they got for Logorama, the ironic short animation film in which logos are heroes and villains in an apocalyptic Los Angeles setting. “It’s pathological!” says Houplain. “At H5, we are endlessly testing the limits of our curios- ity, discovering new fields of experimentation and mixing genres recklessly.” Poster for Hello Exhibition/ You have always been ahead of the ately different.” Indeed, as a rule, at H5, Installation, curve. Today, what sort of things we pride ourselves in being slightly out Gaité Lyrique, Paris interests you? What gets you up in of synch with the prevalent trends— Designers: H5 (L. Houplain) the morning? in that sense, we are “precursors.” We 2012 What interests me is how meaning can go from doing a short artistic film engenders form—but I care little like Logorama to creating a politically about “aesthetics.” Not only are we all subversive installation (Hello™), while saturated with images, we have access at the same time working on advertising to tools that allow us to create even campaigns for major luxury brands more images. The result is overwhelm- (Hermès, Cartier, Dior, Moët ing, fascinating, and, for the most part, & Chandon). well produced—but lacking in content. That’s why I am more interested in Among my favorite projects is generating concepts than forms. Röyksöpp (Remind Me), a music clip using lame instructional drawings, and Beyond this statement, I don’t quite Alex Gopher’s The Child, a musical know what to tell you about my work. typographical cab ride from Brooklyn It’s so hard to explain what one does! to Manhattan, using words instead The French newspaper Liberation of images. We like improbable visual recently wrote that the specificity of my associations. And if we screw up, it’s design agency, H5, was “décalage”—a not the end of the world. It’s only word that can be translated as “deliber- graphic design, after all. It’s a game.

211 Section Three Chapter Twelve Eccentrics and Design Quirkiness Remind Me Are you inspired by new technologies? service of an idea: a full-scale parody of Client: Royksoop Which one in particular? corporate branding. Production: Black Dog Films I love them all! Not for their techy Directors: H5 (H. de Crécy dimension (I am not a geek) but because Are your clients tech-savvy? Or and L. Houplain) I always welcome disruptions. New do they come to you for advice Label: Wall of Sounds/Labels technologies will influence the way we in this domain? 2002 think, react, and live our daily life. New Our clients are on top of the latest technologies will force me to reassess technologies! They do not come to us my work constantly. The recent “Hello™” for our digital know-how, but for our conceptual installation at the Gaité conceptual approach—for our ability Lyrique, Paris, new media museum, to think outside the box. We never is an example. We were able to blend feel compelled to create an interactive seamlessly irony and technology—at the display of sorts, but when we do, we

212 hire multimedia specialists as outside Outside the corporate world, we are and try to expose the way they are now consultants. As a rule, we assemble a brand. However, it is not the result of ubiquitous in politics, in particular. different teams for different projects. concerted efforts on our part. We had no “brand strategy”—only a desire to Are you working on some new With entrepreneurial projects like succeed, to do great work, and to be subversive entrepreneurial venture? Logorama and Hello™, you have independent. Our fearless ignorance We can’t help trying to subvert plat- established the reputation of H5 as of conventions and “legal” issues is itudes. And we are given more and antiestablishment. Is this position- probably the reason we got an Oscar more opportunities to do so, in public ing detrimental? Does it drive away for Logorama. We had ignored the places, for various festivals, or in the corporate clients? warnings of our lawyers and had not context of artistic events. I am bored Frankly, our corporate clients are clue- gotten permissions from brands to use unless I have got something to say, less when it comes to our more “artis- their logos. We were lucky: It worked. some point of view to assert. But there tic” projects. Maybe they read about is always a risk involved when you are it in the press, but it didn’t register as Are parody and irony still effective speaking up: The Los Angeles Times, being something to worry about. They modes of communication today? when we got the Oscar for Logorama, are slightly impressed by our media Irony is here to stay. It is particularly accused us of being card-carrying presence and perhaps more likely to effective today, in this age of confor- communists! We thought that their listen to us. But, ultimately, what they mity. Irony is a mental exercise, a way comment was funny! like about us is our professionalism to question banality and subvert con- and creativity when it comes to deliv- ventional wisdom. We like to poke fun ering concepts, services, and results. at marketing techniques, for instance,

213 Section Three Chapter Twelve Eccentrics and Design Quirkiness Logorama (opposite) Short Animated Film Production: Autour de Minuit Designers: H5 (A. Alaux, H. de Crécy, and L. Houplain) 2009 Logo in Peace (L.I.P.) (below) Client: Chaumont graphic design festival Designer: H5 (L. Houplain) 2010

214 Cary Murnion Designing Cooties HONEST, NYC is a graphic design firm founded by Cary Murnion. In 2004, Nike approached Murnion and his directing partner, Jonathan Milott, with the opportunity to write, produce, and direct a short film as part of their film series, The Art of Speed. That led to directing more live action short films with both Nike and other brands as well as TV commercials. “Essentially, we went to on- the-job film school that was funded by our clients,” says Murion. In 2009, a film production company, Blowtorch, approached them to develop some short films to play before their feature length movies. HONEST made their first R-rated short film, Boob, the story of a boob that comes alive and terrorizes the people in a hospital as it tries to escape, but not before it falls in love with a sexy nurse. They have now produced a full-length feature film. Muppets How did the film, Cooties, about a While working on this project, was Art Director: Honest virus that takes over an elementary studio work put on hiatus? Agency: Vanksen school, take shape? Not at all. We had multiple projects Date: 2009 My directing partner, Jon, and I have going on at the studio while we were always been interested in directing film. directing the movie. We have a great We idolized Mike Mills, who made team who handled the studio work, the transition from graphic designer. allowing Jon and me to devote our full attention to the film. We had been Boob went to SXSW attracting some doing this on a smaller scale when we’d attention in the industry. It was passed direct the commercials and short films, along to the producers of Cooties, who so it wasn’t completely foreign to the were looking for a director. Boob had way our studio works. a similar mix of comedy and horror as Cooties. They contacted us, and we I love the title. What was the process went out to LA to pitch our directorial of conceiving, creating, directing, approach. They loved our vision and and producing Cooties to make it brought us on board when they got a viable property? the finances in May 2013. We filmed Well, first off, Cooties is not our idea. the movie over 25 days between July The basic story was conceived by Josh and August.

215 Section Three Chapter Twelve Eccentrics and Design Quirkiness Waller, who’s one of the producers of also like to think that we had a big part Boob, a short film about an experimental the film, along with his partners, Elijah in Lionsgate’s interest in the film. We breast implant gone wrong. Wood and Daniel Noah. The script was were able to walk that fine line between Director: Honest written by Leigh Whannell, who cre- delivering stomach-hurting laughs, Date: 2008 ated the Saw and Insidious franchises, while still keeping it grounded enough and Ian Brennan, who along with Ryan to deliver real scares and emotional Murphy, created Glee. So you can get moments. These kinds of elements are a feel for the tone of the script if you what attract people to theaters these mash Saw and Glee together. days—to laugh and scream together. When we were brought on board, we You got some fantastic cast members started working on bringing the movie for this comic horror film. How did from the pages of the script into the this happen for two relatively new real world. Explaining what a director directors? does can be confusing to people not Elijah Wood is a producer on this film involved with the industry, since we and he was attached to play the main don’t hold the camera or act. In a way, character, Clint. So having him on it’s a lot like a designer. In our minds, board, and having the great script that the designer is a director in many ways, Leigh and Ian wrote, helped get a lot since every decision and detail is led of the other actors interested in the by both. The most important starting film. It was an interesting part of the point is finding the theme, subthemes, process, since the director usually does tone, character arcs, story arcs, visual casting and is clearly in charge of this style, and overall approach. choice, but in this case, it was clear we were also being evaluated. One of the You took it to Sundance, which is no ways we won the pitch was creating an mean feat, and it was picked up by extensive look book to clearly express Lionsgate, a major distributor. What our vision of the film. This helped did they see in the film to make it show our clarity of direction. We also ready for prime time? met with each cast member to make I think they saw a film that was an sure we were on the same page. We original approach to the zombie/ had to make them feel comfortable monster genre. There have been lots coming on board with us, while at the of films and TV shows that fit into same time, we were interviewing them this genre, but the ones that have to make sure our needs could be met. been successful put a unique spin on We were very fortunate to get such a it, whether it be The Walking Dead, talented and eclectic cast. Zombieland, or Warm Bodies. Cooties is one of those ideas that makes you What did you have to learn to be ask, “Hasn’t that been done before?” directors? It seems so obvious in hindsight, but Directing is a strange thing, because somehow it’s never been done till now. you don’t necessarily do something It’s also an amazing cast that will bring specific. You don’t have to be an in an audience that might not normally actor, cinematographer, producer, art be interested in a film like this. We

216 Cooties, a feature film starring Elijah Wood, about a Zombie virus that effects pre-puberty kids. Director: Honest Date: 2014 director, editor, wardrobe designer, which in turn you’re expected to have Despite your impressive new credit, or stunt man, but you have to have a very definitive opinions on. Yet it’s the are you still graphic designers? deep understanding of everything. For times when you find an opportunity to Yes, definitely, we’ll always be graphic example, a great cinematographer will include someone else’s opinion that will designers. We just get restless and like add a lot to the visuals of the film, but inevitably save the film. to try out new things and find different the director has to tell him where to put outlets to express our ideas. Maybe the camera and how to move it. It’s the What from graphic design could be next we’ll want to express ourselves director who says to shoot a close-up of used in your directorial toolkit? through knitting. the hands, instead of the face. Graphic designers are directors, which is why they are called art directors The director should also know or creative directors. Being a graphic how different lenses will affect each designer trained us to be a jack-of-all- shot. This doesn’t mean the director trades. Designers work with all types of has to be a good cinematographer, artists, writers, marketers, and clients. but if he doesn’t know the difference The designer combines many different between a wide and telephoto lens, puzzle pieces to communicate a certain his options are detrimentally limited. message. That’s what directors do With a professional and creative cast with a film. From a rough sketch to and crew, the director’s job becomes final product, whether it’s a designer easier. Being a good director means explaining an idea to a client or execut- balancing being very confident in ing an idea through discussions with a yourself with welcoming collaboration programmer, there are many crossovers from others. What’s so fun about being with a film director. directors is that you get to dip your toe into so many different disciplines,

217 Section Three Chapter Twelve Eccentrics and Design Quirkiness Nick Ace Speaking Frankly Nicholas Acemoglu, a.k.a. Nick Ace, is an art director for whom the separation between editorial and advertising is a moot point: As far as he is concerned, creating a culturally relevant and distinctive content is what matters. “I don’t think most younger readers care whether the content is advertising or not,” he says. “They are edu- cated enough to recognize that, in a magazine or on the Web, ads pay for some of the products they love.” After graduating from the SVA MFA Design/Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program, he landed a job at FRANK 151, a small format, tablet-sized, hybrid magazine that lives both in print and online. For more than four years, he was responsible for managing all visuals aspects of its brand, its magazine and its website. Recently, he joined Collins, a brand and design-thinking agency in New York. Leaders How did you land a job as art uniforms, coasters, table tents, recipe by Jake Scharbach director of a magazine, almost books, and banners. The look and Art Director: Nick Ace right out of school? feel had been somewhat determined, 2012–2013 The summer after graduating from and it turned out to be a nightmare. SVA, I had attended a release party for Working on the liquor business was FRANK. Around three in the morning, bumming me out, but I needed money, some of the gang who worked for the having just graduated, and had to let it magazine at the time asked me what I ride. Meanwhile, I familiarized myself was up to. I responded, “Going home with FRANK’s aesthetic and began to work on a logo for some website working on the magazine’s layouts that will never go live.” Seemingly in my downtime. After a few months, impressed by my late-night work ethic, I had written, designed, illustrated, my new friend, Bongi, who happened photographed, and edited pieces for to be the art director of the magazine, the “book,” as we called the magazine. got my phone number, because they Before long I was given the job of art needed help on their agency side. director. FRANK also operates an advertising When did you begin to shoot short agency to service clients like Scion, videos for the magazine’s website? Sailor Jerry, and Casio. My first project It didn’t take long. I got the idea the was for a liquor company—videos, day I was invited to an illegal boxing print campaign, cocktail waitress

218 Chapter 48: Doom Lyrics match at a Dim Sum restaurant in the as important as sitting in front of a by Mr. Kiji Lower East Side. The fights began after computer.  At FRANK, we presented Art Director: Nick Ace midnight. I managed to get two interns derelict culture around the globe in a 2012–2013 in with me to film. The next day sophisticated manor. A “derel” lifestyle they edited a visually stunning piece may involve things like vandalism, that went well beyond typical sports street fashions, drugs, and partying. coverage. This was my first foray into We use Instagram to promote the producing short documentaries for lifestyle of our brand and test what FRANK. The process was so gratifying our audience responds to. that I began to create more shorts, including the infamous video of me Is the tablet size of the print getting choked out by MMA fighter, magazine a factor for the “culturally Renzo Gracie. acute agitators” who constitute the bulk of FRANK’s audience? To be a good art director, hanging We spend extra on giving the magazine out with the right people and taking the look and feel of a “luxury” object, amazing pictures at parties is just

219 Section Three Chapter Twelve Eccentrics and Design Quirkiness one that readers would want to keep You art direct the magazine and are trying to start their own music or permanently, alongside any other its website, yet you also design cam- fashion-related business—they know special books or magazines in their paigns for some of your advertisers. EVERYTHING. collection. Our placement in stores Does it bother you to tamper with like Colette in Paris and Opening your editorial integrity? Do you actually sit down and Ceremony in New York has helped We’ve been fortunate to work with “design”—or is your job to keep the establish FRANK beyond a throw- like-minded brands that see it more visual direction of the publication away mag. as a partnership. They don’t want to on track? spend money and look like jackasses, During a late-night session a few weeks What does it take to be able to art and neither do we. Brands don’t come ago, I was told that I’m “not a designer direct both the print and the digital to us looking for a generic audience, anymore” and that I need to just “direct editions? When you are putting that’s for sure. Our social media num- these fucking kids.” While my ability together stories, whether you are bers aren’t as big as some similar pub- to delegate tasks gets stronger every assigning illustrators or shooting lishers, but our readers are completely day, there are still things that I obsess videos, are you favoring one more engaged and demonstrate that they are over—widows, orphans, odd photo than the other? into some really specific stuff and that crops, and lame typography. However, It’s never one or the other. Basically, they know what they like to do, when, if I take over after a designer has been you have to be able work like a creep and where. working on something for a while, and let everyone in your creative circle I’ll show them step-by-step what I’m know what you’re up to. Jobs in this The contemporary art scene, as much adjusting and why. industry aren’t nine to five; I might get as the music scene, seem to provide called to shoot a piece at two in the a lot of content for FRANK 151. How Chapter 43: Bug Out morning. Most importantly, you have do you keep up with it all? by Ricky Powell to delegate tasks and constantly search I carry an iPhone, so there’s no excuse Art Director: Nick Ace for new talent. for me not to keep up with every- 2012–2013 one I’ve ever worked with. Again, if Things are happening so fast, it’s your friends know what you’re up to, hard to favor anything. Recently you get invited into a lot of different though, I’ve found writing treatments situations. Anytime I’ve written about for videos and watching them come a happening on the FRANK site, I’ve to life to be what I love most. been invited to write about others. On any night, I might end up at a hip-hop What is the most enjoyable part of show, gallery opening, or random your job? ass dinner with other people who are A 60-year-old gentleman wrote a doing “cool” shit. soccer piece for our Brazil issue. We were introduced online through a I’m fairly nerdy about music, but our mutual friend, and when the book interns put me on to every new record came out, he dropped by the office to the moment it is released. No offense pick some copies up. He told me that to my background, but design school he “got it” and that our book was a interns are pretty much the worst— sort of “National Geographic for street they are great for production work, but culture.” He nailed it. When anyone, they only listen to “designy” records especially someone in his sixties gets and go to “designy” events. I try to hire it, I am enjoying my job. kids who don’t even go to college and

220 13 What Comes Next The thing about transition is that sometimes it is not clear what’s coming around the corner. Transition is as much about shifts in society, culture, and technology as it is in personal directions. Yet, there are societal trends that are more likely to create new opportunities. Among them is the changing role of words in our culture: Long explanations and text-heavy dissertations are a thing of the past. People will have less and less time to read, yet their curiosity will expand as a wider spectrum of information is available to more individuals. One can imagine that the graphic language will speak deeper than words and that “understanding” as we know it will become more intuitive but not necessarily less penetrating. Another trend that concerns us The interviews in this chapter are even more is the democratization for individuals who are not afraid to of the design discipline due to the alter what is comfortable and attempt proliferation of user-friendly design something radically new. In order to tools. People with no training in do that, however, you have to have design principles, typography, color an initial direction. You have to have theory, or even marketing will solve something to rebel against. Once the kind of problems traditionally you have a foothold in your creative handled by graphic designers. More career, what comes next should be cacophony is sure to ensue before different from what came before. Or, the dust settles! Badly designed as Franco Cervi says about himself, publications will strain the eyes of be reckless—at least once. more innocent readers, and ill-con- ceived interfaces will leave more unwary users stranded in cyberspace. But on the upside, consider the influx of talent when truck drivers, eye doctors, plumbers, sculptors, and third graders will begin to pitch in and propose design solutions.

221 Section Three Chapter Thirteen What Comes Next Timothy Goodman Disposable Ideas Timothy Goodman, a graduate of SVA/NYC, sees himself as the 1980s version of the once popular 1930s Dead End Kids films made up of wise-arse street kids. Growing up in Cleveland in a family of modest means, Goodman learned how to be scrappy as a youngster. His heroes were characters like Ferris Bueller and Zack Morris, and he reveled in the idea of pulling a fast one on somebody in authority. “That’s kind of how my graphic design career started,” he admits. “In high school, I stole hall passes, replicated them in Microsoft Word, and printed out whole packs of them; later, I forged teacher’s signatures.” After graduating college, Goodman painted homes and hung wallpaper and drywall for 4½ years before going to SVA in NYC, which showed him how fortunate he was to be doing “what I love, and how lucky I am to do it in New York.” Women’s Health: You’ve spoken in public about your Comedy is a large part of your voice. Designer and Art Director: own voice; you don’t have a particular Can all design be witty and funny? Timothy Goodman style, so where does the voice come in? I work hard to get my voice and my Creative Director: Theresa A couple of years ago, I made a decision humor in my work. I’ve watched Griggs to redirect my career and push myself Winnie-the-Pooh many times the Photographer: Lucas Zarebinski into new, scary, and unexpected terri- last couple years. Christopher Robin Prop Stylist: Ariana Salvato tory. It’s been six years since I gradu- says, “You’re braver than you believe, Body Makeup: Lauren Cole ated, and I’ve been at the cross section stronger than you seem, and smarter of design, branding, illustration, than you think.” What an idea! I’m and content creation. Even though currently trying to be more naive I adopted one sort of drawing style, I with my work, as graphic design have no interest in making work for books and blogs will only get me solely aesthetic reasons. As my former so far. It’s important to stop thinking boss, Brian Collins, says, we’re not in like a graphic designer. We should the “kind of nice business.” Meaning, think about other platforms and we’re not here to make pretty pictures; different narratives. I believe that’s we’re here to be provocative, to be the first step to connecting with memorable, and to tell great stories. an audience.

222 Ace Mural You’ve worked for some major supported this. I became a quicker Illustrator and Art Director: brands. You speak “brandspeak” thinker and a more eclectic image Timothy Goodman if you need to. Where does voice maker because of this. Assistant: Andreina Carrillo enter into this? Producer: Jou-Yie Chou That’s the difficult balance. A real Influences are key in your work. How Photographer: Mark Dye tragedy for so many young designers do you acquire the specific influences is that they have to have the voice that drive your varied approaches? New Yorker of whatever client or studio they’re I’m a big believer in having mentors. I Designer and Lettering: working for; rarely do young designers think it’s paramount to find someone Timothy Goodman get the chance to put their own voice who will help guide you, even beyond Art Director: Jordan Awan or humor or sensibilities into their design, in a way that teaches you more Creative Director: Wyatt Mitchell work. In the movies they say, “Do one about life. I always tell my students, Photographer: Grant Cornett for them. Do one for you.” Early on I “Don’t worry about what you want to Prop Styling: Shane Klein, Theo understood that it was important to do do as much as who you want to work Vamvounakis work for me—whether it was editorial for.” I’m proud of the work I’ve been illustrations or a personal project— able to do, and I feel fortunate to have and that ultimately began to inform so many inspiring and encouraging my branding work, and vice versa. friends, mentors, and colleagues who Luckily, I had bosses and mentors who have supported and encouraged me.

223 Section Three Chapter Thirteen What Comes Next You work as an art director and a designer? What do you look for in those you might hire? Ideas are totally disposable and constantly in flux for me. I learned that while being in branding. Any- thing can spark an idea, and you better have at least 100 of them. I like those who have 100 ideas. Tupac Mural Lettering and Art Director: Timothy Goodman Producer: Andy Song Photographer: Daniel Rhie

224 Ryan Feerer, a graduate of the SVA MFA Design/Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program, is a designer and Ryan Feerer illustrator from Abilene, Texas. He is the program director of the Graphic Design/Advertising concentration at Abilene Making Design Meals Christian University, ACU, where he attended undergrad- uate school. In addition, he runs the eponymous Ryan Abi-House Feerer Design & Illustration. For the past couple of years, Designer: Ryan Feerer he has also been in the restaurant business, a coowner Photographer: Nil Santana of Abi-Haus, with his friend Jimbo Jackson. Together they 2012 run the eatery and develop food products for the market. But illustration remains his stock and trade. For Feerer, creating brand-marks and icons are the simplest forms of illustration. In the traditional sense, illustration makes up about 25 percent of his business. “I pride myself in the craft of hand-made marks,” he says. “I will always do something by hand if it is appropriate for the audience.” Can an illustrator/designer make all of the customer’s senses. You a good living in Abilene, Texas? can design their experience with Abilene is a wonderful place to live. the visuals of murals and menus, There are so many opportunities the smell and taste of the food, the here, but most of them you have to touch of our hand crafted tables, the make yourself. I rarely take on jobs sounds of good music and conversa- in Abilene unless it is something I’m tion. Nothing feels better than to sit directly involved with. The main issue I back and watch all of these elements have come across is budget constraints. come together, knowing you played Most of my work comes from either the a major role creating it. It is the East or West Coast, or is international. ultimate design high. Is illustration somehow connected You’ve used some great hand let- to starting your cafe? terers to decorate your restaurant. I haven’t really thought about it. I would How did this happen? guess you could say that. As creative I wanted the restaurant to give the people, we should have a passion to community a strong sense of pride create. What I find magical about being with the phrase “Long Live Abilene” a designer turned restaurateur is that as the focus. I’m fortunate enough to you have the opportunity to touch be good friends with Jeff Rogers, who

225 Section Three Chapter Thirteen What Comes Next Abi-House Designers: Ryan Feerer, Dana Tanamachi, Jeff Rogers Photographer: Nil Santana

226 lived in Abilene while attending ACU. What will be the measure of your I approached him about the project success? Abi-House and he was immediately on board. As for the restaurant, we’re coming up Designers: Ryan Feerer, He asked if we should bring on Dana on our one-year mark, and we haven’t Dana Tanamachi, Jeff Rogers Tanamachi, also a fellow Texan and closed down, so that’s a huge success in Photographer: Nil Santana friend, to collaborate with us. I gave my eyes! Actually, Abi-Haus is doing them my vision and what I was hoping incredibly well. There isn’t anything like to accomplish. In return, they helped it in town. It definitely has a New York me create something much more beau- vibe, which a lot of people haven’t expe- tiful than I could have ever imagined. rienced. It is refreshing for our custom- ers to have a nice in-town getaway. We Are you able to do commercial have had many folks from Austin and design and illustration whilst being Dallas tell us that they wish we would a proprietor of an ancillary business? open one in their cities. Our locals see Yes, quite a bit. I manage my time this and have a great sense of pride that pretty well, so that’s been helpful. something like this exists in their town.

227 Section Three Chapter Thirteen What Comes Next Are there other entrepreneurial Design Entrepreneurship activities happening or on the horizon? What is a design entrepreneur? to take business risks, but almost every- For almost two years, a friend and Would not a designer who opens an one with creativity has at least one idea I have been brewing BBQ sauce. I independent studio, firm, or office be that is worth developing as a product. would love to take that to the next considered an entrepreneur? For the faint of heart, as an alternative level, but the time isn’t right. to starting an entrepreneurial business, In the strictest sense, the answer to the many graphic designers develop prod- How’s the restaurant business second question is yes. But to be more ucts for other businesses, and they either these days? specific, graphic design studios and retain rights to or obtain royalties from Everyone wants and needs a good, firms that offer only client services are the sale of their products. Although, in unique meal on occasion. Our not truly entrepreneurial because service this scenario, the graphic designer is emotions play a big role in that. We businesses do not create, supply, or still working for a client, the result is not want to give our patrons a home distribute their own products. Converse- a framing of a client’s product or idea away from home. We have several ly, as an answer to the first question, with a brochure, package, or other ser- customers who frequent Abi-Haus a graphic designer who in addition to vice-oriented item but, rather, providing three or four times a week. They providing services also initiates products the client with an entity that adds value feel loved, needed, and part of the (or “content”) is indeed entrepreneurial. to the product line. family. We are all about developing What’s more, many designers who lasting relationships and having a have the ability to skillfully package Entrepreneurism offers the graphic good time. and promote other people’s products designer insight into the nature of have discovered that it is more satisfying business as well as the satisfaction and at times more lucrative to develop that simply toiling as a service provid- their own wares. er will never generate. If the future of graphic design is greater involvement Over the past decades, enterprising in the means and result of production, graphic designers have engaged in then we will see a lot more design various forms of entrepreneurism, from entrepreneurship from now on. small cottage industries to large retail establishments, from balsamic vinegar bottling to book packaging. A graphic designer is not locked into products related to graphic design alone but, rather, is free to develop any kind of merchandise, from candy to furniture—or whatever the imagination conjures. En- trepreneurial activity is either a supple- ment to an existing design business or an independent subsidiary of one, yet in both cases, new products contribute to creative and business challenges that add value to a designer’s personal and professional worth. All that is required is a good idea, some capital, a business plan, a means of manufacturing, a method of distribution, and a modicum of chutzpah. Being an entrepreneur is not a viable direction for the designer who lacks the confidence to test the limits of creativity or the stamina

228 Franco Cervi graduated from Milan Polytechnic University in 1994 with a degree in architecture. This gave him a Franco Cervi critical approach to design. He worked for 10 years in multidisciplinary studios (architecture, industrial design, “I’m Reckless!” graphic design) on an international level, including Atelier Mendini (Alessandro Mendini), Sottsass Associati (Ettore New Order Sottsass), and Matteo Thun & Partners (Matteo Thun), Art Director and Designer: “which over the years gave me the chance to work Franco Cervi in close contact with hundreds of designers from four Writer: Ferruccio Giromini different continents. I found my own career path, that Published by 279 Editions, Milan of graphic design,” he says, referring to projects for Copyright 279 Editions, Milan international clients (Alessi, BMW, Citigroup, DuPont 2010 Corian, Hugo Boss, Lavazza), concentrating, among other All photographs are by things, first on corporate identity and, later, on interactive Fabrizio Nannini. design. He is also the head of 279 Editions, a publisher of design books. When, how, and why did you launch Had you experience in publishing 279 Editions? before this? The first step was to publish 500 copies, No. I know, I’m reckless! After having in 2005, of a book entitled Design gained the necessary experience as Code, which was a sort of summary a graphic designer, the prospect of a of my creative language (which was publishing company seemed like a still rather immature at the time, to possible, natural evolution. Based on be honest). The book had an inter- strong personal motivation, I leapt esting format, like a sort of “missal” into it, in a totally instinctive, enthu- for “graphics addicts.” Its content was siastic way, putting up with all the unusual, too, because instead of taking specific difficulties of the field . . . the form of a portfolio, it presented and at first it was very difficult indeed. a series of “project fragments” aimed at illustrating how a very coherent Do you have a business model that graphic language can solve a very wide is sustainable? range of different design needs. So I The recipe is necessarily a simple had understood that the “book object” one: high quality, small print runs, could be an interesting way to express an engaged, faithful international my personal creative vision. audience. It might seem banal, but

229 Section Three Chapter Thirteen What Comes Next the famous “Made in Italy” has always the actor. I remove every graphic sign Mono Baseman seemed like a fascinating and, at the from the publishing project that is not (A monograph on the pictorial same time, mysterious concept for me, strictly necessary, and I try to avoid work of Gary Baseman) because behind the excellence of the irritating “visual cacophony” between Art Director and Designer: final product, there are always people container and content. But this does Franco Cervi with important knowledge, devoted to not mean that I haven’t continued with Writer: Ferruccio Giromini their work, which they do with great my own personal research, and the Published by 279 Edition, passion and sacrifice. Today, everyone “Base” typeface is just one example. Milan, Copyright 279 Editions, talks about quality, but to actually do Milan 2013 it can turn out to be an endeavor that You are based in Milan, but you All photographs are by is beyond your means. It is a difficult have international reach. What is Fabrizio Nannini. challenge, but I like to emphasize the your goal? fact that while a balance sheet in the Today, there are many large publishers black is necessary, the main objective that can spread their books through is not to make money, but to produce immense distribution channels, but quality publications, books capable of very few are really interested in supply- improving with time and sometimes ing the capacity for the production of of becoming international collector’s books that will bring out creative work items. In the end, there is something in a context of formal quality, books spiritual about all this. that can be developed and customized like a tailor-made garment, where the Your books are beautiful. Do you content and the container enhance have a staff, or is it just you? each other. Anything that has to do with creative work comes exclusively from me. In this sense, my publishing house is a direct emanation of my taste, my cultural background, my creative research and technical capacities (and also my mistakes, obviously). In any case, necessarily, I have a very good staff for all the other strategic and operational aspects. You’ve released a typeface called “Base.” Is this an extension of your publishing business or another independent venture? Over the years, I have concentrated on publishing the creative work of others, staying in the background; to compare this to cinema, I often feel like the director who, among other things, works on bringing out the qualities of

230 In digital design, the word digital is vestigial. To be a “communications” Digital designer these days implies working Design in digital space with digital formats. We’ve already examined the impact of digital tools on design practice, design thinking, and design production. Now we will survey the opportunities in the digital arena(s) and how others have mastered them. While a dwindling majority of graphic designers still describes their practice as “problem solving,” a growing number of new- comers have declared that instead of looking for solutions to problems, they are going to be designing programs for solutions.

231 Not a breakthrough idea, this thinking,” remarks Frieder Nake, concept was pioneered 50 years a professor of computer graphics ago by Swiss typographer Karl in Bremen, Germany. Gerstner, who wrote Designing Programmes, a book about systems All over the globe, and in every in graphic design. It features four corner of the digital realm, designers illustrated essays on a systematic are developing a keen analytical methodology that is particularly rele- mind. Whether they are designing vant today, in the context of apps or multimedia installations, the most recent developments in venturing into e-commerce or investing computational design. in start-ups, joining user experience teams, or specializing in generative So, why all the excitement? design, they are redefining their The big difference between then professional practice as they go. and now is the technology. Whereas “The focus of design has expanded back in 1964, when Gerstner was from the form of objects to the articulating his principles, the most behavior of systems,” remarks Hugh advanced piece of engineering Dubberly, a San Francisco software was the ill-fated Picturephone, today and service consultant. people, but also products, events, and services are digitally intertwined This is good news for graphic into a vast substrate of pulsating data. designers who, until now, often The designers interviewed in this played second fiddle to product chapter all enthusiastically embrace designers whose creative output technologically driven interconnectiv- had easy consumer appeal. Industrial ity as the source of endless creative designers might not be able to make opportunities and career building. the most of the digital revolution, Jeoren Barendse, a Dutch graphic whereas graphic designers, who designer who was one of the first in are no stranger to grids, templates, his field to see in this new paradigm graphic standards, and visual identity a huge potential for reinvention, affirms guidelines, are better equipped to that today designers “must become manage abstract complexity. creators of the very design rules and processes that will allow them to come Lo and behold, as this next series up with innovative solutions.” of interviews demonstrates, graphic In other words, today designers designers are emerging as the are on their own! No longer can framers of a new way of thinking, they rely on tried-and-true formulas one based on how we experience and techniques. To keep up with the life rather than produce goods and proliferation of new devices, new sell services. software upgrades, and new usages, they hold on to the only thing they still can trust: the design process itself and the methodology behind it. “The most important part of designing is

232 14 Interactive Multimedia Installations and Interfaces How do you make sure that viewers and users, who are exposed to at least 3000 unsolicited messages a day, are actually remembering what they survey, read, hear, see, or touch? Interactive communication designers have an answer: They create immersive, open-ended narratives that turn passive spectators into active participants. On giant screens, on kiosks and on all sorts of stationary or mobile devices, the latest technological innovations are probed and tested to elicit the most dynamic response from the audience. Exhibit designers, like interface Today, no cultural exhibit, art designers, create information path- installation, fashion show, promotional ways with multiple options. The goal event, or industrial trade show is com- is to propose open navigation scripts plete without some sort of interactive for visitors and viewers to explore a display integrating two or more given topic as they please. To create media. To manage this type of these learning experiences, you don’t project, visual designers work have to be an information technology in teams, with people who are (IT) expert. More critical will be your specialists and have the technical curatorial role—your ability to select savoir faire, the UID experience, the artifacts, orchestrate programs, and engineering skills, or the scientific develop sequential visual narrations. expertise necessary to complete That’s why visual designers hired in the task. You don’t spend much this specialty must have a general time sitting by yourself at your desk. level of education allowing them to Cross-disciplinary interaction between handle a broad range of topics— highly competent professionals including medical, retail, automotive, makes this multimedia career path finance, history, music, or mass media. particularly rewarding.

233 Section Four Chapter Fourteen Interactive Multimedia Installations and Interfaces Debugging the Language of Digital Job Titles The main reason job titles are confusing Digital developers create and is the employer’s lack of precision. program creative content for websites Understandably so. The field is evolving and all types of user interfaces, includ- so fast, and competencies are so ing tablets and mobile experiences. diverse, it’s practically impossible to predict how to best fill a position. Digital media developer Web developer However, there are three key words to Software developer watch for: (1) developer, (2) designer, User interface developer and (3) programmer. Interactive developer In most cases, developers are on the Digital designers are responsible top of the pecking order: They develop for supporting Web development and the overall strategic vision. Next come creating other digital media products. designers, who shape the creative and visual content. Last are programmers, Digital designer who are in charge of the technical Digital content designer dimension of projects. Digital brand designer Marketing digital designer Other designations within titles attempt Digital production designer to narrow down the field of expertise: Experience designer multimedia, software, Web, user Web designer experience, and so on. Often, there are Interface designer different words for the same special- Interaction designer ty. What is the difference between a Multimedia designer motion designer and a video graphic Information designer designer? Only the context can tell you. Motion designer Video graphic designer And just to keep you guessing, there 3-D designer are job titles that do not fall into any preexisting grouping. They sound exotic, though. Among them are content strategist, digital curator, UX architect, and CDO (chief digital officer). Here is a tentative glossary of titles to help you sort out the job listings. Digital programmers encode, test, debug, revise, update, and document programs. System programmer Application programmer Device programmer

234 Jeroen Barendse Subverting the Mental Map Jeroen Barendse is one of the founding partners of LUST, a Dutch multidisciplinary design studio established in 1996 at the cutting edge, where new media and information technologies, architecture, and urban systems and graphic design overlap. That “cutting edge” was wishful thinking 20 years ago, says Barendse. However, today, at long last, it’s a reality. “Today, you can easily switch between media, connect to different systems through open formats and connectors, and create something new out of it, something that functions in a real-world environment.” LUST keeps sharpening that same cutting edge, and today the studio is at the forefront of innovations in abstract car- tography, data visualization, and interactive installations. At Random? Interactive Media From your vantage point, what What is the philosophy of LUSTlab— Installation is the greatest change you have the more experimental division of Museum De Paviljoens, Almere observed in the last 20 years? LUST? Designer: LUST The current mantra that everybody When we start a project, we let the 2008 is a designer or, more recently, that project guide us. We have no precon- everybody is a curator, is true to the ceived idea what the outcome will be. extent that there are now tools avail- We just design the process and react able by which almost everybody can to that. We believe in creating a lot of design reasonably good-looking works. different sketches, visually and in code, But those designs are most of the time in order to familiarize ourselves with re-creations of things somebody once the material we are working with. saw. There is no innovation, no con- ceptual value in them. This also means wandering around, similar to the idea of a Flâneur in a The greatest change today is the way city. This wandering allows us to look designers must reinvent their role if at things in a different way, to apply they want to be truly creative: On the different gazes to the same problem. one hand, they must develop a more At LUST & LUSTlab, we often talk research-based approach, and on the about the “vocabulary” of a project. other hand, they must become creators During the research phase, we don’t of the very design rules and processes shape or design. We just try to build the that will allow them to come up with “vocabulary”—with each sketch, idea innovative solutions. or experiment embodying a new ‘word’.

235 Section Four Chapter Fourteen Interactive Multimedia Installations and Interfaces The richer the words are, the more to the complete narrative. A visitor Type/Dynamics, Interactive elegant the sentences we can speak. does not need to grasp all possible Installation, readings of a work at once; instead, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam In an interview, you said that, for multiple story lines unfold over Designer: LUST LUST, interaction design is the multiple readings. All aspects from 2013 new literature. Would you say content to movement, interaction, that interaction design promotes data collection, and collaboration open-ended narratives? contribute to this new literature. We indeed see interaction design as the new literature. For us, it is not only Does semantics play a role in your about the interactive aspect of the research process? effect; it is also about the narrative pos- Yes, it does. We are very interested sibilities: narrative structures that go in literary anthropology. A lot of beyond linear or nonlinear. This new our projects deal with language, or literature is also about literary aspects the construction of a metalanguage, like references, analogies, structures, that can be expressed in type, but points of view, time—all contributing also in images.

236 Do you define interaction as How do you define the role of graphic In the future, will graphic designers providing open-ended narratives designers if the end product of their design rules rather than outcomes? that can be interpreted and, if analytical process is a series of forms Yes, simply because the message that need be, finished by the user? that design themselves? people need to communicate will be We believe that something that is Here, the design of the rules comes more and more media-independent. open-ended is far more interesting in into play. Too often design is used to No longer printed, many graphic terms of experience than a clear end. solve problems: real-world problems, design works are formatted as PDFs When we just started LUST in 1996, but also editorial problems, organiza- and can be viewed on tiny mobile we always used a text about the miss- tional problems, and so on. We think screens, on 30-inch monitors, or on ing piece of the puzzle as a metaphor it’s better to approach something by multi-million-pixel screens. This calls for what we wanted to achieve with our not only looking at the problem but for a different type of designer, who work. If you almost finish a puzzle and by looking at the opportunities as not only can design a PDF, a book, or the last piece is missing, you will prob- well. Only then can we define the task. a website, but who can also grasp the ably always remember that experience. implications of the medium they are Translated to interaction design, one What quality or skill does a graphic working with. can say that the viewer is needed in designer need in order to be able order to finish the puzzle. to connect strings of codes with In our work, we explore the self-generative forms? metaphorical difference between a Do you think that viewers of interac- Coding can totally absorb a designer, symbol itself and the meanings a set of tive media tacitly understand that as the possibilities are endless as well symbols may signify. Instead of being they are part of the information flow? as the variations that can be rendered. concerned with what these symbols If you mean that people are more The solving of minor problems can should look like, we should probably and more aware of different media, I easily become a day job. A good be concerned with developing a new would say “yes.” My current students, creative coder can take a helicopter design morphology to fit the contem- for instance, can read and write in view once in a while, reassess the work porary world we live in. all kinds of media; they understand done, and focus on the conceptual the medium they work in almost ideas that need to be achieved. In that At Random? Interactive Media naturally. Even a few years ago, this sense, we think the conceptual goal is Installation (this page) was different. Current generations still the most important, independent Museum De Paviljoens, Almere are born with the Internet around, of the medium you are working in. Designer: LUST allowing them a natural understand- 2008 ing of its implications and how we communicate with each other.

237 Section Four Chapter Fourteen Interactive Multimedia Installations and Interfaces Julien Gachadoat Demomaking for a Living Julien Gachadoat is the founder, with Michaël Zancan, of 2Roqs, a design studio in Bordeaux, France. Specialized in interactive multimedia installations, they are at the forefront of a design practice often described as “demom- aking”—digital “demos”—that mix graphic design, music, and animated films. Gachadoat is an adept of Processing, the open software, and a member of the community around it. Algorithm thinking is his design methodology. Interactive 3-D Vintage Postcard How did you discover your passion? interesting, more intricate, and tech- Client: Office du Tourisme, Ville- My dad brought home a computer in nically more advanced than the games neuve-sur-Lot the 1980s. I was drawn to the machine themselves. I was mesmerized by the Designer: Julien Gachadoat/2Roqs instantly. You had to type in a series technology of this parallel universe. 2013 of instructions to launch a program of I knew enough programming to games. It was my first encounter with appreciate the sort of achievement programming. they represented. And I loved their peculiar aesthetics. Later, in the ’90s, as a teen, I was lucky enough to have an Atari ST—I I began to collect games—not for was still fascinated by the interactive themselves but for their “intros.” I games. I joined a network of “pirates,” would try to reproduce the same visual with different “crews”—kids competing effects I saw, even though my pro- to crack open the protective codes of gramming notions were rudimentary. the games, to duplicate them, and to I was self-taught. I was lucky to meet a share them around. friend at school, Michaël Zancan, with whom I was able to share my passion Cracking open a game was a matter for graphic interfaces and algorithmic of seconds for the most talented hack- thinking. Eventually, Michaël and I ers. To broadcast their exploits, they went into business together. would create a personalized home page with special “greetings” to introduce Looking back, what were the major themselves and the game to friends breakthroughs in your field? and members of their posse. They From my point of view, the Internet would also taunt competitors—the changed everything. It allowed people “lamers.” Eventually, these “intros” to share ideas, to communicate, and became more sophisticated, with logos to talk to each other in a democratic for each group, animations, scrolling manner. For me, it was a break- texts, and even music. through as well: I was able to access a lot of information, all of it crucial to These special effects, as displayed on “intro” screens, soon became more

238 Murmur, Interactive Installation, Client: Mirage Festival, Lyon Designer: Julien Gachadoat/2Roqs 2014 acquiring an understanding of the new programs propose ready-made, Along with your fascination for technologies as they evolved. That’s preprogrammed computer tools. Open- codes and programming, you are also how I discovered Processing, the open source software promotes freedom but interested in graffiti and typography. software, and the community around requires users to have methodology Can you give us examples of how it. Soon I was able to create my com- and be willing to engage in a more you mix these disciplines? pany, 2Roqs, and focus on interaction time-consuming learning process. The discovery of the graffiti universe design. was an experience on a par with But in return, people who use open- the discovery of the “demos” world One of the first projects I created source software such as Processing or because it involved the same compo- in 2005, in partnership with a London Openframeworks have access to like- nents: graphic design, typography, studio, came about as a result of minded users who are ready to help and underground cultural codes. connecting with someone on the them and encourage them on a variety Processing network. To this day, I keep of ways: project evaluation, suggestions Our project, “Gravity,” is a good up with all the various ways in which for improvement, or sharing programs, example of how we integrate every- I can interact and connect with other for example. It’s reciprocal: You also thing we love. In this particular instal- communities, Kinect, for instance. help others by constantly sharing your lation, on the façade of a building, we progress and discoveries with mem- project texts that people send with Can you explain to our readers why bers of your community, adopting the their smart phone. That’s our trade- open-source software, such as Pro- “release early, release often” principle. mark at 2Roqs: We try to be surprising, cessing, is a superior creative tool? This system is a lot more flexible than amusing, and intriguing, while at the I am not sure that “superior” is the the closed system of regular software. same time interact with spectators by right word. “Different” is more accurate. The ground rule of open-source getting them involved. Programming software like Processing software is lateral sharing. All users are offers users a way to code their own contributors, constantly sharing knowl- You have developed a number of tools, whereas traditional software edge for the benefit of everyone else. “real-time” interactive installations. What next level of interactivity are you exploring? I am right now developing a wearable tech project with NORMALS, an independent creative group devoted to the practice of speculative design. It’s a virtual garment, conceived to be seen on a tablet. Its appearance morphs according to data relating to the per- sons who “wears” it. Michaël is working on an applica- tion that allows viewers to actually enter into a photograph to see it from a number of different angles. It can be

239 Section Four Chapter Fourteen Interactive Multimedia Installations and Interfaces viewed as a projection, with the specta- Interactive kiosks such as tables or However, the language used to talk to tor moving about to look at the image vertical display units, popular with a computer is not English—machines from different perspectives, or it can be museums and cultural institutions, only understand a very short list of viewed on a tablet with a similar and and particularly adapted to present instructions, spelled out in a machine startling result. educational content to a wide audi- code, thanks to a compiler. ence. Our clients include museums You have quite a few clients— whose exhibits deal with science To program you must learn to mostly cultural institutions but also and technology. write algorithms. In other words, you commercial ones such as wineries, must learn to write a finite number electronics, or car manufacturers. Interactive applications for tablets of instructions to solve a problem What specific type of multimedia that interpret, enhance, or visualize data. in a reasonable amount of time on installations do you create for them? a given machine. Let me quote Ber- We are offering our clients three types You are French, but English seems nard Chazelle, the famous Princeton of interactive installations. to be the language most used by you University computer science professor: and your colleagues to communicate “Algorithms open new perspectives on Full-size immersive installations in in your field. Are codes also written science and technology. They are not which spectators, by their movements in English? Is programming a truly simply useful tools— they truly herald and gestures, are able to transform the idealist community? a new way of thinking.” display. An example is the permanent installation at the Aquarium of The question of the “language” used Textopolis, Interactive Installation La Rochelle, in which visitors can for programming is complex. English Client: Semaine Digitale, Bordeaux interact with schools of fish projected is the universal language of program- Designer: Julien Gachadoat/2Roqs on the floor. ming, simply because it was originally 2012 developed in the United States in 1945.

240 Ada Whitney is a designer, live action director, multimedia artist, and the cofounder of Beehive. Originally a painter, Ada Whitney she became one of the pioneering participants in the motion design industry, creating some of the first digital The New Motion bumpers for Saturday Night Live (SNL) and animated logos for MTV. As the creative director of Beehive, she has Showtime Weeds led teams in building a body of work for the broadcast, Client: Showtime Networks entertainment, and live-event industries. “My passion for Creative Director: Ada Whitney visual storytelling is fueled by my deep-rooted love of art, Designer: Marlie Decopain, film, multimedia installation, design, architecture, music, Marcelo Cardoso and technology,” she says. Beehive’s main title design, Animator: Marcelo Cardoso network branding and promotion and theatrical media projects for HBO, Showtime, Disney, NY City Opera, and more, have been recognized by ADC, TDC, Communications Arts, The Academy of Arts & Sciences, and PromaxBDA. Their projects have been featured in numerous publications including reviews in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Fast Company, who described their experien- tial opera video as “an interactive, LED wonderland.” How did you become involved in designer. I relied on my background making motion design? as an artist using my understanding My start in motion design was quite of composition, color, line, and space serendipitous. At the time, many of the to guide me. I found myself looking at early media companies were turning letterforms as shapes when designing. to artists, not designers, to work on the I learned a lot on the job about type- Quantel Paintbox, a precursor to Mac’s. faces, their form and character. I I started with painting SNL bumpers really loved that! and fell in love with the collaborative and multimedia aspect of the work. When you went from traditional de- The scene, a mix of writers, filmmak- sign to motion, did you have to learn ers, performers, musicians, editors, technologies that were cutting edge? and artists, was intoxicating from a There is always a new technology to creative perspective. learn. To me that’s one of the most exciting things about the medium. The You were a graphic designer, right? cutting-edge tools at our disposal allow I’m really a self-taught graphic for new ways of thinking about the

241 Section Four Chapter Fourteen Interactive Multimedia Installations and Interfaces ABC Body of Proof Client: ABC Networks Creative Director: Ada Whitney Designer: Marlie Decopain, Marcelo Cardoso Animator: Florian Heger, James Bartley form our messaging takes and the way How is motion different from static Defining the New we communicate. For instance, with all design, other than the obvious? Animation: Popularity the advances in interactive animation, Images are fleeting and change over you can create dynamic responsive time, so your message is not delivered By J. J. Sedelmeir animation that is user generated instantaneously like a static image. and designer guided. I think staying It evolves and unfolds. The event 1. Animation is more popular than in touch with technology is vital to becomes a timed experience allowing ever. Why is this? communicating with a plugged-in for emotional and cerebral arcs, not contemporary audience. unlike theater or film. There is the 2. Animation appeals to most people’s opportunity to take the viewers and “personal nostalgia.” This began What is necessary to know for broad- move them through space, over time most prevalently with the “Baby cast quality that cannot be done and affect their perception through Boomer”—the first media generation. today on the iPhone? sound design, so that it becomes an I’d say the most significant issues that immersive sensory experience. 3. There’s money to be made. arise with the iPhone are scale and readability concerns. Digital type and Telling a story is key in your work. 4. It has a universal appeal and design choices that have expanded to How do you structure stories? appears to be in most people’s DNA. include ultrathin, lightweight elements I always think about the emotional arc in broadcast HD are hard to read on and sensory journey we want to take 5. There’s money to be made. the iPhone, as are very small images. the viewer on, and then, what informa- tion or content needs to be communi- 6. There are so many outlets (online, networks, etc.) looking for content, and animation often comes with subsequent marketing and merchandising potential. 7. There’s . . . well, you know. . . It’s just plain cool.

242 cated. Creating an opening scene that SNL Weekend Update Open Defining the sets the tone and teases the narrative Client: NBC New Animation: is imperative; it’s what will hook the Creative Director: Ada Whitney Technology’s Perks viewer. From there we build content Designer: Marcelo Cardoso that unfolds and leads us to the peak Animator: Marcelo Cardoso By J. J. Sedelmeir of the message. When you hire someone for the 1. I no longer require a large studio of Is motion the next big frontier for creative side, what do you look for? on-staff talent. All our work utilizes designers, or has it come and gone? The first thing I look for is a person freelance artists and animators who I think motion is already a big part whose has a smart and unique come on board on a per-job basis of many designer’s vocabulary. Not perspective. I respond to a reel that and work closely with me online. unlike still photographers, who doesn’t look like the past 10 I’ve seen. migrated into the live action arena, I I like to see work that is well thought 2. Any and all techniques (watercolor, think many young graphic designers out and speaks the language of its airbrush, colored outline, live/ have embraced and added motion intended audience. I shy away from animation combos) I want to use in skills to their design acumen. With reels that rely heavily on current my productions are possible through the explosion of tablets and smart design trends and the latest visual digital programs/software. It allows phones, our culture’s thirst for mul- effects plug-ins. I look for someone me to accept the responsibility of timedia experiences has seemingly with a keen sense of communication, producing the work in any style become insatiable. I think motion design, color, motion, [and] sound without having to re-arm ourselves design is here to stay. and who understands the meaning (specific equipment for specific of less is more! techniques) for every production. 3. Project fees have unfortunately been negatively influenced by so much work being for an online/ Web use. If it’s online, the feeling is that it’s not worth the same as if it’s broadcast. This, of course, makes no sense since both the creative process AND the animation process is often the same for online as it is for broadcast. 4. Schedules are tighter because the time required is less. 5. The use of limited animation has increased. This only means that, again, I need to be careful that the technique matches the concept. . . 6. We hardly EVER use paper or any of the conventional materials of the past. I personally still draw with pen/pencil during the preproduction process, but the actual productions are all digital.

243 Section Four Chapter Fourteen Interactive Multimedia Installations and Interfaces Jean-Louis Fréchin Asking the Right Questions Trained as an architect, Jean-Louis Fréchin teaches a course on digital prototyping and digital design at the prestigious Paris design school, ENSCI-les atelier. He is the founder of NoDesign.net, a French digital design agency specializing in innovative and human-centered design. For him, human is a key word. He believes that the dig- ital age will give designers a chance to participate in the creation of a more ethical culture. He wants to turn his expertise—digital design and the conception of digital products, interactions, and interfaces—into a discipline at the service of a less materialistic conception of the world. 3-D Printing App, Sculpteo How do you explain to your clients something you don’t see, particularly Vases what you do? when it comes to designing an inter- Designers: Jean-Louis Fréchin For our clients—from global telecom- face, where the “feel” is as important and Uros Petrevski munication companies to modest as the “look.” 2012 start-ups—we are forever attempting to enlarge the “scope of what is possible” For you, graphic design should be and ”desirable” without losing the at the service of data visualization. basic values of design: meaning, Would you say that your passion simplicity, emotion, and above all in life is to create objects that allow human endeavor. For my partner, Uros users to better understand data and Petrevski, as for myself, design is a state, interact with it? a prism for understanding, and a tool Indeed, I think of graphic design for questioning the world. We thrive as first and foremost a formidable on new challenges and new territories. visualization tool. But, as a language, graphic design is not only objective; it Your agency is called NoDesign is also subjective. It has a dual function. because you categorically reject It can make you think and feel. conventional ideas about design? In fact, the “No” in “NoDesign” is an Twenty years ago, you were pioneering abbreviation of “nouveau.” In other CD-ROMs. In your opinion, which words, new design—the new objectives digital innovation is most promising of design. The name of my agency is today? meant to be a teaser, a way to start the As a communication tool, the Internet conversation. People always comment Protocol (IP) opens an infinite number on its name. It gives me a chance to of possibilities today. It’s truly revolu- explain to them that good design is tionary. Nothing will ever be the same.

244 What sort of user experience do many people, dependency on social thinking emanating from techno- you try to create? networks was a very real problem. Free logically savvy organizations with an Today, we are developing an electronic services, free software, free applications, unconventional approach. For me, format that will make it possible to and free downloads are deceptive. digital design strategy is a process that create prototypes of objects, using They are not free. As the saying goes, yields a range of unexpected “possibles,” the language of the Internet. These “If you’re not paying for it, you are usually based on the interaction of objects are in fact 3-D interfaces, not the customer, you’re the product.” trans-disciplinary practices. like, for example, Sculpteo, an iPad Our intention was to invent a device or iPhone application that lets you that allowed Internet users to measure Interactive Tags for FabWall create a ceramic vase shaped after a and visualize what is fast becoming (opposite) photographic profile of your choice. a dangerous form of addiction. This Designers: Jean-Louis Fréchin Or FabWall, a line of decorative device is a smart tracker, not unlike the and Uros Petrevski wallpaper whose motifs are encoded body analyzer, Withings, a scale that 2010 in such a way as to give you access monitors your weight and heart rate to personal information, family and sets health goals for you. “Cloud” Dependency, pictures, or favorite websites. We want Monitoring System (below) to merge the functionality of traditional You are also an expert in digital Designers: Jean-Louis Fréchin interfaces with that of interactive design strategy. How would you and Uros Petrevski objects. We want to come up with describe this new discipline? Prototype meta design projects. In the digital age, figuring out what to 2013 design is critical. Before you look for Should graphic designers be answers, you have to make sure that programmers as well, in order to you are asking the right questions. be able to conceive truly innovative Relevant design solutions will propose products, services, and experiences? new and different products. They will To be creative today, you have to use come about as a result of innovative the most contemporary tools. In my opinion, being able to write programs is critical. Graphic designers who have an even rudimentary knowledge of coding will discover new territories of expression—from 2-D screens to 3-D interactive objects. Some of your inventions are uto- pian—like the “dépendomètre,” an instrument that is supposed to measure your level of dependency on social networking. Are you inspired by science fiction? What we call utopia is usually an invention that has yet to be shared with others. The idea for the dépendomètre came about when we realized that, for

245 Section Four Chapter Fourteen Interactive Multimedia Installations and Interfaces Alexander Chen: Working for Google Since Alexander Chen, a creative groups,” Chen explained. “Of course, team in Mountain View, and we director at Google Creative Lab in we all focus on certain skills that we’re collaborated on turning it into the New York, was a kid, he studied passionate about, but my favorite part Les Paul Doodle.”He has also done everything from the viola to program- is how we all teach each other new things the other way around, bringing ming. “Even when I started working,” skills in the process. I’ve learned so Google products into personal work. he says, “I jumped around a lot, from much since I’ve started here.” “I was working on films during the day interactive design groups to my own at Creative Lab around Google Glass. music and art projects.” He heard Chen has made Google logos by But on the weekends, I decided to do about the Google Creative Lab through integrating his personal projects with something more personal. I used Glass word of mouth, and it seemed like it his work at Google. For example, he to film myself playing viola and used might be a good fit for his background. turned the New York subway map into the video clips to compose a song.” a string instrument that can be played The Lab contains mostly a diverse group inside the web browser. It started as For Chen the Lab offers special of makers, from designers, filmmakers, a side experiment, but once that bit moments, “when you can all huddle to writers, and more. They collaborate of code was written, “I was able to around something visual to react really closely with other Google teams hack a version of the Google logo as a to, seeing something come to life.” by adding their skills. The Lab members playable musical instrument,” he said. like to work in “really small, scrappy “I brought that prototype to the Doodle

246 15 Designing Apps for Mobile Devices User Interface designers decide how users will have access to layers of information displayed on screens. They know how to adapt their designs to the size and format of the monitors. However, the difference between a computer screen, a tablet, and a smart phone is more than just the number of pixels. The task of designers is greatly technological but also societal complicated when the screens are considerations. on mobile devices and when viewers are no longer sitting down in front of Apps designers are usually self-mo- a computer or relaxing comfortably tivated. In the digital age, creating a with a laptop on their knees. In terms successful app is the ultimate fantasy, of usability, touch-screen manipula- a popular rag-to-riches scheme. tions represent a quantum leap. As Granted, some people have become a designer, you have to figure out instant millionaires when launching when, where, and how users interact small, dedicated, downloadable with their handheld computer. Are pieces of software—Instagram, Snap- they wearing headphones? Do they chat, Doodle Jump. Others have yet expect the images to be scalable? to stumble on an economic model to How important to them is a truly justify the expenditure of time, money, convenient search function? Issues of energy, and talent. Most exciting functionality are first and foremost, about designing applications is not but just as important are layout the financial reward but the phenome- considerations. The choices made nal appeal of this particular format as by designers must integrate complex a popular means of communication.

247 Section Four Chapter Fifteen Designing Apps For Mobile Devices Sean Bumgarner Sean Bumgarner, at the time of this interview, was design director of platforms and devices for Condé Nast in New Between Text and Images York. In other words, his job was to translate the editorial content of magazines to fit the format of various tablets Screen Captures of Preliminary and to develop new interactive features attuned to the Graphic Interface for iPad and mobile lifestyle of tablet users. However, adapting to the iPhone new technology was not enough; he also had to anticipate Men’s Health magazine industry developments, refine purchase paths, and identify Rodale marketing opportunities. “Seven years ago, I was a print Designer: Sean Bumgarner art director in the magazine world, getting restless and 2009 thinking, OK, what’s next?,” he recalls. These days, “next” is chief digital officer (CDO) at Galvanized, a global media agency that specializes in health, fitness, and nutrition. Can you tell us how you pioneered memorial iPad edition. I had access your specialty—art director for to incredible archives, videos, and platforms and devices? Surely you documents. It felt more like art “invented” your job and are probably directorship. still reinventing it on a daily basis? I had always been interested in media From there on, I worked briefly at outside of print: the music world in Vanity Fair and at some other CNP particular. I went to work for an ad titles before switching to Rodale, agency specializing in fashion, but I where I was put on the launch of didn’t really enjoy it. Then I had the Men’s Health for iPad. I was really opportunity to work on the first digital excited because it was such a perfect edition of Glamour magazine, for iPad title for that medium, with so much only. That was five years ago. That first information and so many opportuni- version was very clunky, home-brewed. ties to tell stories in a different way. I helped with its launch and then went back to my agency job. What is the main difference be- tween an edition for a tablet and I got called back at Condé Nast one for a smart phone? Is it just a to work some more on a new and matter of size, or is the editorial improved digital edition of Glamour. content of each magazine affected By then the technology had evolved by its format? and was already much more sophisti- First, we were Apple focused: iPad cated—Adobe tools instead of HTML and iPhone only. Back then, using language. Next, I went to Vogue to the Adobe tools on Android was develop an Alexander McQueen not as satisfying. Now it’s better. But

248 Apple was truly innovative, and you someone to read you a story while you Screen Captures of Preliminary wanted to be there. The phone was an walk. We also can create a lot of frame- Graphic Interface for iPad and incredible opportunity, because you by-frame animations with voice over. iPhone had to reinvent the way you read and In some sections, we can insert splash Men’s Health magazine interacted with the content. On an pages to let readers know what else is Rodale iPad, you sort of duplicate the layout going on in the issue. Designer: Sean Bumgarner of a magazine, the typography, the 2009  sidebars, and the spread mentality, One of my criticisms of Web design whereas on an iPhone, you have to on the phone is that it is not scaled comments, check the “most-emailed” completely reinvent the presentation. for the device. What I like to do with section, watch video clips, or be magazines is give each headline its own Most critical was trying to under- screen. Let the user decide whether to captivated by a live photo streams. stand the interface between image scroll down to read the rest of the text. A magazine is different because it and text. That’s really what defines a magazine: While the images are A big question mark for our industry has a beginning and an end. There is affecting your experience of the is how important it is to give readers something nice about being able to say: text, ultimately the headlines, heads, the functionality of the touch-screen- “I am done. Now I can do something subheads, captions, and quotes drive the scalable images and texts on the iPhone. else.” A magazine is very directional; experience. Figuring out how to make There are many technological advan- there is a hierarchy—you know where typography impactful on such a small tages and disadvantages to consider. you are. And you are not endlessly screen is critical. And there are benefits to HTML versus distracted. Magazines are for people Adobe, vector versus rasterized images, who do want to read without dealing Could a magazine like Vogue, and so on. It is a little bit of a Wild with all those extra conversations so which depends on images, work West right now, with everyone trying to ubiquitous on the Web. on an iPhone? figure out what works with what. There is soon going to be a phone Magazines on iPads and iPhones can version of Vogue, even though, in that An even bigger question mark today develop their own social network if the format, text-heavy magazines like is whether a magazine on the phone is stories featured in the devices are also on The New Yorker and Vanity Fair work a delivery system for content—or some their websites, like The New Yorker. But best. They are, by and large, about the other medium that still remains to for the most part, e-magazines do not let stories. For them, there was no real be defined. you search the Web for related stories. need to reinvent the magazine for the smaller screen. The same Abobe tools And what’s the difference between used for the iPad could be used for a magazine app (on a tablet or a the iPhone. But now, because of the phone) and a magazine website? latest improvements in technology, a A website is a portal to more infor- magazine like Vogue can at long last mation—like The New York Times consider going for the iPhone format. website–that gives you access to all the breaking news and latest updates In term of user experience, is it in an endless stream of headlines and possible to clearly define the articles. But fewer and fewer people difference between a magazine on a go to the NYT homepage just to read tablet and a magazine on a phone? the news. They go in search of specific On a phone, you usually wear head- information, from how to fix pears for phones. So there is an opportunity for dessert to how to understand the latest development in the Middle East. They also get a chance to survey readers’