Genís Carreras: designer and philosophist (english version)

Genís Carreras is based in London, but he is born in Catalonia in 1987. Is become famous with a set of poster, explaining complex philosophical theories. He came up with 24 posters perfectly minimal, during is final major project of his degree in spain. And this is a great example of Infographics (be careful, this is not Data Visualization, because visualization is created by a program that can be applied to many datasets). If you want you can help this young graphic designer to pay the rent, so you can buy some of those posters via Society6. Thank you to him, to answer a few questions.

. What’s your life philosophy?

I’d say I’m an existentialist and that’s why I love the arts. When I’m not asking myself the purpose of life I’m more of an hedonist. I'm also an atheist but I think that people are inherently good and a better world is possible. As a designer I’m a rationalist and a reductionist.

. For you, what role does philosophy play in society?

I think philosophy is generally perceived as an old thing, useless an inaccessible for most of the people but the truth is that it shapes our world and defines our direction as individuals and as a society.

. What made you choose to apply to Graphic design?

I guess like most of the designers, we all started drawing and building things as a kid. My dad is a handicraft carpenter and I guess I always wanted to make things with my own hands. I started studying advertising and in that time I felt that I needed something more practical so I quitted. Then I studied audiovisuals and multimedia but was with Graphic Communication where I found what I’m really good at.

. What work do you most enjoying doing?

My favourite job is posters and icon design, especially when I have to boil down an idea or story into a single still image. I like to work with restraints and use the simplest shape in each case, to create a beautiful result but at the same time something useful. For the same reason I also love working on infographics.

. What are the key things that are essential while doing the graphic designing?

For me it’s important to reduce what you’re trying to say into the essential, making sure that your design communicates the message you want and it’s not misleading. It’s also an excuse to create something beautiful, to put a bit of order among all this chaos.

. Where do you go for inspiration? and what artist inspired you?

I consume a lot of Internet but maybe the best way to get inspired is when I use it only to find books to buy—then I spend some hours reading them and extracting the images and ideas I like. I feel strongly inspired by the Swiss International Style and modernism, with designers like Muller-Brockmann, Max Bill or Massimo Vignelli to mention a few.

. Can you explain your working process? 

It obviously varies depending on the nature of the project: for logo, icon and poster design I usually start from sketch, trying to find some interesting shapes and connect them with the idea I’m trying to communicate. If I feel excited enough about it then I keep trying things in Illustrator, adding colour and getting more polished results. Most of the times the colors have been already decided in the sketch itself as they are a meaningful part of my work.

. Professionally, what’s your goal?

My only goal for now is to keep learning and working in as many different projects as possible.

. Anything to add? Dates or places you wish to announce?

In September I’ll be present on the Graphic Design Festival of Breda (Netherlands) this year exhibiting some posters for an international project with other 45 designers, and also exhibiting my Philographics project in Toulouse (France). I’ll work on self-publish the Philographics book this summer by launching a Kickstarter project, so I’d love everyone interested to stay tuned! You can follow my updates at twitter (@gex00), check my portfolio at www.geniscarreras.com or get some of my posters at www.society6.com/gex6

. See also those website link:
www.geniscarreras.com
www.society6.com/gex6
http://www.behance.net/gex00
http://www.gomediazine.com/design-articles/the-philographics-poster-series-of-genis-carrera/
http://www.paranoias.org/2011/09/philographics-by-genis-carreras/
http://www.awwwards.com/philographics-by-genis-carrera.html

http://blog.iso50.com/27547/philosophy-posters-by-genis-carrera/

http://businessboomcollective.com/0601/simple-the-new-clever-graphic-design-by-genis-carreras

http://pinterest.com/gex00/pins/
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1665336/infographic-posters-reduce-huge-philosophical-ideas-to-shapes-and-colors

For french people: un article sur une exposition parlant de la visualisation de donnes graphism.fr, les affiches philosophique sont présente dans cette exposition.