Jason Dean: poster, designer (english version)

In English:

Jason Dean is a graphic designer/illustrator from Florida. He created a website to sale is own posters, thebestpart.com. Everything is limited edition, local partners, handmade processes and natural inks are used whenever possible. His last innovation including two different layers of phosphorescent inks, so when the lights go out you can see a other aspect of New York, San Francisco... He has a modern aesthetic, and old fashion style. Jason like to share is favorite link on his Facebook page, go take a lock. He succeed and can live from his business, it's a very talented and a lucky guy. Thank you Jason for your interest in participation in this blog.

En Français:

Jason Dean est un graphiste/illustrateur originaire de Floride (USA). Il propose des posters en édition limitée sur sont site thebestpart.com. Des points importants, tout est fait localement, avec des encres naturelles et à la main. Grâce à l'utilisation d'une encre phosphorescente, il a élaboré une série d'affiches sérigraphies, offrent une vision de jour et de nuit de villes comme New York, San Francisco... Ces créations font preuve de diversités et son style reste personnel, moderne tout en ayant une ambiance rétro. Il réussit à vivre de sa passion et de ces créations. Il nous décrit sont parcoure dans cette interview. Un grand merci pour sa participation.

Can you tell me about "the best part" website?

Originally "The Best Part" was simply an art/design blog, created more for myself than anyone else. I (borderline obsessively) like to catalog things that inspire me, and a simple website was my way of doing that. After years of working days at a design firm and coming home to work on the blog at night, I felt like I needed to do something of my own. So I quit my day job and began creating posters, which had always been something of a dream for me. Luckily my wife is very supportive and understood why I wanted to leave a perfectly good job that I was very lucky to have. I'm still obsessive about documenting things that inspire me, so while the blog in its original form no longer exists I still post links to things I like via Facebook and Twitter. They're so much more immediate than a traditional site and this allows me to spend my day working on posters rather than tweaking code. All of these different things still fall under the umbrella of "The Best Part" though.

What was the most challenging part in creating "day and night in" poster?

The most challenging part was the printing process itself. Don't get me wrong, I didn't print those personally. But it would be wrong not to recognize the fantastic and excruciatingly painstaking work that my printer David Chad did on the "Day and Night" series. Not only did he have to print and perfectly register 7 different ink colors on a constantly changing page (paper contracts with each layer as more ink is applied to its surface, sometimes drastically), he had to mix two different intensities of phosphorescent inks to make sure that the things I wanted to glow most prominently did exactly that. All from a garage in hot & humid Central Florida with no air conditioning, and no computers. The man is a craftsman and he involves me in every step of the process, I really can't say enough about how lucky I am to have him.

What work do you most enjoying doing?

I always say that my favorite project is the next one. The beginning ideation stages of designing a poster are both scary and exciting, you have nothing but a blank sheet of paper in front of you with which to communicate an idea that people will want to buy. The process is addictive, reaching that AHA! moment when you know you have something good is possibly the greatest feeling on earth. But once it's done, I'm usually over it and want nothing to do with it again. I'm too busy obsessing over the next idea!

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?