Elana Schlenker: designer (english version)

Elana Schlenker is a Designer/Art Director. She being as an art director at Conde Nast and now she work at Princeton Architectural Press 

My description of her, is : type, attention to detail, simple shape, hand-crafted elements, good balance, beautifully designed, magazine, magazine and magazine. Because, she create her own culture magazine The Original in 2006, and now this magazines change for her current passion, Gratuitous Type, which in her own words she described as “a pamphlet of typographic smut.” Elana have clear eye for design, without borderline.

She accept to describe herself in this post. Thank you for her participation in this blog.

. Can you tell us who you are? 

I am a graphic designer based in Brooklyn. I currently work in the in-house design department at Princeton Architectural Press. I also publish Gratuitous Type (gratuitoustype.com), a magazine about design and typography, and maintain a small freelance practice.

. Can you explain your work at  Princeton Architectural Press? 

I'm a designer at Princeton Architectural Press a publisher based in the East Village in New York. We specialize in architecture and design books, but the titles we publish are incredibly eclectic — each project is completely different from the last. At PAPress I am responsible for designing books (usually about 3-4 each season) and also miscellaneous collateral for the company — marketing materials, promotional sites, even book trailers. It is a very small company (the design department is just me; another designer, Ben English; and our Design Director, Paul Wagner), so our roles really vary from day to day.

. What do you feel is the most challenging thing about typography? 

For me I suppose it is resisting the urge to use typography that is super-trendy. Sometimes the trendy stuff is so pretty! I try to mix the old with the new, the timely and the timeless. There's a balance to strike, and the challenge is in finding it. 

. How would you describe your style? 

Generally, I try to make relatively simple, content-focused work, with an emphasis on strong typography, form, and color. I try to inject humor where I can, but of course, that's not always appropriate. What's unseen in my work, but a big part of what I do, is the organization of information. With my editorial background, I've very focused on the structure and hierarchy of information, narrative, etc, and I bring this to each project — from books to logos and websites.

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!

Andy Singleton: artist, illustrator (english version)

Andy Singleton is a paper artist and illustrator based in Wakefield, England. He studied Animation with Illustration at Manchester Metropolitan University. He has produced work for variety of clients, including the Crafts Council, Liberty, Hermés, Kensington Palace, Seifried and Mack, DDB Australia, The Hepworth and Lazerian, (specific installations, window displays, illustration, brand graphic...) Andy is available for private and commercial projects. Passion and patience is probably the most important point in this work. I feel like this artist is a kind of engineer, because he have those skills: observation, techniques, and good sense for details. I can pass hours to figure at how he create those papers installations. He presented himself and his work, below. Thank you to him.

. What is your approach to life?

If you have an opportunity, take it! Work hard to achieve what you want but never forget to have fun and enjoy life. Travel when you can afford it. Don't live in the past, try to look to the future. 

. How did you get started as an illustrator?

I've always been interested in drawing, even as kid I was into it deeply. I eventually studied Illustration and Animation at Manchester Metropolitan University, but it took me few years to settle after graduating and start taking things seriously. I worked for free a lot on my own projects trying to get the right people to notice me. I was working on big, intricate pieces, like murals and installations, that were hard to ignore. So my practice has grown from more than typical illustration. This approach was really encouraged on my degree course and its one I would encourage for others.

. What is the average number of days that you take to creation your design?

It varies really, I find the two dimensional paper cutting works take longer to realise than the 3D pieces. But there are more stages to the 3D work, which usually takes a couple of prototype model before making the final piece. The 3D paper chickens took 5 days to make from sketch to prototype to final model. The London Cityscape paper cutting I created recently took about a month of solid work to complete. So it depends on what I'm making. 

. What is the best part about your job?

I love being able to come into my studio everyday, get some music on and just make things for myself and for other people. It's exciting to get a new commission and produce a new piece of work and it's usually something really different so its always interesting. Being able to do what you love for a living is amazing.

Atipo®: design studio and type foundry (english version)

Atipo is small studio located in Gijón in the north of Spain. This studio wanted to make a more personal project that allowed them to develop work from other perspectives, and be able to freely combine all the disciplines they love, such as typography, photography, illustration, video...
Their works, are sophisticate, clear, with a lot off recherche and reference. I hop you will appreciate the font they create. You can download those for free.
I am thankful to their participation.

. Please tell us a bit about your professional background.

Atipo is formed by Raul Garcia and Ismael Gonzalez Pomar. We meet each other during  study in fine art at Salamanca. We are graduate in Graphic Design and Audiovisual. After several years working in different studios, web and branding agencies, we decided (during the middle of a crisis, early in 2010) to implement our project staff. We define ourselves as a multidisciplinary study and we try to profit of all things we love in each of our projects, either through the illustration, video or typeface. These two years have been very intense but very grateful, we have achieved in a short time that our work had been seen in numerous blogs and publications. In addition we have received several prizes: a Laus, a Brand New Award, a European Design Award and five Motiva awards. 

. How did you start designing Bariol type?

There are not many rounded fonts and most of them derived from a non-rounded typefaces. We decided that Bariol were a rounded type from the beginning. The development was long and the structure suffered several modifications. The look now is a mixture of Helvetica with DIN but with an personal air, as well as versatile and highly readable.
FREE FONT: Download Bariol Regular for free by just paying with Tweet. 

. What was the most challenging part in creating Cassannet type ?

Cassannet is a font based on the style of lettering seen on Cassandre posters and the biggest challenge was to collect the spirit of the Art Nouveau style and give a modern look in the same time. We believe it is a type that works well as a display, especially in editorial design but we have seen it working in different ways, such as logo or printed on a poster.

FREE FONT:  Download Cassannet for free by just paying with a Tweet

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?

Dominique Falla: designer, artist (english version)

Dominique Falla is very busy. She does all most everything: Typography, Web Design, Drawing, Painting, Digital Design, Project Management, Teaching, Writing.... Dominique works in a variety of tactile mediums and combines digital creation with analogue output for exhibition and publication. 

She completed her Bachelor of Art, in Graphic Design, and her Masters of Design. She is now undertaking a Doctorate of Visual Arts (DVA) at Griffith University.  Her doctoral research investigates Tactile Typography, for sure she love type! In 2010, Dominique founded the "We Heart" Collective, in which a group of designer/artists collaborate on group exhibitions with shared common themes. She is also a participating designer/artist in the Flat White Spaces project. Now she is a Creative Director, and she evolve on the Design Convener at Griffith University, and contribute to Desktop Magazine online. She just create Postcards from Rome. 

 

.When creating graphics, what do you feel is the most important aspect: Planning, design or implementation... And why?

With my pieces, planning is very important. I can't really change my mind once something is started so for me the planning is VERY important. Obviously the implementation is what most people get to see, so I would say both of them equally.

.What was your favoite project ?

They are all my favourite project when I start and then I hate them all when I'm doing them and then at the end I either love them or hate them still. It's a very passionate relationship I have with my pieces.

.Where do you go for inspiration? 

I write morning pages every morning in my note book. 3 A4 pages of writing and this taps into my subconscious, which helps me generate ideas. 

.Who is your favourite designer? 

I like anyone who uses unusual materials, so Marian Bantjes and Stefan Sagmeister are the two designers most people would know.

.What are the key things that are essential with typography?

Kerning and letter spacing is the most important. Typeface selection, weight and balance is also important. Matching the personality of the typeface with what the message is saying can help to reinforce the message. A balance of legibility and readability.

.What is the number one thing you would like to tell to new designers?

Do something you love and keep working on personal projects. Submit work for competitions, blogs, build online folios, build your social networks, and keep making new work. If you wait for a client to tell you what to do, you will be very depressed very quickly.

Her new project: Postcards from Rome. 
www.postcardsfromromeproject.com I am fund-raising for a typography workshop in Rome (Italy) and people can participate by requesting I make a postcard artwork for them before May 25. This is run by the School of Visual Arts in New York and one of my typography heroes, Lousie Fili is going to be there. Yay!

Link to: 
http://www.dominiquefalla.com/
www.postcardsfromromeproject.com
http://www.designworklife.com/2011/09/21/dominique-falla-we-are-all-a-part-of-the-same-thing/
http://www.tactiletypography.com/
http://dribbble.com/moonsail
http://www.behance.net/moonsail
http://www.behance.net/moonsail

Amelie Chabannes: artist (english version)

Let’s do the promoting of a French artist lives in USA. Amelie Chabannes study at ENSAD, Paris and she move in Brooklyn in 2003. She exhibited regularly in France (FIAC, Hussenot Gallery, La Hune Gallery ...). Her themes are related to her personal history with the connections and the disconnections between countries.

It is a fact, in France the young artists struggling to emerge. She took the opportunity to live in a cities where art is riche and promote as London, San Francisco…, and she have the advantage to have great sponsors.

Fallow up, she describe her experience, the way she working... thank you for participating.

. What was your first art production?

A series of photographed installations and after that a precious list series of drawings, it was a real "cadastre"! We was able to found topography on paper, actors, objects, the location of the camera... this was a precise notes of installations facilities and the impact on use.

Jeanne Verdoux: graphic designer in New York (english version)

Introduction en français: Voici une française "expatriée" qui nous décrit son parcours, ses influences… Jeanne Verdoux est graphiste, artiste et professeur à New York.  Et oui, cette fois-ci l'interview se déroule en anglais. Je ne vais pas vous mentir je compte bien développer ce blog dans ce sens. Mais ne vous inquiétez pas cet anglais est compréhensible. Pour illustrer cette interview elle a fournit une illustration réalisée pour le New York Times (journal que je recommande vivement aux Français, pour sa section art.)  

Jeanne Verdoux is a French graphic designer, artist and professor living in New York. You can see her work at www.jeanneverdoux.com and www.todaysdrawing.blogspot.com.  Thank you for her participation and to provide me explosif illustrations.

. What's your approach between Contemporary Art and Graphic Design? Quelle est votre relation à l'art et comment appréhendez-vous les rapports entre graphisme et art contemporain ?  

I approach Art and Graphic Design in the same way. I make art as a designer and design as an artist. The only difference for me between art and design is the commissioner: if there is one, it's design, if not, it's art.

. What's your influences and your inspirational? Avez-vous une influence particulière ?  
I have many influences in art, design and cinema. Among others, I admire Saul Steinberg for his brilliant drawings, Louise Bourgeois for her mysterious feminine sculptures and Jacques Tati for his magical humor.

. You live in New York (Brooklyn).  Why did you choose your city?  How you get here? J'ai remarqué que vous vivez à New York. Pourquoi cette ville ? Et comment avez vous fait ?  

I grew up in Paris with parents who read the New Yorker and were cinephiles. This had a big impact on my visual culture. After living in Paris and studying in London, New York seemed the only possible destination. I received the 'Villa Medicis Hors-les-Murs' price in 1999 to come to New York. It allowed me start up my work here.

. How you get famous?  Comment vous êtes fait vous connaître ? 

Friends and collaborators, friends of friends and making new connections in the fields I am interested in. Being active and keeping colleagues informed on my production.

. What type of clients are you looking for?  Quel style de clients ou de travail recherchez-vous ?  

Clients who have an understanding of my work and are interested by my commentaries on the world. It can be in any field as long as there is room for creativity. I love working for the New York Times, it's like being a journalist communicating with graphic images instead of words.