DC97 PAUL SYCH – FAITH

May 6th, 2012 by Ryan McGovern. Published under Chats. No Comments.

Jazz musician turned designer turned York University professor is a self taught creative who has run his design group called Faith for 21 years. Here are some of the highlights from our discussion: MORE…

Paul doesn’t like the word “graphic” to describe what he does.

One of his first design jobs was with a famous design shop called “Reactor” where he worked with Louis Fishauf.

“Type is my home”

“When I’m thrown a client, I think, How can I mess this up and make it mine.”

“The computer to me is the instrument, not the tool. When people say that the computer is a tool, it pisses me off. I improvise with that instrument.”

How he told his first client, “Don’t worry about the project, just have faith.” Then he got in his car and decided that’s the right name for his company. “I tell people Faith stands for spiritualized imagination.” Paul tells the story of how he actually worked out of a church for 6 years and how he had to sell the building.

Sych reveals how he was once owner of the fashion magazine, Lush and how his relationship and involvement with the publication has evolved over the years.

All of the fonts he designs are named with three letters because its his lucky number.

How he never thought that he would be doing work in the fashion industry.

How he’s inspired by his students, “Sometimes they’re kickin’ my ass and I think that’s a great thing.”

When talking about a student’s transition, “The real world is bullshit. I had clients who were rude, and it just really rubbed me the wrong way. So what I had to do is find people I wanted to work with. You have to be cautious, thats my advice.”

Bonus!! Watch for the surprise visit by Rick Valicenti.

DC96 NANCY SKOLOS

April 29th, 2012 by Ryan McGovern. Published under Chats. No Comments.

Nancy Skolos is a designer and Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design since 1989. Adding to the panel of the Archive11 in Chicago, she joins us to tell stories about how she argued with Saul Bass while judging competition in 1985. And how she took a class at RISD along with younger students 5 years ago, just so she could learn web design.

She used that knowledge to design and program her own site, skolos-wedell.com, whom she shares with her husband. She explains why her website is also an archive of their work dating back to 1980.

Her advice inspires the audience as she suggests to maybe not finish a photograph when you take it, because you won’t want to lay design on top of it. On teaching design – “It’s all about curiosity – the faculty has to be passionate and curious and the students – if you’re all in it together it has an energy of it’s own.”

DC95 ALFONSO ALBAISA – NISSAN DESIGN AMERICA

April 29th, 2012 by Ryan McGovern. Published under Chats. No Comments.

Alfonso Albaisa, Vice President of Nissan Design America, joined us on August 10th, 2011 and changed the way we think about DesignChat. Here are some of the highlights of our conversation:

Mr. Albaisa talking about the art of automobile sculpture: We’re so lucky to do what we do -we get to see them as scale models, fx 35 – like an egg had intercepted an aircraft carrier. At infinity we want to be an alternative to tier 1 where we’re a very emotional and sculptural alternative.

Mr. Albaisa on how the public reacts to NDA’s designs: Design is a reflection of culture but also a reflection of our team members.

At each stage of the modeling development, you can see the designers get more excited. At the end of the day, we’re children – and to see our dreams become real is like a drug to us, I mean we’re just chasing that thing… that feeling… its a beautiful thing to watch. The design process has benefited from technology, but has never lost its root in art.

Mr. Albaisa on Shiro Nakamura – He taught me that without a sense of who we are and where we want to go, our art will suffer.

Mr. Albaisa on what it means to design a vehicle today: Humans were never meant to go 70 mph, so the very basic principle of an automobile is to take people beyond their reality.

Mr. Albaisa on the Nissan Cube – The designer had the idea that there shouldn’t be glass where the driver doesn’t look out— only where their line of vision was, and it was an idea that got carried all the way to production. When you see it in the United States, its an odd little kitten.

Mr. Albaisa also talks about his admiration for the Japanese culture. After the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the people of the company bounced back in an amazing way.

DC94 DR. STEFAN G. BUCHER

April 5th, 2012 by Ryan McGovern. Published under Chats. No Comments.

Dr. Stefan Bucher joined the discussion on DesignChat on July 20th, 2011. Like the previous guest, Robert Petrick, he is a judge for the STA’s Archive 11 show and will travel to Chicago to participate in all events.

Stefan reveals that part of the motivation in using inkblots for The Daily Monster is that it is difficult for him to start drawings because he immediately self-censors his work. ”I’m really good at finishing, not so good at starting.”

He claims to have screwed up his first job at W+K by working hard, and not understanding the nature of the agency. ”Sometimes there are situations that are not right for you, and it’s ok to walk away from them and it doesn’t diminish you as a person.”

Stefan’s favorite font is his own hand-writing, that he recently had converted to a typeface. ”It’s Bucher Book, bitches!” When asked what he would be if his current career pat didn’t exist, he answered, “If I wasn’t a designer, I’d be… hopefully a musician but maybe a vagrant.”

For more info on Dr. Bucher, check out his wikipedia page (which I’m sure is 100% accurate) and his websites, 344, The Daily Monster, and his personal site.

DC93 ROBERT PETRICK

April 3rd, 2012 by Ryan McGovern. Published under Chats. No Comments.

In this episode of DesignChat that aired July 13th, 2011, we learn about how Robert entered contest to design a logo for the Cleveland Browns as a young man, and how the most difficult part was figuring out what a “Brown” was and what it should look like.

Robert also discusses how to build trust over a long period of time with a client, what the Archive 11 means to him, and how saying yes to a client’s idea isn’t a bad thing.

DC92 MATTSON CREATIVE

April 1st, 2012 by Ryan McGovern. Published under Chats. No Comments.

In our conversation with Ty Mattson from June 29th, 2011, we get him to talk about how small is the new big, Lennie Kravitz makes his coffee, and designing for a friend’s band who turned out to be Maroon 5.

DC90 RICH SULLIVAN

September 19th, 2011 by James Gray. Published under Chats. 1 Comment.

DC88 JASON SANTA MARIA

August 23rd, 2011 by Ryan McGovern. Published under Chats. 1 Comment.

Design superstar Jason Santa Maria (aka: The Most SEO’d Designer on the Internet) spends an hour with us discussing his fan/work relationship with They Might Be Giants, seeing one of his logos tattooed on someone, his excitement for the world of TypeKit and his biggest design catastrophe.

DC87 MAKE

August 15th, 2011 by Ryan McGovern. Published under Chats. 1 Comment.

From the beginnings of their “babycakes” college romance in Michigan to the blossoming of their careers as MAKE in Chicago, Abby and Jesse bring the same vibrance in their relationship to their work.
The best quote of the show goes to Abby Wynne, “Gotham is way too slutty for me right now.”

DC86 CAROLINA DE BARTOLO

August 12th, 2011 by Ryan McGovern. Published under Chats. No Comments.

An amazing website used to promote the book Explorations in Typography; Mastering the Fine Art of Typesetting lead me to discover its writer and typography instructor, Carolina de Bartolo. Together we nerd-out on typography and the roller coaster we all ride as we learn how to practice it.
Carolina’s charm and infectious laughter carry us through our hour-long conversation, which included two video questions and a handful of though-provoking audience text-questions.