The other Interview

So yeah, I've sent several messages to several designers. Most of them didn't reply back, however, there were 2 who did. Their works were very interesting and I did prepare some custom questions based on their works and even though I didn't get any responses for the questions I wanted to share their work and what I prepared.

I've been trying to focus on designers who does installations and more complex and detailed work compared just merely graphic. This designer was a huge exception to me. I really like a messy more detailed look with a design and his designs were exactly like that but with a bit of arts here and there which made it look just so interesting to me.

His works were a combinations of painting, both digital and analogue, collages, both digital and analogue along with photography.

I sent him a message and he replied back on the same day. He was very responsive on the chat and we did had an enjoyable conversation.

Here's the profile I made of him after exploring his blog and his Instagram:

Here are my questions:

Q1: Firstly, can you tell me a bit more about your background in design. How you came across your practice, was it through some studies or via a hobby that became your job?

Q2: What does design mean to you personally?

Q3: What are the topics that interest you when you’re designing and why? Maybe also talking about your inspirations.

Q4: There seem to be a concept behind some of your works such as the wisdom (find the screenshot attached). Can you explain a bit more about what it represent to you?

Q5: I’ve been also intrigued by your design ‘Crossing Borders’ (Find the screenshot attached). Even the name in this one sounds very interesting to me. Can you explain a bit about this one as well.

Q6: The design behind Stigmata (Find the screenshot attached) was also yet another one that caught my attention. Can you explain more about this one as well? How you came with the concept and so on?

Q7: I’ve seen from your earlier post a very ‘Picasso-ish’ style of artwork. Would you say you’ve been influenced by old artists?

Q8: I’ve also noticed that most of your work is quite psychedelic. How did you come to develop this style within your work? Was there any influencers or even a part of your life you influenced you?

Q9: Was there any other designer or artist who inspired you with your works?

Q10: There’s also a variety of experimentation within your profile. I can see that you use a mix of analogue and digital design. Would you consider the fusion of these two types of design an improved method of designing? Can you also explain about the advantages you’ve experienced while experimenting.

Q11: I’ve also noticed a use a various media in your works, including painting, photography, and collage. Would you consider it a must for anyone in the creative field to understand various mediums?

Q12: Do you have any favorite medium and why?

Q13: Do you find any challenges in explaining your concepts to your audience in some occasions? How do you overcome these challenges

Q14: What influence do you expect your work to have on your audience?

Q15: Do you think that design can be used as a strong communication language to maybe open a discussion on certain subject? Do you also believe that it can be used for much more than that?

Q16: May I also ask you which of your own designs is your favorite and why?

After this section of the interview I will send you of the design I did for a school brief along with the brief. I will need your feedback on how the message is displayed and what to improve.

However, I didn't get a reply since quite a while after I emailed him the questions. Meanwhile, I was done with my Interview with Rafael. He actually really seemed interested in the beginning.

So I thought it would be better to tell him that I found another designer. But I was indeed interested in what he will reply and in terms of layout, I believe the spread would have had an interesting appeal based on his works. However, I was very confident about the interview with Rafael, since it's actually all that I wanna do in the future.

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The next designer was yet another designer that focuses mostly on products or installations.

Her work is just astonishing, here's a screenshot from her website.

She replied extremely late but she was willing to help too which I really appreciated. So based on all that I could find on her I went straight with the questions with her.

Q1: Firstly, can you tell me a bit more about your background in design. How you came across your practice, was it through some studies or via a hobby that became your job?

Q2: What does design mean to you personally?

Q3: What are the topics that interest you when you’re designing and why? Maybe also talking about your inspirations.

Q4: There seem to be a concept behind some of your works such as the ‘Dispersion’ project. Can you explain a bit more about what it represent to you?

Q5: I’ve been also intrigued by your design ‘Revive the Reef’. It is highly focus on marine life if I’m not mistaken. How you came across the idea? Have you also have a concern for the wellness of marine life?

Q6: I also really like the ‘Lion & Lady’ project. It’s so different from all your other works since it’s a product. Can you please explain how you came with the design and how each part of the product makes it unique?

Her Instagram posts are full of high quality photographs and not too focus on her projects

Q7: I’ve seen from your other posts that you take a lot of photographs as well. So I wanted to know what photography means to you?

Q8: There’s clearly a variety of media from your works, would you consider it a must for the modern designer to be multi disciplinary?

Q9: Was there any designer or artist who inspired you with your works?

Q10: Seeing several of your installations I was curious about the execution, there’s clearly a big work of research and experimentation to obtain the final piece. Can you explain a bit about your work process?

Q11: I also believe that through the execution of the project and experimentations there must be various challengers. Can you explain me how you overcame them and maybe what’s the most common challenge you face?

Q12: Do you have any favorite medium and why?

Q13: Do you have any interest in commercial design, since most of your work from your website seems to be directed towards a conceptual work? What is your personal point of view on commercial design?

Q14: What influence do you expect your work to have on your audience?

Q15: As an experienced designer do you think that design is a strong communication language? Do you think that it does the job well and if it has the potential to be used for even more than that?

Q16: May I also ask you which of your own designs is your favorite and why?

Q17: Do you believe that there’s a need for some more discursive and responsible designs in the world?

Q18: I’d also appreciate if you could rate one of my school project whereby I had to come up with a conceptual typographic piece.

"The brief was called 'I Am Amplifier', it is a piece of protest as well, whereby we were to re-contextualize the role of a designer, and yes it also has a relation with the brief for the interview. That's why I questioned you a lot about your perspective on design. The final piece was meant to be a typographic placard. Feel free to read the official brief attached below.

For my piece, I did a quite simple typographic 'Be Aware' to state that a designer has to be aware of the effect of his designs. The typography has a concrete texture to it since I was inspired by events such as the man-made islands from Dubai which caused a lot of damage to the marine life as well as the construction of a road 'La Rue Verdun' from my home country 'Mauritius' which caused a lot of landslides. The texture was to link the design to these infrastructural developments that destroyed the environment.

Furthermore, the typography was made with a mixture of analogue and digital aids, since I was inspired by a Stefan Sagmeister's quote, where he talk about 'giving design an organic form'. The design look 'broken' to show the impact that a flawed design has on both human beings and the environment. The relation with architectural development was also showed by how the letters are stacking over each other."

From your experience with conceptual designs, do you think the message is clear enough? And what would you suggest to improve the design?

But..... you've guessed it... no replies xD

I really did appreciate this project tho, it exposed me to lots of creative designers in today's world.