One Minute With

Author Archives: Conor O'Driscoll

About Conor O'Driscoll

Conor O'Driscoll is a designer and writer, who writes for AppStorm.net. He also enjoys writing about himself in the third person.

One Minute With… Dai Foldes
June 24, 2013 3:00 pm Leave a Comment

Hi Dai, thanks so much for taking the time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

Thanks for approaching me. I make lettering and type from written letter-forms. I do some sign writing as well, of a very unrefined nature. I decided this is what I want to do halfway through my senior year of a painting degree at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, where I happily continue to live (I’m 23 now).

Yeah, I’m curious about that – I mean, especially in the US, a university education isn’t cheap. Did you feel that you had wasted that degree, or did the skills you picked up from painting carry over to an extent?

God, getting right to the tough questions… I went to art school for some badly wrong reasons. Only at the very end did I discover the night-and-day difference between a craft in which you have to force yourself to grudgingly throw out something you know isn’t working and one in which you do it without hesitation. I count my blessings: I acquired some phenomenal mentors and friends who continue to guide me when I ask for help. I can wield a brush and pen in ways that distinguish me from many designers. I think I’m only beginning to translate my tastes in painting into flat design so we’ll see where that leads.

Going right back to the start, how did you get into design, art, and, well, creative pursuits in general? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a designer?

I drew and painted throughout high school. I was no better at it than I was at math or science but a lot of people in my school were good at math and science and we all learned the same things and got the same high grades. Art, I felt, was the better opportunity to get a head start on a career. You put in extra work, your results were more impressive.

At MICA though, I saw how often bullshit is substituted for craftsmanship (and for criticism) in the professional art world. Too stubborn to drop out, I pleaded my way into the brilliant teacher Ellen Lupton’s Design I class, where I could never settle on fonts for wordmarks so I would draw them myself. People told me that’s a thing you can do. Again, I pleaded my way into the Type and Lettering class with House Industries’ Ken Barber and Ben Kiel. That was it. Watching Ken draw letters was like seeing god. Ben nitpicked the tiniest details. Scientific, historic rules and sexy technique? I wanted this for myself.

If you could change one thing about your career to date, what would it be?

I’m making up this “career” as I go along so I really have no excuse for being wistful. I decided I should know more about Open Type functionality so I’ve made it a big part of the script font I’m working on right now.

So I guess a lot of people will know you from Pigeon and Cylburn, two lovely fonts that are decidedly different from each other – How does the creation process of serif and script fonts differ? What new challenges did each bring, and which process did you personally prefer?

To be honest, I started with a serif because it was my first typeface. It was quite enough, learning about spacing, color, harmony, and the software without reckoning with the logistics of a script.

What Pigeon and Cylburn have in common is that they are both derived from writing. That is, the execution of letter-forms in one pass of a tool as opposed to the built-up drawing of lettering. I think it’s easier to treat non-script forms as a canvas for the quirks and gestures of handwriting because the basic forms to which we are accustomed are already so abstracted from their handwritten origins. Most scripts, however, depend on shockingly unyielding formulas which, to my mind, are difficult to take liberties with and get back something good. I’m not sure why that challenge appeals to me so strongly. The calligraphic work I love most doesn’t presume to break the rules. It’s instinctively conscious of them while appearing rakish and facile. That’s the kind of mastery I want in all my work, eventually.

And outside of other graphic design, what inspires – or at least influences – your work, do you think?

I tend to develop extremely strong, almost codified opinions on matters of taste as soon as I begin learning about them. I have a clear idea of the perfect motorcycle but I don’t build motorcycles so that’s not really fair. I do cook a lot (in lieu of rent at the office where I co-work, in fact) and I aspire to cook like a grandma rather than a Food Network chef. Be economical, rely on experience and love rather than fancy ingredients or weird fusions, never apologize. Something else: I took up Lindy Hop last summer and by fall I knew exactly how I wanted to look on the floor. Aside from the qualities everyone wants like nonchalance and the ability to play with expectations of rhythm (I think Bram de Does spoke about the “swing” in Trinité – one of my favorites), I want to be all about making my partner (read: users and clients) look good instead of showing off.

I don’t think that these things and my work really inform each other so much as they are simply driven by the same overarching personal values but that’s the best I can do.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

Someone funny. Michael Palin during the days of Flying Circus. I keep a journal of comedy sketches I wish I could produce.

How would you define success? Do you think you’ve found it yet?

Based on your interviews with people I consider far more successful than I am, success is illusory. That said, I’d like to support myself primarily on self-initiated projects rather than client work.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody looking to get started in design?

This is a video of Ira Glass advising beginners in creative fields. His observations have remained powerfully important to me since I first heard them a few years ago.

Thanks Dai!

Thanks a million to Dai for sharing his thoughts! I really enjoyed talking to him, and found his answers really interesting!

Why not check out Dai’s site, and follow him on Dribbble and Twitter?

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One Minute With… John Choura
May 13, 2013 5:17 pm Leave a Comment

Hi John, thanks for taking the time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

Hi to you, thanks for having me. I’m a 23 year old designer and illustrator. I live in Sunset Beach, CA with my awesome wife Alex, and our little cat. I work at Biola University Communications and Marketing, in the design studio. My wife is also a designer, and we recently celebrated our first year of marriage. Oh, and we’re addicted to the TV show Breaking Bad.

How did you get into design? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a designer?

As a kid in school I had a short attention span, so I’d tucker down in my notebooks and draw whatever was on my mind. Drawing and making things always made me happier than anything else. Jumping forward to high school, I started playing around with pirated version of Photoshop, and started pushing pixels. I was fortunate enough to make websites, and other random stuff for friends and family with it. It was fun, but I didn’t even know I could do this for a living. It’s interesting, I hear a lot of designers with that same experience, that they didn’t fully know who or what a “designer” was until… one day it clicked. College was one of those first clicks (or defining moments), but those life-changing moments tend to continue to happen, I’m sure you know how things go.

If you could change one thing about your career to date, what would it be?

I wouldn’t change a thing. I am happy to have made a lot of good friends, and have had mentors that helped me get to where I am now. I’m still pretty young, and still have a ton to learn; I always try to keep that in mind. Plus, there’s no point to live in regret, just onward and upward.

So, you studied Graphic Design at Biola University, where you now work. In an industry which changes at such a fast rate, do you feel a formal education in design is still relevant?

There is this ongoing debate, that I’m sure you’re aware of, and it’s comprised of formally educated designers and self-taught designers essentially duking it out, as to who’s the most superior breed. It’s only my personal experience, but in my life/career, having a fine arts degree has been a countless blessing. Classes like art history, drawing/figure studies, darkroom photography etc. all helped to bolster the work I was doing in my design classes, and I still reap the benefits.

How would you define the work you do? I mean, you do branding, illustration, print work – Do you see yourself as more of one of those than the others? And do you think designers should narrow themselves into one field/medium or be a jack-of-all-trades?

Massimo Vignelli talks about this profane visual disease that is around us, and how design is the cure to the disease. So whether it’s branding, illustration, or the rest, I’m aiming to be a visual problem solver. Yeah, it sometimes can feel like I’m putting on different proverbial hats, depending on what I’m working on that moment. That back-and-forth has the potential to get confusing, but it all aligns when I think about it all as the means for solving a design problem.

Designers can seem like jacks-of-all-trades, it appears that way because design is so much larger than its mediums. It is a balance, and I believe that we shouldn’t spread ourselves too thin, but it takes time to learn that boundary.

I couldn’t help but admire your desk, which you created yourself – Do you think creative pursuits like these, outside of what we define as “design” enhance you as a designer in any way, or are they just an entirely unrelated hobby?

Thank you sir, I appreciate it. Yeah, working with wood is special, it’s near and dear to me. Long before I knew what design was, I used to make skateboard ramps, among other things, with my dad. I can remember then, having to think through and calculate each decision, to produce the perfect ramp. Knowing what I know now, I treated the desk similarly to how I would design for a layout. I’m no master craftsman, but I keep finding excuses to make things, mostly because I want to get better at it (this is the second desk I’ve made for my home… I think of it as a “Mark II” kind of a thing). The hands-on nature of the whole process is very informative, and is loaded with design lessons.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

I’ll answer as an extension of the last question; I’d love to be some old carpenter dude. To be able to work day-in and day-out in a woodshop, with all the best equipment, would be a dream. It makes me feel happy inside just thinking about it.

How would you define success? Do you think you’ve found it yet?

In all things, success is defined by a person who has balance, this is someone who has a practical understanding of many things through and through, by way of experience. It’s a bit like the philosophical idea of virtue, where at the center of the scale is virtue, and at the opposite ends is vice; so to be virtuous means to be balanced. Gaining balance is the tough part, but if I can be the kind of person/teammate/client who is willing to learn from my vices, I’ll hopefully find it.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design?

Have self-initiated projects, they’ll keep you on your toes. Don’t be intimidated to contact people you don’t know. Make good friends, and keep them. The client is always right, sometimes. Make mistakes, and learn from them. Lastly, love what you do.

Thanks John!

Many thanks to John for sharing his thoughts with OMW. I had a lot of fun talking to him, and I hope you enjoy the interview as much I do!

Why not check out John’s site, and follow him on Dribbble and Twitter?

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One Minute With… Marie Bergeron
May 9, 2013 5:56 pm Leave a Comment

Hi Marie, thanks for taking the time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

Well thank you for having me, glad to be part of it!

I officially started my career a few months ago, as a freelance illustrator (mostly) & designer. I’m based in Montreal, but most of my clients are located in the States. For a Frenchie, it is most satisfying – We get the chance to grow our community outside of here in Quebec and even if the internet plays a huge part in this maybe-success, it’s still a big step for someone like me.

I work digitally 100% of the time. I love to explore new tools though, which is why I think I produce different styles over and over again in my illustrations. And I usually focus on the mood, which is why experimenting will let me capture the feel I want to have in the drawing – Sometimes it’ll look like closer to painting, but other times it’ll look very digital. To be honest, I’m currently trying to make some space in my office to start traditional art, but this will take time… Got to be patient!

How did you get into design? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a designer?

As far back as I remember, one thing I knew was that I was a serious fan of visual art in general. I studied cinema, publicity and communication for 5 years, but I didn’t think it was enough – I wanted to go to the very base of visual art: Creating it. So, one day I was flipping through the pages of a never-ending list of career and university programs. My finger stopped at Graphic Design but it actually took me 2 years before I was able to enter the program: I had nothing to show at that time.

I studied at the Centre de Design in Montreal. It was, and still is, a great school, with over 600 people applying each year and only a few getting in. I had no idea where I was going, but I felt it was what I needed. Having a Bachelor’s degree in graphic design completely changed everything: I don’t regret one bit of the program. I learned so much and I think those years gave me inspiration and a strong base.

Meanwhile, I was drawing on the side, trying a few things in my spare time. I had a few contracts here and there for some small firms, which slowly but surely helped me build up some confidence in this business. With time, I discovered more about the design field, like how I suck at typography (I have mad respect for those who don’t) but completely fell in love with the illustration world. I still work on branding (which I enjoy a lot too) but illustration is taking up more and more space. I’m not complaining of course – I hope it grows even bigger. It’s not the end, but only the beginning.

I’ve got to say that everything exploded when I created my final Bachelor’s project. I chose to create a book with 25 illustrations based on my top films from the last decade. I learned a lot, and this is when I found some sort of a style – Something that could work nicely with the book. This is where it all started.

If you could change one thing about your career to date, what would it be?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. If I refused or agreed to do something that I shouldn’t have, well, it’s only experience, not a regret.

On your site, you sell a load of prints of your work. In an industry where work can fluctuate so greatly, how important is a passive income source, do you feel?

Yes, you are absolutely right but it’s not as important as it looks. It was mostly because people were starting to ask for a particular print that I developed the store. And there’ll always be a curious new fan coming in who enjoys your previous work. I don’t count on these to pay my bills, but it is very satisfying at first when someone buys a print and hangs it on their wall. You know that somewhere, you made someone happy, which is the best part.

You’ve done a load of film illustrations, most of which are more representative of the film that the film’s artwork itself. What do you think of the current state of film art?

Good question. Regarding film art like posters and such, Mondo takes the lead with a few great names out there. But nowadays, a thousand or more want to do the same thing – Our work could easily get lost in this noise, there is too much going on. The fanbase you build is there to support you and helps so much. If you’re lucky and work hard, it will only grow and you’ll be able to pass this noise field. I’m still really far from the top – Still a lot to do!

It seems like galleries want to be part of this huge community too. In a week, you can have 4 shows going on just in one city, all about films. It is nice to see that happening but I think it’s becoming too loose: Now, it seems that if you’re capable of doing some sort of a movie poster in Illustrator, you’re automatically in. Exposure should be chosen more carefully – but then again, I’ve had my chance, why shouldn’t others? I won’t be the one judging if your work is worthy or not.

Something else is also going on, on the very top of it all: Those big Hollywood studios are starting to go with freelancers to conceptualize movie posters. Just starting though. Personally, however, I’m not a huge fan of creating movie posters – I prefer working on a particular scene or an actor’s emotion, for example.

On that subject, if you could have done the artwork and “branding” for any film in the past, which would you choose, and how would you have done it differently?

I have no idea! I guess a lot of movies. But differently? None that I can think of. The films that I would have loved to work on are mostly the films I enjoy visually, so why change anything? Tarantino’s films are probably the ones that most artists dream of working on. When well-executed, credits are something that I enjoy a lot – I might try something like that later on.

I actually did sell a print to Paramount for an upcoming summer film. It won’t be the official poster or whatever, just part of some third act marketing stuff, if they choose to use it. But just the fact that it reached someone there makes me so happy, and curious to see what it will change for me in the near future.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

Sagmeister for his general remarkable thoughts on design. Olly Moss for working with great film studios. Banksy for his love of art, and great conceptual ideas. Sam Spratt for his skills.

How would you define success? Do you think you’ve found it yet?

Success is when you are able to live a decent life with what you enjoy creating. When people want your work more than anyone else’s. When you are respected by most artists. When you are happy in what you do.

No, of course I’m not successful: Success is far, far away. Like I said, I hope everything that I’m doing right now is only the beginning of something even bigger. I know it is. I’m still in my “let’s experiment” days more than anything else.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design?

Work hard, try hard. Do what you enjoy the most, don’t worry about the failure – Just concentrate on getting better. Be patient and don’t give up!

Thanks Marie!

Many thanks to Marie for taking some time to talk to One Minute With. I really enjoyed interviewing her, and hopefully you enjoyed reading it!

Why not check out Marie’s site, and follow her on Dribbble and Twitter?

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One Minute With… Chris DeLorenzo
April 22, 2013 5:37 pm Leave a Comment

Hi Chris, thanks for taking the time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

I am Chris DeLorenzo, I’m 26 years old, living and working in Boston as a graphic designer and illustrator. I spend my days designing fun and humorous shirts for the clothing line Johnny Cupcakes. But it doesn’t stop at shirts, I design posters, flyers, web graphics (but more recently a web site), hats, sweatshirts, stickers, keychains, signage for the stores, and even the stores themselves. After hours I’m usually caught illustrating and doodling some more. My personal work is more expressive and hand-drawn – Lately, I’ve been very into creating characters and floral, ornate objects that are familiar but have been put through this new Chris filter. This year I really feel like I’ve been focused more on creating my own world – or vision – in my art than I ever have before.

How did you get into design? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a designer?

I have always been crafty and I definitely have a good case of ADD – I knew I didn’t have the patience to sit for hours at a canvas and paint a picture or be decisive and say “this is my thing” and do that for a number of years. I was attracted to design because of the freedom of projects, the turnaround time and the way that design trickled down from a set of principles and ideals rather than a medium. It was a way for me to sharpen my brain from all sides rather than just one. I was going to go into illustration as a major but my friend Aimee told me that design was the more fun major. She was pretty, so I signed up.

If you could change one thing about your career to date, what would it be?

I like my career so far, but I would love to change my location. I would rather be on the west coast or in Europe, haha!

Johnny Cupcakes is very definitely a brand with a personality – Does this make it harder or easier, do you feel, for you to express your own personality through your work? Do you think that putting personality into design is important, and if so, how do you go about doing that?

Putting personality into design is one of the most important things a designer can do in order to fill that void we designers all have between being an artist and being a designer. Some people are okay with just pumping out work for other people, but if you’re like me, you want to put your stamp on it. If you can do a job for somebody else that also has a little touch of you in it then you’ve succeeded. Personality is what makes this world so interesting – If no designer fought for their work than we would live in a very banal, vanilla world. Your personality comes through in your thinking, not just your execution. People think you need to have a style, but you really need to have a lens, because that’s what you’re offering in the end. Here’s a common scenario that has a weird and convoluted solution – There are always going to be clients that just want you to do something their way and you’re going to need money, so you do the work but don’t put it in your portfolio. Instead, put the version that you loved but the client didn’t choose in your portfolio, so that when the next client comes around they pick you because they saw your personality, vision and style, rather than that you were just a subordinate design gun for hire. Haha, there’s got to be a better way though.

You studied graphic design at Syracuse University. In an industry that changes as rapidly as ours, do you see a formal education in design as necessary and/or beneficial?

Yes, it is definitely beneficial. The less education, the less history, the less foundation we have to build off of, the less rich design becomes. Without formal education design, becomes a very superficial, competitive community. You need to learn to take criticism, to work in groups, to understand how to think like an industrial designer or an interior designer when you’re needed to. Especially at the age we enter school our minds are so malleable that it would be a shame not to put it into a thousand different scenarios and problems that it has to figure out, so by the time you’re in your mid-twenties, you are very surprised by how much you know and what you can do. Exposure is one of the keys to approaching design.

Where do you see yourself in, say, 5 or 10 years? Do you still hope to be working at Johnny Cupcakes, or do you want to have moved onto some bigger (or smaller) by then?

I hope to change cities in a few years. I want to call the world my home, not just a coastline. I hope to have a sweet beard, and some tattoos by then. But on the career side, I would love to start pushing my own drawings more, be involved in more art shows, work with bigger clients, show the world that flowers can be masculine, take all the creative people I know and never let them go. I just love working on projects with people I admire.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

I would love to live the life of Dalí for a day. He was like a Willy Wonka but respected by the culturati. I would drink wine, ride chrome bulls down spiral staircases, make a pizza out of women and skulls, and get away with puns. But if we’re talking about a living person than probably Damien Hirst because I would love to know exactly just what it is he does all day.

How would you define success? Do you think you’ve found it yet?

Success can be defined in small and big ways. A small success these days consist of having your inbox at zero or not looking at your phone all day. On a bigger scale, success is waking up and not dreading the day. If you can do that, congratulations. No matter how much money you have or where you are in the world, if you love waking up and aren’t bothered by the forthcoming tasks then you are the complete human being.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design?

Make friends with everybody, make connections. Be nice. Take on a lot of jobs of all different kinds at first so you can figure out which ones you really like or that you enjoy the most and then pursue those jobs more.

Thanks Chris!

Thanks so much to Chris for giving us an insight into his world! I really enjoyed talking to him, and found his answers really interesting!

Why not check out Chris’ site, and follow him on Dribbble and Twitter?

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One Minute With… Timothy J. Reynolds
March 29, 2013 3:12 pm Leave a Comment

Hi Timothy, thanks for taking the time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

Hi, thanks for the interview! I’m a 3D illustrator currently living in Milwaukee, WI but was born and raised in Winston-Salem, NC. I moved here for a job about three years ago. Just before that, I had sold everything I owned back in early 2009 and left my hometown to look for something more. I lived in Denver for a few months, drove around the country for a bit freelancing out of hotel rooms and then spent the better part of a year in Atlanta.

How did you get into design? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a designer?

Pretty typical story there in that I’ve always drawn since I was old enough to hold a crayon. Rainy days after school just meant stay inside and draw. I really enjoyed all of my art classes more than any others throughout school. But it was probably during the first year of college that I realized I wanted to do something design-related. I can still remember the first time being introduced to Photoshop [version 6, I think] as a freshman in college and just staring at all of those confusing buttons. I knew then that I had to figure how to use it. Then a few years later, I went back to school for architecture where I stumbled into 3D software [SketchUp] and I fell in love with it. Building and moving stuff around in 3D space was like a dream come true. 2006-ish. That’s when I knew [loosely] what I wanted to do.

If you could change one thing about your career to date, what would it be?

I don’t think I would change anything about my career so far. I’ve been lucky enough to work in a few different industries that have really helped me progress as a designer. I’ve worked for architecture firms, trade show companies, and marketing agencies.

You’ve got a pretty unique style, full of low poly 3D renders. Do you think it’s important to have a style in an industry as diverse as ours? Did you set out to develop this style, or did it just evolve naturally?

Sure, I’d definitely say style is important. But I also think being able to offer a variety of styles, or even having a few different skill-sets, is important. If the whole low-poly bubble bursts tomorrow, and it might, I’m really fortunate to also have a grasp in exhibit design and architecture, too. I spent years trying to figure out a style that I was not only happy with how it looked, but happy to make. The process is a wonderful thing. From sketch to modeling to lighting to rendering to post, it’s all so much fun. Every time I open Cinema 4D and see that blank screen with all of those buttons, I get excited. I’m sure other illustrators feel the same way about Photoshop/Illustrator/etc.

So you studied architecture in college – How does that translate into the work you’re doing now? Do you think it proved to be worth the investment, both in time and money?

It’s funny, I initially went to a university for a few years but ending up just taking art classes and ignoring all of my “required” classes. Apparently, they don’t care for that. I got away with it for a good two and half years, though. It was a fun “party” school in the Appalachian Mountains of NC [ASU]. After I came home and tried to figure out what was next, I enrolled in a 2-year Associate’s degree in Architecture. That’s where I was introduced to 3D software. I quickly fell in love with the possibilities. Finished that up in 2006 and started working in the industry the same week I graduated with a firm my Professor hooked me up with. I quickly figured out that architecture might not be a perfect fit for me. It was a bit too technical and I knew from school that I was in for [at least] 5+ years of grunt work just to possibly get anywhere with it and/or to be able to do anything creative in the field. I was in for years of being a “CAD monkey.” And I definitely did not enjoy AutoCAD and that was essentially what my degree bought me a job in. Long story short, that quick, affordable degree was a stroke of luck that set me on the right path.

A few years back, you essentially started a whole new life for yourself, selling all of your possessions and moving state. Can you tell us that story? Has it had a positive impact on your life, do you feel?

Oops, I hit on that a bit in the first question. Sorry! But sure, I can talk more about it. I think it had just become more and more evident to me that I needed to leave my hometown. I had recently turned 26 and felt an internal panic that I was going to die there, that I wasn’t going to ever find what[ever] I was looking for there. That might sound dramatic, but I really felt that way and I knew I had to take off. Obviously, leaving family and friends and everything I’d ever known was tough but it was necessary. I feel like I’ve grown so much in the last few years in ways that would have been impossible had I stayed in North Carolina. I had a great job as an exhibit designer that I had been at for a little over a year and had worked in an architecture firm for about a year prior to that. With that, I kinda just crossed my fingers that it would be enough experience to get work wherever I ended up. Selling everything I owned was truly amazing, though. Really liberating to get rid of everything I had previously found “value” in. Mostly eBayed everything I had that was worth anything and somehow talked a buddy into buying ALL of my furniture/TV/desk/etc in one fell swoop. With all of that done, I put in my two-weeks notice and tied up all loose ends. Hopped in my car in February of 2009 with an iMac and a box of clothes. Oh yeah, and my snowboard. [Denver-bound, initially] There’s lots more to the story from between then and now, but I’ve rambled enough already.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

Hmm, tough question. I’m going to have to go with J.G. Quintel. For anyone who doesn’t know who that is, he’s the creator of Regular Show. It’s a hilarious cartoon on Cartoon Network. I think I would just love to have seen an idea that far through. They just hit their 100th episode and I can only imagine the amount of work that goes into something like that. Especially a hand-drawn animated show. I’d also love to be surrounded by a team of people that I can trust like that and have fun with on a daily basis. That show’s got something pretty special, in my opinion. I hope it goes on for another 100 episodes.

How would you define success? Do you think you’ve found it yet?

I’m definitely still trying to figure out what I’m really doing. I still work full-time for a marketing firm as a Sr. 3D Designer and moonlight as a 3D Illustrator for lots of different clients. I’ve been really fortunate in the last 18 months or so, picking up solid, consistent work from tons of different startups, agencies and magazines. What started out as just experiments doing tons of personal work has now turned into paid work. I couldn’t be more grateful. I’ve always shared my work on Flickr for years but it always felt very much like a black hole that no one really ever saw or responded to. But once I started making so many of these little worlds and just kept posting them, I started to pick up a little steam. So, to answer your question, I’m still looking for “success” but I definitely feel better/closer than I was yesterday. The future is exciting.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design?

I think the best advice to anyone starting out is what they’ve already heard before; make work. Make lots of work. Make the kind of work you want to get paid to make. Make work that you love doing. Make work that challenges you, that you care about, that you’re proud to show. And then do just that; show it. Make, show, repeat. There’s that great Ira Glass quote about this exact thing, and I definitely think he hit the nail on the head.

Thanks so much for the interview, Conor. I’m honored to be among all the great designers you’ve talked to so far.

Thanks Tim!

Many thanks to Tim for sharing his thoughts with One Minute With. I really enjoyed his answers, and I hope you love the interview as much I do!

Check out Tim’s site, and follow him on Dribbble and Twitter?

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One Minute With… Anna Hurley
February 25, 2013 6:23 pm 1 Comment
This interview, with the delightfully hilarious Anna Hurley, is the 100th interview on One Minute With, so I turned this page gold. Call me tacky, call me a sentamentalist, but hey, gold is pretty. Here’s to another hundred.

Hi Anna, thanks for taking the time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

Of course! Think nothing of it. Let’s see, how about we start at the beginning?

On July 8th, 1985, Mr. and Mrs. Hurley looked down at their third-born child and said to each other, “Huh.” My youth was saturated with grand delusions of joining a Norwegian traveling carnival. I could oftentimes be found wearing a blue and red striped jacket, just in case, and wandering about the countryside with a notepad and pencil, studying such carnie vernacular as “sugar shack” and “donniker,” in order to prepare myself for my soon-to-be-nomad-lifestyle. Then sometime later I decided to forget all that and whittle away what little time I have left in this crazy world to focus on drawing things. Now I work at Hatch in San Francisco.

How did you get into design? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a designer?

As a youth I dabbled in illustration and design, but always figured I’d eventually become something that sounded more grown-up to me, like a writer or a teacher. I do remember the day when I realized I could actually be paid to draw and design all the time. I think it was a Wednesday. I had an ice cream bar during recess. It was a great day.

If you could change one thing about your career to date, what would it be?

I spent a lot of time early on not believing I could actually pursue a career in design and illustration. It always just seemed like a passing fancy. I wish I had motivated myself to practice and study much sooner. It was a slow-going learning process for me.

A lot of the work you do seems to be print-based stuff – What is it about the medium that you like? Do you put any credence in the idea that print is dead?

One of my first jobs out of college gets the credit for this. I worked at the lovely letterpress design studio Hello!Lucky, where I was heavily influenced by all things print. I became used to the limitations of letterpress, mainly designing things that were one to two color, and I loved it. Print is certainly not dead, it just has a very different purpose than it did in the days of yore. People have a hard time getting over that

Your style has a really nice, genuine 60’s feel to it, which fits in pretty nicely with this whole retro “trend” that’s occurring these days. Did you intentionally fit your style around this trend, or was it simply a natural evolution? And how important are trends to the progression of design, do you feel?

My illustration style evolved as a result of obsessing over and studying every bit of mid-century ephemera I could get my hands on. There was no escaping it. To put it simply, it’s just a style that I really enjoy.

Trends are incredibly fascinating to me. What suddenly becomes popular to designers and non-designers alike, is such a strange phenomenon. And naturally there’s value in consistently studying and staying current.

Where do you see yourself in, say, 5 or 10 years?

Getting out of this illustration racket and finally fulfilling my lifelong dream of becoming a carnie.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

Owen Gatley seems to have it all figured out. I’ve been a big fan of his for a long time. I’d live his life for a day, discover all of his secret tricks for his incredible illustrations, take copious notes, maybe pet his dog if he has one or something, see if he has any good snacks, then be back the next day to use those notes for my own nefarious purposes. Maybe I’d leave him a note: “You’re swell!”

This sounds especially creepy because he has no idea who I am. So let’s just hope he’s reading this and doesn’t think I’m a weirdo. Hey, Owen!

How would you define success? Do you think you’ve found it yet?

Not failing. And no, I fail all the time. Almost constantly.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design?

Study everything. Practice what you like. Be nice to people. Eat your fruits and vegetables. Go swimming. Call your mom. She misses you.

Thanks Anna!

Many thanks to Anna for taking some time to talk to One Minute With. I really enjoyed interviewing her, and hopefully you enjoyed reading it!

Why not check out Anna’s site, and follow her on Dribbble and Twitter?

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One Minute With… Spencer Charles
February 12, 2013 7:51 pm Leave a Comment

Hi Spencer, thanks for taking the time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

Thank you for inviting me to chat, Conor! I would describe myself foremost as a letterer and typographer. I’m currently Senior Designer at Louise Fili Ltd. in New York City, a studio that specializes in design for restaurants and food packaging. Before that, I graduated from the University of Utah in 2010 with my BFA in Graphic Design, and my first proper design job out of college was working as a sign artist for Whole Foods in Salt Lake City.

Walk us through a typical day in the life of Spencer Charles.

Mornings are always very surreal to me, I often wake up very confused about my whereabouts. I’ve lived in Brooklyn for about a year and half, and I think I still haven’t been able to fully process that I live in New York, not Utah. I certainly have a normal morning regimen of getting ready for work, but it’s not usually until I’m at the studio that I feel like I can begin my day. Because of this, I make it a point to get to work pretty quickly. The commute from where I live in Brooklyn to Manhattan is about 30 minutes, and I usually pick up everything I need for the day on my way to work. On average, I get to work about 20 minutes early each day – I like to use this time to make coffee, check my email, and make a checklist of everything I need to accomplish in the day.

The work day is pretty standard 9-hour day. After work, I hurry home as quickly as possible, and spend the rest of my night working on personal projects, or freelance work.

And so, on that topic: What are the differences between studio work and your freelance stuff? Do you think you’ll ever want to go totally freelance (or the flip side of that: Would you ever want to stop doing freelance altogether?)

The work I do at the studio is mostly very large scale projects. To be completely honest, at the moment, the work I do for Louise is much more rewarding than the work I am doing for myself. I’m not sure if you know much about her work or career, but she’s built up a really great oeuvre over the last few decades, and because of that, she’s in a position where she can take on only the work she finds the most rewarding. Over this last year, I’ve designed a book from start to finish featuring beautiful type vernacular, authored by her and her husband Steven Heller. I’ve also had the opportunity to rebrand and brand some fantastic and fairly well known restaurants in NYC, plus a plethora of other lettering projects. Another thing that has been really rewarding about working for Louise is that she really gives me the time to explore new techniques, and provides the necessary guidance so that I’m not wasting my time, only to end up in a dead end. Honestly, as far as a job in design, it doesn’t get much better than that. With all that being said, I still feel compelled to be doing my own work outside of the studio. I have my own questions, interests, and ambitions that can ultimately only be fulfilled by working for myself. So yes, I do believe that eventually I would like to work for myself, but at the moment, I am very happy and content with my job (which seems rather rare for most people these days).

How did you get into design? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a designer?

I love drawing. I think that first and foremost, I wanted to draw. As a teenager, I went back and forth between wanting to be an artist and an architect, and I ultimately settled upon choosing the path of an artist. I was attracted to arts ability towards individual expression, over the utilitarian functions of architecture. I guess it’s a bit ironic that I ended up in design. I enrolled in a general art program, I was a little bit interested in design at the time, but I think the thing that really pushed me towards it was seeing the discipline and precision of the cartoonist Chris Ware. I wanted to learn to draw letters and images that could evoke the same feelings that his work evoked in me. Another big turning point was interning for a fully functioning, true-to-form letterpress studio. It was amazing to me that there was this massively rich history of letterforms and images that has for the most part completely fallen to the wayside. Obviously, referencing that work has become very popular, but I don’t think most people take the time to really understand the connection of the forms to history. My first real mentor David Wolske really opened my eyes to that.

If you could change one thing about your career to date, what would it be?

Career-wise, I’m very happy with where I am. In fact, I feel unusually lucky to be where I am, as young as I am. If I could go back and do one thing differently, I think I would have explored lettering more in college. I spent much of my spare time in college playing music, which was a great outlet, but I think I could have really developed my lettering skills then. It wasn’t until I graduated and started working at Whole Foods that I really started to push myself to learn how to draw letterforms.

You just recently published Black Creek, your first commercial font. What was this process like, compared to lettering? What new challenges did it bring?

The process wasn’t unlike many of the other large projects I’ve done for Louise. The first 25% of the work is exhilarating, pure creation. The rest is very technical, mundane, and repetitive work to ensure that the font works as a whole. Very fortunately, Black Creek is steeped very heavily in the American wood type tradition, so I could get away with not designing most auxiliary glyphs.

When designing a font as opposed to lettering, you have to make a lot of compromises to get the whole puzzle to fit together. I found that some of the letterforms I had started off with in my sketches weren’t working in the context of the font. Plus, kerning pairs are a whole other beast unique to designing a font.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

Robert Bringhurst. The Elements of Typographic Style was my bible in college, and beyond that, his poems and essays are incredibly articulate, humorous, insightful, and humbling. He tackles written and verbal communication through the lens of a cultural anthropologist, and to be able to see his process and the breadth of his intellectual framework; that would be enlightening.

How would you define success? Do you think you’ve found it yet?

Honestly, this might sound ingratiating, but I try as hard as possible not to think about it. Most rubrics seem to pale in the grand scheme of things. If I can earn a decent living drawing letters, doing continuous research, and constantly pushing myself to evolve the quality of my work, then I can’t ask for much more. If I can inspire others to do the same, even better.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design?

Listen very closely to other people’s criticisms, insights, and advice. Work for someone whose work you deeply respect. Ask a lot of questions, but always be prepared to dig for an answer.

Thanks Spencer!

Thanks so much to Spencer for giving us an insight into his world! I really enjoyed talking to him, and found his answers really interesting!

Why not check out Spencer’s site, and follow him on Dribbble and Twitter?

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One Minute With… Justin Schafer
January 31, 2013 4:59 pm Leave a Comment

Hi Justin, thanks for taking the time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

No problem, thanks for having me. I’m currently a Sr. Designer at the rather large in-house department at Mutual of Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska. There I do a variety of work, from branding and design to illustration. Something else I’ve been exploring a lot more is hand lettering and screen-printing. I love bringing in a handmade quality into my work. I like to think of design as an opportunity to solve a problem.

I’m also newly married. My wife and I are getting ready to move to Minneapolis, exciting, yet stressful. Because of that I’m currently on the hunt for an art director position at an agency there and rebuilding my website at justinschafer.me. That’s what seems to consume most of my time nowadays. But, when I’m not designing or preparing to move I love building mid-century modern furniture, and training for triathlons.

How did you get into design? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as a designer?

When I was younger I was really interested in computer animation. Movies like Toy Story were starting to come out and I was captivated by the new form of animation. Along with art class I was also building websites when I was in high school. Graphic design meant being able to blend art and technology, which was a perfect match for me. I also loved logos. I remember being in middle school trying to redraw popular logos in my sketchbook. I ended up having an entire folder full of them. I think I was curious as to the meaning behind them and why they used the shapes, colors or symbols they used.

If you could change one thing about your career to date, what would it be?

I’m not sure I would change anything so far. I still have a long career ahead of me and I feel as though I’ve had a fairly diverse experience thus far. In the future I’d like to explore how design can have a more meaningful impact in the lives of individuals, whether it’s through experience or interaction design. I think there will be a real opportunity down the road for someone like myself who balances that line between left and right brain.

So, you’ve won quite a few awards throughout your career – Have you found these to be important to your career, or is it simply that it’s nice to be recognised by peers?

I’m not sure if they’ve necessarily been important in anyway, but it’s always nice to be recognized for your work. Recognition always makes you feel like your headed down the right path.

Speaking of awards, your wedding invites were recently recognised by AIGA – How different is it to design with yourself (and your wife) as the client? What new challenges did it bring?

Any designer will tell you that designing for themselves is a lot harder than clients. When you’re your own client the sky is the limit. As much as creatives struggle to have absolute control and total free reign, the truth is having parameters helps us focus in on what the problem is. On the other hand it gave me an opportunity to explore new techniques I had wanted to. Hand lettering all my wedding materials was a rewarding experience, and gave a genuine quality to the work. However, it made fixes and typos a pain to go back and fix.

Where do you see yourself in, say, 5 or 10 years?

Well my wife and I are currently in the process of planning our move to Minneapolis. It’s a great city with tons of agencies and creative professionals so I’m expecting us to call it home for quiet sometime. I’d like to learn more code as well as explore how design thinking and technology intersects. Things like interaction design and experience design are becoming increasingly popular as design values and ideas become more mainstream. I’d also like to see myself step into a creative director role, impacting larger more strategic decisions.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

I’ve recently been reading a lot about Saul Bass. He was an incredible illustrator and practically invented the genre of film title sequences. He saw an opportunity during the film that no one else did. Plus he got to work side-by-side with guys like Martin Scorsese and Alfred Hitchcock. How could you beat that?

How would you define success? Do you think you’ve found it yet?

No, I think the best is always yet to come. There will never be a moment when I say I’ve become successful; it’s just not my nature. I’m constantly pushing forward, reworking things and looking to make them better. I feel like success is a form of settling, in my eyes, success doesn’t exist.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design?

Make sure you love it, and commit yourself to it. Be prepared to work hard, the design industry is pretty popular these days so you’ll have to put in the hours in order to set yourself apart. Learn the web side of things, it’s constantly increasing in demand. I’d also suggest taking some classes in sociology, anthropology or psychology. You can’t impact people through design without first understanding what influences us and why we make the decisions we do. If you approach design as a problem-solving tool you’ll be able to rationalize your work and have a more meaningful impact.

Thanks Justin!

Thanks a million to Justin for sharing his thoughts! I really enjoyed talking to him, and found his answers really interesting!

Why not check out Justin’s site, and follow him on Dribbble and Twitter?

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One Minute With… Melanie Matthews
January 28, 2013 8:04 pm Leave a Comment

Hi Melanie, thanks for taking the time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

No worries, thanks for having me! Let’s see, I’m an illustrator living in Melbourne, Australia. I create artwork for all kinds of things – one of my favourites being a kids’ meal box for a national fast food joint – but mostly I work in advertising and publishing. Lately I have been exploring different things like hand-lettering and drawing maps, which has been really fun.

How did you get into illustration? Was there a defining point in your career, and if so, how did it shape you as an illustrator?

I always drew as a kid. One of my favourite hobbies was writing stories and drawing pictures to go with them.

After school I studied illustration, and this became a turning point for me in my life – I realised that, hey, I could do this freelancing thing. Getting paid money to draw stuff? Sign me up! Sometimes local illustrators would come to our classes and speak about their career and how they started. This had such an impact on me, I think. I really wanted to be like them.

Almost immediately after I graduated I got my first job illustrating a book cover. It was a kid fighting a dragon and it was completely different from anything that I do now. They were so happy with the work that they asked me to work on some interior illustrations for the book series as well. All of a sudden I was a bonafide freelance illustrator. Hooray!!

I continued to work with that client for 2 years on a couple of different projects, and still talk to them now and then – my experience with working with them taught me a lot about building and maintaining relationships with clients.

I’ve only been at this for a few years so I still have loads to learn. I can’t imagine ever doing anything else though. This is way too much fun!

If you could change one thing about your career to date, what would it be?

I think maybe studying something else for a little while would have been really useful. For a few years I studied fine art; this was before I did illustration. It was the biggest waste of time ever. I wish I’d spent it learning something completely different, maybe zoology or even music.

I used to be a promising jazz musician, playing the double bass. I was really good but I ended up giving it away. Anyway, the point I’m getting at is that perhaps my work might be more interesting if I had done something different for a while. Something that I could look back on and draw ideas from, I suppose?

Does that make sense?

Totally! Now, animals seem to be very much your thing, with just about every illustration of yours featuring at least one. Is there a reason for this? Or are they just easy to draw?

That one is easy, I just love animals. I love drawing them and I find them endlessly fascinating. I have my favourites, but drawing any animal is such a joy to me. By looking at it and drawing it, I learn about how it works, why it looks a certain way, and sometimes how it’s solved problems through evolution. I think it’s incredible.

For some reason I can’t really get that excited about drawing people. Usually I try to replace people with animals if I can. It makes it more fun for me.

So, you live in Melbourne – does your location affect your work in any way, and if so, how?

I don’t think so, not really. Many of my clients are local, but I also have a lot of clients in the US. I work while it’s nighttime there, and when they wake up they have sketches waiting in their inbox. Then they have the whole day to send me their feedback while I sleep. It works out pretty neatly that way.

I could work from anywhere in the world I reckon, as long as I had a laptop, a Wacom tablet and a reliable internet connection. It’s one of the great perks of being a freelancer these days.

Where do you see yourself in, say, 5 or 10 years?

Maybe I’m dreaming but I’d love to be living in New York and being an illustrator there. That would be nice. Give it 30 years maybe?

Aside from that it would be wonderful to be earning most of my income through self-generated projects instead of client work. It would be awesome to do picture books and perhaps even a graphic novel.

If, in some Freaky Friday-like situation, you could live the life of another designer, illustrator or creative, for a day, who would it be, and why?

Yikes. I have no idea. How about Mary Blair? I could see how she works and somehow magically absorb some of her talent. It sure would be interesting to see what it would be like being a woman and working as an artist/illustrator for Disney during the 50’s.

How would you define success? Do you think you’ve found it yet?

This is probably going to be the most boring, eye-roll-inducing answer ever. But success to me would be making a good living working on stuff that makes me happy. If I can get to that place where I can work and not worry too much about when the next job will come in, or whether I’m going to have to eat ramen next month, and have enough that I can go traveling every year, then, well. Happy days.

For the record, I’ve never had to live on ramen. Whew.

And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design or illustration?

Be prepared to learn as much as you can about running a business and working for yourself. These days there aren’t too many in-house illustration gigs, so most of us freelance. Read books, attend conferences and talks and things. Doing all this stuff gave me a real head start after I graduated.

Although, I know some people who would recommend spending a few years working in a graphic design studio or something to learn the ropes of running a creative business. I didn’t do this but I think it’s a rad idea.

Oh, and keep drawing, love what you do, yadda yadda yadda. Obviously.

Thanks Melanie!

Many thanks to Mel for taking some time to talk to One Minute With. I really enjoyed interviewing her, and hopefully you enjoyed reading it!

Why not check out Melanie’s site, and follow her on Dribbble and Twitter?

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