One Minute With…
Igor Ivankovic
Hi Igor, thanks for taking time to chat with One Minute With. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.
Hi, thank you for having me, it’s a real pleasure. Well I’m a simple 26 years old, married, and down to earth guy. I’m currently working in my small design studio Tap-Tap Design delivering great looking web design, graphic design, motion graphics and branding.
I love comic books, so I when I started learning 3D that’s when everything clicked and I created a unique 3D web comic with my characters Tap-Tap Adventures . They were in fact the inspiration for everything Tap-Tap Design related :).
We also recently just founded a new web site that focuses on wedding inspirations for women, Zimbas. Let’s just say I’m versatile because I’m drawn in to design through every medium my eyes see. Oh, did I mention that I’m self-taught? Well, I am :)
Walk us through a typical day in the life of Igor Ivankovic.
Every day is different. It consists of waking up before noon, putting up some relaxing music and working late in to the night. Oh yes, I always cook lunch with my wife and do the dishes afterwards so I can focus on something else rather than my ideas and current projects. It amazes me how many times I find myself stuck in some coding problem at 2am and couldn’t go to bed before I figured out the solution. I just can’t relax until everything works out the way I planned.
How did you get into design?
I studied Philosophy for 4 years in college and in that time I was very involved with student activism and student council decisions, so in some cases there were a few happenings that required a web presence and, of course, flyers, posters and graphics-related materials. To cut on the funds, I said I would do it. Of course, design blogs started to get my attention because of their fast practical learning curve, and I was very focused on showing of then :) It looked really bad, design-wise, when I think about it now, but back then I got a lot of praise, go figure. So it felt good to do something that other people praised and said looked good.
Afterwards, I met my wife and she loved interior design and that brought me to another level of combining design elements, 3D architectural mockups and really playing around with design.
How do you approach a new project? What’s your creative process like?
First of all I create a big panic and freak out my art director (my wife Ines) with questions about the projects requirements and expectations. LOL What we do as a team in the studio is to brainstorm about the project, I always picture it in my mind for example: Can we do something creative with this project, What technology will we use, how to combine the design and code into one usable product. I don’t drink coffee, I just sit on the couch, turn on my TV and chill.
The ideas and the creative process is always different, so I approach every project differently, talk it out with Ines. She always focuses me in the right direction because sometimes I overdo some design elements.
You spent some time freelance before forming a design studio with your wife Ines. What made you make the switch, and how is working with your real-life partner?
Well, I worked a lot freelancing, I also worked in a media agency. What I can tell you is that nothing compares to working for yourself. I never worked so much in my life, and I never felt like I was employed when I freelanced and now. When you freelance people usually take advantage of you and you spend time on working way too much than agreed for way less money you agreed for, but still you don’t have a boss who doesn’t see the difference between a design you stand behind and you are proud of, and design that is everything else than design. There is papirology and bills, but other than that I feel it’s the same, just a natural progression in showing off professional work, and telling people that I have my own business :).
Everything works excellent with my wife in the design studio because we complete each other with design ideas, and it’s also good to have someone snap you out of some some crazy ideas and complicated experiments. We work hard and we have fun doing it, so it always comes out as a product of our both imaginations and love for the design.
Along with graphic design, you also do work on motion graphics. How does that differ from graphic design, and what parallels can be drawn?
We just started doing motion graphics, and it’s a whole new world of understanding the principles of what is going to show up in the next frame, next second, and will it have the visual and emotional impact as you hoped for. Working on motion graphics tends to take longer because you need to view things over and over, the content changes dynamically and it tends to render for ages, soon to find out that you made a mistake on 1min and 12 seconds to start fixing the process over and over.
Standard graphic design has similar issues but in the end, these are two different types of media. Usage of plugins, ideas, 3D animation programs and a complete new array of logic functions that come with motion graphics is something you need to have, along with lot of time and focus to spare if you want to combine it to create something really special like we try to.
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?
Maybe Fabio Sasso from Abduzeedo. As I see, he loves experimenting with design styles and inspires other designers with awesome tips, tutorials, and gives a lot of exposure to great looking design.
What design tools could you not live without?
Adobe suite, Autodesk Maya, Learning Autodesk Maya 2009 book, WordPress, iPhone, pasta bolognese, my PC, Dribbble, my guitar, my wife’s support…
And finally, what tips would you give to anybody who is looking to get started in design or illustration?
There will be time when you work like crazy and there is no cash flow to insure you did a good job. It doesn’t mean that you failed, it means that you are a designer at the beginning. Time, practice and persistence will give you the necessary tap on the shoulder. Never stop believing in yourself, and don’t think of it as work: if you do, then please do something that isn’t design-related because you are probably the reason why the industry keeps pumping out questionable designs. Love what you do and do it as best as you can for every project that you are given. This is the only way you will grow as a designer and a person!