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D&AD Awards 2008 Jury Special
BY Ninart Lui
BY Ninart Lui
Exclusive Highlight on TAXI Design Network
Interview with David Hillman, Creative Director, Hillman Arts
David Hillman>>No. While there is now doubt that digital communication is a terrific medium for imparting information quickly, efficiently and across a previously unimagined geographical reach, we have yet to crack the pleasure factor that we seem to appreciate when reading anything of length – novels, features and so on. It’s hard to lie in bed or sit on the sofa, at the breakfast table or on the tube with a laptop. They’ve been experimenting with digital ‘books’ for a decade or more but not solved the issue of comfort. And digital audio is a different experience altogether – someone is acting as an intermediary between you and the author/originator, giving the content their own interpretation. Of course innovation is a continuum so ask me the same question in the next year or so and my answer might be completely different.
TAXI >>Nova was very controversial when it was launched and garnered massive popularity which is still held in great esteem by designers today – however, the attempt to revive it failed spectacularly. Why do you think this is the case?
David Hillman>>Nova broke new ground editorially and in terms of design. It was of its time and ahead of its time. What we did was radical and led the way for the kind of ballsy womens’ magazines you find today. At the time it was unique, it stood out from the crowd and it broke all the rules – social and graphically. It responded, bravely and uncompromisingly, to broader cultural change. But the world has moved on – or caught up – and what was groundbreaking then has become mainstream now. You can’t do the same thing you did twenty or thirty years ago using the same format and formula, or perhaps even the same medium – new times require new solutions.
TAXI >>Most of the pages in today's annuals and magazines are filled with advertisements today; a stark contrast from the design and content-geared print materials which were your trademark. Cover stories are broken up into segments just so ad campaigns can run in their entire glory, and holiday issues weigh a ton, the better part of it filled with campaigns. Is this shift in paradigm desirable?
David Hillman>>One of the most strident magazines around, Vogue, is as much about advertising as it is about editorial content. Always has been. You don’t buy it for a good read but to see the latest fashion trends – and that is what great advertising, with its use of powerful photography, is good at communicating. But Vogue is powerful enough to establish unbreakable standards for its advertising content so that there is not disjunction between this and the editorial.
Of course, this is not always the case and standards in other publications do vary. So you learn to adapt, and ensure that the editorial treatment can hold its own; that when it is broken up it can still command attention; and that where advertising is placed it acts as a bridge rather than a barrier. There is still a great deal you can do in terms of design guidelines to ensure that the advertising doesn’t overwhelm but complements the content.
TAXI >>Having been the driving force behind the redesign of the "The Guardian", you were also vocal in your dislike of the recent makeover. In your opinion, what should have been done to best preserve the tradition of the publication?
David Hillman>>I think the Berliner size is fantastic and have always been a fan but I question what a leftwing newspaper is doing with a right wing colour in its corporate identity. When we put ‘TheGuardian’ on the masthead we created a mark with the strength of character to communicate the brand personality, a fact that was evidenced by its use in the simple but powerful early advertising campaigns; sadly, I think this has been lost.
TAXI >>How has your particular experience of graphic design benefited your career?
David Hillman>>I trained at a time when designs were hand-crafted, when you learned about the nuances of typeface, and learned to hand-draw and design your own, where you sketched your ideas out on a piece of paper with a pencil, and explored and developed them before moving onto more polished formats/artwork.
It meant that there was a rigorous intellectual process behind each design decision, and weaker ideas were kicked out before you were seduced by their polished look ‘in print’. The design generation that has been brought up on computers works in a different way. I still rely a great deal on pencil and paper – it’s a very fluid medium, quick, easy to change, deliberately unrefined, and means that I can challenge myself to think without constraint, technical or otherwise, there is enough of that later.
TAXI >>What is the WORD, which you think would reside and reverberate in the design world for the next 10 years?
David Hillman>>It should be ‘Ideas’. Without them, all you have is wallpaper. But I have a terrible premonition that it will be profit.
..........................................................................................................
Exclusive Highlight on TAXI Design Network
Interview with Marian Bantjes, Typographic Artist
Marian Bantjes>>Well, it’s a little more complex, because I did leave design as I knew it and as it is practiced by 95% of designers today. But I maintained my interest in it not so much through the t-shirt as the weblog, SpeakUp. Through that I stayed in the design world, thought about and wrote about design, and engaged in conversations with other designers. So design is my world … if I hadn’t done that, I would probably be a lonely illustrator struggling to make ends meet, instead of an internet-relationship-rich typographic-illustrator-designer-thing raking in the cash (kidding).
TAXI >>On collaborating with Stefan Sagmeister in "Things I Have Learnt In My Life So Far", you had this to say: "It's a designer's dream to work with the dream designer, and I have to say he was just dreamy to work with". Could you please tell us a bit more on what it was like working on this project?
Marian Bantjes>>Stefan and I have worked together three times now, and he is a really wonderful person. I find working with him is easy; we have the same approach to design, the same thoughts about what is important and we are great admirers of each other’s work, so it’s very respectful, but also fun. When we did the “Jommara isch blöd …” billboards for Bregenz, Austria, we had a lot of back and forth over the typography, trying to get it just right, but it was still enjoyable because he is smart, and the changes he asked for were right. On the Sugar pieces I was quite a bit more on my own: I was doing 6 versions and as I did each one I would show him and he was always happy … he might ask for something different for the next round, but there were no changes to anything I made for that project.
TAXI >>What kind of creative brief do you work best with?
Marian Bantjes>>An open brief. By far my best work has come from people who trusted me to do whatever it is I’m going to do. From Debbie Millman & Adobe: “We need a poster, it needs to say these things, it needs to be mailed.” From Richard Turley at The Guardian: “I need the word “Surrealism; no dripping clocks.” From Stefan Sagmeister, “Can you make this phrase 6 times in sugar?” From William Drenttel, at Winterhouse: “The poster has one word: Sustainability.” This works best for me. The more direction I have the worse it gets.
TAXI >>In the span of your career, you've worked as a book typesetter, graphic designer, co-owner of Digitopolis and now a typographic artist – what has been the biggest difference between your corporate past and the type of work you are doing now, and what was the greatest obstacle in making the transition?
Marian Bantjes>>The biggest difference between then and now is that then I hated 90% of the work I made and now I love 90% of it. I’m doing work I want to do; I love working, there’s nothing I’d rather do. There is no weekend, no end of day, no retirement, I don’t even enjoy holidays any more. But I’m very lucky because I am making money doing this. That was the hardest part because I went for a year and half without making any money and I came close to having to give up. It’s my biggest fear, that the paying work will dry up.
TAXI >>You are a firm advocate of promoting your own work and getting it the exposure it requires – what would be your advice to budding artists hungry for recognition?
Marian Bantjes>>I’m not really aware of being a firm advocate of this, because I actually don’t know how it’s done. People ask me for this advice all the time. I don’t know if I was lucky, or I just met the right people at the right time … I know I’m talented and smart, but so are lots of other people. Many people I know say that if you do what you love it will just work out, and it DID work out for me, but as I mentioned, it almost didn’t, so I’m afraid to advise people to just give up their paying jobs and do what they love with fingers crossed.
TAXI >>Design vs. Style – if you had to pick just one, which would you stick to doing for the rest of your life, and why?
Marian Bantjes>>Design. To me design is figuring things out, and that’s what I do, and that’s what I like doing. Style is just regurgitating, and that’s what I don’t do.
TAXI >>What is the WORD, which you think would reside and reverberate in the design world for the next 10 years?
Marian Bantjes>> HUBRIS is the word. It’s the word of the 21st century.
..........................................................................................................
Read OTHER INTERVIEWS on DESIGN LEADERS
Steven Heller, Chip Kidd & Stefan Sagmeister
Sara Little Turnbull & Darrel Rhea
Adelia Borges & Linda Fu
..........................................................................................................
© 2003 - 2008 by TAXI Design Network. All rights reserved.
Interview with David Hillman, Creative Director, Hillman Arts
 | TAXI >>Hello David. Having been a partner at Pentagram, how do you think it has evolved from the time you joined to the time you left, and was this a major contributing factor on why you decided to set up your own firm?
David Hillman>>When I joined there were only seven partners and one office. Now there are 24 partners and five offices. The demands of a corporation in terms of administration and profit are different from running an atelier where design comes before everything. Setting up my own studio has allowed me to return to these roots. TAXI >>Interactive and innovative media have burgeoned as industries over recent years – as an industry insider, would you say print is on its way out? |
David Hillman>>No. While there is now doubt that digital communication is a terrific medium for imparting information quickly, efficiently and across a previously unimagined geographical reach, we have yet to crack the pleasure factor that we seem to appreciate when reading anything of length – novels, features and so on. It’s hard to lie in bed or sit on the sofa, at the breakfast table or on the tube with a laptop. They’ve been experimenting with digital ‘books’ for a decade or more but not solved the issue of comfort. And digital audio is a different experience altogether – someone is acting as an intermediary between you and the author/originator, giving the content their own interpretation. Of course innovation is a continuum so ask me the same question in the next year or so and my answer might be completely different.
TAXI >>Nova was very controversial when it was launched and garnered massive popularity which is still held in great esteem by designers today – however, the attempt to revive it failed spectacularly. Why do you think this is the case?
David Hillman>>Nova broke new ground editorially and in terms of design. It was of its time and ahead of its time. What we did was radical and led the way for the kind of ballsy womens’ magazines you find today. At the time it was unique, it stood out from the crowd and it broke all the rules – social and graphically. It responded, bravely and uncompromisingly, to broader cultural change. But the world has moved on – or caught up – and what was groundbreaking then has become mainstream now. You can’t do the same thing you did twenty or thirty years ago using the same format and formula, or perhaps even the same medium – new times require new solutions.
TAXI >>Most of the pages in today's annuals and magazines are filled with advertisements today; a stark contrast from the design and content-geared print materials which were your trademark. Cover stories are broken up into segments just so ad campaigns can run in their entire glory, and holiday issues weigh a ton, the better part of it filled with campaigns. Is this shift in paradigm desirable?
David Hillman>>One of the most strident magazines around, Vogue, is as much about advertising as it is about editorial content. Always has been. You don’t buy it for a good read but to see the latest fashion trends – and that is what great advertising, with its use of powerful photography, is good at communicating. But Vogue is powerful enough to establish unbreakable standards for its advertising content so that there is not disjunction between this and the editorial.
Of course, this is not always the case and standards in other publications do vary. So you learn to adapt, and ensure that the editorial treatment can hold its own; that when it is broken up it can still command attention; and that where advertising is placed it acts as a bridge rather than a barrier. There is still a great deal you can do in terms of design guidelines to ensure that the advertising doesn’t overwhelm but complements the content.
TAXI >>Having been the driving force behind the redesign of the "The Guardian", you were also vocal in your dislike of the recent makeover. In your opinion, what should have been done to best preserve the tradition of the publication?
David Hillman>>I think the Berliner size is fantastic and have always been a fan but I question what a leftwing newspaper is doing with a right wing colour in its corporate identity. When we put ‘TheGuardian’ on the masthead we created a mark with the strength of character to communicate the brand personality, a fact that was evidenced by its use in the simple but powerful early advertising campaigns; sadly, I think this has been lost.
TAXI >>How has your particular experience of graphic design benefited your career?
David Hillman>>I trained at a time when designs were hand-crafted, when you learned about the nuances of typeface, and learned to hand-draw and design your own, where you sketched your ideas out on a piece of paper with a pencil, and explored and developed them before moving onto more polished formats/artwork.
It meant that there was a rigorous intellectual process behind each design decision, and weaker ideas were kicked out before you were seduced by their polished look ‘in print’. The design generation that has been brought up on computers works in a different way. I still rely a great deal on pencil and paper – it’s a very fluid medium, quick, easy to change, deliberately unrefined, and means that I can challenge myself to think without constraint, technical or otherwise, there is enough of that later.
TAXI >>What is the WORD, which you think would reside and reverberate in the design world for the next 10 years?
David Hillman>>It should be ‘Ideas’. Without them, all you have is wallpaper. But I have a terrible premonition that it will be profit.
..........................................................................................................
Exclusive Highlight on TAXI Design Network
Interview with Marian Bantjes, Typographic Artist
 | TAXI >>1. Hello Marian. Your style has been described as "highly personal, obsessive and sometimes strange" and you are well-known for your "detailed and lovingly precise vector art, obsessive hand work, patterning and highly ornamental style". Working in a remote studio far from the influences and distractions of others, what do you constantly draw inspiration from on a daily basis?
Marian Bantjes>>Well … constant and daily would be hard to pin down. I get inspiration from all over the place, usually things completely unrelated to design. Often they’re not even visual. I read things which trigger an idea, or have conversations … I often wake up with ideas, so maybe I dream them. TAXI >>Just a few years ago, you were burnt out and considering leaving design behind you completely, but returned to the fold based on a chance win in a t-shirt contest on SpeakUp. What would you have been doing now had you stuck to that original decision of leaving? |
Marian Bantjes>>Well, it’s a little more complex, because I did leave design as I knew it and as it is practiced by 95% of designers today. But I maintained my interest in it not so much through the t-shirt as the weblog, SpeakUp. Through that I stayed in the design world, thought about and wrote about design, and engaged in conversations with other designers. So design is my world … if I hadn’t done that, I would probably be a lonely illustrator struggling to make ends meet, instead of an internet-relationship-rich typographic-illustrator-designer-thing raking in the cash (kidding).
TAXI >>On collaborating with Stefan Sagmeister in "Things I Have Learnt In My Life So Far", you had this to say: "It's a designer's dream to work with the dream designer, and I have to say he was just dreamy to work with". Could you please tell us a bit more on what it was like working on this project?
Marian Bantjes>>Stefan and I have worked together three times now, and he is a really wonderful person. I find working with him is easy; we have the same approach to design, the same thoughts about what is important and we are great admirers of each other’s work, so it’s very respectful, but also fun. When we did the “Jommara isch blöd …” billboards for Bregenz, Austria, we had a lot of back and forth over the typography, trying to get it just right, but it was still enjoyable because he is smart, and the changes he asked for were right. On the Sugar pieces I was quite a bit more on my own: I was doing 6 versions and as I did each one I would show him and he was always happy … he might ask for something different for the next round, but there were no changes to anything I made for that project.
TAXI >>What kind of creative brief do you work best with?
Marian Bantjes>>An open brief. By far my best work has come from people who trusted me to do whatever it is I’m going to do. From Debbie Millman & Adobe: “We need a poster, it needs to say these things, it needs to be mailed.” From Richard Turley at The Guardian: “I need the word “Surrealism; no dripping clocks.” From Stefan Sagmeister, “Can you make this phrase 6 times in sugar?” From William Drenttel, at Winterhouse: “The poster has one word: Sustainability.” This works best for me. The more direction I have the worse it gets.
TAXI >>In the span of your career, you've worked as a book typesetter, graphic designer, co-owner of Digitopolis and now a typographic artist – what has been the biggest difference between your corporate past and the type of work you are doing now, and what was the greatest obstacle in making the transition?
Marian Bantjes>>The biggest difference between then and now is that then I hated 90% of the work I made and now I love 90% of it. I’m doing work I want to do; I love working, there’s nothing I’d rather do. There is no weekend, no end of day, no retirement, I don’t even enjoy holidays any more. But I’m very lucky because I am making money doing this. That was the hardest part because I went for a year and half without making any money and I came close to having to give up. It’s my biggest fear, that the paying work will dry up.
TAXI >>You are a firm advocate of promoting your own work and getting it the exposure it requires – what would be your advice to budding artists hungry for recognition?
Marian Bantjes>>I’m not really aware of being a firm advocate of this, because I actually don’t know how it’s done. People ask me for this advice all the time. I don’t know if I was lucky, or I just met the right people at the right time … I know I’m talented and smart, but so are lots of other people. Many people I know say that if you do what you love it will just work out, and it DID work out for me, but as I mentioned, it almost didn’t, so I’m afraid to advise people to just give up their paying jobs and do what they love with fingers crossed.
TAXI >>Design vs. Style – if you had to pick just one, which would you stick to doing for the rest of your life, and why?
Marian Bantjes>>Design. To me design is figuring things out, and that’s what I do, and that’s what I like doing. Style is just regurgitating, and that’s what I don’t do.
TAXI >>What is the WORD, which you think would reside and reverberate in the design world for the next 10 years?
Marian Bantjes>> HUBRIS is the word. It’s the word of the 21st century.
..........................................................................................................
Read OTHER INTERVIEWS on DESIGN LEADERS
..........................................................................................................
© 2003 - 2008 by TAXI Design Network. All rights reserved.
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