Reflection On Practitioner Case Studies

I am really happy to finally be able to have access to this sort of insightful interview (I’ve watched around 5 episodes of Abstract Season 1 on Netflix…but I think it’s kind of different). Watching them in order, I started think about what is in common between them and why they were selected in this order.

The string that ties all of them together is that they are all “visual storytellers”, although very different in their own styles and ways, one thing seem to come through is that they all have different ways of managing themselves or their design firms, and the thing is that all of these ways seem to have worked out great for them!

There was Julian and Adrian whom never interact with each other despite being colleagues, which I find sort of funny; Sarah Boris who seems to work alone most of her time but would connect with others and have her work published; Kristoffer and Tom are relatively younger and rather flexible with their trial and error approach; Sam Winston is rather the true lone-wolf that I find has that Zen quality to him with much emphasis on his working environment and finally Simon who is a very experienced business owner willing to adapt to the times, mixing up his arrangement in seating every now and then to create an integrated environment.

To start off on specifics in order, I feel that Julian and Adrian was put first because they were the most mature and has seen through many decades having come from a really traditional background. I related the most when Julian told of his experience of translating album artwork of the band Primal Scream into a music video, and I could only imagine the many hours and experiments committed to such a project with the minimum tech. that was available back in the day. That is what graphic designers now are mostly getting pushed towards with animated gif. banners and all that is going on social media, and I do thank god that all this software is available to make the whole process easier, and we all probably have Julian to thank for that. Another insightful moment was when Adrian described the slash of budget throughout the creative industry, and how clients are now “used to” paying less. I have described it also in my quadriptych assignment and it left me thinking that this is probably a global problem.

Sarah Boris left me the impression that she is really similar to some of the freelancers here in Hong Kong, she has that dreamy, abstract approach to her work and is something that is engraved in her personality. I honestly couldn’t relate much to her as a graphic designer because I’m just not that kind of a guy; but I can still appreciate the book she showed and I think the idea of zooming in and out, dropping the sun out of frame was super neat!

Kristoffer and Tom are the adventurers that have experienced and experimented a whole lot to be where they are at right now. This raw type of approach is kind of a life style, and that I think my early days of having run a small studio with 2 others right after we graduated was quite similar (of course we were not nearly as successful). BUT we threw ourselves out “in to the wild” and have had the harsh environment be our mentor and taught us every skill in the graphic design industry to make us who we are today, to improvising tactics and improving on the general course of how the 3 of us could work better. I guess I would kind of hope that my team of 3 would’ve gotten to where Kris and Tom are at (we parted ways around 5 years ago, boohoo:( ).

Sam Winston is surprisingly captivating. I honestly thought I was in for a pretty boring 15 minutes but this guy was GREAT at explaining what goes on with his work and life (reminding me of interviews of Blur’s Damon Albarn)! Although it could seem abstract to some hearing him talk (?), but I think Sam has a great understanding of how his creativity flows and most importantly he has a great understanding of himself. I am ready to go back and hear him again already, and some great quotes he gave were: Ideas come from a space, design as a verb; not a noun, colors effect emotion, collapse an idea in to an outcome. He’s the first one who made me jump on to Google to search for his work in the middle of a interview viewing, and boy does his attitude reflect in his work, i’m already a fan!

Finally to Simon Manchipp. Also experienced and with a traditional background, but there is a certain aspect which differs him from Julian and Adrian, he has that extra modern quality to him and the mannerism of a business owner. I have been reading a book written by Ed Catmull (one of the founding fathers of Pixar) and also finished the biography on Steve Jobs a month earlier, and I find how Simon adjusted to the changes in the creative industry, the way he was ahead of the curb before any clients could catch up (and realizing it), makes him fall into the category of a great business leader, and a person that has the mindset and capability to see his beloved industry towards decades to come.

I am really happy to be able to identify these 5 case studies and able to relate them to designers, film makers and business owners I have met, going “oh that’s definitely Mike, and oh I’ve been there before.”. There are great insights and different approaches to be identified, appreciated and to learn. Boy o’ boy the first week is already wayyy better than what I imagined : D

ANDY was here