CalArts Art Student Interview: Meet Ania Diakoff.

A great video interview with Ania Diakoff, a graphic design grad student in her last year at CalArts. This video shows the community and atmosphere of the program, it gives you an accurate feel of the type of education we’re getting here. She emphasizes the community between the undergraduate and graduate students, something that is very important to me and at the root of FISK. Below is a quote that I agree strongly with.

It’s not for people with low standards of working, it’s a kind of 24 hour working environment. – Ania Diakoff

Lorin Brown is a 23 year old graphic designer from Wayne, PA. He is a recent graduate from CalArts and has worked with GOOD Magazine, Stussy, Faesthetic Magazine, Arkitip, and the New York Times. His area of design interest lies in publication and apparel design. His favorite thing about Valencia isn’t Jack in the Box. He is not married and is inspired by music. This is his interview.

Peter Kaplan is a designer and educator who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He is a designer in the Student Affairs department at California Institute of the Arts where he handles printed collateral for the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (Redcat). Peter also teaches typography and publication design at CalArts.

Could you start off by telling us what you were doing before CalArts and how you got into graphic design?

Yes I can, I studied graphic design for my undergrad at the University of Delaware and worked as a designer in NY for about seven years following school. That was when I applied to CalArts.

You worked in New York for a short time after graduation, was it hard to leave? What do you like/dislike about New York compared to Los Angeles?

Leaving California so soon after school was both good and bad. The bad was the abrupt end to my school experience… suddenly much of what I knew was gone. It was a shock. However this was equally good as it gave me the opportunity to learn who I was post-school free from the school environment. Does that make sense?

What did the CalArts graduate program do for you?

I’m hopeful that the answer to the question will be constantly evolving. For now I’ll say it was an experience I was glad to have.

What is it about CalArts that made you want to come back after graduation?

Actually, I did not intend to come back to CalArts to teach or to work, but I’m happy things worked out as they did. I moved back to LA to teach at Otis and was offered the job at CalArts after I had returned.

How is it having the role reversed? You’re now apart of the wonderful faculty that was once teaching you.

Honestly, there is much about CalArts that is pretty great and it’s exciting to be able to participate in it as a faculty member. Having said that, being a teacher at a place where I was a student can be strange.

What kind of qualities make for a good design teacher?

From a student point of view, I enjoyed any teacher who was invested in what I was doing and yet was never fully pleased by the results.

You work in the public affairs office which designs REDCAT collateral, how is it working there?

I like working there, it’s a pretty good job. Nice people and decent work.

What big projects are you working on now?

Every year I do two REDCAT season brochures and related promotion collateral. Those are the major projects I work on.

With working and teaching, how much time do you have for personal work?

I feel like I don’t have as much time for personal work as I would want, but I think this is a lie I tell myself. I seem to find plenty of time to watch TV or google random crap.

Do you have any advice for students who are near graduation?

Clearly these seem to be tricky times, but I kind of believe it all works out. Does that help?

Can you give a motivational quote for all of us hard-working, tired and starving design students?

Actually no, I can’t.
If I’m being honest, school is hard and stressful. That’s how the experience works. Having said that, it’s probably not as important as it seems at the time. I don’t know. This is a hard question.

With all of the design blogs out there, for us and students all over what would you like to see with FISK?

What would like to see in FISK? Are you having fun with it? That I what I want to see. Just make something interesting with it. Thanks!

Do you wear patterned/designed socks, plain socks or no socks?
Lately I’ve been wearing black socks, but I do have a few striped pair that I feel good about.

Thanks Peter for the interview!

Maxime Francout AKA Max F. is a French illustrator/designer living and working in Montreal, Canada. He loves fine art, design, drawn typography, and illustration. He makes drawings, paintings, t-shirts, books, magazines and exhibitions. Besides that, he hearts skateboarding, ping-pong and chai lattes.

When did you first discover that you wanted to do design/illustration for a living?

I discovered lately that I could and that I wanted to do design. I first started as a colorist for comic books in France, and as an illustrator for children’s books before I got to a more personal and underground production. It took me some time to master this style that has emerged over the time. Initially I’m just someone who likes to draw on a street corner. I grew up surrounded by the skateboarding culture influenced by people like Mark Gonzales, Ed Templeton and Fost. Gradually I was able to establish partnerships with clients in time and consider a career in design and art. It’s not difficult to be an artist but living off your art is something different. Personally I’m not entirely living off my work because I don’t want to do compromises on my drawings, I don’t have enough fame to sell expensive pieces of art, besides I’m not even sure that i want to. I see art and design as something fun, I don’t really take it seriously and I think I’d quit if I did.

What was your college experience like? What did you study?

I haven’t studied design, technically speaking, but advertising in a university in France. It was long and I worked hard and seen the good and the bad sides of creative work in a communication agency with major clients. I don’t think I’d be able to work in this environment, I’m very independent and I couldn’t stand having to do ugly things to satisfy the client. I regret not having been to art school to improve my technical skills and enjoy the rivalry with the other students. The good thing about my studies is that I developed abilities in marketing and business which is an important part of the job (boost customers, getting paid, advertise…)

After graduating, how did you find a sense of establishment in the creative world?

I had lots of day-jobs but drawing is really the only thing I can do. During my studies, I had the chance to work on the songbook of a famous singer in France and I was apart of a book about skateboard design published by Yocar editions, which gave me confidence to work in this direction. In 2008 I was part of the successful winners of the design contest organized by the Salomon snowboard, since I keep drawing and set up projects with magazines and brands that I like (Wad Magazine, IDN Magazine, Super Superficial, Urban Outfitters, Gestalten…)

What advice do you have for students that are just starting their education and ones that are about to graduate and go into the real world to start their careers?

For students, I tell them to enjoy their studies because they are probably the best memories they’ll keep in their lives. They have access to equipment, teachers are available to assist them in their personal development, it’s time to work and try to find out in which way they will go later. Take pleasure in doing what you do, don’t take it too seriously. For young graduates, it will be much less fun, work agency is not necessarily exciting even if it can gain experience in the trade. For those who want to work freelance, develop a personal style, be visible on the internet through a website and especially don’t accept work at ridiculous prices!

How does working alone differ from working in a studio with other artists?

I always work alone and it’s perfect for me because I am independent and I am able to work anywhere. However, working in a studio allowed me to collaborate with photographers, painters, graphic designers and share each other’s knowledge. It also allowed me to have an office and office hours, even if the recent construction of a ping-pong table, a fun box and a projector for the Xbox changed everything. We are working and entertaining ourselves … We adopted the working philosophy of Google.

What is French Fourch? Is collaborating with others something that interests you?

French Fourch is an independent publishing house created by Tristan Pernet, Mr Pimpant and myself whose goal is to produce neat and original books. It’s really hard to publish the books you want to, it costs a lot of money, artists don’t necessarily have the means to do it, we are here to help them produce their projects. We began by self publishing but our goal is to promote new artists who are interested and create a grand family : French Fourch. Personally to print books of people whose work I love is a greater satisfaction than my own publication. I don’t like the fact that it is always the same artists who are getting published in magazines, I don’t like cronyism, French Fourch is interested in everyone. We’ve already printed many books and t-shirts, we’ve set several exhibitions in Canada, France and Belgium, we want to do even more things the upcoming years .

Can you describe your creative process? How does an illustration go from idea to final?

There are usually very few steps. I’m a compulsive doodler, I do almost no roughs, I either keep the original ink drawing or I just ink it more cleanly. I scan and usually do the colors with Photoshop. I don’t spend much time on a drawing, because I get tired very quickly. I like to keep my drawing as close as my original idea. Sometimes I can not translate what I have in mind, so I set my pen aside to take this with a new breath. I’m however a perfectionist, I’m able to start a drawing over for a pixel that bothers me…

What are some of the materials that you use? Do you try to have an equal balance between pen and mouse?

I use blank sheets, pens, markers, colored pencils and everything I find in the studio. I like the easy to use tools. I sometimes use the tablet to draw but I don’t like the result. I admire illustrators who have a great inking with Photoshop, this is much more practical. I’m still not a big fan of digital drawing, I like things to be put on paper, I like the craft of drawing.

Dream client or job?

I would like to work with skateboard companies, music bands. I made a lot of t-shirts recently, I would like to vary my productions. If anyone is interested he can contact me.

Do you use a mechanical pencil or a normal pencil?

Both, I can draw with anything.

Thanks Max for the interview!
See more of his work here.

Jason Munn is originally from Wisconsin but now calls Oakland, California home. Arising from a love of independent music, design, and making for the sake of making, his posters soon became a fixture in the local independent music scene.

He started The Small Stakes in the fall of 2003, and it has since unfolded into a successful independent design studio, producing nationally and internationally commissioned work in a range of print materials, including book covers, album packaging, T-shirt designs, screen-printed posters, and illustrations.

Jason’s work has appeared in Print, Communication Arts, Step Inside Design, Computer Arts Projects, Étapes, ReadyMade, and Creative Review. His work has also been featured in numerous exhibits and is part of the permanent collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Read the interview after the break.

Q: You got into design because of your passion for music and now you’re making a living off of designing posters for your favorite musicians. How do you feel about designers doing work that they have no interest in?

A: Growing up I was really involved in music and skateboarding and the aesthetics that went along with both. After eventually discovering that it was possible to get hired to do that kind of work I started taking design classes and a lot of my projects revolved around my interest in both music and skateboarding. After finishing school I worked in a few different design studios and design departments of larger companies, which were really beneficial to me even though the subject matter wasn’t always of huge interest to me. When I would go home I could take what I’ve learned during the day and apply it to some of the work I was doing outside of the studio work – typically work for friends in bands.

At CalArts, students collaborate on posters quite frequently for events and visiting lecturers. Have you ever collaborated with someone on a poster or project? If not, would you?

I haven’t worked on too many collaborative projects, but this summer I plan to work on a project with Dirk Fowler, a good friend of mine and one of my favorite designers as well.

What designers influence your work? Past and present.

I really enjoy the work of Alan Fletcher, his general approach to problem solving and design. Barney Bubbles and Peter Saville as well for different reasons. Most of my favorite designers now include Jeff Kleinsmith, Aesthetic Apparatus, Sonnenzimmer, and Dirk Fowler.

Links: Website

Together, Danae Moore and Jesse Lee Stout (MFA students in the Graphic Design program) created the biggest “posters” to ever grace the walls of CalArts for the Christian Schwartz design lecture. Read more about it with an introduction from Danae and an interview with Jesse!

Christian Schwartz, a well-known type designer, visited CalArts to give a lecture in early March and I designed these two posters (more like billboards) with classmate Jesse Lee Stout announcing the lecture. Christian has designed a lot of quirky typefaces with strong personalities, which gave us a starting point for these spirited, detailed, and unconventional posters. His typefaces are used everywhere and we wanted to take over sections of the school to represent the prevalence and importance of Christian’s types. We worked with type specimen language and formatting to demonstrate his typefaces, facts about his work and life, quotes from his website, rumors from Wikipedia as well as rumors of our own creation, and information about the lecture. Jesse and I began by designing various pieces separately and then worked together to weave everything and continue developing each others’ ideas.

What was the original concept behind making a wall sized poster?

When I was looking into Schwartz’s body of work, I realized that I and hundreds of other people see his work everyday without even realizing that it. I don’t think most people even realize that type design is a profession or, ehem, art. His work is always right in front of us — all the time. When I learned how young he was, it amazed me that that such a young type designer could have such an large portfolio. He’s insanely prolific. This lead me to the idea of Schwartz as kind of like a typographic rock star. The idea kind of made me laugh and I thought we should play with that idea a little bit. Initially, we intended to plaster the entire institute with smaller fliers in the most obscure places like, the backs of bathroom-stall doors, inside the book return chute at the library, under cafeteria trays — everywhere. Then we thought about going super big, like a billboard. We’re down the road from Hollywood after all and if Marc Jacobs gets a billboard, then so should Christian Schwartz, right?

What issues did you run into when designing it, preferably because of the size?

Well, neither of us had dealt with a space that large, so it was a learning experience. Illustrator couldn’t handle a 20′ wide canvas, so we designed it at 50%, which was fine until the paper issue. Kelly Paper ran out of the Tabloid size of one of the blue papers, so we went with Letter size. That meant we were tiling with 2 different size pages. I’m an absolute wreck with math, but we figured it out just in time for numerous printer and PDF errors. Eventually, it all came through.

How long did it take to install it?

Each wall took 6 hours. The one in the hallway was a bit smaller and only had two people at a time installing it. The stairwell installation was a different beast. I think we totally under estimated the man power it would take to install that one. Luckily, a handful of kids in our department (Christina, Matt, Christopher, Pierre, and Jenee) came through and helped us out from midnight to 6 am. Without the help of you guys, we surely would’ve been tiling right up until the lecture.

The hallway piece was 20′ x 9′ and about 250 pages. The stairwell piece was 19′ x 16′ and was well over 300 pages.

What was the initial response to the piece?

Much better than I anticipated. I’m in a class with the (in)famous Mr. Keedy and was due to see him the morning following the installation. While we were taping the pages up, I kept hearing Mr. Keedy’s voice in my head snapping, “Could you make those kerning errors any bigger?!” When I saw him the next morning, he asked if I had seen the giant posters. I joked and said that I thought they were terrible and once he said that he thought they were pretty cool, I came clean. I also caught Caryn Aono and Ed Fella taking photos of it. All of our classmates were super supportive too, which was nice. The department is really like a big family and we just want each other to kick ass.

The one in the stairwell really transformed that space. It might be the most heavily trafficked space in the institute. It was nice to see a lot of non-designers taking the time to investigate the poster.

How much more of an effect did it have than a regular sized poster?

I think it had a much different effect than a normal poster. It seemed like a lot more people noticed it and spent more time with the wall posters in comparison to a typical poster. Also, our school is inundated with the most amazing silk screened posters every week, so it was really different than what’s normally around.

Were there more people at the lecture than normal?

I don’t think there were more people at the lecture than normal, but I wouldn’t equate attendance to the effectivity of a poster. The posters at CalArts don’t really serve the purpose of announcements. I see them more as a celebration of the event, the artist visiting, and as a visual artifact for archival purposes. A lot of the posters only get posted hours before an event and everyone has already received an email announcement for the event. The posters are more of an expression of the poster designer’s voice and ideas as informed by the work of the visiting speaker.

What did Schwartz think of it?

Christian seemed really surprised. I’m not sure he knew what to make of them. I even got him to do a little photo shoot in front of the hallway piece. Again, this was a sarcastic play on the type designer as rock star idea. We had a lot of fun with it.

What are you going to do with all of the paper once it is taken down?

Our initial idea was to take all the paper down and make it into a few books. Unfortunately, the large one in the stairwell disappeared a few days later. I think security must’ve taken it down. So, we’ll use the remaining pages, along with the test prints along with some photos to make a book.

Was it worth it?

I think it went really well and was great practice for doing something on a much larger scale. I don’t think I’ll do something like that at school again, but I’m anxious to create something new that blows that one away.

Thanks again to Jesse Lee Stout and Danae Moore!
See more of Christian Schwartz’s type at Commercialtype.

Mark Kulakoff lives in downtown Los Angeles in the Hellman Building, which was supposedly the tallest building when it was built in the early nineteen hundreds. He has one roommate and a dog that is his. Interview by Devin Dailey.

When you were teaching at BIOLA in La Mirada, how did you prepare students for the field of graphic design—and life—outside of college?

The school is really fine arts driven, so I’m just trying to help them separate their work outside of those fine art contexts and put their image making and ideas into a context where there are consequences. If I give them constraints they are going to be good at it, like living by the law. In some ways I don’t know if I should give them so many limits because a lot of the kids here are very religious and have lived with a lot of restrictions all their life. But they still need those limits with regards to the whole professional aspect of design. I don’t try to push the professional side of design, instead I try to push experimentation, within a given set of limits or rules. In the real world they’ll have even harsher restrictions. I believe education is a time where you are free to experiment, develop and grow. I want the students to be really founded and grounded in their mind and heart and learn how to articulate ideas by integrating type and image. I try to relay information so they can grow and become makers of ideas and images.

With regard to pushing the students’ level of experimentation, could you define that in your terms or what that means in the educational environment? What do you consider “experimenting” and how do you teach that?

It’s tough and cliché. “Experimentation” has become cliché and has to be made new. As a teacher, I’m there to serve each student and to look at each student individually, where they’re coming from and where they can go. Experimentation is new to them and I have no right to say it’s not experimenting even if it’s been done before. I consider each student and if it’s new for them and something they haven’t done before I think it’s good for them. I encourage them to look forward too. I try to push them to do things that are being done currently, but keep them ahead and not do the things that are now, but something further. It’s a hard and dangerous way to talk, but it’s more about being able to serve them and let them enjoy life and enjoy image making and practices. I don’t want to ruin it for them.

You graduated CalArts in 2004. What were some of the reasons you where attracted to study at CalArts?

I was attracted to CalArts because I had come from a very weak tools-based graphic design program. We really only focused on forms like brochures and pamphlets, which was a joke. We were never taught how to think or how to make an image and make it speak. It was a very shallow to some degree. I was at a school in Chicago and saw Ed Fella and Elliott Earls’ work and thought their stuff was amazing. I then I saw other work like Gail Swanlund’s, which blew me away. I had never seen anything like that before. A teacher talked about CalArts as if it were in the heavens, and after seeing work from the faculty I thought I had to go there. During my undergrad studies I wasn’t really conceptually-minded, it was just about beautiful images and making cool stuff. I was pretty naïve when I arrived at CalArts, but then I realized there was a lot more going on. I love the essence of the school, there was a spirit about the place that was very interesting. It was a paradox compared to how I grew up, for my background was completely the opposite. I had never encountered people like I did when I was at CalArts.

What were some of the skills that you acquired while at CalArts?

The best thing was starting to learn how to think. I had never been challenged to think conceptually and also think through image making. I learned I could work intuitively and use intuition to communicate and how to make my work more conceptual. I think intuitive people believe they aren’t very conceptual, but I think if you go back and understand your process, you find that it’s rooted in ideas. Sometimes your ideas can be more interesting than people who are conceptual right from the start. I have the storm before the calm—destruction—and when eerything settles down, it’s “Ah, that’s what it is.” I don’t want to separate the two but it’s more about how to think and how to make images. I had never really made images before; it was either clip art or Dingbats. Everything was different to me: the people, the books that people were reading, how people thought about life and what people thought about clean and unclean. Philosophically, Spiritually, Emotionally and Mentally it was very eye opening to me; I can’t even explain what it did.

Can you be more specific about your process and what that entails?

I never really think about my process. I guess I should probably think about it more but I’ve always just let it kind of happen. It’s not very interesting. All I do is think about an idea or a concept that need to be betrayed and try to find some sort of abstract metaphor or some abstract connections that are cliché or somewhat off the wall. Then I start building images from that. I’m much more image driven. I try to find essence then put it into a stew. I push those idea and forms off the nest. I poop them out like an egg and then push the babies out and let them fly. Then they turn into something; sometimes they absolutely crash and die onto the ground, but hopefully they end up taking off. I’ve always tried to not think and just go into the darkness. When you have darkness or some kind of unknown it allows you to discover things. Every time I have gone into something I’ve always known that I can fail really badly. It’s all about knowing that each project can fail and I’m open to that and ready for that. If I go into a project without thinking that I can fail my work doesn’t fall into place.

Do you set any criteria to make sure that you head in the right direction?

No. If I start feeling the fear that it’s not working and think “okay, I’ve got to get this working”, I go back and start asking: What is the image’s connotation? What are they signifying? Can people understand what the images mean? Composition? What are the most important things to have? I go back the basics. Foundations are always the key. Those are my guidelines. Even in communicating. I don’t how people can judge if you are thinking conceptually because I‘ve always thought that if you are conceptual what you make is communicated. I’ve always thought the images where to serve people. To edify them, to make them grow and become better people. If your work is conceptual it should be full of ideas. You want your stuff to build other people up.

You have been working on a personal project called Teenocide, Can you describe this project of yours?

There was this video that Lorraine Wild showed in her Design History class about this kid that was driving too fast and the girl driving with him was say “slow down, slow down”. Then the last thing you see is the girl’s face all bandaged up and it says “Teenocide”. I thought that represented our culture so well. When I think about Teenocide I think about this consumption of everything. I’ve always thought teens were kind of weird. When you are a teen you want to forget that reality and when you’re an adult you want to be a teen. Ladies are trying to look like girls. Men are trying to look like young dudes. Everyone wants to look young and be relevant. No one is content. This culture is very much based in the identity of being youthful. Teenocide also about teenagers being selfish and devouring everything they see. Everything is about them. Teenocide is just a hilarious commentary on people and people’s nature. Teenocides are killing themselves and never thinking about consequences. They are just thinking about Friday night and the weekend. It’s about that spirit of destruction, lust of flesh and lust of identity. Cultures’ narcissism and how it seems like it’s just going to destroy it. It seem like nothing is pure anymore, everything is tainted by something. I’m not really sure how it’s going to turn out, but it’s my way of making moving images. It’s teenagers destructing themselves.

Any wisdom that you can offer up to any students at CalArts to propel careers or themselves?

My confession in regards CalArts is that I was very selfish. I wasn’t able to serve my neighbors. I wish I was there for my fellow students and served them in greater ways. Try to help each other more and be there for each other. I think the best thing is learning how to serve, which will take you so much farther in the real world. Honestly, in regards to design education, you’re going to get that at CalArts. When it comes to going out in the real world it is really about relationships. I would say the biggest thing is learning to not always think about yourself, but learn to think about your friends around you. I think if you try to break free of selfishness it will be more enriching in the future.

The Australian show Designer People did an episode on Ed Fella who is faculty in the graphic design program at CalArts.

PlayLab, Inc. is a studio based in Brooklyn, New York. They are two guys, Archie Lee Coates and Jeff Franklin. They mostly design for print.

Below is the care package that PlayLab, Inc. sent me as a part of their interview. They sent me items such as: Summer Sausage, Twilight Heart’s Desire Chocolate, their newest print piece (the cover of People magazine), and some really fun, colorful foam blocks. They also sent their entire interview in an audio format for your listening joy. You can download the entire audio here.

What was your undergraduate experience like? Did your school have a good design program?

We met in Virginia Tech’s undergraduate Architecture program. PlayLab started then, and we’ve been exploring ideas ever since. The architecture program was a very good experience that encouraged experimentation and taught us how to question and think.

Why did the two of you decide to pursue Graphic Design rather than Architecture after graduation? How are they related?

We’re not only pursuing graphic design, but we have focused on it because those projects are currently the most attainable (architecture has taken a beating). We have a background in graphic design, illustration, printmaking, architecture and industrial design. And we love and would like to pursue them all, in due time. They are related: they are working to solve problems, and helping the people involved. Graphic design and architecture may differ in their scale, scope and result, but they both have constraints and require working towards a solution.

What advice do you have for design students that are just starting their design educations and ones that are about to graduate and go into the real world to start their design careers.

Question everything, make mistakes. The real world is littered with shit. Doing something worthwhile is better than money. You have to work much harder to find the beauty in everything, but it’s there, and the designer’s job is to bring it out. Do what you love, and the money will follow.

Why do you guys call yourself PlayLab, Inc.? It seems like your studio name is something you two live by. Is work really play?

PlayLab is a process of letting loose all the possible ideas, ridiculous as they may seem, stepping back, taking a look at them in a critical away, and then working towards a solution based on those results. We encourage constant experimentation and mistakes. The Inc. is official, incorporated in the State of New York. There’s a balance between business and fun, and we’re still working that out. We’ll sometimes slip into our business-robot outfits and have to climb back out. We’re here to explore, discover and learn. We can’t do that without play. Human innovation starts with human imagination.

How do you like Brooklyn? How is the design community there?

We love Brooklyn. It was always our dream to move here and open the office. Back then we were in love with the idea of Brooklyn, filled with rustic lofts, neon signs and beautiful women on segways. We have come to love Brooklyn now because it is constantly inspiring, has amazing food and beautiful women on segways. The design community is very present here. However, we get the sense that much of them keep to themselves.

You have a beautiful studio, does it ever get really messy or is it always clean like the photograph on your website?

Oh thank you. We are both obsessive compulsive, so it only gets messy to a certain degree. The bookshelf in that photograph collapsed one night. That is the biggest mess we’ve ever had, and we shit our pants when we saw it. Since that photograph was taken, we’ve moved into a client’s studio as an experiment. We’re now in a ground-floor warehouse space, which is all used for steel-working. Our current situation couldn’t be dirtier from our last, but it’s refreshing in some ways, which is why we did it. However, our portion of the studio is by far the cleanest and neatest in the whole shop.

How would you say the work environment is at PlayLab?

A constant battle between boredom and fun. We share the space with one of our clients, an architecture firm called Face Design & Fabrication, which started as an experiment in what could happen when two separate design practices moved in together. They weld all day, and there’s steel dust all over our computers. It’s been interesting. The office is a nice place to work, but we always think best outside of it.

Do you collaborate on all projects? What are some positives and benefits?

Yes, we collaborate on everything. And we mean, EV-ER-RY-THING. That is how we prefer it, and we wouldn’t have the office if that didn’t happen. For us, it is an essential part of working. More heads equals more ideas, and more filters for those ideas.

Do each of you bring something different to the table when working on projects? Do you always like each others work?

Sure, but we’re very different people. For everything that we agree on, there are just as many things that we disagree on. That is a good thing when working collaboratively. It is what makes the filter work, and it would be boring and unproductive if we liked every thought or decision that the other made.

Do you guys have a process for projects?

We get stuck at some point during just about every project. It’s an inevitable part of the process that we are still learning how to deal with. Every project is different and has a new set of problems and constraints. So we try to have a process that is loose and can adapt per project. We start by freely producing ideas, both visually and verbally. And when we hit a wall, we go back to that and/or get out of our normal environment.

What materials do you use for your work? How does the balance of pencil and mouse work for you? Do you think it’s beneficial to not be bound to the computer and experiment with more fine art materials in design work?

People should work in a way they’re comfortable with. Ours involves a pen and something to write on. After that, it’s up for grabs how things get done. We let our minds and conversations wander, and at some point we rope things back in and make something.

What is your driving force, what is it you two want to say with the work you’re putting into the world?

The goal is to be satisfied. We hope to do this by creating and sending things out into the world, no matter their scale, that our beautiful, smart, cared-for and appreciated. We want to give the world things that it didn’t know it needed, and if we could get paid for it, that’d be even better.

What designers/illustrators influence you today?

We are easily influenced by everybody and anything. We met a prisoner named Randy who used to run Alabama’s largest meth lab. He somehow had more wise things to say than anyone we’ve ever met. Randy and Outer Space are at the top of a long list of influences.

With all of the design blogs/websites out there, for us and students all over what would you like to see with FISK?

Show us more than pretty pictures. Make something that is inspiring for all people, not only designers. Ask questions that make people sweat.

Why did you guys stop twittering?

We started twittering? (question).

Dream client or job? Worst client experience?

Dream: NASA.

Worst: The clients that won’t let themselves go, and trust.

Do you wear patterned/designed socks, plain socks or no socks?

Toe fetish (refer to Figure 1A). These are the only socks that we wear.

Thank you PlayLab, Inc. for one of the most adventurous interviews I’ve ever done!
Visit their studio at www.playlab.org and their flickr here.