The first thing for me to do was to organise a time and date to visit the studio. I was in New York from the 5th to the 9th, so I suggested to visit the 9th of September, the last day of the holiday. This is so I could discuss observations I had made about New York with him, and would also generally help with conversation.
Finding the studio:
I was lucky enough to be staying just 4 blocks away from the studio, how convenient!
The studio was located 11 floors up, in Studio 1106 (apologies for the photo of the wrong door below). Interestingly, all the studios on that floor were for creatives.
Photos of the Actual Studio
The studio was absolutely tiny, with only Douglas and one other working there. It was roughly 15 metres x 15 metres.
Prepared Questions & Answers
In order to maintain conversation, and to find out more about living and working in New York, I prepared some questions to ask Douglas. Below is the questions and answers (I took notes, so I could maintain conversation)
The image of the
studio – imageofthestudio.com – October 1st
Studios work the same
– ‘are you going to pentagrams party’ – small world
BEGINNING
Would you mind
if I used this information in a presentation when I get back to university?
DOUGLAS: 'No, feel free!'
Can you tell
me a bit about your company? How long have you been going, how many people work
here?
DOUGLAS: Douglas and Neil – Occasionly an intern. I feel like we have too much work for 2 people.
I established the company in 1992 – Previously working
in Italy, moved back to NYC in 1991.
Can you tell
me a bit about your background as a designer, and how you got to the position
you’re in
now?
DOUGLAS: Went to a design
school, graduated 84. Worked for AGP –
corperate identity boring work.
Logo design
was slow, before computers.
- Studios used to have more pople working
in them, chosing type was way longer.
- Used to be very laborious.
- Much more craftsmenship was involved.
I noticed many
of your clients are restaurants/cafes, do you favour working with clients from
a particular sector?
Try to focus
on restaurants, business plan. People will always eat.
I've found from my stay in New York that restaurants seem to consider branding a lot more, do you agree from visiting the UK?
‘ you only see the good shit’ - Loves Pret a Manger and EAT. Also loves lots of the places in Shoreditch - Independant restaurants.
You British are devouted
followers of print.
Do you work
with clients in just New York, the US, or international? (Maybe there are more
clients than listed on the website)
Love to work
internationally, a few outside of new york. Not his choice. LA and Chicago are
both restaurant town, Louisville, philly.
Everyone wants
to seem local even though theyre national. A large brand work with a small
place to lose corperate look. Big advertising too expensive for local people.
25% of ads in cabs should be local ads, but they cant afford it. Starbucks looked for small company to give it a more 'local look'.
Do you see
differences in design in any other countries?
Basic core –
the same.
More
conceptual when dutch. There is a british style, insane amount of gill sans.
Cheeky british sense of humour, weirdly
witty. Lots of drop shadow. French style – lots of pink. More ornamented. More
script in france. Italy is in a world of its own.
American has
more old school typography. Amerians are very nostalgic. Nastaliga for time
shittier than now.
Britian has a
cleaner aesthetic.
Modernism is
the easier way to learn.
Louise fili –
packaging design.
Jessica hisch
worked for louise fili.
Modernism is
easier on computers. Everyone is making things on computers, so you need to
break through
NEW YORK AS A CITY
Are you from
New York? If not, how do you find it as an outsider?
Grew up
outside new york – 45 mins. Live here for 5 minutes and you’re a newyorker.
Unlike Liverpool! Quite accepting. Different in the boroughs no grid system. The
same in Brooklyn as argyle road.
What are the
positives and negatives of livin and
working in New York?
Postives – you
can live on any amount of money. You can do whatever you want if you have balls
and conviction. Its not cold and unforgeiving. Manhattan is becoming like
centre of London. 11 block walk to work 20 years ago.
14 million
people. It’s a little expensive to break in living here. Depends on what you
want. Harlem is very expensive. The village is very expensive. Youre not living
off regents park. Brooklyn similar to hackney.
Do agencies
share work in New York much, or do they keep to themselves?
A little bit,
if you want. Coolabs with architectures as they work with restaurants. Interior
designers too.
Hire the
interior designers first, branding sets the stage. Architecture apparently
takes longer than branding.
Depends on the
project.
FINISHING UP
Can you tell
me more about recent projects you have completed/ working on?
Conny and
teds. Fun. Architecture force. A year
longer than thought. Huge amount of packaging and app stuff. Irish software.
Uniform –
putting together ideas and called in samples. Mark Echo – Custom outfits
designed. Expensive to produce, so normally hisnt designed. An apron, something
simple.
Is there any
advice you can give me as a future graduate?
Up on whats
happening. Bad when work doesn’t ‘fit’ to something, but also not good to copy.
Current trends, look current. Students live in a bubble, don’t experience
things in the flesh. Go to lectures, museums. Need a view, style, too much of
that means they cant work in a group.
Expect
students to know what you don’t know. You should know principles. Know your
grammar! You cant have a true style at 19.
Who has a
copywriter now? Designers should know grammar. ‘I changed this because its
better’
