Bryony Gomez-Palacio isn’t at Portfolio Center to zip through a PowerPoint presentation of past projects, gush about her designs impacting the world, or brand herself as a rebel. This is someone who believes that designers, no matter how famous, should never buy into their own hype. There are no theatrics here. She speaks softly, addressing us as peers, not as a superstar artiste before adoring fans.
And what about those famous designers? Sure, their work may inspire some, but what happens when they’re no longer the “It” designer? Their contributions to the design world become static, almost frozen in time.
You can’t say that about Bryony Gomez-Palacio. Along with her husband, Armin Vit, she’s responsible for The Design Encyclopedia, a user-created online reference as well as Speak Up (www.underconsideration.com/speakup/), an online forum dedicated to brutally honest design discussion. Both The Design Encyclopedia and Speak Up are constantly evolving, providing designers with an ever-expanding source of real-world knowledge. She recently formed graphic design firm Nice (www.thatsnicedesign.com/) with Carmen Garcia, a friend from her Portfolio Center days.
I had the opportunity to ask her a few questions after she spoke to Portfolio Center.
Has living in a Latin American country influenced your approach to design?
My actual approach to design doesn’t reflect anything from that background. The reason behind Under Consideration and Speak Up and all that kind of stuff (and I speak for my husband too) is that we left Mexico because we were not happy with the profession. The first time that graphic design was taught at any university was 1968. None of my teachers had practiced graphic design. They were architects or artists, so the graphic design education was not the greatest. And number two, the design perception is off. “Are you going to charge me for that? So much? But my niece knows how to draw, and my mother has a camera.”
You’ve done a lot of teaching. What do you see as the weakest area for most beginning graphic designers?
Business. There’s no business sense. They don’t know how to present, they don’t know how to deal with a client. A lot of designers graduate and say, ‘I want to freelance’ or ‘I want to do my own thing,’ and they don’t have the experience or the ability to do so. You need to gain that experience from mentors you will find in the workplace. And I would add, don’t go work for the designer of the moment. Avoid THE designer at all costs. They’re more concerned with the image and what’s going on news-wise than with you. They won’t devote time to teaching you.
When you’re a student and you show two teachers the same thing, you get different opinions. When you were in school, how did you decide whose advice to take?
Part of it is gut and part of it is who you’re more afraid of as far as teachers go--creative directors even. You choose your battles. The CD really wants to use this typeface, I really want to use this one. Instead of arguing over it, I’ll take his typeface, but I’ll use the photographer that I want.
You’ve worked for some big clients like Sony and Jim Beam. Do you have any tips for presenting work to big clients?
Be prepared, practice, and know your shit. Present to the mirror, present to the TV, present to the sofa, I don’t care. You really don’t want to blow it, so know your shit. If anything is questionable, have an answer for it that doesn’t sound like bullshit--even if it is. If you’re prepared and come in strong, they’ll often listen to you. If you’re faltering, they’ll lose confidence in you.
Does user-generated content such as the “Word It” section of Speak Up function as a learning tool for distinguishing “good” vs “bad” design? What’s interesting about out “Word It” is that it can be really bad or really good, but people don’t say anything. People have decided not to judge. I mean, sometimes I get an e-mail saying “come on, block that user because they’re so bad.” We want to go beyond that and just let “Word It” be the experience. For a lot of people, it’s a sweet little outlet that they either put together in three minutes between client meetings or think about for a week and then do it. They know that ‘nobody’s going to judge me, there’s no client direction, nobody has anything to do with it but me.’
Speak Up and UnderConsideration advance non-traditional ideas. Do you think design education needs to push students to be as experimental and risk-taking as possible? Definitely, but you also have to learn how to read your client. Sometimes clients don’t want to go that way. You can do incredible work for them without having to do something gimmicky or come up with something that’s totally out there. If the client is not ready for it, they’re going to shut down very quickly. If you come in with beautiful design they’re comfortable with, establish a relationship, five years from there you can do whatever you want.
Are there particular any artists or musicians who inspire you? Everything and everybody. I can’t really say one artist or one thing. Just walking down the street, I have a camera in my bag at all times and sometimes I’ll take 800 pictures in a day and I store them. I have an incredible array of archives for photography. I’ll take a picture of the sidewalk, of trash, of beautiful doors that I find on the street, just about anything. There’s so much out there that’s amazing or beautiful or so hideous that it’s astounding in one way or another. I’ve used some hideous stuff, or hideous inspiration. You can turn that around.
A book featuring collections from the popular “Word It” section of Speak Up is due in 2007.
Portfolio Center students share a strong desire to communicate ideas, the willingness to let go of preconceived notions, and the compulsion to learn new ways of thinking. These qualities are fostered by the school’s constant stream of industry bigwigs, who bring their varied and colorful perspectives from all over the country. These creatives, who are always generous with their time and energy, tend to hang out with students, conducting informal workshops and continuing the day’s discussions over dinner. Often, what results are provocative interviews—written, shot, and designed by PC students.
