PC: What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your enormous design career?
SG: I learned that I don’t know anything; I thought I knew, but actually I don’t. Everything is a new thing. I like the idea that I am constantly learning new things through projects and clients--everything that comes at me is something I don’t know, and then I have to immerse myself.
PC: Is that what keeps you going?
SG: Yes, that is certainly one of the thrills about this profession, that you are learning things about other people business, and things, and the way to do things. You become like a jack-of-all-trades. You learn about law, financing, business, and all those kinds of things. A pretty well rounded education you get over time.
PC: How much do you think you took away from the Swiss design aesthetic? Were you able to pull it back into your work?
SG: Yes, there is a certain aesthetic. When I grew up in Switzerland, I was a minister’s son, and we learned to play with little, make something out of not very much. We invented things constantly. I wasn’t given a lot of things. I was making them, or my dad made them--like a dollhouse for my sister he made with his hands, using carpentry. It instilled in me a certain way of approaching things. I want to make and create things, and it also taught me to work with little means, to try and make the most out of what we have.
But in Switzerland, they are on time, they are clean, the streets are clean. That is also something I never lost, a way of organizing yourself and being prudent. But when I go back, it feels narrow-minded; people are taking care of their own business, but not necessarily paying attention to the rest of the world. This is something that I have overcome, and I think America has really influenced me. I have been here for 41 years, and Switzerland for only the first twenty or so.
PC: Earlier, we talked about how New York doesn't seem to be as modern as it could, that it is like stepping back in time. What cities would you consider to be the most modern and forward thinking in the world?
SG: Amsterdam ranks pretty high. Swiss cities like Zurich are very forward thinking, but then you have places like Dubai, which is taking leaps and bounds maybe a little too much. They seem to be ahead of themselves but they are bringing in international know-how to quickly advance and not trying to do it all themselves. They’re applying their money and getting help from around the world, to push this thing forward. There are a lot of crazy things going on in Hong Kong and London, and Paris is different. It’s the global cities where all the know-how comes together. New York has an advantage, because it is made up of people from all over the world. Even though at times it doesn’t seem so.
PC: Where do you see design going?
SG: I think it’s two-sided. There some people who push the envelope, who go further by experimenting and do work that is untraditional--typefaces that are borderline readable but are expressive, which is good. Then there’s the other side that is going back to things that are meaningful in a way, particularly with trademarks and logos. Symbolism is coming back, and I am a good part of that, I think, because we have run out of abstract symbols. Geometric shapes have become meaningless, so people have to add taglines and explanations and wrap complete advertising campaigns to add meaning. But it doesn’t work. We need to bring things that are understandable and connect not just on an intellectual level but a gut and heart level that makes it valid in the future.
I mentioned Sagmeister. He is one guy who can transcend all that. On one end, he is very high technology, and on the other he’s very emotionally connected and brings warmth and feeling that really appeals to the heart while pushing the envelope. I admire him for this. Someone like James Victore--he’s an artist, a contained unbelievable energy…it just explodes. Have you ever heard him talk? He swears every other word and is incredibly raw, but we need people like that. He is the opposite of clean corporate graphics, which don’t hurt anyone, but they don’t help them either.
I think that is probably the third tendency in design, which becomes less and less effective--when they use layout as their media by borrowing stock images and interesting typefaces, making a composition with that. To me, that’s called art direction, seems too superficial; you aren’t making or creating anything, just arranging, so easy with the computer. My staff doesn’t look for typefaces; they look at what is available on the computer. Same with color; they go to the swatches first, but there are only ten colors! It’s convenient, and lazy.
PC: Could you talk about your identity work with the Darien Library?
SG: The library is an interesting thing, because it is in a small wealthy town with mostly retired people. It’s a small library that is extremely active, one of the top five in the country. Something like 87-89% of the public there owns a library card. Everyone is involved, parents and children, which makes it a positive thing. You’ve seen the identity, it’s a transparent flipping of pages, but it all came out of movement and books. We saw the library, and it is filled with people dropping off books, children reading, very active. But the whole thing happened to be a linear drawing of mine, with just lines; first it was a D, the curved line, flipping pages. Then we left out the D, I gave it to an intern, and he really took off.
It’s really his creation now, a guy from Portugal. He just made what I had in mind much better. It was literally just a movement sketch and he developed it. It originally was a linear drawing of a heron based on a sculpture that was given to the library. It didn’t really have a meaning specifically to the library.
They are moving into the new library in January, and now we are doing all the promotions--a summer reading program; bedtime stories for the kids, where they come in pajamas, listen, then go back home; and a film series.
PC: You work with a really diverse team. Is that on purpose? Do you find an advantage to it?
SG: I don’t know how that actually happened. We found over time, through the interns, that the Europeans come better educated. I hate to say it, but they also come a little hungrier. They apply themselves. They come over here and want to prove themselves and break into the American scene. So we had very good experiences with lots of foreigners. A lot of our seniors started as interns. It so happens that Emanuela Frigerio is Italian, and I am Swiss, so I guess that may attract foreigners. We have people from Saudi Arabia, Korea, and Japan.
It has to do with the philosophy of hiring people. We always said that we don’t just hire graphic designers, but everyone who joins the family should bring something to the table, whether a different culture or something else.
We hired a guy from Ohio 3 years ago, very talented, but he also danced for a year around the world--taught himself, and went on tour. Where did he come from? But now he is working on Yankee stadium. He’s a real baseball fanatic, he knows the stats, and he can talk to the clients like nobody’s business. He is one of those multitalented people who make the firm interesting.
PC: What is your favorite Swiss recipe or food?
SG: Fondue. I don’t know who invented it. Also, this cookie you can’t find anywhere else--all kinds of cakes and veal dishes, and these potatoes that are roasted sliced and fried.
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.
