MISTAKE 7. EVERYONE LOVES FUNNY, INTERESTING STORIES THAT BRING YOU AND YOUR FIRM DOWN TO A MORE ACCESSIBLE LEVEL. IF YOU'RE GOING TO PONTIFICATE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF DESIGN AND HIGH-FALUTIN' STUFF LIKE THAT, MAKE SURE YOU COUNTERBALANCE IT WITH SOME FUN, EMBARRASSING ANECDOTES.
JB: So where do you guys think design is going? What is a design office going to look like in the future?
TESTOSTERONE DREAMS: This book is a provocative investigation of the complex, bizarre, and sometimes outrageous history of synthetic testosterone and other male hormone therapies. We wanted the cover to have a similar outrageousness and darkly humorous quality. Freudian associations abound, Brodsley explains.
AB: I'm hoping we can be even more proactive instead of reactive
in client situations. In most instances the design task at hand
trickles down through the organization until basically you're dealing
with people who are afraid for their jobs and very risk averse.
It would be nice to see design take a much more proactive role in
helping organizations define and realize their goals.
How about
that time we were in front of 3,000 people and introduced with,
"The Volume partners include their measurements on their cards.
Let me tell you, these guys are in the WRONG business!"
EH: I think that a lot more designers are going to move into this self-generated project realm. Designers are getting more ambitious,
and the harder it gets for us to fulfill these ambitions in
client-based work, the more we are going to pursue other avenues
of exploration, creating our own opportunities. And there's nothing
like your entire office flooding after the toilet overflows from a
freakish torrential rainstorm. And it happened on the day The Passion
of the Christ opened. What does THAT mean?
MISTAKE 8. IN AN INTERVIEW, CONFLICT BETWEEN PARTIES IS ALWAYS MORE INTERESTING THAN AGREEMENT.
JB: I think part of why Volume is being noticed now is that there has been published work in the last year in various magazines, but it's not necessarily
stuff that you have made a lot of money on. What about this idea of being
famous in the graphic design arena? Do you care about that? What
value is that to you guys?
EH: When I got out of school I was pretty anti-everything and
decided that I wasn't going to submit my stuff to competitions.
After starting Volume, Adam convinced me that entering competitions
would be good for business in the long run and so I came
around to it. When we started actually getting work in the annuals,
I admit that it was a good feeling. To design something well is
very hard, it often doesn't yield financial returns, and the work frequently
goes unappreciated. Having peers honor your work is one
of the few external forces that can reinforce the belief that what
you're doing is good and worthwhile. But a larger aspiration is to
complete a project that affects and is appreciated by a larger audience.
That has a cultural impact beyond the design world.
AB: I agree.
It would've been more compelling if Adam had responded:
AB: What the $%#& are you talking about? That is totally off-
base. YOU were the one who convinced ME to enter those competitions!
This is so typical-you taking the credit for something I
said. Friggin' spotlight hogger!
MISTAKE 9. TALK ABOUT SOMETHING THAT HAS A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE WORLD, NOT JUST YOUR OWN SELF-REALIZED GOALS.
JB: Will you talk about the project that you guys are doing with The Bridge Fund, I guess particularly about using design as the way to communicate
things that need to be communicated?
AB: The Bridge Fund is a nonprofit organization that was created to help the Tibetan people in education, business development,
cultural heritage preservation, and healthcare. One look at what
this group is doing and you can't help but want to be involved. It's
such a good cause, so pure and noncapitalistic. It's not about selling
more junk that's going to end up in the landfill in a year. It's
about really helping people and it's along the same lines of what we
have been talking about. It's not often that graphic design has the
opportunity to have such an impact.
EH: This is the kind of project that shifts the major discussion
from surface, form, or even communication to what does this project
facilitate instead? It's very important to me that my work goes
toward good causes as much as it reasonably can. Everybody has
to eat and do the standard money jobs to stay afloat, but I feel like
graphic design has further potential that we haven't tapped yet.
Those possibilities are exciting. Sometimes the work that does the
most good isn't very sexy-this is the eternal designer dilemma, I
think, and that Design for Democracy initiative is the first thing
that comes to mind. We want to do something that is exceptional
both in what it does and what it is. We're humbled by the cause,
but cocky about wanting to push the design envelope, too.
AB: Supposedly we are going on a photo trip to Tibet sometime. Imagine trying to lug camera equipment over a 14,000-foot pass.
EH: Time to start the exercise regimen.
MISTAKE 10. TRYING TO SALVAGE AN INTERVIEW BY EXPLORING THE DO'S AND DON'TS OF THE PROCESS CAN MAKE WHAT SEEMED LIKE A QUICK PROCESS TURN INTO A CONVOLUTED AND RATHER ARDUOUS ONE.**
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**Note: Volume Inc. does not guarantee the effectiveness of the above interview suggestions. We cannot be held liable for any damages resulting from their application. Follow at your own risk.
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