Interview by Annabel Ross, UK for Resident Advisor
How did you get your start in this industry? How long have you been performing this role for?
I started working with music at the very beginning of the studio in 2011. A dialectic nature between visual arts and music production was at the very core of defining my approach to design as culture-driven blurring the lines between design and art. Authorship implies building new fields to ignite the world around us and the music industry does so as a cultural arena: bonding visual communication and sonic atmospheres as one and the same, allowing the designer to become an artist just as the musician to transcend into an experience for the audience and public.
What are the demands of your role as a Graphic Designer?
Asking "what is and what is not” or understanding that if a task is not dramatic it is probably not enriching is part of the quest of a visual mediator. When I mention that if the stomach hurts it is our role to open the window I am pushing the line between a service provider and an artist that does not conform with the condition of making a design practice that is purely service-oriented and a problem-solver. The world is happening faster than once was and it would role as designers to seduce an audience into realms that were once unseen by establishing bridges between all medium, coordinating teams with different expertise, projecting for fully immersive spaces or materials. It is equally important to design in such a way that is provocative to the public, inviting it to question what they are seeing and feeling, which in a way is more related to sharing knowledge and expanding perception other than enhancing the experience of a product through common-sense (or state of the art). In an era that seems to rush for answers is all of us, the demand of the designer is to try to change the meaning of ourselves.
How do you help artists (musicians) in your role?
By providing emotions and visual ways to achieve them as main storytellers, with concepts and semiotics, while also creating an intimate conversation with the artists and the way that they perceive their musical landscapes to build a visual discourse where action is no longer appearance but a narrative. Trying to create structures for places unseen before, we talk a lot about what is not so obvious in their music, from cubes, cones, and spheres, to long walks on the beach, gasoline in the sea, vodka, and kombucha!
What sort of person do you need to be to be a successful Graphic Designer? Are there any prerequisites (education, courses, etc)?
Education and knowledge are key for a successful Graphic Designer. To have a strong foundation on core concepts of composition, drawing, typography, micro-and-macro spacing and to be able to sketch by hand, through motion, photography, generative or experimental coding is fundamental to establish the tools that allow one person to be able to perform as a graphic designer nowadays. Both alone or coordinating teams while art directing. However, these are not enough per se, they are only ways of making. It is fundamental that a creative needs to be curious, imaginative, fearless, and restless, and this is achieved by being eager to learn from many fields that orbit around design (from ballet to philosophy, poetry to muffins, astrophysics to trash-tv, you name it!) while understanding that all of these are the most important things that a creative needs to have in order to play around with the skillset that academic education once provided. Tepid opinions make unsatisfying work.
Who pays you for your work? What is your pay dependent upon (i.e. the different parties who might pay you, if applicable, whether your pay is performance-based, involves a commission fee or profit share, has it varied much since you began your career?)
The main income comes from commissioned work. Working in the cultural field implies being able to design an album just as well as an identity for a Biennale in all of its complexity, editing and designing books, lecturing, as well as also selling self-initiated artworks or curating exhibitions. Through my career, this has fluctuated a little with minor sources of revenue coming from shared profit (in the case of Adobe for example) and also other forms of payment that don’t imply money, such as exchanging one vinyl packaging for a full collection of records from specific labels! Although this is very structured it is good to keep a light heart and enjoy playing robin-hood, compensating with big budgets smaller passion projects.
How long did it take for you to feel comfortable in your role and like you had attained some level of proficiency or expertise? What helped you reach this point?
This question is tricky! It took me about two years of designing endlessly, meeting different people, and working in different environments to be able to feel confident in even saying that I was a graphic designer. By promoting the Royal Studio’s work, establishing connections, pushing its international presence, providing workshops, teaching, and making connections it was only about 5 years after starting my practice that I felt comfortable in not being afraid of any new projects, as big or as small as they were. However, it is only now, after 10 years that I can truly say that I am happy and secure in designing in different scenarios, across teams, flying worldwide, be able to coordinate, design, feel happy, aim for unexpected ideas and mindfully dream of concepts to be independent of size, scale, performance, material or spacial physicality.
What advice would you have for young people interested in pursuing a role in Graphic Design today?
I started working with music at the very beginning of the studio in 2011. A dialectic nature between visual arts and music production was at the very core of defining my approach to design as culture-driven blurring the lines between design and art. Authorship implies building new fields to ignite the world around us and the music industry does so as a cultural arena: bonding visual communication and sonic atmospheres as one and the same, allowing the designer to become an artist just as the musician to transcend into an experience for the audience and public.
Asking "what is and what is not” or understanding that if a task is not dramatic it is probably not enriching is part of the quest of a visual mediator. When I mention that if the stomach hurts it is our role to open the window I am pushing the line between a service provider and an artist that does not conform with the condition of making a design practice that is purely service-oriented and a problem-solver. The world is happening faster than once was and it would role as designers to seduce an audience into realms that were once unseen by establishing bridges between all medium, coordinating teams with different expertise, projecting for fully immersive spaces or materials. It is equally important to design in such a way that is provocative to the public, inviting it to question what they are seeing and feeling, which in a way is more related to sharing knowledge and expanding perception other than enhancing the experience of a product through common-sense (or state of the art). In an era that seems to rush for answers is all of us, the demand of the designer is to try to change the meaning of ourselves.
By providing emotions and visual ways to achieve them as main storytellers, with concepts and semiotics, while also creating an intimate conversation with the artists and the way that they perceive their musical landscapes to build a visual discourse where action is no longer appearance but a narrative. Trying to create structures for places unseen before, we talk a lot about what is not so obvious in their music, from cubes, cones, and spheres, to long walks on the beach, gasoline in the sea, vodka, and kombucha!
Education and knowledge are key for a successful Graphic Designer. To have a strong foundation on core concepts of composition, drawing, typography, micro-and-macro spacing and to be able to sketch by hand, through motion, photography, generative or experimental coding is fundamental to establish the tools that allow one person to be able to perform as a graphic designer nowadays. Both alone or coordinating teams while art directing. However, these are not enough per se, they are only ways of making. It is fundamental that a creative needs to be curious, imaginative, fearless, and restless, and this is achieved by being eager to learn from many fields that orbit around design (from ballet to philosophy, poetry to muffins, astrophysics to trash-tv, you name it!) while understanding that all of these are the most important things that a creative needs to have in order to play around with the skillset that academic education once provided. Tepid opinions make unsatisfying work.
The main income comes from commissioned work. Working in the cultural field implies being able to design an album just as well as an identity for a Biennale in all of its complexity, editing and designing books, lecturing, as well as also selling self-initiated artworks or curating exhibitions. Through my career, this has fluctuated a little with minor sources of revenue coming from shared profit (in the case of Adobe for example) and also other forms of payment that don’t imply money, such as exchanging one vinyl packaging for a full collection of records from specific labels! Although this is very structured it is good to keep a light heart and enjoy playing robin-hood, compensating with big budgets smaller passion projects.
This question is tricky! It took me about two years of designing endlessly, meeting different people, and working in different environments to be able to feel confident in even saying that I was a graphic designer. By promoting the Royal Studio’s work, establishing connections, pushing its international presence, providing workshops, teaching, and making connections it was only about 5 years after starting my practice that I felt comfortable in not being afraid of any new projects, as big or as small as they were. However, it is only now, after 10 years that I can truly say that I am happy and secure in designing in different scenarios, across teams, flying worldwide, be able to coordinate, design, feel happy, aim for unexpected ideas and mindfully dream of concepts to be independent of size, scale, performance, material or spacial physicality.
That there is no neutral room and no neutral discourse, just the same as there is no objective room nor objective discourse. Grab on to your particular oddities and subtleties as an individual. Sketch or write daily. Eat burritos and please please please do never underestimate a Friday evening. And then this: 1. Don't keep it simple. 2. Overthink. 3. Research first, sketch second. 4. Come up with a solution. 5. Don't trust it. 6. Throw it all away. At this point 7. Don't overthink and, driven-by-a-certain-sense-of-certainty 8. Mistrust the world and 9. Cocktail your work. 10. Whatever it is take it tremendously seriously and don't ever forget to dance. 11. Trust morning-after pills, anxiety might pop up and it should be taken naturally with 12. Water.
Interview by Naomi Lampariello & Dafne Van Dooren, BE
How does your process work?
An ongoing process of care and research. I analyze the deep reasons that fuel the questions at hand and then I let go of the brief to try to understand how does it relate to the client and the world at the same time. Believing each outcome is universal under the same reasoning, I try to use a polyhedric vision to see it from all angles and only then I trust my intuition. Intuition is an interesting concept because it hold oneself responsible in a very intimate way, and it might be that it might convey the answer to the question only if it admits the client as part of the journey. In any scenario, there is always a drive to this gut-driven outcome.
Which studies have you followed?
I have studied communication design at ESAD Matosinhos and graduated in 2011, and it is where I currently teach for 9 years. However, it would be dishonest to discredit my path as a graffiti writer since the age of 15 given that the two contributed in many different ways to break the frontiers of form, function, and the role of the artist. Over the course of a lifetime, and from an existentialist point of view, I must admit that all the choices lead me to become an author, and that is an ungraduated continuous process that also nourishes my design practice.
Why did you choose this profession?
Content-driven-society. It was only when I realized (after a short academic period in Biology) that design can be a catalyst and a tool to keep society from being stable that I made the lucid choice of becoming a designer.
What does your working day look like?
Feed me 4 coffees and I am good to kickstart the day at 8 a.m. even if fantasy and fuel only kick in at 5 p.m. . There are several ways to keep busy until then anyway. Going through the news always allows reality to settle. And only then, mid-morning, I open the e-mail and get going. One quick reply here, a moon full of questions there, and at this point, there have been at least 3 sketches on an uncoated white sheet of paper. There is always a little bit of techno in the morning to invite the blackness in. And then, driven by the lights and others, at the studio, I let go of all distractions and dive deep into designing a systematic approach to the graphic objects. I try to stop before dinner but sometimes the nighttime kicks in and I allow the dance to flow. (it might cancel the next morning, and then the anxiety).
Where do you get your inspiration from?
Experiences and emotions. Admitting that the role of the designer is most relevant when it is one of consequence, I am profoundly inspired by the performances that engage the public to dance! Yes, the geek side vibrates with beautifully crafted typographies and especially editorial design that is both well crafted and meaningful. Explosions of orchestras that echo the hand of the creator in the shape of posters, illustrations, and album covers also make me spin with much speed and beauty. However, it is via acute poetry and neon lights that I feel profoundly driven and purposeful to share messages with and to the world.
What is interesting about your job?
Cultural work is the focus of the studio. As such, to fuel imagination and spark critique is what brings me joy in design.
Did you know as a child that you would enter this career?
I remember from a very early age of fantasizing about growing into a vascular surgeon. Later on, my curiosity drove me to microbiology and genetics. It must be that I was eager to know how things were. Eventually, I realized that there was much more freedom in envisioning how things might be — and then it hit me: the future would be somewhere between words and shapes. So that we can dream so that we could build.
What do you like the most about this job?
That the answer is never within.
What kind of customers do you have?
Cultural-driven clients. Biennales, City Municipalities, Music Labels, independent musicians, here and there a podcast series and quite a lot of festival identities. There might be times where we allow a project that falls out of this scope to sneak in, but only if it grants the freedom to idealize it for the purpose of pushing the boundaries of its area of expertise (like fashion, clothing, and architecture!).
Who are your great examples and inspirations?
It is still a mystery for me how existence precedes essence (in the words of Jean-Paul Sartre). I often realize that new ways of being and seeing are first written, secondly recorded, thirdly conveyed. My main inspirations come from authors such as Mário Cesariny, Almada Negreiros, Ana Hatherly (it is interesting, it was just now that I realized that they were all poets and visual artists!). The synthesized orchestras of Caterina Barbieri, the rawness of Wu-Tang, and the monumental beauty of John Coltrane do keep my blood and dancing shoes in place. On design specifically, Bureau Borsche, Metahaven, Experimental Jetset, Joost Grootens, and Kasper-Florio are my usual suspects to set the ocean on fire.
How do you see the future as a graphic designer?
Everything around us will shed its skin and change the light as it does. I hope that the hard choreographies and stoned walls that 2020-2021 have brought us nod the design world towards culture-driven and content-aware graphism. As an optimist, I see the craft and techniques evolve in such a way that there is very little room to be visually poor or structurally ignorant. As a realist, I think that speed and ecstasy will rule the market and it will be the sole task of independent studios to keep fueling novelty and surprise in each project.
How would you describe your own style?
Content-driven-poetry-fueled-ignition.
Some tips as a graphic designer for students?
1. Don't keep it simple. 2. Overthink. 3. Research first, sketch second. 4. Come up with a solution. 5. Don't trust it. 6. Throw it all away. At this point 7. Don't overthink and, driven-by-a-certain-sense-of-certainty 8. Mistrust the world and 9. Cocktail to your work. 10. Whatever it is take it tremendously seriously and don't ever forget to dance.
Interview by Giacomo Felace, for Radio Fricodisco , IT
Radio Fricodisco is a project made by Giacomo Felace where he interviews and invites authors to curate playlists that show the musical background in their works and their lifes.
Click here to listen to our playlist on Spotify.
The context for this playlist is fairly simple: sunrise in the A.M. and sundown at the start of the afternoon: time has never been so dragged. An evolving twist between one sunny Portuguese shore and a steel-shot in Berlin amid electronic neon smoke. This playlist is set as a loop between waking up shaking in the sheets still in an industrial dream.
Tell me three things you are obsessed with right now and why. Film, documentary, music, DJ mix, book, blog, recipe, drink. Whatever you want to share with the world.
A. Negronis. I’ve been in an ongoing obsession with this cocktail since my last trip to Brno (Czech Republic) back in 2018. Somehow this cocktail gravitated into my lockdowns in an unexpected twist of memories and multiculturalism. B. Poetry. I’ve fallen in a downward spiral of Portuguese literature initiated by Mario Cesariny, Ana Hatherly, Andreia C. Faria, and Miguel Cardoso — the horizon between the words somehow manages to keep the clouds in place. C. Pedro Almodóvar. While keeping Lynch as a background tone (namely Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive have made me sane in-betweens), Almodóvar obsession with beautifully written scripts is still able to keep me romantically flying overseas.
Who has inspired you recently?
What is the color of money?
Clean sheets. Waking up in New York and not knowing where you left that fucking jacket last night. Western Union. Everything in place: the river and the world. Tomorrow again. To bite, again, to bite. The arterial beauty of 7 p.m. Flexing the bones. Another winter. Multiple Colours, Body twists, various inflammations. Bitcoin and talent.
Interview by Jyni Ong, It’s Nice That, Design is Never an Innocent Practice, London, UK
Since we last wrote about you, what has changed at your studio? What was the reason behind the rebrand?
A new universe might pop when the elements are right for it. The Royal Studio, led by João Castro, never rebranded. It paused from 2017 to 2019 in its market-oriented approach, operating as a parallel artistic and cultural practice to Studio Degrau. This was a deliberate move to shift client-oriented work to a beloved team of 4 over this period, together with Ana Areias, Raquel Rei, and Tiago Campeã, as a sustainable method that leveled the role of the designer with the client's needs.
The Royal, however, never meant to be effective at the core. That was the trigger to switch back to an exclusively dialectic practice that refrains itself from client-oriented projects. Back in 2011 it was, and still is, a collaborative and derivative approach that challenges the performative and literary practice of design, instrumentalizing it as an artistic discourse.
Tell us about three recent projects that you are proud of. Talk us through the creative process and the idea behind them?
Suspecting that the visual arts are elevated by social contexts, often at times of conflict, the selected projects are: 1 an editorial book/inventory/catalog and exhibition design for "Frontiere, Contemporary Design Expressions"; 2 a graphic expression that takes the form of an exhibition/identity design system for the Lovie Awards 2020 "Yay"; and 3, "Everything Everyone Everywhere", a commissioned mural that integrated Porto Design Biennale's exhibition "Millennials — New Millennium Design".
When designing a book, an event, or a piece for an exhibition, I believe that we are facing different aspects of the realm of identity, where I try to define the object of graphism with words, emotion, pace, time, and speed. These are all subjective categories that allow me to research the subject and, frame it in a moment or in a specific context.
Frontiere, for example, was an exhibition and catalog design with the migrant crisis in mind, in particular the migrations from northern Africa into Italy, to explain the syncretic nature of Italian product design and ways of manufacturing. Using this as a tool, the frontier became the element to explore, and it was clear that it needed to be tangible that the social-political boarders are conventions that limit territory. Following this perception, the spine of the book splits the Mediterranean in half; the index and captions separate PT from EN; the exhibition forces the public to be constantly in or out of defined areas, including the objects.
The Lovie Awards 2019 happened in BFI, London, and it is an event that celebrates the internet, awarding the most prominent personalities and projects that happened on the European web that year (by IADAS). Considering that political instability that was so blatantly obvious in 2019 in the mids of the protests in Hong Kong, the Mueller report, Brexit, and oh-so-many challenges to the web and user privacy, we've opted to celebrate the opposite. Fed by a twist on the '80s and 90's post-modern imagery, pushing the boundary between nostalgic dreamscapes and contemporaneity, to create an experience of child-like excitement with luxury and humor. To embrace the web with a tone of chrome and ice, expanding on how it allows joy with a vibrant, yet quite shallow, hint to advertising. Design is never an innocent practice, so this extra-extra-tone was as fun as it was ironic.
Everything Everyone Everywhere was a commission to design a central piece for one of the main exhibitions in Porto's Design Biennale 2019, featuring worldwide projects with a social tone designed by Millennials in the age of the Internet, with the freedom to interpret the Millennial context in any way we would see fit. To embrace this, we had fun with sarcasm. We've built this project strictly from noting bits of conversations from strangers while traveling in their commute, especially if they were on their phone. It was an ongoing visual reflection about the supermundane, instrumentalizing stolen thoughts in their respective time, to build a satiric critique around a globalized sate of meaning. And have a reason to eavesdrop as much as possible to stay away from newsfeeds on the phone.
How have you found the adjustment to work during these difficult times?
I did find it hard to stretch in a 43 sq meter apartment. Recycling became hazard management. Jogging was new, but it felt underground. Chitchatting with the kiosk was a path to mental health. Using the national court's wall as a social distancing tool to read books and sunbathe twice a week as a rule. Skypes didn't end; projects kept rolling with way too much calendar-stretching; working extra long hours became an escapist hobby; Understanding that this unrivaled moment in history is unparalleled while struggling to meditate at 4 a.m.; hard to breathe in the morning; struggled not to kiss random strangers; most projects didn't end; the Internet was the unsung hero of this singularity; The Midnight Gospel was a Netflix champion; skateboarding became impossible in the midst of a virusfobic transdermic obsession; the studio never actually stopped; stream-distanced classes became therapy sessions for the students; students became therapists for me; while it was hard to focus, confinement made me appreciate the beauty in anxiety, Instagram & front-door neighbors; never learned how to bake bread; breathe in, Skype out; It made me rehab from everything except love and a lot better at making Spaghetti Agli Oli. I am good at answering phone calls now, mindful about coffee, and ok with being fully awake only after 11 a.m.
What's next for Royal Studio in the future?
Insects have always been attracted to the light. There is yet to be designed an object that does anything other than to shape society. In a context where the individuals struggle to meet what they had planned, COVID-related-or-COVID-free, The Royal is planning to design with words other than graphism, poems other than strategy, and trying to see a world that is designed as a consequence.
Interview by André Cruz, Studio Dobra, for Sumo Podcast, PT
In this episode of Sumo podcast with 01:04:41 moments of introspection, poetry, education, death and a design. It was a fantastic conversation with André Cruz where we go over a decade of design processes, growing up and growing in.
Interview by Margot Mourrier, Étapes:, Paris, FR
MM—Why are you claiming Royalty as a value? What is your philosophical viewpoint about graphic design? It looks like you have a critical link, a specific distance with your practice thanks to humor (I think about your project “Dishonest Manifest”): why do you embrace this positioning/statement?
The problem of the form and function is no longer alive; Comic sans might be a good friend; the golden ratio is an old book setting and the Swiss style is no longer Swiss, nor a style, anymore; First Things First can now come second when designers have fun, and interestingly, our relational reality can be quite stagnant to the public's perception; Authorship is a weird trend and trends are old fashioned. It is our task to communicate and our burden to be influent in every project. As designers we make perception our routine partner and we shape it as we communicate, therefore, it is our responsibility to deny the canons and strive to be intelligent - to be definite utopians with a strong sense of reasoning so that we can build culture as we proceed. This very reply should be understood, then questioned, contradicted, and if it holds together then it is a bingo! We tend to feel resistant to the design practice, understanding that it is always happening between being too self-conscious in its own importance and the oversimplification of the practice to the external view. We couldn't not laugh and endorse that view in our work.
MM—Since the beginning of your studio what are the main evolutions you experienced?
The main thought to strive is the process of jumping between an OCD'ish logic reasoning and the notion that good knowledge only happens when consciousness is allowed to go wild. Technique improved hand in hand with the skillset, but the reason got lost and found while romancing with experimentation.
MM—Do you think you have a particular portuguese visual vocabulary? How do you use it? Or what are the main visual influences of the moment in your opinion? Who are the Portuguese graphic designers you admire?
To get stuck in the geographical boundary is an enemy of global inspiration. We do not believe that Portuguese culture gets a big spotlight in our approach other than, perhaps, the hard working stubbornness of our design ethics in context. The contemporary scene is highly connected to external inputs, and the nerve for elite-quality is rooted in our system. Our gratitude for our colleagues comes in the name of studios like Non-Verbal, Bráulio Amado, And Atelier and This Is Pacifica. We admire our illustrators Marta Monteiro and Lorde Mantraste. Greet the blasting energy from the photos of Álvaro Martino. We pay great respect to the work of historic landmarks Sebastião Rodrigues and Maria Keil. We couldn't but praise Ana Types Type as our partner is most crimes with sheer recognition and we welcome the inspiration shared by anyone in We Came From Space, our flagship space, energetic vortex and research hub. Sweet.
MM—What helps you think creatively as graphic designers? Are you traveling a lot in looking for new sources of inspiration?
In order to be creative we need a good problem to solve, a cup filled with dreams and a cold cocktail in Berlin. A good brunch in London is the best way to start a lecture and workshop series. To stroll around Porto's iron bridge is the best way to start the project that will fly us out to a rooftop sunset party in New York City the week after. To typeset Cyrillic text has as much to do with research as it has to do with finishing a cheese-bread-with-vodka in Basel, Switzerland. We have a never-say-no attitude towards traveling anywhere and an eager appetite to understand the details of the space. Most of our ideas happen out of the sketchbook - with words, topics, and GPS.
MM—For the posters you made, it looks like you are between traditional arts, like drawing or engraving and collage techniques, and new digital tools or process: why do you choose to use both of them? How do you manage to mix up this traditional approach and vector illustrations? Is this something proper to our times? In your work, is there something which looks like mix or remix (musical one)?
We find it fascinating that we can make decades collide by sketching in a piece of paper and randomizing the same assets with Processing. At the same time, we have a letterpress and a screenprint lab downstairs side by side with sharing the workspace with Lyft Studio who have a strong focus on Video Mapping. With a computer to mash it all up, we see the graphic development process as plural as possible - seeking inputs and remixing, cutting and repeating the main visuals until they speak the tone and allow the expression that we established as a possible solution in the first place. Pushing music: we feel much closer to an MPD with a blasting boombox than to a funky jazz set - we love to resample.
MM—Many of the visuals you create have several levels of reading and seeing: how do you proceed to compose an image? It often refers to the labyrinthine image or the idea of puzzle: what kind of way for the eye you are trying to set up?
There are two key players that we respect when designing any object: context and concept. Scaling out, when branding, for example, the architecture and experience should be the benchmark. Scaling in, when illustrating, the composition and the poetry hold the fire proof. With this in mind, we treat both architecture and composition (the context) at the same level to design something completely in tune with it's scale, dimension, and specs. This stage is set according to the key concept. When the two speak fluently, we have the eyes and the brain connected by perception.
MM—We could see the same idea on your website: why do you choose such communication strategy?
The website is the result of an ongoing "in development" hiatus that lasted 2 years. Two solutions here: a) to develop it properly; b) to think smart without a). Because we are elite-freaks with high expectations, we couldn't wrap our mind around a) so we jumped into b) as in a visual essay. It is sustained by the visual aspects of the most important projects linking back to their Behance for deeper understanding. It is also a stage for additional material, which is sometimes humorous, satirical or part of a particular conference, lecture or experience. A visual feed meant to be overwhelming, inviting the user to be brought to the studio and to be part of the rich production atmosphere felt around here - unpretentious, honest, incomplete, straight-forward and free. Quite a counter-statement to the industry standard - an invitation - not a final product.
MM—How do you integrate type in your work?
Type is the quickest road to historic moments, it carries the sensibility of the decades and it is deeply rooted in anyone's perception of it's contexts. A blackletter sets you centuries ago, but it also part of the second world war - it is a heritage and a tool. A Grotesk is a universal standard and Nike told us that those fat condensed Futura weights are for running. We integrate type with great care and respect as one of our initial mood board-anchors for any project that calls for it. To play with it, treat it, break it, mix it, remake it or design it from scratch are essential everyday tools.
MM—How do we give shape, turn into pictures Adobe tutorials advices? Does data-visualization help you in the process of creation for the Adobe projects?
The main goal is to think laterally to the topic to depict. It is much more in tune with poetry than with data visualization - we want to tell stories and inspire the freedom that a specific set of tools allows. Magic, not tools. Inspiration, not examples. To name an example: the thinking to illustrate a topic on responsive design for the general public has much more to do with the hand-to-device relationship than to the liquid qualities of designing the UI. We work with words, poetic dissociation and lexical sets to find the root to our topic storytelling.
MM—In your opinion, does the graphic designer have a part to play and to take in society as citizen? Which one?
There is nothing that a designer does other than to shape society.
The problem of the form and function is no longer alive; Comic sans might be a good friend; the golden ratio is an old book setting and the Swiss style is no longer Swiss, nor a style, anymore; First Things First can now come second when designers have fun, and interestingly, our relational reality can be quite stagnant to the public's perception; Authorship is a weird trend and trends are old fashioned. It is our task to communicate and our burden to be influent in every project. As designers we make perception our routine partner and we shape it as we communicate, therefore, it is our responsibility to deny the canons and strive to be intelligent - to be definite utopians with a strong sense of reasoning so that we can build culture as we proceed. This very reply should be understood, then questioned, contradicted, and if it holds together then it is a bingo! We tend to feel resistant to the design practice, understanding that it is always happening between being too self-conscious in its own importance and the oversimplification of the practice to the external view. We couldn't not laugh and endorse that view in our work.
The main thought to strive is the process of jumping between an OCD'ish logic reasoning and the notion that good knowledge only happens when consciousness is allowed to go wild. Technique improved hand in hand with the skillset, but the reason got lost and found while romancing with experimentation.
To get stuck in the geographical boundary is an enemy of global inspiration. We do not believe that Portuguese culture gets a big spotlight in our approach other than, perhaps, the hard working stubbornness of our design ethics in context. The contemporary scene is highly connected to external inputs, and the nerve for elite-quality is rooted in our system. Our gratitude for our colleagues comes in the name of studios like Non-Verbal, Bráulio Amado, And Atelier and This Is Pacifica. We admire our illustrators Marta Monteiro and Lorde Mantraste. Greet the blasting energy from the photos of Álvaro Martino. We pay great respect to the work of historic landmarks Sebastião Rodrigues and Maria Keil. We couldn't but praise Ana Types Type as our partner is most crimes with sheer recognition and we welcome the inspiration shared by anyone in We Came From Space, our flagship space, energetic vortex and research hub. Sweet.
In order to be creative we need a good problem to solve, a cup filled with dreams and a cold cocktail in Berlin. A good brunch in London is the best way to start a lecture and workshop series. To stroll around Porto's iron bridge is the best way to start the project that will fly us out to a rooftop sunset party in New York City the week after. To typeset Cyrillic text has as much to do with research as it has to do with finishing a cheese-bread-with-vodka in Basel, Switzerland. We have a never-say-no attitude towards traveling anywhere and an eager appetite to understand the details of the space. Most of our ideas happen out of the sketchbook - with words, topics, and GPS.
We find it fascinating that we can make decades collide by sketching in a piece of paper and randomizing the same assets with Processing. At the same time, we have a letterpress and a screenprint lab downstairs side by side with sharing the workspace with Lyft Studio who have a strong focus on Video Mapping. With a computer to mash it all up, we see the graphic development process as plural as possible - seeking inputs and remixing, cutting and repeating the main visuals until they speak the tone and allow the expression that we established as a possible solution in the first place. Pushing music: we feel much closer to an MPD with a blasting boombox than to a funky jazz set - we love to resample.
There are two key players that we respect when designing any object: context and concept. Scaling out, when branding, for example, the architecture and experience should be the benchmark. Scaling in, when illustrating, the composition and the poetry hold the fire proof. With this in mind, we treat both architecture and composition (the context) at the same level to design something completely in tune with it's scale, dimension, and specs. This stage is set according to the key concept. When the two speak fluently, we have the eyes and the brain connected by perception.
The website is the result of an ongoing "in development" hiatus that lasted 2 years. Two solutions here: a) to develop it properly; b) to think smart without a). Because we are elite-freaks with high expectations, we couldn't wrap our mind around a) so we jumped into b) as in a visual essay. It is sustained by the visual aspects of the most important projects linking back to their Behance for deeper understanding. It is also a stage for additional material, which is sometimes humorous, satirical or part of a particular conference, lecture or experience. A visual feed meant to be overwhelming, inviting the user to be brought to the studio and to be part of the rich production atmosphere felt around here - unpretentious, honest, incomplete, straight-forward and free. Quite a counter-statement to the industry standard - an invitation - not a final product.
Type is the quickest road to historic moments, it carries the sensibility of the decades and it is deeply rooted in anyone's perception of it's contexts. A blackletter sets you centuries ago, but it also part of the second world war - it is a heritage and a tool. A Grotesk is a universal standard and Nike told us that those fat condensed Futura weights are for running. We integrate type with great care and respect as one of our initial mood board-anchors for any project that calls for it. To play with it, treat it, break it, mix it, remake it or design it from scratch are essential everyday tools.
The main goal is to think laterally to the topic to depict. It is much more in tune with poetry than with data visualization - we want to tell stories and inspire the freedom that a specific set of tools allows. Magic, not tools. Inspiration, not examples. To name an example: the thinking to illustrate a topic on responsive design for the general public has much more to do with the hand-to-device relationship than to the liquid qualities of designing the UI. We work with words, poetic dissociation and lexical sets to find the root to our topic storytelling.
There is nothing that a designer does other than to shape society.
Texto curatorial para a Exposição: Experimenta Design, As Far As The Mind Can See.
Curated along and with Marco Balesteros & Mirko Ilić, Lisboa, Porto, PT
Vivo no século do novo. Mais! De novo. Das construções, das redes e da realização do indivíduo; Da procura da consciência e na ciência da eletricidade que a constitui; Da destituição do núcleo, da construção da matéria negra, do opensource, do downgrade, do nano, do humano e da quântica – que é a filosofia. Mais! Eu, com todos, vivo na lucidez coletiva, na requalificação do valor, da síntese e do relacional; No século da procura; No século que nunca aconteceu (de novo) e onde o contexto do indivíduo molda a plataforma do grupo. Onde a plataforma perde o teclado e ganha o verdadeiro portátil. O que demonstra a imprevisibilidade da capacidade de inovar. O tempo em que pela primeira vez se publica, em que verdadeiramente se publica. Mais! Que traz para cima da mesa toda a novidade à luz de uma nova efemeridade. Volto quando voltamos aos princípios, à procura da nostalgia do passado, à abstinência, à família e aos anos 90 como autorreferência. Aconteço quando acontecemos na originalidade do córtex central, no responsive, no feed e na catadupa; No individual, nas partilhas de cada um; Nas relações interpessoais que se amam algum dia e também nas que ganham um timestamp, um post e um update. Mais! No tudo do tudo e no mais.
Em que a necessidade de crescer é lúdica e que a sociedade se encontra dentro de si mesma. Mais! Que a consciência e a cognição são intrínsecas e caminham dentro de si mesmas. Esgotam-se a si mesmas, esgotam-se em símbolos, e alimentam-se na ordem universal da comunidade sem épocas e sem a consciência temporal do histórico. Mais! Os pensamentos intrínsecos são coincidentes com os externos! Não compreendem a análise nem o motor — são a imaginação extraordinária! A cognição é filtrada pelo coletivo. O novo é a nossa opinião na interação! Mais! O desenho do projeto monumental, humano, é tão lúdico quanto erróneo! Mais! O eu. O autónomo. A satisfação do agrado e a procura da compreensão. A comunicação a partir para o mundo partindo da cognição do mundo — quão redundante? Mais!
Estas segundas linhas que são muralhas numa folha e cujo risco seguinte se relaciona enquanto prisão com o primeiro. O segundo que é relacional, o primeiro que é virgem e o terceiro que será o seguinte. Mais! O seguinte que virá do próximo e o último que é então previsível, mas não se preveria antes. Mais! A química da cognição ultrapassa a compreensão, mas cria as marcas do jogo. O desenvolvimento do homem social enquanto sistema lúdico. A imaginação enquanto infinito e um sistema neuronal que se liga ao mundo, e brinca — Homo Ludens. Mais! Mais! A mente não vê senão aquilo que já viu: essa é a beleza da emergência das ideias, que se não são colaborativas são íntimas, e mortas, e lentas, e fechadas. Assim como uma sociedade. Ma-a-a-a-a-ais! A utopia do projeto responde às condicionantes impostas, é desenhada com todo o peso da compreensão da humanidade e da monumentalidade da interação. Mais! Essa, a utopia, é que é o quão longe. É ridículo que não sirva para nada.
Mais!
Uns dentro dos outros e todos dentro de todos e todos sendo um só com as paredes apontadas aos outros todos. Todos nós que nascemos neste tempo e ao mesmo tempo, no mesmo fenómeno social que se perde de vista ao longo dos anos. Não existe o desenho em qualquer outro exercício senão o da conexão? Mais! Público e narrativa. Mais! Mensagem e condicionante. — Mais! Briefing e cliente. Mais! E o público. Mais! E o público. Mais! E o designer que os media quando se media a si mesmo. O domínio livre da arte é inimigo da consciência coletiva — do projeto aplicado — mas não é assim que vem nos jornais. Mais! Mais! A negação e a positividade. O prazer extraordinário de ser o desenhador e o humorista: o sarcástico escritor e o demoníaco economista. Ah! O show! O questionador ácido e o procrastinador anulado. O curador de vertigens e o selecionador de equipas.
O Mais que começa na soma, que é a resposta! Isto que quero responder é de outro sítio longe das palavras. Na catadupa de sentidos e na sinestesia consciente. Na perceção e na anulação do óbvio. Começa na procura e termina no vazio. Num objeto de exercício diário que nunca é isolado. Na perda da resposta e na necessidade de metodologia. Na folha começa na baseline… na vida, na interação. Nas pessoas. Nas conversas. Na predisposição para o abismo e na de ver mais longe — sem saber o que se vê.
Só vemos tão longe quanto nos permitimos ver! Não há verdade alguma tão longínqua desta senão a completa perceção do vazio compreendendo que só nele está o francamente geométrico. Eu—social. Eu—moral. Eu. Que sou os outros.
Mais! Na procura do texto, este texto não existiria. Limitaria a curadoria a uma direção distinta e, como tal, anular-se-ia no propósito do mote: de ver tão longe quanto a mente pode ver. A procura de sentido anula a emergência das ideias, em tempo e em honestidade; elimina também a própria biologia – a evolução pela conexão e a inteligência como fruto do sistema social. Não cabe ao projetista a procura do infinito ou do ideal — cabe-lhe a mestria da adição para coordenar os inputs à moralidade da narrativa final. O filtro crítico distingue a marca autoral e conota a obra gráfica, que, obviamente, joga com a estratégia e mestria do cliente-emissor ou motivo-génese.
Com a honestidade de assumir que a autoria não serve, fantasticamente, para nada, que uma exposição é extraordinariamente desinteressante e que desenhar não é mais do que uma mestria vazia — sem público. A validade de tudo isto está nas conversas dos cafés.
O problema da forma e função está morto; a matemática é um cenário velho e um livro velho e o estilo suíço não é Suíço, nem um estilo. Mais! A autoria é uma tendência estranha e tendências são moda à antiga. Mais! É a nossa responsabilidade assumir a negação dos cânones e sair correndo a gritar inteligência. Mais! Defender o raciocínio para que possamos construir cultura. Mais! Bingo! Não podemos andar senão a parir poemas, a reprimir posts, e a esquecer que se não marcarmos o tempo-livre no calendário estaremos atrasados para a privilegiada oportunidade de reunir por Skype para algo soberbo. Soberbo! Agora, que somos uma lenda, a cuspir planetas sapientes e a queimar layers estonteantes. — Público!
Mais! De ego às costas: sem lógica e com a consciência de tudo e a dos outros. Este cérebro é tudo e eu encerro-o. Das 9, e com 9 horas, conto estas palavras todas na próxima conversa e procuro a reação ao ignorar a pergunta. — Mais!
Vivo no século do novo. Mais! De novo. Das construções, das redes e da realização do indivíduo; Da procura da consciência e na ciência da eletricidade que a constitui; Da destituição do núcleo, da construção da matéria negra, do opensource, do downgrade, do nano, do humano e da quântica – que é a filosofia. Mais! Eu, com todos, vivo na lucidez coletiva, na requalificação do valor, da síntese e do relacional; No século da procura; No século que nunca aconteceu (de novo) e onde o contexto do indivíduo molda a plataforma do grupo. Onde a plataforma perde o teclado e ganha o verdadeiro portátil. O que demonstra a imprevisibilidade da capacidade de inovar. O tempo em que pela primeira vez se publica, em que verdadeiramente se publica. Mais! Que traz para cima da mesa toda a novidade à luz de uma nova efemeridade. Volto quando voltamos aos princípios, à procura da nostalgia do passado, à abstinência, à família e aos anos 90 como autorreferência. Aconteço quando acontecemos na originalidade do córtex central, no responsive, no feed e na catadupa; No individual, nas partilhas de cada um; Nas relações interpessoais que se amam algum dia e também nas que ganham um timestamp, um post e um update. Mais! No tudo do tudo e no mais.
Estas segundas linhas que são muralhas numa folha e cujo risco seguinte se relaciona enquanto prisão com o primeiro. O segundo que é relacional, o primeiro que é virgem e o terceiro que será o seguinte. Mais! O seguinte que virá do próximo e o último que é então previsível, mas não se preveria antes. Mais! A química da cognição ultrapassa a compreensão, mas cria as marcas do jogo. O desenvolvimento do homem social enquanto sistema lúdico. A imaginação enquanto infinito e um sistema neuronal que se liga ao mundo, e brinca — Homo Ludens. Mais! Mais! A mente não vê senão aquilo que já viu: essa é a beleza da emergência das ideias, que se não são colaborativas são íntimas, e mortas, e lentas, e fechadas. Assim como uma sociedade. Ma-a-a-a-a-ais! A utopia do projeto responde às condicionantes impostas, é desenhada com todo o peso da compreensão da humanidade e da monumentalidade da interação. Mais! Essa, a utopia, é que é o quão longe. É ridículo que não sirva para nada.
O Mais que começa na soma, que é a resposta! Isto que quero responder é de outro sítio longe das palavras. Na catadupa de sentidos e na sinestesia consciente. Na perceção e na anulação do óbvio. Começa na procura e termina no vazio. Num objeto de exercício diário que nunca é isolado. Na perda da resposta e na necessidade de metodologia. Na folha começa na baseline… na vida, na interação. Nas pessoas. Nas conversas. Na predisposição para o abismo e na de ver mais longe — sem saber o que se vê.
Mais! Na procura do texto, este texto não existiria. Limitaria a curadoria a uma direção distinta e, como tal, anular-se-ia no propósito do mote: de ver tão longe quanto a mente pode ver. A procura de sentido anula a emergência das ideias, em tempo e em honestidade; elimina também a própria biologia – a evolução pela conexão e a inteligência como fruto do sistema social. Não cabe ao projetista a procura do infinito ou do ideal — cabe-lhe a mestria da adição para coordenar os inputs à moralidade da narrativa final. O filtro crítico distingue a marca autoral e conota a obra gráfica, que, obviamente, joga com a estratégia e mestria do cliente-emissor ou motivo-génese.
O problema da forma e função está morto; a matemática é um cenário velho e um livro velho e o estilo suíço não é Suíço, nem um estilo. Mais! A autoria é uma tendência estranha e tendências são moda à antiga. Mais! É a nossa responsabilidade assumir a negação dos cânones e sair correndo a gritar inteligência. Mais! Defender o raciocínio para que possamos construir cultura. Mais! Bingo! Não podemos andar senão a parir poemas, a reprimir posts, e a esquecer que se não marcarmos o tempo-livre no calendário estaremos atrasados para a privilegiada oportunidade de reunir por Skype para algo soberbo. Soberbo! Agora, que somos uma lenda, a cuspir planetas sapientes e a queimar layers estonteantes. — Público!
Description of Everything Everyone Everywhere.
Exhibited at Porto Design Biennale, Post Millennium Tensions, Millennials - Design do Novo Milénio, by José Bártolo, 2020, Porto, PT