Interviews
Design is Purposed
for Communication
Interviewee: Mateusz Kulawik
Interviewer: Darija Šalehar
Hours of late night work are put in each page of the EESTEC Magazine. Apart from collecting, checking
and putting articles into our publication, details reveal its genuine quality and its design is the actual backbone.
Throughout the year, together with our Design Team Coordinator, Mateusz Kulawik, EESTEC meets with
a lot of publications with unique designs. This time, we invited him to be our guest and have
an insight about the creativity and design process.
Can you describe to us how your design process looks like?
I am thinking about a project from the first moments of assignment
acceptance. Everyday activities like showering or cleaning are spent
on my attempts to link up project elements and qualities which define
it. I am listening to a lot of music and watching other designers work
in the meantime to analyze how they are dealing with certain conceptional problems. Only when I have a couple of strong, solid ideas and a
few ‘snapshots’ in my head I am sitting down to work. From this point
everything runs smoother. I am making prototypes, fast sketches to
showcase the idea and end result. Sometimes I am creating a full project skipping the prototype part. After that there is the final phase loved
by every designer – corrections, corrections and more corrections. But
the most difficult and important part of design process for me is this
first step – the birth of an idea. It is the catalyst of any project and work
is related with it.
What is your approach when you feel a lack of creativity?
I must confess that my best designs were created under really high
time pressure, so a fast approaching deadline is a recipe for lack of creativity... but talking seriously – sudden drops of creativity are common
and I am no exception. I once read in a book which tells the story of
a legendary advertising agency called DDB, indicating that a designer
should take inspiration from the best ones until he or she creates his/
her own style. It is not about copying someone but to being pushed
to find your own way. So I am watching a lot of work of excellent designers in unproductive moments. I am asking myself - “What makes
this project so good?” Finding answers to this question and admiration
for really intelligent and fantastic designs is making me so determined
and inspired that in the most cases ideas are popping out one by one.
When outcomes are poor, I am trying to create something until it is
good enough for me.
“
First of all I am trying not to close
any doors in a front of me.
“
What is your definition of a successful design?
My motto – idea first. I believe in a phenomenal idea for publication or
included in a publication and a way to explain a message which regards
design above all – including technical execution. Design is purposed
for communication so when we are doing this in an intelligent and a
sensible way, we are creating positive feelings with our interlocutor.
The second thing is attention to details. I love artworks where subtle
additions are visible. They are proofs of time sacrificed on creation.
Those two things combined are in my opinion the unbeatable recipe for
a successful design.
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