Interview

If you are passionate about typography and design, there is no way around the name of Erik Spiekermann. The Berlin-based creator designed the famous classical font FF Meta and is the author of various typography literature. During his career, he worked on legendary projects like the graphic appearance of the city of Berlin, the control system of Düsseldorf Airport and the corporate design of Volkswagen and Audi. Erik talked with us about the project he is most proud of, his favorite working tools at the moment and why the internet is not the main place to look for inspiration.     What are you proud of? I made Berlin a better place by designing the passenger information for BVG, the Berlin traffic enterprise, back in 1990/91, after the Wall came down. Before that, all the buses, trams and trains were beige. Now they are bright yellow and the best of all is that nobody gets lost anymore.   How did you manage to lift your work in the field of visual communication from others? No idea. I always did what I thought was the best I could. Also, I often took complex projects that were too boring for other designers.   What is the most interesting part of your work for you? Working with other people who are smarter than me, at least in some areas.   How do you choose the projects you work on? I am officially retired and don’t do much commercial work anymore. Therefore I ask myself the following questions. Does the world need them? Are the clients good people? Do I need the money?   What is your favorite tool right now you’re most excited about to work with? Analog printing presses and type metal.     What do you think about the design scene? How do you manage to position your work so radically different than others? I don’t position my work, I just do it. Clients come with a project and I decide to do it or not.   What would you consider good design? It needs to solve the problem plus add an extra level of aesthetic pleasure.   Do you think the internet is becoming the main place to look for inspiration? Not anymore. People are going back to meeting people and doing analog things.   Which would you consider your biggest design mistake and what did you learn from it? This story is too long to tell, but I learned never to promise more than I can actually keep.   How important would you say is it to share thoughts on design with others? Very important. I actually never studied design and learned everything I know from others. So I like giving back to the younger generation.   This interview got published in Forward Magazine 2018.   

One of our special highlights is The Mill's exclusively produced Main Titles for the Forward Festival. The film celebrates the energy and strength to stand out from the crowd - following the 2019 Festival motto: The Odd One Out. We are thrilled that the film made it even to the Staff Picks on Vimeo within the first week of release. So we met Raj Davsi for an interview.  

Dutch graphic designer, advertising manager, editor, collector, exhibition curator and artist Erik Kessels is well known for his versatile projects. He is a creator of the digital age who, in his work, pays close attention to the most popular or trivial forms of photography. May this be family albums, commercial documentation or others, normally rejected by canon-defining museums. In his newest exhibition “Group Show” he shows an extensive collection of ‘vernacular’ vinyl records with, simply spoken, large groups of people on the cover.

We are extremely delighted to launch The Forward Boutique in the context of Forward Festival Zurich, taking place from 1st to 2nd of June 2018 at KOSMOS. The Forward Boutique is a culmination of clothing products and fashion accessories from international brands we love, and know our visitors will love too.

You probably have heard of hackathons, where IT-aficionados are competing against each other under time pressure. The team behind the Designathon took this paradigm and translated it into the world of design.

Davide Bortot war: – Philosophie- und Logik-Student (abgeschlossen) – mehr Schwimmer als Leistung – darum bald Schwimmtrainer – Chefredakteur eines Hip Hop Magazins – mitverantwortlich für die Red Bull Music Academy

At this year’s Forward Festivals our attendants were able to join the #ModularLettering workshop presented by Adobe. In this interactive workshop everyone was working collaboratively on an illustrated alphabet, using photos and flat graphics.

Wir haben Roger Stämpfli, Executive Creative Director von Aroma, der führenden Schweizer Agentur für dreidimensionale Kommunikation, über den Ist-Zustand der Branche, modernes Arbeiten und den Digitalisierungswahn interviewt.

From an outside view, people might not even think that Stefan Sagmeister is questioning happiness. He lives in his dream city New York and has achieved anything that a graphic designer could dream of.

DDr. Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Direktor des MAK Wien, im Gespräch über die Rollen der angewandten Künste und des Museums in der Zukunft.   DDr. Christoph Thun-Hohenstein leitet seit September 2011 das renommierte MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst / Gegenwartskunst in Wien (MAK).