Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Dejan Vukelić, designer
A few months ago, Ekrem wrote his Diary # 95. The one titled How to sell yourself? Early that morning I read it, before going to the studio – absolutely fantastic! It really lifted me… my day started so great … and I immediately contacted Ekrem (to sell myself, of course?) … by mail, just as he invited us to do in his last sentence. We had a short correspondence that January day, and generally agree that we will talk more later. Alas, some bigger jobs came, then some skiing trips, and then some fuss, and the time went by. So I figure I’m the one who’s supposed to call first. It should be my initiative… That was the tone of the Diary. I mean, it’s not that I forgot, but something more important always came up… that’s how it goes with the everyday (work) life.
Ten days ago (Friday, June 8th) I came to Novi Sad for the 6th FoodTalk. A friend of mine from the student days is organizing it, and I’m doing the overall design for his brand every day. He participated in the first panel Hello, Big Apple – Serbia is Back! in which Robert Coban talked with Serbian food producers whom USAID is taking to the Fancy Food event in New York. Had I looked at the program earlier, I would have known that Ekrem was also to be a conference participant in one of those later panels, the one so fitting for him – Food Communications. Since I didn’t, I had such a pleasant surprised when I saw him sitting in the first rows. And so … I came forward to meet him, we talked, agreed … and then there’s nothing more important to come between us.
Just over 10 years ago, several of us designers from Belgrade had the privilege to be taken by USAID to the Fancy Food Fair in New York, and get acquainted with the most influential brand design houses – over the course of three days we visited OgilvyOne, Chermayeff & Geismar, Pentagram, Landor, Frog Design and a couple of smaller ones whose names I honestly forgot. Those hours, with those creative and art directors, along with the other ten unforgettable days in New York, were one of the most prominent professional and coolest life experiences I have ever had.
Many lectures, presentations, talks and texts helped me during my career so far to get the confirmation that what I concluded with my own logic and my own head is completely true. One of those more important conclusions was from the Design Study Tour in New York in 2016.
The second day after arrival we were guests at the Frog Design, where we had a spectacular treatment. And treatment is absolutely the right word – over the two hours we spent there, several times carts with delicacies were rolled in – cheeses, prosciutto, fine biscuits, many tropical fruits, interesting refreshing drinks. Frog Design was at that time famous for designing a number of Apple devices … until Johny Ive took those jobs from them.:) Anyway, the presentation is going, the projects quickly replace each other on the screen, and, little by little, all attention is directed to different (statistical, mathematical, and other) tools and formulas they have developed to evaluate the quality of a design concept, and then project its success on the market. We, quite unacquainted to such a (numerically-scientific) approach, were slowly losing attention, and were hardly waiting to get out into the hot streets of New York and jump into a new studio waiting for us. As if we had heard something inappropriate, we didn0t even comment what we experienced. Luckily, it would be night soon, and the night was supposed to end with incredible DJ sets in one of the best New York clubs that summer, so the day would still be memorable.
The next day – the last official day of our Design Study Tour – our first visit was to Chermayeff & Geismar. Founded in 1957, they created visual identities, among others, for Pan Am, Mobil Oil, Chase Bank, The Museum of Modern Art, Xerox, Smithsonian Institution, NBC, National Geographic, … One of the creative directors, back then in the age in which I’m now, fluently and nicely held a great anymated presentation about logos, and what makes them what they are. I didn’t know what to do with myself. The very fact that I was there, listening and seeing all that, was elevating me straight to the stars, while on the other hand, all this grand, significant and influential design makes me feel smaller than the tip of the ball-pen in front of me. Finally, at one point, everything went silent, the shaders went up and we were back in the real world. After a few moments of absolute silence, someone, I don’t know who it was, asked some questions, which would prove extremely important for me – how do you assess… how do you know you’re on the right track… how do you conduct focus research… do you have your own methods? The man, a Creative Director, one of the partners (only later I realized that it was just a title) says: “Oh yes, yes, we have and use different methods, but it’s all somehow… you know, when you feel it here…” and he points to his stomach “Then you know instantly!”
My whole life, and my whole design (work), I’ve been doing according to that gut feeling. Sometimes from the heart, but almost never from the head. That’s how I will write here as well. That’s the only thing I promise.
I’m glad to meet you all, and I look forward to future time together!
Oh, and yes, thank you Ekrem ?
P.S.
One more thing – during those three study days in New York, we never learned (and didn’t even delve into it) whether there was a pitch going on, because almost everywhere we went designers were working on solutions for some redesign of visual identity probably – perhaps CitiBank. Second time we had already noticed one rule – when we were coming, as we were going to the conference room, ideas and solutions were displayed on the walls… however, after leaving, all this was covered… It seems that as we went from one place to another someone was tipping them off that we were looking at all those things ?