Andreas Markdalen is a swedish designer based in London where he
graduated and made is working base. There's one word that comes
to our mind when we see his work: coolness. So if you want to know
what coolness is, just read the interview.
Nuno Soares/
Cristina Correia
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NEOZINE* - You have a very interesting
use of typography and colour. How do you experiment them?
It varies from
project to project, depending on what kind of message the client
is trying to communicate to the recipient. Most of the projects
I’ve been involved in during the last year have been in some
form of creative branding where the main objective has been to generate
an interesting composition with a branded message, and sometimes
you’re able to go a bit further in your experimentation with
type and colour than other times. Which of course is interesting
and inspiring.
With the ALU “Nothing is what it seems” campaign in
particular; I’ve made attempts to approach each project using
a lot of hands-on techniques and ideas; stencils, hand-written wording,
photocopying/scanning etc., and I believe it has added a level of
authenticity to the ALU profile. The overall style of the retail
and visual merchandising industry is quite slick and minimalist
– so we’ve aimed to go the opposite way to stand out
a bit and show that we’re capable of being different and taking
risks. I like when things look a bit offbeat and asymmetric, and
this has been applied to great extent on use of typefaces throughout
the campaign. In terms of colours, I really have no specific process
in choosing them. Either I have a colour that I’ve been asked
to incorporate or I spend hours finding combinations that I like
and that suits the image. It tends to be bold colours, a lot of
pinks and purples, anything that looks fresh to me.
 
NEOZINE* - Installations are an important part of your recent
work. Is this a direction you are heading too, or is it part of
experimentation?
The installations
are a 100% ALU and is something that has come with the job as a
designer in the retail industry I guess. It’s a very interesting
type of project to work with because of its’ scale and the
kind of impact it has on people. The installations were made for
three separate fairs this year, Euroshop in Germany, Globalshop
in the U.S. and Salone del Mobile (Zona Tortona) in Italy. They
have been collaborative efforts within the creative department of
ALU where my role was primarily in art direction, working along
with interior designers, audio designers and constructors. It has
opened my eyes to a lot of things that were unknown to me previously
in terms of design – and has definitely created an interest
for me to get more into environmental concepts in my future work.
 
NEOZINE* - All works for ALU are quite amazing. Was this
because the client relation allowed this creativity blast or it
is common in your professional work to head towards experimenting
areas?
Thank you very
much for saying so.
Well, ALU is a company in change and it has been a nice atmosphere
to work in. In the creative department we’ve been six people
in total, one creative director, four designers and myself, all
from different backgrounds and of different nationalities. It’s
been fun and we’ve pushed each other to do great things. As
a graphic designer it’s been good because I’ve been
able to work quite independently with a lot of creative freedom
and very little restrictions from “above”. All work
does however come from discussing moods and references with the
creative director and the others in the team.In terms of experimentation
I get a lot of influence from independent culture; music and art,
I always liked unconventional things really. Everything from Anticon
hiphop to Chris Cunningham and David Lynch, and I find it interesting
to play around with these influences. As I’ve just recently
started my career as a graphic designer I hope to be able to produce
more work with a personal edge, incorporating sound and motion as
well in the future. I believe it’s very important to move
away from corporate work sometimes and find new ways of self-expression
and collaboration.What has surprised me this year is how experimental
corporate work actually can be, and it’s been a really nice
experience for me.
 
NEOZINE* - Branding Design vs. Illustration.
Are these two distinct areas or your intention is to "master"
each?I think that depends on how you would
define the two. To me it’s all just a matter of projects with
a brief and a final destination, I rarely view them as separate
areas. As mentioned previously there is definitely a side of me
that wants to try new ways of working, and illustration is something
I’m very interested in doing more of. Many of my favourite
designers work solely for magazines, a platform that most certainly
allows you to be more artistic in your approach – at the same
time, corporate or branding design is very challenging and I like
the amount of pressure you’re under when constructing an image
with both an aesthetic and commercial purpose.I’m still settling
in doing this kind of work. At the moment I just want to do as many
things as possible, try to do it well and learn a lot throughout
the experience!
 
NEOZINE* - And what about site design? Your clean, very Scandinavian
site design seems to have quite interesting directions to evolve.
Are you intending to develop this particular area?
It’s funny
that you mention Scandinavian design because it’s actually
something I’ve been trying to move away from in my recent
work! I believe that the perception of what Scandinavian design
is is changing these days as most young talented designers from
these countries are going in new directions. It’s noisier
and wilder now, and more exciting in my opinion. This doesn’t
necessarily mean that I dislike clean, minimalist design –
it’s just interesting to see the development.With the web
sites I’ve designed this year, I’ve approached them
as unique projects and tried to find a style suitable for the clients.
As it happened, we wanted to create a very slick, corporate web
platform for ALU, to be launched with a lot of internal features
and functionality. Kalle Edberg, a young golf professional from
Sweden, needed sponsorship from larger and local companies that
also demanded a modern look. Same thing with the art sales company
Danart. It’s all for a reason – and not because I promote
a certain style.Many interesting things have happened in online
design during the last couple of years, and I hope to be able to
work more with digital media and interaction in the future. At the
moment I’m working on a web site for Blende Music, a house
musician and DJ from Stockholm – where I definitely will push
the boundaries of what I can do with site design. Needless to say
I’m a great fan of Hi-Res! and those companies that deliver
experiences more than static web sites. It’s all about time
and finding the right kind of projects in the end. I’m open
to everything.
 
NEOZINE* - On your web site says you are looking for a Full-time
position in London. Is freelancing not your thing or making a career
on a company seems the best fit for your work?As it looks right now freelancing is
better for me. I’m currently involved in a number of projects
for ALU and with a couple of clients in Stockholm so these are projects
I intend to finish on a freelance basis. I keep my options open
and am open to new projects and ideas!
RELATED LINKS
images used with the author's permission* |
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ANDREAS
MARKDALEN