Duane did it, he transformed his website Pioneer 10 into a perfect
metaphor of Space Conquer, Evolution. Even better than just evolving
for the process, he achieved great quality.
We wanted to know how the evolution happened, we hope you enjoy
the reading.
Nuno Soares/
Cristina Correia
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NEOZINE*
- Your website has passed through a few versions already.
Why do you feel the need to update frequently the design?
Pioneer10 was created
four years ago after watching Matt Owens of Volumeone speak at a
design conference via webcast about the importance of designers
having personal sites - a place to express themselves. For whatever
reason, it really struck a chord in me and made me realize the importance
of having my own identity online that was separate from work. As
a creative director, it usually doesn't make financial sense for
me to dive in and practice coding on client projects so I use Pioneer10
as an excuse to try things I've never done and in the process exercise
my design skills.
The first version was all about learning Flash and using XML to
load external documents, my second wrapped these Flash pieces into
iframes, the third was a single page layout and testing it's efficacy
in terms of load time and search engine optimization and the latest
version took the single page layout and introduced javascript to
show/hide content.
With each version, I learn something about a technology, myself
and my work. As a result, I try to make it a practice to update
it once a year in order to keep it and my mind fresh. My site has
been a great vehicle for getting new opportunities to participate
in projects around the world so keeping it current is important.
NEOZINE* - Is the poetry of Space Exploration still present
in your experiments?
The concept of Pioneer10
will always be there - the farthest man-made object in space acting
as a metaphor for the reach of man's exploration - but the imagery
changes and evolves. I still fall back on galactic imagery but I
prefer to not be locked into one specific look. I will always reference
space in some way though as I am continuously fascinated by the
stars, technology and the sterile beauty of it all.
NEOZINE* - It is clear that you have improved your skills.
What has been the process for this evolution? Is typography your
new love?
I'm glad to hear that.
I'm really never satisfied with my personal growth and keep pushing
myself to do and learn more. Ultimately, I think that drive is what
keeps me moving forward. I've been in this business for close to
10 years now and this maturity is beginning to show in my work.
It's my goal to make work that raises the collective IQ of society
rather than simply adding more 'noise'.
Typography has always been a passion of mine. I've always had a
love of pure forms and typography, particularly the work of Herbert
Bayer, but have only recently begun experimenting with my own letter
forms. I'm interested in the limits of legibility and communications
and modular typefaces. I love systems and processes so this approach
to typography fits my sensibilities. In recent years, I've studied
the typography of Massimo Vignelli, the grid systems of Josef MŸller-Brockmann
and many others that have had a big impact on the way I look at
typography and typographic hierarchies.
These ideas fuse with my personal ideals and my love for typography
developed by contemporaries like The Designers Republic, Design
by Build, NeuBau Berlin and BŸro Destruct and fuel my desire
to create. Expect more font explorations in the future.
NEOZINE* - In the UMS Project seems like you have achieved
a unique style as well as in the DSVC Dallas Show. Do you feel like
you are heading towardsÊa direction with these works or do
you sense them more as a part of an evolution?
Both of those pieces were
fairly important steps in my personal growth. In both, I've found
a way to translate visual trends to conceptual applications. For
the Northrop Grumman pieces, exploding vectors, surveillance photomontages
and bold typography come together as the perfect vehicle for visually
presenting the advanced technologies, integrated systems and reconnaissance
of their machines and systems.
For the Dallas Society of Visual Communications pieces the concepts
was all about creativity and where inspiration comes from. The look
of the collateral evolved organically as references to pop culture
left a visual trail of the creative process. TV show stars, fast
food icons, Evel Knievel, symbols from clothes, cars, computers
all clash in a symphony of color and forms to tell the story of
what inspires me and the editorial nature of coming up with ideas.
To me, both of these pieces show an application of style with substance.
Concepts back up the trendy visuals and give your brain something
to chew on - that was the real lesson learned here for me.
NEOZINE* - You are involved in a another project, the visual
blog MadeTo. What is the engine of this project?
MadeTo Share Ideas is
a project developed as another excuse to learn a web based technology
- MySQL and PHP. In the end it required little knowledge from me
thanks to the simple blog engine I stumbled across at Newstoday
written by Todd Resudek of TR1design.net. MadeTo was created due
to constant prodding of some friends who wanted to me to keep them
in the loop on links I've stumbled across.
It's still in it's early stages of development so it will be interesting
to see what (if anything) develops. I'm personally interested to
see what kind of trends in my link selections make themselves evident
over time. Does my taste change according to my mood or the time
of the year? Only time will tell.
I'm trying to maintain high standards for the content and only show
the best of the best and personal design developments. It may eventually
switch to a more robust CMS but at the moment I am totally pleased.
NEOZINE* - Dick Patrick's website is quite amazing. What
was the creative process to achieve such results?
Dick Patrick came to focus2
simply looking for a new portfolio site for his 20th anniversary.
My girlfriend actually manages his studio and I've had the good
fortune to get to know him pretty well over the years. As a studio
photographer, I felt that you sometimes loose the personality of
the man behind the images so it was important to me to communicate
something about him than just simply show a portfolio of clean images.
I knew that he had started in photography when he was still in high
school so I asked Dick for his yearbook (which as you may imagine
took a lot of convincing). As expected, his yearbook had handwritten
entries that referenced both his days as a football player and his
photographic ability - that was the real spark that set the ball
rolling. From there, I gathered handwritten notes from creative
directors, clients, and stylists touting his skills. It only seemed
natural that his warmth and friendliness be celebrated through personal
notes that expressed their gratitude.
Another contributing factor to the layout was that I thought the
traditional format of portfolios with images in squares was boring.
Since I was working with a photographer, why not have him shoot
assets and make everything seem as if you were browsing through
a shoe box of memorabilia? With that, the concepts of personality,
the anniversary and hand-written notes all came together and it
was just a matter of building the site. The site has done exactly
as hoped and garnered new leads for Dick Patrick and focus2 (and
has even brought home a few awards).
NEOZINE* - This is a classic: what are your plans for the
future?
A valid XHTML and CSS
based version of my site is currently in the works but mostly my
plans for the future are design and more design. I hope to be able
to build Pioneer10 into a personal brand - a name that means quality.
My mother always taught me "do what you love and the money
will follow".
I've been participating in more and more projects like the upcoming
book Human? (a book, dvd, playing cards and toy by Fontmonster in
association with Booth-Clibborn Editions) and hope to continue to
locate new opportunities to express myself.
I'm a trend sponge and one way or another, I have to let out what
I've soaked up. With more hard work and a little bit of luck I hope
to eventually find a market for my own look and brand.
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images used with the author's permission* |
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PIONEER10