Success Secrets from Jennifer Morla:

• A good designer is a great listener.
• If you pay attention, the client nearly always gives you the solution.
• Design must surprise and inform.
• Words are as important as images.
• Images can be more powerful than words.

Credits and project descriptions for all projects shown appear at the end of this article.

Early beginnings:

As a child growing up in Manhattan, I was privy, due to my aunt’s employment at Conde Nast, to seeing the creative departments in action: at photo shoots and laying out the magazines. I was also very influenced by my surroundings and exposure to design: Frank Lloyd Wright’s futuristic Guggenheim, the World’s Fair (with the Eames’s IBM exhibit) and the posters and subways boards displaying the work of George Lois  and Push Pin Studios. At a young age, I stumbled upon the Design wing at MoMA, exposing me to the breadth of design and its history.  It was certain that I wanted to be a designer, but starting my schooling by studying conceptual art  at the Hartford Art School (University of Hartford), then moving to Boston and receiving my BFA in Graphic Design from Massachusetts College of Art.

Mid-way through college, during a visit to San Francisco in the early 70’s, I noticed that the Bay area design community embraced a multi-disciplinary approach to design: books, posters, annual reports, identity and environmental design were all being created with verve and wit from a few small design studios.  I was smitten.

Getting started in design

I moved to San Francisco where my first job was working for the PBS television station. I created both print and on-air identity systems and designed animated openings. What made that especially valuable for me, was that television was really the precursor to the digital design environment. We were working with basic paintbox systems that allowed us to manipulate the movement of type, integrate live action and edit sound.

I left PBS to become the Art Director for Levi Strauss & Co. Levi’s had a strong graphic history of poster design, and I saw the opportunity to create a more contemporary look for an iconic brand. I headed the department (myself and an intern!) and designed the first Levi’s stores, created the fixtures, designed and art directed elaborate catalogs, and of course, and created numerous posters.

I soon realized that I needed to transition Levi’s from being perceived as a “western” company who made jeans, to a fashion company. We wanted to market jeans on the East coast and the stagecoach imagery wasn’t going to do the trick. I didn’t completely abandon their western look, but did expand their visual vocabulary to include graphic black and white photography and allowed their illustrious history to be told in a more contemporary vein.

On going into business:

After Levi’s, I new that the time was right to open my own studio:  I had the experience of working on both very lean and extravagant budgets, had created numerous posters, logos, stores, and packaging, and had gathered a good database of reliable vendors. Most importantly, I had established a good rapport with a number of executives, my future client base.  In 1984, I opened Morla Design.

Jennifer’s design influences:

Historically, modernists like Alvin Lustig and Herbert Matter were very influential, and as I said, I loved the more illustrative works of Seymour Chwast and Milton Glaser. But Charles and Ray Eames, although I was not aware of who they were at age 12, made a lasting influence on me: film, exhibit design, furniture, graphic design…true pioneers.

Another huge influence on me, as a student, was Jim Miho’s work on the Champion Paper’s “Imagination” Series paper swatch books. The combination of presenting a subject matter in a lush, graphic and multi-layered way, well, they both surprised and educated.

New business development:

Having worked for PBS and Levi’s, a lot of my work came from the contacts that I had met over the years from both of those companies. I had a good relationship with the presidents and marketing VP’s, some of which migrated over to other major companies such as the Gap and Wells Fargo Bank. In addition, my working relationship with my museum and arts clients stemmed from my involvement and interest in the artists of those organizations.

A new business direction:

For the past 20 or so years, I staffed Morla Design with 8 to 12 people, the perfect size for my office. We typically have 30-40 jobs at any given time both commercial and non-profit. One of my more recent clients was Design Within Reach, where I became close with the founder, Rob Forbes, and had helped him establish the look and feel for the company. About three years ago, he realized that DWR needed a strong design direction internally to re-shape the look of the totality of the company: website, catalogs and stores. He invited me to become the Creative Director and build a vital in-house department. I modified the makeup of Morla Design so that the work we do now is primarily for educational and arts organizations. And my  freelance staff is composed my best designers and project managers.

The benefits of teaching:

I teach a senior graphic design class at California College of the Arts with Michael Vanderbyl and Leslie Becker.  I’ve been doing that on and off for about 15 years.  The assignment is a thesis project in which the students explore a topic of their choice for an entire semester. I am truly humbled by the talent and the insight of our students. Their work is conceptual in it’s intent but rigorous in its methodology and fabrication. Clearly, it’s not a “let’s do a CD cover,” sort of project. And it definitely does not revolve around consumer practicality or branding! (Laughter)

Jennifer’s thoughts on speaking:

I feel it is extremely important for young designers to have the ability to speak and articulate design concepts, whether in writing, presenting or lecturing. And teaching is a very good opportunity to exercise those abilities. Being able to articulate design beyond the visual image, to an audience who may not be familiar with the work, is an important skill to hone.

On the importance of listening:

Also, I truly feel that a good designer is a great listener. I would say that 90% of the time the client always gives me the solution. And by identifying their role in the solution, it gives them a sense of ownership in the process.

Jennifer’s thoughts on sketching:

I also believe in sketching out ideas.  Sketching gives an idea substance and reality, and that’s a vital first step.

On the advantage of computers:

I can’t imagine doing the plethora of books I’ve created without the Mac.  The pre-digital days of book layout must have been tedious. Imagine specing type and pasting up layouts for a 300 page book along  with big financial implications and time lost if you erred.  My book designing coincided perfectly with the release of Quark.

The computer allows us to generate, and actualize, ideas so quickly. Students often ask how I generate so many concepts. It comes with experience. I find that the more design experience you have, combined with more exposure you have to art, literature, music, and world cultures, the more easily the ideas seem to come.

Would you do anything differently?

I would not do anything differently. I feel extremely lucky to be a designer, a mother, a teacher. I establishing Morla Design early in my career, as well as working in-house for great companies, has served me well.

I would encourage design students to explore employment opportunities beyond traditional design studios. Environmental design companies, textile, web, television, film, product design offices, all have positions for strong graphic designers.

The importance of maintaining balance:

Having a family keeps you pretty balanced.  Although I can keep long hours, I make a point not to work over the weekends. When I had my 2 girls, they are now 11 and 12, my office was in it’s twelfth year and operating very smoothly. The stability of my studio allowed me the time to devote to the time to parenting that I wouldn’t have been able to easily afford when the studio was still in its infancy. Starting a studio is like having children, I worked 12 hour days nearly every day, designing and nurturing my client base and creating a dynamic office environment.

Tips for newcomers:

Get a degree in graphic design. Going to a good design school teaches you how to think conceptually.  Your first jobs set the stage for the rest of your career. Choose the job that will make for the best portfolio, the one where you will learn the most, don’t go for the higher salary figure if it compromises your creative potential. Don’t go after the clients who already have gorgeous work, look for the underdogs. Go after the clients who need design the most. It’s easier to get noticed when you make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. (Laughter)

Additional thoughts:

Pay attention to the details. Having your own office is about 30% design and 70% being thorough and looking after the details: accurate production schedules,  getting signed estimates, timely billing, establishing good office procedures. And, make sure that you have a good accountant. Spend your time designing, not doing cash flow reports or managing payroll.

When I first started my office, I had one of the first versions of FileMaker, and it was, and is still, the backbone of my office. It changed everything in terms of our database and workflow management. Bottom line, spend your valuable time designing, making your work the best it can be.

About Jennifer Morla:

For over 25 years, Jennifer Morla has served as President and Creative Director of Morla Design, San Francisco.  She has been honored internationally for her ability to pair wit and elegance on everything from annual reports to retail environments.  Her clients include Levi’s, Wells Fargo Bank, Stanford University, and Luna Textiles. From 2005-2009, she served as the Chief Creative Officer and Chief Marketing Officer for Design Within Reach, where she re-designed all print, web and advertising. For her accomplishments, DWR was awarded the prestigious AIGA Corporate Leadership Medal for the successful interaction between aesthetics and business pragmatics.

With over 300 awards for excellence in graphic design, her work has been recognized by virtually every organization in the field of visual communication. Ms. Morla’s work is part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Denver Art Museum and the Library of Congress. She has been honored with solo design exhibitions at both SFMoMA and DDD Gallery in Japan.

In addition to teaching Design Thesis at California College of the Arts, Ms. Morla lectures internationally and is an elected member of Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI). Ms. Morla served on the National Board of Directors of AIGA and serves on the Accessions Board for Architecture and Design at SFMoMA. She currently resides in San Francisco with her husband and two teenage girls.

MORLA DESIGN
1008A PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE
SAN FRANCISCO CA 94107
415.577.2023
JENNIFER@MORLADESIGN.COM

Credits:

Client company: Design Within Reach
Creative director: Jennifer Morla
Art director: Jennifer Morla
Designer: Tina Yuan
Copywriter: Gwendolyn Horton

Competition title: Design Within Reach - Workspace Book
The Design Within Reach workspace book features office and desktop solutions.
The front cover depicts a new pencil, with the back cover showing a used pencil.

Client company: Design Within Reach
Creative director: Jennifer Morla
Art director: Michael Sainato
Designer: Tina Yuan
Copywriter: Gwendolyn Horton

Competition title: Design Within Reach - Spring Book: What is Green?
The Design Within Reach spring book is dedicated to exploring the topic of “What
is Green?” Being a design company, we’re encouraged by the increasing number of
smart solutions to improve the planet. But we know that not all items fit into
every category of ecological perfection. At DWR, we believe in honestly
presenting our assortment so you can choose what’s best for you. We also believe
that well-designed products last. This 160 page, perfect-bound book presents our
assortment through this filter.

Client company: Design Within Reach
Creative director: Jennifer Morla
Art director: Jennifer Morla
Designer: Tina Yuan
Copywriter: Gwendolyn Horton

Competition title: Design Within Reach - Outdoor Book
The Design Within Reach outdoor book features product for patio, pool and
beyond. The front cover photo is of a red-crested cardinal, a bird that can be
seen in Hawaii. Upon the launch of our outdoor book, Design Within Reach could
also be seen in Hawaii, at our new Studio that opened in March.

Client company: Stanford University
Art director: Jennifer Morla
Designer: Jennifer Morla, Bryan Bindloss
Copywriter: Stanford University
Photographer: Bryan Bindloss

Competition title: Stanford University: Literature Lecture Series
Morla Design was asked to create a poster series for Stanford University’s
Department of Comparative Literature. The challenge involved creating a series
where the first poster introduced the whole lecture series while subsequent
posters allude to future lectures. Poster imagery depicts six stacked books,
with the trimmed signatures facing outward. As each lecture is announced, the
corresponding poster shows the book with the spine facing front which
illustratively depicts not only the content of the lecture, but references the
previous lectures as well.

Client company: Hemispheres Magazine/Pace Communications
Art director: Jennifer Morla
Designer: Jennifer Morla, Hizam Haron
Illustrator: Jennifer Morla

Competition title: United Airlines Hemispheres Magazine: April 2002 Cover
The April 2002 cover of United Airlines magazine, HEMISPHERES, features the
artwork of Morla Design. Neo-Modern in feel, the design is a playful
combination of ellipses and circles. HEMISPHERES is the most award-winning
in-flight magazine in the United States. 500,000 monthly copies are read by 2
million people on United flights all over the globe.

Client company: Levi Strauss & Co.
Art director: Jennifer Morla
Designer: Jennifer Morla/Angela Williams
Illustrator: Jennifer Morla
Photographer: Jock McDonald

Competition title: Levi’s Posters
Morla Design created a series of portrait posters for Levi’s. This poster
conveys a narrative by a fifteen year old girl as illustrated in Jennifer’s
caligraphy on top of the graphic black and white portrait.

This poster is included in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art.

Client company: Bacchus Press
Art director: Jennifer Morla
Designer: Jennifer Morla, Craig Bailey
Illustrator: Jennifer Morla
Photographer: Kodak

Competition title: The Mexican Museum 20th Anniversary Poster
Morla Design created the Mexican Museum 20th Anniversary Poster to commemorate
the Museum’s collection of Pre-Colombian, Colonial and Contemporary Mexican art.
The benday portrait of Frida Kahlo and the quintessential image of Our Lady of
Guadalupe combined with lotteria imagery, vivid color and 19th century Mexican
wood block type, celebrate the Museum’s anniversary.

This piece is part the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art.

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Success Secrets from Clement Mok:

• Think constantly. Be curious about the world.
• Realize that you don’t know what you don’t know, and that you’re on a quest to figure those things out.
• Never burn your bridges, and if you do have to burn your bridges, try to end things nicely.
• A career is really what you make of it, so follow your heart; follow your passion.

Title:  Apple 10th Year Anniversary

Early Beginnings:

I was trained as a graphic designer in the late 70’s at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. At that time New York City was the design capital, and it was almost mandatory to work there if one was serious about their career — so like many of my fellow classmates, I made a trek to New York.

I was fortunate enough to land my first job at CBS’s advertising and marketing department. The fact I was around design giants like Lou Dorfsman and Paula Scher, physically or by proximity, meant a great deal to a young and impressionable designer.

Title:  Apple Courseware Exchange Identity

After a brief stint at CBS, I went to work for Donovan and Green (D&G), a firm working in exhibit design, advertising design, multi-image shows, as well as traditional graphic design. Working in a studio environment like that altered my perspective and opened my eyes to the different arenas and the kinds of design a designer can be involved with. I no longer felt constrained or pigeonholed as any ONE type of designer.

The experience at D+G allowed me to think more broadly about my design career.  I didn’t have to be a subject expert; design thinking was a way of solving problems applicable to all kinds of endeavors.

Title:  Corporate Christmas Card

A job offer from Apple:

My job offer at Apple came about by accident. I was visiting a friend during a vacation on the West Coast. She has just gotten a job at Apple in Silicon Valley. At that point Apple, Atari and Commodore were all the same to me. I didn’t know the difference. I joked to my friend that, “The fact these companies have video games in their lobby sounds interesting to me.” So I showed up at Apple and met Tom Suiter the creative director at the time. He offered me a job on the spot. And I said, “But you haven’t even seen my portfolio.” They were desperate and wanted people who had some experience in reputable places and would be interested in working in this new field called personal computers.

Title:  Apple Earthquake Preparedness Brochure

I said, “No thank you. I love NY.”

It wasn’t until I came back to NY that I realized that the company, Apple, had a founder who was on the front cover of Time magazine. I realized then that I couldn’t refuse that offer.

It was a circuitous situation that brought me the job at Apple. I was in the right place at the right time, and I realized that this was the opportunity of a lifetime.

Title:  Ode to the Latter-Day Wizard Poster

Real-world postgraduate experience:

Apple was very much a postgraduate course in marketing and business for me. It also tested my design beliefs about what’s good and what’s bad. Steve Jobs challenged anyone who worked for him, and if I didn’t believe in or have conviction about my work, he would know it.

More than anything else, I acquired an appreciation of how to design for the viewer, the customer and the user. Design for usability was a relatively new field and I learned this sensibility by hanging around industrial designers and software engineers.

Title:  Phone Class Announcement

During my tenure at Apple, I learned a great deal about software design too. I looked at every project and every challenge from the perspective of what I could learn, even though it might have been kind of boring. For me, it’s always been about learning and being curious.

After 5 plus years, I realized that the most interesting and exciting things going on in Silicon Valley were happening the software industry — not in hardware and computers. So I thought to myself, “It’s now or never if I’m going to start a business. I might as well follow my heart.”

Title:  Building an American Dream Poster

Starting a design consultancy: the deciding factors

There were three factors that led me to starting my own firm. I had just spent ten years as an in-house designer as well as a client, and I felt it was time to play a different role. Change for the sake of change was certainly the first of the driving factors. The second was the growing software industry in the Silicon Valley. The smartest and the brightest were leaving computers for start-ups, and I wanted to be part of that growing trend.

Title:     4th of July Poster

Also, not too many designers wanted to practice in the tech marketplace at the time, and I knew that if I started a business specializing in high-tech, I could establish myself very quickly. That was the final and main driving factor that led me to start my firm in 1988.

Developing new business at the beginning

At first I acquired business through the Apple network — through people I had worked with at Apple who were now players in this new software industry. It didn’t take long for the word to get around that I had left Apple, and soon friends and colleagues began calling me.

Title: Mirage Hotel and Casino identity

One thing I’d learned at Apple and by working in a corporate environment was the understanding of the client’s perspective. At Apple, “us and them” didn’t exist. We were all colleagues. At the end of the day, Apple still paid my salary, and these people, as much as I called them clients, were really my peers; our goals — change the way people work, learn and play— were the same.

The whole concept of the client being a partner was ingrained in me early on in my career. There was no sense of being victimized by clients or any notion of clients as evildoers. At the end of the day, clients want things that work and that are effective and connect with their customers.

Title:  Apple University Consortium: Wheels for the Mind

New business development now

Business today mostly comes to me through my network of friends and their clients, and by word of mouth. I’ve never burned bridges, but if I do have to burn a bridge, I try to end things nicely. (Laughter) I work solo or collaborate with a team my client might assemble. Most gigs are design planning and consulting initiatives which are not about designing things, but instead designing offerings, processes or organizations. I’m still designing, but not in the sense that most designers would recognize.

Title:  An Apple For The Teacher Promotion (left), Apple’s Student Break (right)

Planning for the future

The one thing that I’ve done consistently over the course of my career is to perform an assessment every 2 or 3 years to review my situation. I’ve always had a mental image or picture of what I want to be doing over the coming 5 years. I say to myself, “Okay, am I doing what I said I would be doing. Am I happy?” And if not, “What are the causes.”

Self-assessment has served me well.  It drove my decision to start creating software products. This came to light when I realized that I was developing the identity and software packaging for a few of my ex-Apple colleagues’ new ventures. They had hired me to design and market their products and company.

The process involved in launching a product is relatively simple, and I thought, “Why shouldn’t I do it? “As I worked with more and more software engineers, I realized, “They don’t know how to do this.” I understood the pitfalls, and by around ‘92, ‘93, I’d gone through the drill of putting all of the pieces together enough times that I decided to start my own software company. My assessment exercise proved once again to be been an invaluable tool for me.

Title:  Cover for AIGA Design Conference Technology Expo Guide

Favorite accomplishments

I still consider myself a designer, and the fact that I don’t create or make artifacts might turn a few heads. A media-agnostic designer would be the best way to describe the career stage that I’m in. I’m very proud of the fact that I am comfortable in my own skin, whether I’m being called a designer or a management consultant.

For me it doesn’t matter what kind of design I do. I will figure my way through any problem using my design skills, whether it’s a product design, the design of an organization, a process problem, or a complex technology issue.

The pigeonholing of a designer in any medium is an idea that I have consistently fought against. I have always looked at Charles and Ray Eames as role models. I admire the scope of design disciplines they practiced and I aspire to be like them. In the broadest sense of the word, they DESIGN. I’ve not reached their stature, but the fact that I’m comfortable being a media agnostic is a big personal accomplishment.

Title:   IBM Online Brand Presence Consultancy

What would I do differently?

I wish I had listened to my clients more. I’ve recently built a house, and I played the client role to an architect. Being a designer myself, I cut the architect some slack. But looking back, I was way too generous as an art director by not playing the real role of a client.

I saw how the architects, like designers, sometimes don’t listen and just design for their portfolio. This architect’s behavior was similar to how I behaved as a young practitioner many years ago.

Title:  Kasparov vs Big Blue

Throughout the design development process I would say, “I see how this is elegant and fits a certain esthetic framework, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for me. It doesn’t work, and here are the reasons.” The architect would come back with 3 solutions that were a slight variation of the same idea! “Hey,” I would say, “I know this trick! Don’t pull this on me!”

After a while, I wondered why the architect was behaving that way, and I came to the realization that it was all about having a great photo for their portfolio—a shot to enter into contests and competitions.

Title:  CMCD Royalty-Free Stock Photo Library Titles

We’ve all been there. And, I was furious about the process that had gotten me there. Had he listened carefully, and tried different things and listened to my needs, he would have made the process much more enjoyable. And this situation was not about aesthetics. It was about functionality. I needed things to work and be usable! This is where my HCI (Human Computer Interface) and usability issue sensibility came into play.

As much as young designers are good at creating compelling imagery for today’s cultural currency, they still don’t have the life experience in understanding how to make things usable. They can make them desirable, but mastery requires a lifetime of learning.

Title:  CMCD Visual Symbols Library Website (left), CMCD Visual Symbols Library Ad and Promotion Materials

Major influences on Clement’s career:

My design heroes and role models are Charles and Ray Eames. They were curious about the world around them and explored new technologies via their work for clients and for themselves.

I want to be known as a designer not only in the world of print but also in the digital domain. To accomplish this means I take on projects that are on the bleeding edge. This also means the projects may go over budget and the business will have to absorb the difference.

What might be good for a PR profile might not be good for the business’s financial bottom line. My business almost went under in 1993 because I funded a software business using the profits of my design service and consulting business. I ended up selling the distribution and management rights of my software business to competitor just to keep my design consulting business afloat.

Title:  Designers’ Saturday Invitation

On business wants and needs:

My goal is to build a design business that’s well respected and considered a thought leader. As an example, for Studio Archetype to grow and keep up with the pace of Internet e-commerce design consulting services in 1996, I needed to grow the depth and reach of the organization. That meant hiring people that knew more than I did and giving them an equity stake to help expand the business. It also meant rethinking the way I go about capitalization the business. I had to be disciplined about managing projects, and to walk away from low margin work during this growth period, even if they were high profile or highly creative.

Title:  OmniPage 1.0 — OCR Software Launch

On personal wants and needs:

I believe it’s not too much to ask for a life that’s balanced between work, friends, and family. Sometimes, though, it seems as if business and career goals are at odds with each another.

How do I reconcile this? I am fortunate to have a business and life mentor who guides me through a series of questions using the Viable Living System model — a cybernetics model of organization. It has helped me see my shortcomings and identified the things that I should let others help me do. Doing this has been an eye-opener, and I continue to use this diagnostic tool when I consult with my clients.

Title: The Republic of Tea identity

Tips for people just starting out

Think constantly. Be curious about the world. Realize that you don’t know what you don’t know, and that you’re on a quest to figure those things out.

Clement’s thoughts on business coaches and seminars

When I had just turned 30, I started my business. I was very fortunate to have a mentor who was in the cybernetics field. The gentleman has since passed away, but the life lessons that he taught me are still important guiding principles.

As far as keeping up with current business issues, I’m not unlike many of the business wonks in Silicon Valley. I keep a portfolio of trade journals and attend business conferences. So in that regard, I do have multiple networks of friends and peers. That’s how I keep up.

Title:  Macromind Product Suite Identity

Thoughts on personal balance

For personal balance, I enjoy cooking and my pets. I have 2 large dogs, a Golden Doodle and a Rottweiler. A Golden Doodle is a cross between a Golden Retriever and a Standard Poodle. It’s very much of a California designer dog thing.

When I took a leave of absence during the post-Internet-bubble period, I decided I needed a rest and I also needed something to ground myself. Working in the IT and the Internet field, my work almost exclusively dealt with abstractions of one kind or another. I design things that people don’t see most of the time, and the only visualization comes about when it’s on the web.

I needed something to ground myself. Cooking is both a set of skills and an art form that is very much akin to design. All kinds of cooking intrigue me, from the classic to the ethnic.

Title: Macintosh Software Packaging

Thoughts on building and sustaining a career.

A career is really what you make of it. It depends. There are no rules these days. I would suggest that you follow your heart; follow your passion. Be constantly curious about the world around you.

Clement’s thoughts on getting good clients:

When it comes to getting good clients, the most important thing I would suggest is “Ask good questions.”

Clients want someone who will bring new insights. The client wants you to think, not merely decorate. If you behave like a decorator, they will treat you like a decorator, and they will become the client from hell. But if you behave like a thinker and ask questions and provide good insights, they will see you as valuable.

Title:  Revo Brand Identity

Asking the right questions:

Most clients will come to me with a project that they are convinced requires a software or hardware solution. Very often that’s not the case.

For example, a client asked me if I would help develop the user experience for an internet portal that would be a mash up between Second Life, a virtual world site, and Match.com, a dating site.

I read the business plan and reviewed the features of the product along with the financial models.  During a follow-up meeting, they asked me, “What do you think the user interface should be?” I said, “Whoa. Back up. It looks like a guy wrote your business plan. There’s no point-of-view and perspective from the other half of your audience — the women. Do you think it’s safe to ignore the drivers and needs of that segment of your market?”

This question had nothing with the interface design. It was about something that most designers assume lay outside the realms of design, when in fact, that’s exactly what a designer should be paying attention to. As designers, we need to be sure we’re solving the right problem.

Title:  1999 San Francisco Bay to Breakers Race Identity

About Clement Mok:

Clement Mok is a designer, digital pioneer, software publisher/developer, author, and design patent holder. Mok, a former creative director at Apple, founded multiple successful design-related businesses — Studio Archetype, CMCD and NetObjects. He was the Chief Creative Officer of Sapient, and the president of AIGA. Currently, he consults for Sapient and other Fortune 500 companies on a variety of design planning and user experience projects. Mok has been published internationally and has received hundreds of awards from professional organizations and publications including I.D. 40 most influential designers Chief Executive Magazine, which named him 1998’s Tech 100 CEOs and AIGA, 2008 Gold Medalist. He also serves on the advisory boards of numerous technology companies, colleges and non-profit organizations.

Credits:

Title: Apple 10th Year Anniversary
Client: Apple HR
Produced: 1986
Firm: Clement Mok
Creative Director: Clement Mok and Hugh Dubberl
—————————————————————–

Title: Apple Courseware Exchange Identity
Client: Apple Higher Education
Produced: 1986
Firm: Apple Creative Service
Creative Director: Clement Mok
—————————————————————–

Title: Corporate Christmas Card
Client: Apple
Produced: 1984
Firm: Apple Creative Service
Creative Director: Clement Mok
Designer: Lindy Cameron
Artists: Jim McMullan, Brad Guice, Michael Patrick Cronan, Katsu Kimura and Milton Glaser
—————————————————————–

Title: Apple Earthquake Preparedness Brochure
Client: Apple Human Resources
Produced: 1986
Firm: Apple Creative Services
Creative Director: Clement Mok
Designer: Steve Sieler
Writer: Rich Binell
Illustrator: Lou Beach
—————————————————————–

Title: Ode to the Latter-Day Wizard Poster
Client: Apple Progrmmers and Developers Association
Produced: 1985
Firm: Apple Creative Services
Creative Director: Clement Mok
Designer: Lindy Cameron
Writer: Rich Binell
—————————————————————–

Title: Phone Class Announcement
Client: Apple Human Resources
Produced: 1985
Firm: Apple Creative Services
Creative Director: Clement Mok
Designer: Jill Savini
Writer: Rich Binell
Illustrator: Clement Mok
—————————————————————–

Title: Building an American Dream Poster
Client: Apple Education: Trade Show and Seminar Support
Produced: 1986
Firm: Apple Creative Services
Creative Director: Clement Mok
Designer: Steve Sieler
Writer: Robert Giusti
—————————————————————–

Title: 4th of July Poster
Client: Apple Corporation
Produced: 1987
Firm: Apple Creative Services
Creative Director: Clement Mok
Designer: Clement Mok
Writer: Phillipe Weisbecker
—————————————————————–

Title: Mirage Hotel and Casino identity
Client: Mirage Hotel and Casino
Produced: 1991
Firm: Clement Mok designs, inc.
Creative Director: Clement Mok
Designers: Clement Mok, Sandra Koenig
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Title: Apple University Consortium: Wheels for the Mind
Client: Apple Education Sales & Marketing
Produced: 1985
Firm: Apple Creative Service
Creative Director: Clement Mok
Designer: Clement Mok
Illustrator: Clement Mok
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Title: An Apple For The Teacher Promotion (left), Apple’s Student Break (right)
Client: Apple Education Sales & Marketing
Produced: 1986
Firm: Apple Creative Service
Creative Director: Clement Mok
Designer: Clement Mok
Illustrator: Clement Mok
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Title: Cover for AIGA Design Conference Technology Expo Guide
Client: AIGA
Produced: 1989
Firm: Clement Mok designs
Illustration: Clement Mok

Recognition: American Illustration Annual
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Title: IBM Online Brand Presence Consultancy
Client: IBM
Produced: 1996-1999
Firm: Studio Archetype
Strategists: Clement Mok, Mark Crumpacker, Judith Hoogenboom, Tom Andrews, Donald Chesnut , Rich Radka, John Grotting
Designers: Bob Skubic, Matt Carlson, Phil Kim
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Title: Kasparov vs Big Blue
Client: IBM
Produced: 1997
Firm: Studio Archetype
Strategists/Producer: Judith Hoogenboom, Donald Chesnut , John Grotting
Designers: John Grotting, Bob Skubic, Matt Carlson, Phil Kim
Writers: Rich Radka, Tom Andrews
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Title: CMCD Royalty-Free Stock Photo Library Titles
Client: CMCD
Produced: 1992
Firm: Clement Mok designs
Designers: Clement Mok, Josh Distller
Writer: Clement Mok
Photographers: Various
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Title: CMCD Visual Symbols Library Website (left)
CMCD Visual Symbols Library Ad and Promotion Materials (right)
Client: CMCD Visual Symbols Library | Clement Mok
Produced: 2003
Firm: Department Three / Clement Mok designs, inc.
Art Direction: Clement Mok, Guthrie Dolin, Matt Carlson
Writer: Clement Mok
Photography: Various
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Title: Designers’ Saturday Invitation
Client: Progressive Architecture Magazine
Published: 1982
Firm: Donovan and Green
Creative Direction: Michael Donovan
Art Direction: Clement Mok
Designer: Clement Mok

Recognition: AIGA Annual
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Title: OmniPage 1.0 — OCR Software Launch
Client: Caere Corporation
Produced: 1988
Firm: Clement Mok designs
Creative Direction: Clement Mok
Art Direction: Clement Mok
Designer: Clement Mok, Charles Routhier
Photographer: Hunter Freeman
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Title: The Republic of Tea identity
Client: The Republic of Tea
Produced: 1991
Firm: Clement Mok designs, inc.
Creative Director: Clement Mok
Designers: Clement Mok, Nancy Bauch
Calligrapher: Georgis Deaver
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Title: Macromind Product Suite Identity
Client: Macromind Inc.
Produced: 1989-1991
Firm: Clement Mok designs, inc.
Creative Direction: Clement Mok
Art Direction: Clement Mok
Designer: Sandra Koenig
Illustrator: Ron Chan
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Title: Macintosh Software Packaging
Client: Macintosh Sales and Marketing
Produced: 1985
Firm: Apple Creative Service
Creative Director: Clement Mok
Designer:  Lori Barnett
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Title:  Revo Brand Identity
Client:  Revo
Produced:  1989-1998
Firm:  Clement Mok designs/ Studio Archetype
Creative Direction:  Clement Mok / Mark Crumpacker / Grant Peterson
Art Direction:  Clement Mok / Lori Barra /
Mark Crumpacker / Jack Herr / Gregg Heard
Designer :  Lori Barra / Sandra Koenig / Jack Herr
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Title:  1999 San Francisco Bay to Breakers Race Identity
Client:  San Francisco Examiner
Produced:  1999
Firm:  Studio Archetype
Creative Direction:  Clement Mok
Designer:  Clement Mok
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Success Secrets from Margo Chase:

• Pay attention to the business side as much as the design side.
• First figure out what you do well. Then, stick to that and hire people to do the other things.
• Involve clients in a discussion about their businesses and how design can help them achieve their goals.

Early beginnings:

I got started by accident really. I was a biology major in college, studying to be a veterinarian. And in the attempt to keep my grade point average high enough to get into one of the few really good graduate schools, I took an illustration class that turned out to be part of the graphic design curriculum. And I fell in love with it. It was the easiest A I ever earned.

As a result, I decided to change my major, and I went to graduate school in medical illustration which I thought would be the best of biology and the best of the creative part of design. I studied 2 years doing master’s work at the University of San Francisco, and realized it was not really either. It was not very creative, at least not in the sense that graphic design is, in terms of the self-expressive, problem-solving areas of design, which are the parts I love.
The more educational part of medical illustration is primarily to portray a particular surgical process, or a disease in a very understandable way for, say, medical students. And so the people doing that spent a lot of time in hospital basements, and it didn’t sound like a good job to me. So, I tried to get a job in design.

On starting a business:

I moved to Los Angeles, and started looking for a job in sales. And I ended up starting my own business. I really happened inadvertently. I was soliciting freelance projects where I could find them, and that gradually built into the firm I have now.

The first projects I got were for a publishing company called Rosebud Books, here in LA. They published primarily tourism books, and they owned Architectural Digest, and several other publications.

Margo’s move into entertainment design:

Shortly after I started working with Rosebud, some of the people on their staff left the company and went to work at Warner Records. They started hiring me to do logo design and lettering for album covers. That led into my doing, pretty much, full-time music oriented work as an independent designer. I never had a job offer from any of the labels, but I did a lot of work for Warner Bros. Records, Virgin Records, Sony, EMI, Capitol Records, you name it. In fact, for 10 years that’s about all I did. And, it absorbed the first 10 years of my career.

On how business comes to Margo’s studio:

A lot of the business comes to us from what I like to call “Magic Phone.” People who have heard about us in one way or another, or have seen our work somewhere, or have been recommended to us by someone just call. We have a person who does PR for us and we spend a lot of time cultivating current clients to increase the amount of work that we do for them. We also have several people who help us in new business development.

Margo’s thoughts on the secrets to her success.

I think the major key to my success is the fact that I’m stubborn. I’m competitive and I don’t like losing. I like being successful, and I don’t like doing things that I don’t do well. That’s probably true for most people who are successful, although I’m not necessarily sure that’s entirely true of designers in general. I believe it’s true of anyone who’s really good at what they do. They’re committed and maybe a little OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) about it.

Margo’s her favorite accomplishment.

I’m most proud of the fact that I have a business that’s successful and employs talented people, and that I get to come here every day and hang out with people I like.

Thougths on doing things differently:

I spent a lot of time, especially in entertainment, doing self-expressive, personal design. It was work that I really liked, but it wasn’t really contributing much to the business bottom line. The entertainment business doesn’t encourage that kind of thinking because strategy isn’t really required. It’s not the design that sell sthe music. The music sells the music, and the design is for the most part decorative.

If I could do it over again, I would have more quickly become involved with clients in a discussion about their businesses and about how design can help them achieve their goals, because I believe that design can have a huge influence on consumer behavior and on the success or failure of sales of certain products and of companies in general. Until I finished with entertainment, I never really got a chance to test my theories about that.

On working in entertainment graphics:

People don’t make money doing music packaging beyond a certain point. Because the album design has a minimal business impact on sales. It helps, but people don’t buy a Madonna album because of the album cover. They buy it because of Madonna. After a certain point, design can’t change people’s behavior, and therefore it’s not valued very highly.

Thoughts on the strategy side of graphic design :

I’ve always been interested to explore ideas about what design can do, the changes it can create. Now we focus much more on consumer products and brand development. These areas are places where design has a huge potential impact on the success. As a result, I think we’re getting a bigger playing field between the strategy and the creativity, which are the things I love most. I don’t feel that there are many designers in the world who are really good at understanding strategy and then are able to translate that strategy into design. There are design firms that really do well in one or the other, but few can really do the magic that happens when the two come together.

On the importance of business coaches:

Over the years we’ve hired consultants at different times, and they were really helpful in some ways. For example, we needed to watch how much money we were spending on payroll, and being aware of how much producing the work was actually costing us compared to what we were earning. These sorts of issues I had no idea about early on. I thought that if we were busy, things really must be good. (Laughter)

At different times, we worked with a couple of different kinds of coaches, from the basic business issues to working with people who are more experienced in marketing, and have helped us think about how we might market ourselves, how our clients marketing departments work, and in general, what marketing is all about.

On attending business seminars:

James Bradley, our president, went to the Harvard Business Conference last year, and I think it was really valuable for all of us, because he was able to bring back some amazing information and insights which have translated into immediate benefits for the firm.

Tips for someone new to the industry:

I’m not really sure I could suggest how someone might become a success in this industry. My path is not really repeatable, and maybe nobody’s path is. It’s not like there’s this process or success formula that someone could really follow. The only thing I can say is that someone new to the industry should first figure out what they do well. Stick to that, and hire people to do the other things.

On getting good clients:

In my view it’s really more difficult to get rid of bad clients than it is to find clients in general. There’s a lot of information out there on how find them, but I think finding good ones, or finding ones that are good for you, depends on the scope that you have, or the business acumen that you have. Finding clients who are a good fit for your kind of company, your size and skills and experience is really what it’s all about.

Additional advice:

I would say pay attention to the business side as much as the design side. I got a lot of recognition early in my career without doing any of the things I’ve been saying. (Laughter) A lot of my success was me being in the right place at the right time and being given the chance to work for really visible entertainers like Madonna and Prince. I was fortunate to be able to ride on their coat tails, and take advantage of an opportunity when it landed in my lap. That kind of recognition is almost impossible to get on purpose.

But you don’t have to have that sort of luck to be a business success. I have a lot of friends who run design firms who make way more money than I do, and they’re names you’ve probably never heard of. And, they’re quite happy.

Hobbies to stay balanced

I fly and I started competing in acrobatics this year. I do that on the weekend. I’ve been flying altogether for about 3 years since I got my pilots license, and I started flying acrobatics last year. It’s like a roller coaster on steroids.

About Margo:

Since founding Chase Design Group in 1986, Margo has consistently produced and led award-winning work in many areas of design. Recognized worldwide for her skill with custom typography and identity development, Margo is dedicated to creating client success through high-quality, intelligent creative. Her vision provides the fuel for Chase Design Group’s growth and achievement.

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Success Secrets from Mirko Ilic:

• If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, they can never pay you enough.
• It’s much easier to think for 8 hours and work for 2, than the opposite.
• Follow your dream. Do whatever it takes. If it happens, that’s great. And if it doesn’t, at least you’ll know you tried. That’s how I built my business.
• Getting good clients is like dating. It’s about building a personal relationship, building trust.

Torture
—————————————————

Early beginnings:

Going into art was just easier. I was not good at sports. I’m okay in mathematics and in most other things, but somehow art was much easier for me than anything else.  It was a simple decision.

When I first started out, at that time I was living in Yugoslavia, I was leaving my illustrations at different newspapers.  The first illustration that was published, didn’t even have my credit line. I was so eager to publish, that I was leaving the illustrations around without my name on them.

They liked them, (Laughter) but they didn’t know who to give the credit to. I showed up a week later and said, “Oh, that was my illustration.”  They said, “Great, do more.”

That was basically how I started, going round and knocking on the doors.  When you’re young and arrogant, you don’t have anything to lose. So why not?

Pafko at the Wall
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Broadway Book War
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Russia Comes Apart
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Starting his career:

I was born in a Communist country and the only employment available at that time was working for a government controlled company. So instead, I chose to freelance. I was one of the few, maybe even one of the first freelancers in my country.

Since I didn’t want to work for the government, it turned out that my first full-time job was when I became art director at Time magazine for all the international editions. I was 31 at the time.

I was there only 6 months. I quit, disagreeing with the look of the redesign of Time magazine. I was supposed to use the new look in Time International, which I was in charge of.  A few months later, I got an offer from the New York Times op-ed pages.

Germany
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Influential figures from design:

During different periods, I’ve been influenced by different people.  As I grew up things changed, and over the years, I enjoyed many styles and many professions.

I gained lots of influence from European designers and illustrators because I was born there, but also from Americans.  I didn’t know much about famous designers, but the American underground had quite a huge influence on me too.

In 1972, I saw the illustration work of Brad Holland published in a Graphis Annual. It was so powerful. I figured that illustration was serious business and I started to pay much more attention.

Then around 1974 a friend of mine showed me Milton Glaser’s book. When I saw his work I thought, “Wow, I could be an illustrator and a designer at the same time!”  After that, I found my passion.

The Anatomy of Design
Gate-fold book by Mirko Ilic & Steven Heller uncovering the influences of graphic design (Rockport).
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Thoughts on planning:

When I was 19, I made a list of the 10 most important comics. I promised myself that I would publish my work there, and everybody was laughing.  But by the time I was 26, I had published in all of those magazines.

When I came to the United States, I had a list that included The New York Times, Time magazine and Playboy.  (chuckling)

Apple’s Growing Ecosystems
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This is a funny story.  My first week in New York, I got to do cover sketches for Time magazine.  During my second week I got to do an illustration for The New York Times.  But Playboy was in Chicago. So I didn’t get to do Playboy at that time.

Then, maybe three or four years ago I mentioned this fact to someone in an interview and I got call from Playboy! Now I’m regularly drawing and doing illustrations for them.

Darfur poster
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Mirko’s thoughts on changing directions:

I get bored doing one kind of thing for too long.  For example, I was doing editorial illustrations for a long time, but I wanted to do book design. And somehow I muscled myself into designing books.  Most often you need to have designed a book to be able to show around because everybody wants to see something before they give you a job. Fortunately for me, I stumbled into that first assignment and it got me started.

Then because I was designing books, I started to write books.  Then one of the people for whom I was designing a book, architect Adam Tihany, asked me if I wanted to graphically design a hotel with him. Of course I said, “Yes.”  And now I’m designing hotels, buildings and restaurants, and that is something that, if you’d asked me at that time, I would have said, “Are you crazy?”

But I like it.  And now I’m pursuing that.  And I’m getting some awards, and publishing some work here and there.

Le Cirque (restaurant)
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Favorite accomplishments:

There is no one thing that’s my most favorite accomplishment.  The most exciting things, for me, tend to happen at first: my first illustration, my first designed book, my first cover for Time magazine, my first illustration for The New York Times. It’s all quite amazing. Those sorts of thrills allow me to run empty for quite some time.  (Laughter.)

There are some things that I like more than others, of course.  But I’m quite happy with a few of the books that I wrote. The Design of Dissent: Socially and Politically Driven Graphics, which I co-authored with Milton Glaser, is a kind of achievement which is very dear and important to me. Not to mention the pleasure of working with Milton.

Also, I’m very pleased with my latest book, The Anatomy of Design: Uncovering the Influences and Inspirations in Modern Graphic Design.” I did that one with Steven Heller. We managed to squeeze almost 2,000 pieces of art into the book, which is quite an achievement.

Energy Roundtable
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Energy Independence
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Mirko’s thoughts on lifelong education:

Throughout my life, I’ve done what I call continuous education – educating myself whenever I can. I notice how lots of kids, especially here in the United States, don’t know much about design history. We all stand on somebody’s shoulders.

I decided to create books for kids so they can learn a little bit about the past. And it’s quite achievement for somebody who can barely speak English and is dyslexic. (Laughter.)

The Sexual Male
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Mirko’s thoughts on the keys to success:

In my class in school, there were two extremely talented kids who became my friends.  They were able to draw blindfolded. I figured that only way to equal them was to work harder and try to be brighter. Then I discovered that working is not enough.  One needs to think about what one is doing. I discovered that it’s much easier to think for 8 hours and work for 2, than the opposite.

Thinking about what I do before I sit in front of a white table or computer screen is really, really important. Then once when I have the idea, I work like a dog.  (Laughter.)

The Scent of War
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Not Much Has Changed in a System that Failed
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The Havoc in Yugoslavia
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On doing things differently:

I would love to build, be an engineer and build bridges.  I think bridges are amazing.  They’re like birds that fly on the ground.  They connect people. They’re such positive things. They’re like sculptures, floating in air.  It’s quite amazing.

Mirko’s Toughest Challenge:

Probably the toughest creatively challenging period was in 1991 when civil war broke out in the former Yugoslavia. I managed to see my primary school in my small home town in Bosnia on CNN, which was showing Serbian militiamen killing women who lay face down on the sidewalk in front of the school. As war was spreading, I was glued to the television set for days and nights, trying to reach my mother on the phone, who was still living there. It was very hard to find reasons to draw or create pretty images.

Liberty and Justice
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Mirko’s hobbies:

I collect old books.  I visit all the book fairs, and collect magazines.  I do research.  I’m especially interested in the 20’s and 30’s.  I have lots of Russian Dada. I enjoy old papers.  I enjoy touching them and playing with them.  And I think that’s my biggest hobby.

Thoughts for someone just starting out:

It’s very tricky because our industry is in a big shift. It doesn’t seem to have a clear future at this point in time. We are now focused on the promise of new technology while we’re forgetting that there are still ideas that might be left behind.

There seems to be too many vice presidents making the design decisions instead of the designers.

But one thing’s for sure, if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, they can never pay you enough. You must feel pleasure.  You must feel like you want to wake somebody up and show them what you’ve done.  You must feel like you’d like to run out and say, “Look, look, look, look what I did.”  That kind of feeling is more important than any amount of money.

I think when one sees the design of another person and thinks, “Wow, why didn’t I come up with that one?”  That’s the kind of design you should strive to create.

SVA: To Help See Possibilities
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Thoughts on getting good clients:

Getting good clients is like dating.  It’s about building a personal relationship, building trust.

It’s tough, especially today, when most of us communicate through the internet and we don’t even see the faces of the people we’re working with. And sometimes they’re just two blocks away.

If you like what your client is doing, if you like their product, and if they like what you’re doing, if they feel the same kind of honesty from you, I think you have a chance to build a relationship.  And look, I arrived in this country in 1986, and I still work with 5-10 of the people whom I met during the very first year.

Tihany Design (booklet)
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Ideas for people just starting out:

Follow your dream. Do whatever it takes. If it happens, that’s great. And if it doesn’t happen, at least you’ll know you tried. That’s how I built my business. Now, of course, I’m old and tired, actually mostly lazy; I wait for the telephone to ring or the internet to beep.  Here and there I push a little bit, but mostly the telephone rings or the internet beeps.

Additional thoughts:

It’s very important to introduce new ideas into your design. When you’re listening to music, going out to the theater, visiting museums, socializing with friends, and so forth, you will accumulate additional ideas, and from some place other than looking at other designers’ work or at the design annuals. The best ideas come from cross-pollination. Not from just recycling the same crap again and again.

Sav Taj Crtez (All Those Drawings)
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About Mirko Ilic:

Mirko Ilic published his first works in 1973, and has since been publishing comics and illustrations in magazines, such as Omladinski tjednik, Modra Lasta, Tina, Pitanja, and has become the art and comics editor of the students’ magazine Polet in 1976. That’s when he helped organize an informal organization of the comic book creators Novi kvadrat (The New Square), that has been widely connected to the Novi val musical movement in Zagreb. That connection also allowed Ilic to design album covers for some of the most prominent Yugoslav bands of the time, such as Bijelo dugme, U škripcu, Prljavo kazalište, Parni Valjak, Parlament, and many others. He also wrote the song Covjek za sutra on the first album of Prljavo kazalište, but he wasn’t given the credits for the authorship. Ilic appears in Sretno dijete, Igor Mirkovi?’s documentary about the Novi val movement in Zagreb, as one of the most prominent figures of the movement.

In 1977, Ilic started publishing his works in the established comics magazines outside Yugoslavia, such as Alter Alter, Métal Hurlant and Heavy Metal. In 1980, Novi kvadrat ceaseed to exist and Ilic entirely stopped working on comics, focusing upon illustration and graphic design. In 1982, he started working for the Italian magazine Panorama, as well as for the Croatian magazine Danas. in March 1986 he left Yugoslavia and went to New York “with $1,500 in the pocket and no idea what to do upon getting there.” He soon started publishing his illustrations in Time, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and many other prominent and influential newspapers and magazines. In 1991, he became art director of Time International, and the following year he became art director of the op-eds in The New York Times.

In 1993, Ilic became one of the co-founders of Oko & Mano Inc. graphic design studio, and in 1995 he founded Mirko Ilic Corp., a graphic design and 3-D computer graphics and motion picture title studio. In 1998, he created the title sequence for the romantic comedy You’ve Got Mail.

He is a co-author of several books about graphic design: Genius Moves: 100 Icons of Graphic Design, Handwritten - expressive lettering in digital age, and Anatomy of design (all of them co-authored with Steven Heller) and Design of Dissent (with Milton Glaser).

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