My first week of work I was super excited to find out that the company developing and designing our new website Pixiq was Athletics. I was able to work directly with James Ellis; a member of the Brooklyn design collective and later got the chance to talk with the principle of Athletics, Matt Owens who is a design hero of mine. I just so happened to have written a paper on him in college (which he modestly said is so incredibly weird for him to hear) in addition to basing my senior honors thesis around one of his ad campaigns.
He is known as the king of infographics! These are some of my favorites:
Recently I’ve been doing a lot infographics for Flavorwire and for freelance projects. I love doing them but I’ve found I get more overwhelmed with possibilities for infographics than I do with other design projects. Matt was cool enough to take the time to talk to me about his experience doing infographics, and advice for being successful in general.
Takeaways
There are three types of Infographics Matt focuses on:
Infographic Systems: When a large vocabulary is already defined; you’re given a tool kit to work with and have to present it in a visually appealing way
One offs: These are more informational and there are two types; when you have to jam a lot of information/type into the space, and when the piece becomes more narrative and you wrap data around images/illustrations.
Icon creation: When they have information and you come into it and develop icons, illustrations, etc
Infographic Success:
When you’re starting, do as much as possible and do your best to add a level of finish and sophistication to everything you create, if not for the client, for yourself. Work through the typographical issues and remember, they hired you to make something that will be unique and stand out.
Resources for infographic design: Actual Objects >> Icon Essentials
Career Success:
“A lot of recent grads still want to be kids” (which made me think of this article). But the best interns are the ones that will do anything, focus on their work, take off their headphones and ask questions.
One thing he’d want someone to tell him if he were my age knowing what he knows now:
Bust your ass and be flexible.
Try a lot of different paths and never pigeon hole yourself. The most successful people he knows have stories something to the effect of, “Yea I started off as a copywriter at a boutique ad agency but then I thought I’d try my hand at marketing in a large company, which lead me to become a creative director at a record label and now I run my own consulting firm.”
Survival is based on how well you can adjust and adapt to new opportunities; and of course, hustling (hip term for networking) along the way.
