Do you consider yourself a graphic designer? A web designer? Something else? Is the very idea of what a designer is changing?

M: I consider myself a designer with both traditional and digital training. I think there are limitations to being just a graphic designer or just a web designer or just a broadcast designer. I would like to be able to do all of those things and I think as a studio and as individuals we are interested in doing good work in all areas of visual communication.

W: I would consider myself a graphic designer, in as much as I use visual communication as a means to express an idea/thought/process + yes, I think the term is changing in public perception to recognize that the designer does not only use design to make things “pretty” – we also make things mean.

L: I guess if you really needed to, you could call me a designer, well as far as in my relation to One9ine. I’m not really doing a whole lot of drawing for our clients. But I tend to exist in that middle ground of interactive and graphic design. I love designing a project from the big idea down to the minute noodley goodness and then making it all function. I just like making stuff.

Where do you see One9ine headed professionally? Do you have any personal goals for the studio?

M: I think One9ine will always be a design studio first and foremost. I would like to do more product-based work, posters, work on doing videos, broaden the scope of output. Right now web work is the most lucrative and I would like to be able to balance out the work more between different mediums.

W: I think we will continue on the same professional explorations we are now. I could see us growing by 1 or 2 people in the next bit – but we have no plans to amass the One9ine army. I hope to see us branch out more into other media – namely broadcast – in the next year. I’d also like to see us as a publisher of not only our own personal and collective explorations – but also other individuals and groups.

L: Love to do more broadcast. I used to do a bit of After Effects work in the past and I’d really love to return to it. As a studio, I hope we can keep the creative force moving forward, continuing to do good solid interesting work. Some studio fueled

Graphic design seems to have shifted from the formal experimentation of the early-mid 90’s to a new emphasis on simplicity and a kind of neo-modernism. How would you describe this shift, and how do you see your work fitting within it?

M: I think graphic design is changing in the sense that the instituitions that created it seems to be lagging far behind what is actually happening in culture. Things like Gasbook in Japan, the work of Geoff McFetridge, Evan Hecox, Shepard Fairey and other new school designers seem to be slipping through the old guard radar and doing really interesting stuff. The Idea of design as a service-oriented discipline is shifting to be more creatively driven and collaborative.

W: I see it all from the same mold – just different periods on the graphic design calendar. I mean I’ve heard arguments ranging from the “neo-modern” as response to the new economy excess to it as a return to the corporate sponsorship model of design. I’d say that it is another sentence in the ongoing discussion that we are all involved – both as its impetus as much as the future response it calls for.

L: I think there’s a lot of great design all over the spectrum. good design is good design! there’s lots of stuff out there constantly changing the way we think about approaching design. It’s all moving very fast and to me that’s exciting. I can only hope that my own work can continue to be in a constant state of evolution.

Who are some of your personal design heroes and why? Who do you feel are the designers today doing interesting things?

M: I am a huge fan of Futura 2000, he has been doing great art/graph/design for so long and I just respect his evolution and ability to continue to do amazing stuff. The fact that his work bridges the gap between art/design/illustration/graffiti/object/product is just revolutionary to me. I think Eliott Earls is doing something really amazing by merging design, music, narrative and typography through performance. And there are also my friends that I totally respect and admire – Mike from Submethod, Nico from ABC, Bradley at Gmunk, Ed at the Assiociates in Science, the Chopping Block as well as Lee and Warren.

W: I’ve recently been introduced to wim crouwel’s work and am simply blown away by the breadth of work he produced. His systems and typographic studies are quite simply breathtaking – and reveal a lot of what we consider “new design” now is really not so new. P. Scott Makela also was a huge inspiration – both as a teacher and friend. Allen Hori (of Bates+Hori) does amazing, beautiful work. My old playground friend Barry Deck is simply phenomenal – and has a way with type that is unmatched. + of course my current partner in crime – Mr. M – keeps the bar high.

L: My friends are definitely my heroes. I find so much inspiration in what they’re doing creatively. Definitely Matt n Warren rock me all the time. I learn so much from them. as far as interesting stuff going on today, I really have a special place in my heart for the kids trying to integrate drawing and painting into their design work such as James from Presstube.com and Karen from Krening.com they make me want to keep pushing the mix of drawing and design in my own personal work. Our friends at the Chopping Block also manage to integrate a lot of illustration into their client work as well… amazing! Then there’s the community kids showing us what’s out there and holding it all together, k10k, Design Is Kinky, and Kiiroi and of course SHIFT!

Any final thoughts or comments?

M: I think the next few years are going to be totally amazing and will define what design is going to be for the next 20 years or so. We are on the verge of this convergent space in culture and I think that designers will be at the center of this convergence.

W: We’re in it for the love. If we weren’t, I’d predict that Matt would be washing dishes at a truckstop along the interstate, Lee would be concocting gravy recipes for his mail order business, and I’d be deep in the wiring harness of a Porsche Boxster figuring out how to load two 12 inch subwoofers into the boot.

L: Just that I need to get busy and do a lot more shit. You should too.

One9ine
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