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Film Studios
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Ninart Lui
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Exclusive Highlight on TAXI Design Network
Interview with Jake Banks
TAXI >> At the time, motion graphics was an emerging field. If there is one lesson to learn from that period, what is it?
Jake Banks>> Even back then, the most important lesson was that the idea was the key; it didn't matter what tool you were using to make it, it was all about the idea. In the future, it'll be even easier to carry out your idea, but going back to 1995 and then projecting ten years from now, we've all been stuck dealing with these tools that don't necessarily make it easier to convey your idea. In the future, no one's going to think twice about designing on their desktops -- it's just going to be completely second nature.
It's going to be all about the creative; it's not going to be about, how do I make that, it will be all about, this is my idea and here it is, fully treated. So, as far as applying meaning to the desktop design revolution of the 1995 era to where I am now, I'm very happy to have been rooted in fine arts, and to have come to appreciate the bottom-line importance of ideas.
TAXI >>You were such a big fan of Canadian pop-rock band Sloan that you created their music video for “I’ve Gotta Try”. What kind of a role does music play in the evolution of the motion graphics industry?
Jake Banks>> Music is another form of inspiration. I think music is a huge part of the creation of any art, especially when you're sitting in a room creating art, it often helps you get through the process. Sometimes it aids with other projects you're doing, and then sometimes it inspires you to want to do something that's based upon the music itself.
TAXI >> Technology convergence has allowed practitioners of various design disciplines to cross over and expand their fields of activity. Likewise, Stardust’s work evolved from specializing in live action and animation to include print and web. Given your success, do you have any advice how a growing company could expand the scale of their expertise without losing focus or compromising on quality?
Jake Banks>> Yes, I do: Surround yourself with great people. That's my advice. And also, if you're seeking to grow, push yourself into new places. When you do more, you do more.
TAXI >>In these five years since Stardust’s inception in May 2002, it has been garnering accolades and acclaims, earning PROMAX and BDA awards. What is the one rule that you follow for each new project, regardless if it’s editorial, live action or even sound design?
Jake Banks>> The one rule is that we always try and do something completely original.
TAXI >>There are a lot of online comments gushing over Stardust’s exceptional work. Personally, I bought a Nokia 7370 because your ad for the L’Amour collection left me enamored. Most of your work has a very organic feel to it. Is that your signature style? What do you think a signature style says of the designer’s work?
Jake Banks>> I don't know if I would call our signature style organic; it's definitely evolving and growing in different ways all the time. We have about 25 artists/designers that we work with every day, each with his or her own style -- and I think that when you mix them all together, you get "the Stardust style." That's how we approach things: We collaborate, and one style helps another... and that helps the process. Personally, I don't think it's good to have a signature style, because when you do, you end up doing the same thing over and over again. I think it's always good to evolve your style and try new things.
TAXI >>What is the WORD, which you think would reside and reverberate in the design world for the next 10 years?
Jake Banks>>"Magical."
..........................................................................................................
Exclusive Highlight on TAXI Design Network
Interview with Jakob Trollbäck
TAXI >>Someone asked the regulars at motion graphics online forum MoGraph Central for the top five progressive studios in New York. More than 90% listed Trollbäck. Trollbäck was also invited to be part of an exhibition series that celebrated innovative work, The National Design Triennial at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, alongside 87 luminaries. Evidently, recognition is in the bag. But when did you personally realize you had arrived?
Jakob Trollbäck >> Well, it’s all relative. There are so many people who we would love to work with that have no idea that we’re here. So in that sense, I’m still waiting. However, in the last year or two, many people have been very supportive of our work, which is very kind and rewarding. We’re always very happy and flattered by any recognition. There’s quite a lot of hard work behind it.
TAXI >> We can keep up with Trollbäck’s latest work by downloading the Plus newsletters. We can find up what the staff is up to lately, their new discoveries, awards and inspirations on your blog. We can get so much information about Trollbäck. What do you think such openness say about your company?
Jakob Trollbäck >>When we started, everybody went through hell to get a copy of the competition’s reels. Now it’s all available online, so why not just let it all out? Unless lots of people can start to copy our thinking, it’s all just design anyway, and that’s somehow the easy part. If you ask a musician she will say that playing is the easy part. It’s the composing that is hard. We’re happy if we can inspire someone with our work. We certainly get inspired by other people’s work.
TAXI >> What, would you say, is the design ethos Trollbäck practices?
Jakob Trollbäck >>We want our work to make an emotional impact. Design is a great language for this, but only if you really have something unique to say. To get to the real message, you have to discard everything that doesn’t mean anything. Your work gets a lot harder when you set up these parameters, but it is very rewarding when you ultimately find what you’re looking for. We do a lot of writing to help define what we want the design to say, and how it should feel to experience it.
TAXI >> Trollbäck is a leading creative studio that produces advertising, broadcasting and entertainment. Given your expertise, what are the important factors to engage the public’s attention that are often ignored or not understood?
Jakob Trollbäck >>Designers are not storytellers by definition. But in order to capture anybody’s attention you need to connect and engage your audience. This will basically only happen if you have a story to tell. Working in motion and rejecting frivolous design forces you to have a real story with a setup and a payoff. You also need to fully understand your audience, which is something I learned as a DJ. Unless you connect you’ll end up with an empty dance floor.
TAXI >>Trollbäck’s website mentioned “avant-garde collaborations with emerging and established talents in film, music, architecture, magazines and fashion.” Could you shed some light on some of these projects?
Jakob Trollbäck >>We always have a bunch of totally unprofitable strange projects going on. They let us experiment in a more non-commercial arena which often leads to really interesting creative solutions. It’s like a lab, and we are frequently asked to re-apply some of it to actual paying jobs. We just finished a 125’ x 11’ video installation for the new Gehry-designed building in New York, and currently we are working on a film about architecture, the identity for a conference and a bunch of other fun projects. We produce quarterly promotional projects that are a lot of fun, for which we just produced our first series of pins.
TAXI >> Last question: Which WORD do you think would reside and reverberate in the design world for the next 10 years?
Jakob Trollbäck >>Live surfaces? Tactile design? Swordfish?
..........................................................................................................
Read OTHER INTERVIEWS on DESIGN LEADERS
Steven Heller, Chip Kidd & Stefan Sagmeister
Sara Little Turnbull & Darrel Rhea
Adelia Borges & Linda Fu
..........................................................................................................
© 2003 - 2008 by TAXI Design Network. All rights reserved.
Interview with Jake Banks
 | TAXI >>Hello Jake. Being the son of a painter and film editor, how much of an influence were your parents in pursuing a career in motion graphics?
Jake Banks>> Not so much motion graphics but definitely art. They were very influential, especially my dad. They're both fans of everything that's happening at Stardust. TAXI >>You graduated from Otis College of Art and Design in 1995. It was a time when easy access to sophisticated computer technologies empowered designers. I’m sure, as with every new phenomenon, there must be pros and cons. In your opinion, more than 10 years on, what does the desktop design revolution then mean to you now? Jake Banks>> (please see answer to question 3) |
TAXI >> At the time, motion graphics was an emerging field. If there is one lesson to learn from that period, what is it?
Jake Banks>> Even back then, the most important lesson was that the idea was the key; it didn't matter what tool you were using to make it, it was all about the idea. In the future, it'll be even easier to carry out your idea, but going back to 1995 and then projecting ten years from now, we've all been stuck dealing with these tools that don't necessarily make it easier to convey your idea. In the future, no one's going to think twice about designing on their desktops -- it's just going to be completely second nature.
It's going to be all about the creative; it's not going to be about, how do I make that, it will be all about, this is my idea and here it is, fully treated. So, as far as applying meaning to the desktop design revolution of the 1995 era to where I am now, I'm very happy to have been rooted in fine arts, and to have come to appreciate the bottom-line importance of ideas.
TAXI >>You were such a big fan of Canadian pop-rock band Sloan that you created their music video for “I’ve Gotta Try”. What kind of a role does music play in the evolution of the motion graphics industry?
Jake Banks>> Music is another form of inspiration. I think music is a huge part of the creation of any art, especially when you're sitting in a room creating art, it often helps you get through the process. Sometimes it aids with other projects you're doing, and then sometimes it inspires you to want to do something that's based upon the music itself.
TAXI >> Technology convergence has allowed practitioners of various design disciplines to cross over and expand their fields of activity. Likewise, Stardust’s work evolved from specializing in live action and animation to include print and web. Given your success, do you have any advice how a growing company could expand the scale of their expertise without losing focus or compromising on quality?
Jake Banks>> Yes, I do: Surround yourself with great people. That's my advice. And also, if you're seeking to grow, push yourself into new places. When you do more, you do more.
TAXI >>In these five years since Stardust’s inception in May 2002, it has been garnering accolades and acclaims, earning PROMAX and BDA awards. What is the one rule that you follow for each new project, regardless if it’s editorial, live action or even sound design?
Jake Banks>> The one rule is that we always try and do something completely original.
TAXI >>There are a lot of online comments gushing over Stardust’s exceptional work. Personally, I bought a Nokia 7370 because your ad for the L’Amour collection left me enamored. Most of your work has a very organic feel to it. Is that your signature style? What do you think a signature style says of the designer’s work?
Jake Banks>> I don't know if I would call our signature style organic; it's definitely evolving and growing in different ways all the time. We have about 25 artists/designers that we work with every day, each with his or her own style -- and I think that when you mix them all together, you get "the Stardust style." That's how we approach things: We collaborate, and one style helps another... and that helps the process. Personally, I don't think it's good to have a signature style, because when you do, you end up doing the same thing over and over again. I think it's always good to evolve your style and try new things.
TAXI >>What is the WORD, which you think would reside and reverberate in the design world for the next 10 years?
Jake Banks>>"Magical."
..........................................................................................................
Exclusive Highlight on TAXI Design Network
Interview with Jakob Trollbäck
 | TAXI >>Hello Jakob. Once you were a DJ. Recently, you had a workshop called Into The Music at this year’s AIGA Seattle’s Into The Woods Conference. Looks like you’ve never given up on music. How does one draw music in creative work?
Jakob Trollbäck>> Music is pretty much the air I breathe. There is so much inspiration and energy and so many different moods in music. Happiness and passion, sadness and longing. It’s all there. TAXI >>In your opinion, how would you describe the relationship between music and moving visuals? Jakob Trollbäck >> Every story must have a rhythm, a defined pulse that you use for pacing. Without that, nothing can be defined as fast or slow, rhythmic or arrhythmic. It is how you create tension and release, in essence the key elements for any choreography. |
TAXI >>Someone asked the regulars at motion graphics online forum MoGraph Central for the top five progressive studios in New York. More than 90% listed Trollbäck. Trollbäck was also invited to be part of an exhibition series that celebrated innovative work, The National Design Triennial at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, alongside 87 luminaries. Evidently, recognition is in the bag. But when did you personally realize you had arrived?
Jakob Trollbäck >> Well, it’s all relative. There are so many people who we would love to work with that have no idea that we’re here. So in that sense, I’m still waiting. However, in the last year or two, many people have been very supportive of our work, which is very kind and rewarding. We’re always very happy and flattered by any recognition. There’s quite a lot of hard work behind it.
TAXI >> We can keep up with Trollbäck’s latest work by downloading the Plus newsletters. We can find up what the staff is up to lately, their new discoveries, awards and inspirations on your blog. We can get so much information about Trollbäck. What do you think such openness say about your company?
Jakob Trollbäck >>When we started, everybody went through hell to get a copy of the competition’s reels. Now it’s all available online, so why not just let it all out? Unless lots of people can start to copy our thinking, it’s all just design anyway, and that’s somehow the easy part. If you ask a musician she will say that playing is the easy part. It’s the composing that is hard. We’re happy if we can inspire someone with our work. We certainly get inspired by other people’s work.
TAXI >> What, would you say, is the design ethos Trollbäck practices?
Jakob Trollbäck >>We want our work to make an emotional impact. Design is a great language for this, but only if you really have something unique to say. To get to the real message, you have to discard everything that doesn’t mean anything. Your work gets a lot harder when you set up these parameters, but it is very rewarding when you ultimately find what you’re looking for. We do a lot of writing to help define what we want the design to say, and how it should feel to experience it.
TAXI >> Trollbäck is a leading creative studio that produces advertising, broadcasting and entertainment. Given your expertise, what are the important factors to engage the public’s attention that are often ignored or not understood?
Jakob Trollbäck >>Designers are not storytellers by definition. But in order to capture anybody’s attention you need to connect and engage your audience. This will basically only happen if you have a story to tell. Working in motion and rejecting frivolous design forces you to have a real story with a setup and a payoff. You also need to fully understand your audience, which is something I learned as a DJ. Unless you connect you’ll end up with an empty dance floor.
TAXI >>Trollbäck’s website mentioned “avant-garde collaborations with emerging and established talents in film, music, architecture, magazines and fashion.” Could you shed some light on some of these projects?
Jakob Trollbäck >>We always have a bunch of totally unprofitable strange projects going on. They let us experiment in a more non-commercial arena which often leads to really interesting creative solutions. It’s like a lab, and we are frequently asked to re-apply some of it to actual paying jobs. We just finished a 125’ x 11’ video installation for the new Gehry-designed building in New York, and currently we are working on a film about architecture, the identity for a conference and a bunch of other fun projects. We produce quarterly promotional projects that are a lot of fun, for which we just produced our first series of pins.
TAXI >> Last question: Which WORD do you think would reside and reverberate in the design world for the next 10 years?
Jakob Trollbäck >>Live surfaces? Tactile design? Swordfish?
..........................................................................................................
Read OTHER INTERVIEWS on DESIGN LEADERS
..........................................................................................................
© 2003 - 2008 by TAXI Design Network. All rights reserved.