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Conversation with Paula Scher
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TAXI
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TAXI Hello Paula. In your opinion, what are the key ingredients for a successful and lasting career in the design industry?
Paula Scher I think the most important ingredient in a lasting career is to never become very successful, or at least never believe that you are. If you hit the top you have nowhere to go but down. It's always better to be a little scared and a little hungry. It keeps you working harder.
TAXI What are your thoughts on being regarded as a modern-day design icon? How is celebrity good or bad for a design career?
Paula Scher Don't call me a design icon. That means I have nowhere to go but down. I think I'll ignore this question.
TAXI Having achieved the kind of repute and credibility which most designers would kill for, how do you source for the inspiration and excitement for your work?
Paula Scher I think that the decisions to take on clients, or not to are personal ones. I don't want to work for tobacco companies, but a ballet company that I design on a pro-bono basis was given money from Phillip Morris. Those decisions are far more confusing.
Paula Scher I think the most important ingredient in a lasting career is to never become very successful, or at least never believe that you are. If you hit the top you have nowhere to go but down. It's always better to be a little scared and a little hungry. It keeps you working harder.
TAXI What are your thoughts on being regarded as a modern-day design icon? How is celebrity good or bad for a design career?
Paula Scher Don't call me a design icon. That means I have nowhere to go but down. I think I'll ignore this question.
TAXI Having achieved the kind of repute and credibility which most designers would kill for, how do you source for the inspiration and excitement for your work?
Paula Scher I think that the decisions to take on clients, or not to are personal ones. I don't want to work for tobacco companies, but a ballet company that I design on a pro-bono basis was given money from Phillip Morris. Those decisions are far more confusing.
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TAXI In the face of increasingly volatile industry changes and practices, coupled with software advances at light-speed, could you share with us some of the more trying challenges that you have encountered in your line of work, and how did you overcome them?
Paula Scher I don't expect things to stay the same. I started out by making 12 by 12 inch record covers, and then they disappeared. The technology has always changed. My expectation is that I have to change and reinvent myself every three to five years. I'm not thrown or disappointed by change because I am expecting it. Technologies change, economies change, businesses change, government administrations change, but human character remains the same.
TAXI Last question: Which WORD do you think would reside and reverberate in the design world for the next 10 years?
Paula Scher What.
Paula Scher I don't expect things to stay the same. I started out by making 12 by 12 inch record covers, and then they disappeared. The technology has always changed. My expectation is that I have to change and reinvent myself every three to five years. I'm not thrown or disappointed by change because I am expecting it. Technologies change, economies change, businesses change, government administrations change, but human character remains the same.
TAXI Last question: Which WORD do you think would reside and reverberate in the design world for the next 10 years?
Paula Scher What.