CYPHER13 - FEATURED in NEWWEBPICK ISSUE15
25.04.08
The cypher13 team was seriously stoked to be interviewed and asked to submit work to NEWWEBPICK ISSUE 15 - FANTASY. The issue just dropped today - it’s FRESH and chock full of great work, feature articles, and interviews with all sorts of internationally acclaimed artists and designers. NEWWEBPICK is subscription based and comes out of Hong Kong. As far as online design mags go, it’s kinda the shit. For $2.50 U.S. you can download any of the past 15 issues in full screen Flash format right to your desktop. ISSUE 15 is 600+ pages of serious creative inspiration.
cypher13 intro spread:
cypher13 interview:
Tell us a little bit about your background?
cypher13 is three man tactical design/brand strategy team comprised of Alex Henry, Lucian Foehr (small-but-dangerous), and Todd Berger (TEEBEE). The c13 team eats, sleeps, and drinks art & design. We thrive on pushing one another artistically, conceptually and strategically… then delivering the fruits of our labor to our clientele.
Who are your main inspirations? / What are your influences?
Our greatest inspiration comes from challenging one another and the dialogue that ensues. We’re huge fans of exceptionally designed type, super-flat intricately detailed vector illustration, toys, and the art that our peers create. Our influences are diverse. They range from our mothers, to sneaker culture, to filmmaking, to graffiti. Perhaps our greatest influence is an intangible, a like-mindedness we all obtained in our youth, something akin to a selfless desire to create and contribute to the world at large.
How do you keep motivated and interested?
Keeping motivated and interested is fortunately not a problem. When not working on behalf of our clients we’re working for ourselves, collaboratively as well as independently. We’re very fortunate to be part of an exceptionally supportive and forward-thinking art and design community. We have a sort of competitive, yet quite healthy relationship with a number of artists and designers all aiming to raise the collective bar.
Do you have any new projects coming up that you can tell us about?
We are overwhelmingly pleased to say, that yes, we have all sorts of new projects coming up that we’re extremely excited about. We’re in the midst of a spectacular conceptual project for adidas with one of our partner firms. We’re developing a number of new cypher13 typefaces for release this summer. There’s some art toys in the works, we’re currently making some major upgrades to our studio/shop/gallery and we have some wicked-cool art projects on the horizon, including a rather massive mural.
What do you know about your country’s design/designers?
We know a great deal about US designers. We know that there’s some spectacular design happening in the US right now, by some very talented designers. We’re excited to play a small part in the larger creative movement that is currently happening in our country. With that being said, it’s safe to say that some of our favored sources of inspiration do however, come from abroad.
Any words you would like to pass it to new comer designers?
Think about the notion of communication and the inherent problems therein. Two of the main reasons clients hire designers are to either improve communication or solve current communication problems. Remember design is a tool. Question your motives. Question your clients motives. Stay focused on concept, its king. Then… work hard, really damn hard.
What is your most favorite commercial design of your own?
We’re a very process oriented team. The creative journey always seems to offer us greater rewards than the destination. Subsequently, we choose our projects carefully so we can be certain we’re always happy with the outcome. At the end of day, we love all of our children equally.
Name 8 designers you like most?
123 Klan
Bruce Mao
Build
Herb Lubalin
ilovedust
Milton Glasner
TADO
Superdeux
Any final comments:
We’re ecstatic that the kind folks at NEWWEBPICK have provided us the opportunity to expose some our work and share some of our ideas.
Tags: cypher13, NEWWEBPICK
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