Q&A SETS WITH DAN IBARRA, PRINCIPAL OF AESTHETIC APPARATUS
Info Set:
Name:
Dan Ibarra/Principal, Aesthetic Apparatus
Education Background (school / self taught, etc):
Design: Madison Area Technical College/Printmaking: Self-taught
Where you first worked and when (visual/graphic design job, etc):
In 1996 I was hired right out of school as a graphic designer for the software company Sonic Foundry. I think I was employee number 20. I was also 20 years old. I left a year and a half later.
Favorite book ever (design or non-design related):
Uncle Shelby’s ABZ book. Hands down best writing ever.
Recommended design / thinking / creativity / illustration book(s):
Every designer should read (that’s read, not just look at the pretty pictures) Tibor Kalman “Perverse Optimist” at least once but preferably twelve times.
The Introspective / Inspiration Set:
1. What made you decide to do what you do?
Initially I didn’t have any choice, I wanted to pursue art and the commercial art program at the technical school was the closest my GPA could get me. But within the first six months I realized that all the band logos that I had drawn on my assignment notebooks and the t-shirts that I had made in high-school were actually a creative category of their own.
2. What’s your process for conceiving new designs/projects?
Research as much as possible about the subject, attempt to know if front to back; sketch (by hand and digitally) horrible idea after horrible idea; see a glimmer of a good idea in one horrible idea; pursue that idea; over-think that initial good idea until it’s dead; repeat process until a good idea sticks.
3. What do you regret not learning while you were in school?
I received a really strong production-design education while in class. I spent all my free-time outside of class teaching myself everything else I wanted to know (type design, printmaking, design history, etc.) If you regret not learning something in school that you really wanted to know, it’s your fault for not pursuing it. Nobody is handcuffing your education. If you want to learn about it, then go learn about it.
4. What’s your most valuable ability? i.e. conceptualization, hand/computer skills, etc.
I guess my most valuable ability is a lot of patience and resolve to solve whatever problem is in front of me. It’s an overwhelming desire to really understand something. I think it stems from my constant self-education while in school.
5. What, in your opinion, is the most exciting aspect of the art/design world right now?
The most exciting thing for me is the fact that graphic design doesn’t know WHAT the fuck it is right now. How does graphic design exist amongst revolutionary contemporary ideas like sustainability, intellectual ownership, biomimicry, etc; all these issues that are being tackled by other art and design disciplines. Graphic design is trying to figure it’s shit out. I like not knowing what the future holds.
6. If you could move anywhere right now, in consideration of the art/design scene, where would you go?
I would move the city of Minneapolis 500 miles south.
7. What’s your daily routine?
6:55 – wake up to my six-month-old daughter waking up next to me, inadvertently slapping me in the face.
9:00 – Arrive at studio (via bike)
9:00-10:00 – coffee/internet/email
10:00-1:00 design or prep films/screens for printing
1:00 – lunch (today, vietnamese bahn-mi sandwich from the Seward Co-op)
2:00-4:00 Continue designing or print poster
4:00 – Drink a beer, continue designing/printing. Or if it’s a slow day, check out gigposters.com
5:30ish – Bike home.
8. What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you, regarding design or otherwise?
Our old boss at Planet Propaganda told us before we left; there are three criteria to assess a design job with: money, timeline and creativity. Make sure the job consists of at least two of these agreeable critieria. If only one of the criteria is agreeable, do not take the job. You will rarely, if ever, have the opportunity to work on a job that is agreeable on all three criteria
9. Who would you call a mentor / attribute as the inspiration in how you work / do things?
It’s our boilerplate reply, but it’s still the truth; our test prints are always the most inspiring thing in our design discipline. Here is a genuine piece of trash that, through a completely unconscious and organic process, becomes layered with some much imagery and color that it becomes it’s own beautiful work of art. What is the most humbling are our attempts to recreate test prints that look “okay” but seem to never successfully display the vibrance, inventiveness or surprise that comes with one of these prints. So, basically, our trash is the most beautiful thing we make.
10. If you had just one piece of advice for students / new grads, what would it be?
Don’t worry about getting a dream job right out of school. Get an easy job that you can learn from but isn’t too creatively taxing. Then take all your creative energy and newfound income and invest it all in whatever it is that really inspires you. Spend all your free-time doing that without any regard for profit or notoriety. Continue until you meet someone that shares your same vision. Partner with that person and work with them for as long as possible.