I met Arjen Noordeman a couple of years ago when he was thinking about starting his own design firm. I thought it was a great idea for him and am happy to see that he and his partner and wife, Christie Wright are doing so well. Here’s my interview with Arjen and Christie about their creative studio, Elasticbrand.
Me: Could you tell us about what you and Christie are doing at Elasticbrand?
Arjen & Christie: Elasticbrand is a flexible design studio. We do not limit ourselves to certain areas of design. We like to approach every creative challenge from a branding perspective. Whether we are designing a corporate identity, a book, exhibition, website, product or music video, we always start by brainstorming the underlying concept, researching and defining what the “brand values” are going to be for that particular end product. Wethen create concept boards for several design directions that could translate those values effectively, visually.
We usually start by sitting down with the client, and asking them a number of questions to figure out what makes them tick. We always intend to get to the heart of the idea, to the passion that sparked the client’s project or started their business. Out of those interview results, we create the parameters within which we work to develop the end product, a brand guide if you will. We often create graphic elements, photography, and custom typefaces for these style guides as well.
My background in graphic design has taken me across all areas of the profession: interactive, broadcast, print, advertising, both for commercial and non-profit organizations. Christie’s background is in art, product and identity design with a Master’s from both Cranbrook and the Design Academy Eindhoven in The Netherlands. We perfectly supplement each other’s skills and strong suits conceptually, and when we need to work in multiple dimensions.
In addition to this design process, we are venturing out into the realms of authorship, creating our own book projects, directing music videos, commercials and short films (to come). We are currently curating and designing a product design exhibition that will open in January 2011 in Atlanta. And we will also start to design and produce our own line of products that we will in turn brand and market ourselves.
Last but not least, an important element of our plan is to create a truly mobile studio that will be based in both New York and Amsterdam but sets out to create alliances and collaborations world-wide. We partner with curators, musicians, filmmakers, authors, creative business owners and non-profits to name a few. We can travel to clients, design residencies, universities or other institutions that want to host Elasticbrand for a period of time.
Me: You met each other at Cranbrook School of Design. Could you tell us about the design program they have there and the community site that you’ve created for the school?
A & C: Cranbrook Academy of Art is an MFA only program. The school has a very interesting and rich history and is set up in a utopian manner, on its own enclosed compound that includes an art museum, an art academy, a science museum, a library, a lake and more. It is a beautiful environment to focus on your work in. What we also enjoyed about being there was the incredible cross-pollination between disciplines. This is actually how Christie and I met; we started working together on collaboration between her ceramic objects and my typographic design.
The program is 100% studio based and you set your own curriculum. It is a place perfect for finding your own creative voice, and I wanted to continue the creative discourse that gave me so much energy at the time. So after I left, I started the CranbrookDesign.com website. This site incidentally is open to anyone and doesn’t exclusively promote or cater to alumni.
Me: What challenges do you face in running your own studio?
A & C: Well, that question could be answered a number of different ways, depending on what part of the trajectory you’re in. It’s finding clients who trust you and your vision to create the best possible results for them, but also help you build a body of work that reflects not only where you are, but also where you want to go. That is something you have to constantly keep in check.
It’s also figuring out, when to give up some profits to hire help. Many designers tend to think they either can or should be able to do every single aspect of a job. This approach can both cost you and the client time, money and quality.
But I have to say that it is immensely rewarding to build your own brand and to constantly keep investing in it. Be it through promoting the work you’ve done, networking, creating an online presence or giving up your weekends and nights to go the extra mile on that project you care so much about. Everything you put out makes a statement about you. That can be daunting but it’s also an incentive to keep doing better.
Me: What do you think about what’s going on in the creative field today?
A & C: Since “the creative field” encompasses so much (Music, Design, Art, Fashion, Film, any of its sub-specialties?) that is quite hard to answer. What I can say is that no matter where you look, what many seem to be grappling with is the strange combination of being simultaneously empowered by easily accessible technology—both in terms of being able to create just about anything on a laptop and promote it worldwide on the web—while simultaneously seeing budgets threatened by the overwhelming competition that this low entry barrier creates. So, it’s now really your brand and your ideas that are most often the deciding factors for a client.
Me: Where do you find your inspiration?
A & C: Art, music, the city, fashion, film, pop culture, talking with friends and colleagues, but a lot of initial sparks come out of ideas that come up when we’ve just been assigned a new project and we just brainstorm over drinks.
Me: What advice would you give someone who is thinking about starting their own studio?
A & C: Be in it for the long haul. This was something I had to learn by letting go of it to soon the first time I went out on my own. A nice job was offered to me after less than one year after being on my own and I gave it up. It is not easy. It will require total dedication. Working for yourself is actually not at all easier than having a regular job. In fact you’ll probably have to do a lot of work for little or no money to get the business off the ground. And you really have to care deeply about the work you do, in order to succeed. But if you can muster it, that tenacity will pay off in many ways.
Photo by Joseph DeLeo
