Samuel Fast, Josef Andersson and Björn Johansson are the three founders of Brikk, an animation studio based in Stockholm, Sweden. During our conversation, we talked about how they navigate creative challenges, how they built their team and why it is important to stay curious.
Links:
Website- http://brikk.se/eng/
twitter- https://twitter.com/brikk_animation
Santapocalypse- http://brikk.se/eng/blog/yule-log-2016-santapocalypse/
Highlights:
-Trying to stay curious
-Don’t like to do the same thing twice
-We find people we like to work with
-Nice people culture
-How to push clients towards something outside of their expectations
-Treatment design
-Differing creative processes
-Meeting in art school
-How to play on being young = the competitive advantage
-Didn’t have much to lose when they started
-Starting to be able to say no to things
-Taking work that doesn’t make it to your portfolio
-Dividing work between all three creative directors
-How to get through creative challenges
-Trying to get better at planning
-Learning from mistakes
-Always growing as a team
-Learning how to keep things personal
-Why it can be helpful to learn less
-Getting better at organizing and managing team
-Santapocalypse
-Establishing processes
-Advice to young animators: Say yes to everything
-Dream Client: A client that trusts you
-Favorite Animated Movie:The Jungle Book
-What does your family think you do: Grandma once said: starving artists
-Animalator: the moose
Ryan Moore is a creative director at Gretel based in New York City. During our conversation we talked about how Gretel handles pitches, the process of boiling down a brand and how to anticipate the evolution of brands.
Links:
Website- http://gretelny.com
IFC Case Study- http://gretelny.com/work/ifc/
Viceland- http://gretelny.com/work/viceland/
Highlights:
-Creative directing at Gretel
-The company is 11 years old
-Viceland Project
-Try to boil things down to the ethos of the brand
-Working from both sides to the middle
-Bringing in the whole team on
-Two ways of getting work: pitch vs. direct to work
-Boiling something down to a core metaphor
-IFC Case study
-Every brand evolves
-We never pitch things we don’t believe in
-Simplicity
-Editing or reducing is basically my job
-The only way to know the line is to cross it
-Managing teams
-Learning how to listen…to your client..to the studio
-Showing your work to non-designers
-Brand changes
-Teaching
-Moving graphic design
-Learning how to let go
-Dream Client: A public utility
-Favorite Animated Movie: Ratatouille
-What does your family think you do: Grandma once said: He works at the internet
-Animalator: An owl. Why? Because owls stay up late. They’re quietly observant. And they’re silent killers.