Interview with Joel Derksen

I studied in Nova Scotia (Canada) before transferring to Toronto, and after working in a variety of roles there, I moved to Munich to join IDEO; and then to London and to freelance.

I originally believed that a good designer should have a lot of flexibility in approach, to be able to handle a range of accounts and styles. Now I'm starting to care less, and focus on parts of the process that matter to me: deep research, a focus on concept and uniqueness, and then tenacity in the craftsmanship to constantly improve the concept.

Candidly - I agonise. I want to exceed my own skills every time, to develop something new and relevant; something that no one else would dare to claim. Sometimes I try to feel good about it, but this idea design being "fun" eludes me. This is hard-wrought love, like kneading a very stiff dough.

I'm looking to work more with arts and cultures clients, and split my time more evenly between personal development and my art practice.

Don't get stuck to one location or place if it doesn't suit you. And if you haven't moved around - on an exchange, for an internship, etc - then you don't know if it suits you. Take as many new perspectives into your practice as possible.

Don't slouch on strategy. Take time to really understand what is a good strategy - and who is a good strategist. There's a lot of snake oil out there. You owe your clients better.

Ideally it starts at 9:00 with a bit of exercise and going to the gym (or just a walk to a cafe), and by 11:00 then into design work and replying to emails. I try to do the creative heavy lifting from 11:00 to about 17:00. Usually the evening is filled with calls, but I'll stop work around 24:00 - and usually with administrative tasks or RFPs. If I have energy left i may set up a shoot or move into personal work until 2:00.

Looking not-dated is important, but the idea and strategy is more important.

Have I seen it on Dribbble? Is it an actual concept, or is someone just copying some trend they saw? Is that a plausible concept or strategy? Does the design meet the strategy that's been proposed? It's always surprising for me to see designers promise a concept, or talk about it, but then to not see it materialise in the work.

When the deadline hits.

I think my biggest projects are yet to come.

It changes frequently depending on the projects I'm working on.

I currently live in Amsterdam, and prior to that lived in London, Munich and Toronto. And I have to say absolutely. I've actively sought to live in places with strong design traditions - and I can see the fingerprints of each of these cities on my thinking, my stylistic choices, and my idea of what "excellence" is. I actively chose the Netherlands as a place to start building my business, because of the access to an incredible typographic history and the ability to improve myself through the people I meet. The classes, casual conversations, and other opportunities here and in the area are incredible.

When looking to work with a new client, I'm looking to see if they understand their target market and have an imperative to make an impact with good design. That they are not piecemeal thinkers, instead willing to look at a whole issue from a variety of angles.In partners, I expect good communication and a process that allows for input and refinement.

I'm currently a partner at The Canadian Design Resource, the only cultural-critical Canadian design magazine. Our goal is to challenge and shape Canada's design dialogue.

Meeting other great designers.

The motivations change depending on my mood, but the core themes are:

1) To solve or fix a problem that hasn't been handled well
2) To craft something new (and relevant)
3) To connect a client's ideals to a group of people that wants them around.

I started design because I liked playing around in Photoshop. And midway through I really got into the ethics of design - around what problems design can solve, about things that are ugly, broken, confusing and difficult to understand. Those still make me exceedingly angry, but now I focus more on the expressive side of design.

100% by choice, though I don't think it comes naturally to me.

I tend to design a lot of branding and brand systems. I would love to work more intimately with editorial and book design, where the typographic challenges are different. I'd also like to work more with arts and culture projects.

I think it's a stretch to call me a legend!

Work diligently, challenge every assumption about your work, and surround yourself with people who will push you along and lift you up.

I can only hope it's tenacity; the desire to just keep getting better.

Have I seen it on Dribbble? Is it an actual concept, or is someone just copying some trend they saw? Is that a plausible concept or strategy? Does the design meet the strategy that's been proposed? It's always surprising for me to see designers promise a concept, or talk about it, but then to not see it materialise in the work.

Good design creates not just uniqueness for the individual client, or project, but advances a cultural dialogue in what style is and can be. It can innovate, help solve problems, or define the soft power of a nation.

Increasingly, a unique point of view is the only thing that will help you stand out. But I'm sure you already know that.

I would love to do a book or two on some of the Canadian designers that have been lost to time, like JEH Harvey or Arnaud Maggs.

But actually I would take that time to develop my own art.

I want to do some more graphic installations and supergraphics - but more as art pieces.

In reality, my dream project would be something like a 2 year exploration to develop a stronger personal philosophy in design. something like a master's.

Writing. I think that a designer that can't see the difference between "approachable" and "easy to understand" is a huge problem. Words are abstract concepts, they can more finitely define the tone of a project than colours and images. The words that define the project/idea must be right - otherwise the design won't be right.

The usual suspects in the Swiss schools.

MadeThought's work for Tom Dixon is always a standout for me. I am always seeking to be more like them - and ask how I can more confidently and succinctly capture an idea.

I have to believe the best work is ahead of me.

I tend to be a bit of a scorched earth designer; I pick everything apart and get as much peer review as I can stomach. I'm not sure I'd recommend it, but I'll keep doing it.

I'd be a therapist.

Insight, emotion, and diligent research put together.

A lot of my friends from around the world - especially from Canada - who have kept in touch while I've moved from place to place to place; a lot of them artists and writers themselves.

One is my very first mentor - Wendy - who also taught me photoshop when I was a teenager!

General dissatisfaction: by the time I've finished a project my standards have changed. Sometimes I'm happy with something but I get a side-eye from another designer and I'm off again, completely unhappy. And I'm willing to rethink every aspect of my approach to get it better the next time.

Design in Canada isn't well supported, and because of that it's actually very weak for such a developed nation. It receives no government support and withers on the vine. This has been my biggest struggle, because despite my best efforts, I've had to play catch-up in a global design scene where the craft and thinking is much more advanced.

I really admire designers who put forward more process work, which I always say I want to do and then don't.

I would say be clear about your design: showcase it well, don't hide the details with blurs and angles, and take care with documenting.

I'm currently working with a few people on a missing piece of Canadian design history, and a few partnerships related to cultural history in Canada.

Despite living in Amsterdam, I really want to take what I'm learning in Europe and bring it back to Canada, and to shape dialogues around what it means to design - and what Canadians naturally and culturally have - that can help them become an iconic design culture like the UK, Scandinavia or Japan.

Expect me to tell you, 'no.' A million other designers will tell you yes, but I will work hard, do a lot of research, and I might have to take your client's side.

Design can clarify and add accessible beauty to the everyday. It can challenge systems that don't work or are assumed to work.

I'm starting a bit of work on a few cultural projects that are different for me. And a solo exhibition.

Ian Bennett's brand, although imperfect, was a breakthrough moment for me in chasing the purity of one idea.

Graphic designers really need to emotionally mature, step out of the Dribbble and Likes vortex, and start grappling with ethically how they impact things - from dark UI patterns, to creating waste, to gentrifying and collonising visual landscapes.

I used to be very involved in this discussion (during my time at IDEO) but I have stepped out of it. I worry for its future because of its relationship to advertising, and graphic design's inability to grapple with the ethical ramifications of being just another advertising entity. (Graphic Design culturally always wants to distance itself from advertising, but they are deeply interlinked).

What I hope the future of design is - is a building of the ethical backbone of the graphic design community. Because now it seems that the brains are leaving the room, and I worry we only have "pixel perfect ninjas".

Beyond that, graphic design must grapple with its global gentrification strategies, such as premiumisation and the legacy of Swiss Design. It's so boring and such a pity to see brands in Singapore look the same as Brooklyn; and to have a grid be the "right" way to design a page.

It really depends on the client and the complexity.

Often there is a heavy research phase, that involves interviews with a variety of people, a look at cultural trends and a bit of prediction work, and then into moodboards and overall design vision.

It's OK to hang a question mark on something you thought was answered.

Does it matter?

A good tool, an opportunity to let a random thing happen.

The usual suspects: adobe etc.

It does depend on the design, but colour for me is always an emotional connection.

Damn, wish I had thought of that.

I don't know yet. I haven't met them. Co-design is great and I'm always happy to collaborate. But I think my best design partner would be someone outside of design, like a philosopher.

Oddly, similar to 39 - an old friend of mine is a philosopher and quaker, and his thinking has seeped into my thoughts on design, making, and ethics.

I took a summer class in Basel in 2014, and that also started a radical shift in my approach to design.

A lot of readings in University from various people (Picon, Kant, Certeau) have all had a lot of impact. I try to emerge myself in complex literature as much as I can stomach, and that thinking effects my design.

Again - not really a master!
But a lot of questioning, a lot of reaching out to designers better than I am, trying to get feedback. And then - just making a lot.

I think it would be pretty interesting to get Alfred Loos wound up over a beer.

Hahaha this is a bit of an egotistical question.

Being a famous designer is like being a famous dentist.

I have a soft spot for stormy blues.

We all have that one time we design something that looks like something else.

It really varies. Sometimes there is no great, sometimes it is a task of grim devotion, sometimes it is finding love in something. Sometimes it's letting go and getting it done.

I'm not sure it's obvious now that I will be!

I'm not even sure of what I'll wear tomorrow, let alone that far in the future.

As a solo designer, I work with a wide range of both studios and companies. More commonly, I work with clients directly who are looking to rebrand or assert themselves in a competitive market. For me, this involves a heavy research component as well as writing, where the spirit of the times is linked to who the brand is becoming. This often is a very rich and rewarding experience, that leads to new territories that a brand can develop in. On the more practical side, the focus is on branding, strategy, and starting brands off on the right foot: from the first package design to the first website.

Insight, emotion, and diligent research put together.

In the recent past I've done plenty of work with beer, liquors, foods and spirits, cosmetics. This year, I am also focusing on other competitive industries, such as fashion, architecture firms, and cultural initiatives.

I think that changes every week, depending on the need. Design is a tool, so what tool fits the situation perfectly?

I think it was a website!

I can't say that I have one. I am more interested in the crossing of these things (material / platform / technology), and the edges where they have to define themselves.

Very painfully, probably around 21:30. I am not a morning person.

I've never been confident enough to make something look cool. It must have a reason behind it, and my strength is finding a complexity in culture and linking it to the brand. I'm looking for resonance.

Candidly - I agonise. I want to exceed my own skills every time, to develop something new and relevant; something that no one else would dare to claim. Sometimes I try to feel good about it, but this idea design being "fun" eludes me. This is hard-wrought love, like kneading a very stiff dough.

Always a bit mixed, depending on the project. Either odd that it's not part of my life anymore, or excited to get it all photographed and properly documented. ;)

For me, its strategy and uniqueness. Design is so accessible and so consumable, and so much of it is smoke and mirrors and the illusion of success. So, I look at the fit between the strategy and the executed design, and go from there.

Have I seen it on Dribbble? Is it an actual concept, or is someone just copying some trend they saw? Is that a plausible concept or strategy? Does the design meet the strategy that's been proposed? It's always surprising for me to see designers promise a concept, or talk about it, but then to not see it materialise in the work.

My challenge to designers is that I'm not sure - broadly - graphic designers are smart enough to handle the responsibilities design has been given. Is it even ethical to be a "maker" of things, given how much garbage there is in the world?

I used to be very involved in this discussion (during my time at IDEO) but I have stepped out of it. I worry for its future because of its relationship to advertising, and graphic design's inability to grapple with the ethical ramifications of being just another advertising entity. (Graphic Design culturally always wants to distance itself from advertising, but they are deeply interlinked). What I hope the future of design is - is a building of the ethical backbone of the graphic design community. Because now it seems that the brains are leaving the room, and I worry we only have "pixel perfect ninjas".Beyond that, graphic design must grapple with its global gentrification strategies, such as premiumisation and the legacy of Swiss Design. It's so boring and such a pity to see brands in Singapore look the same as Brooklyn; and to have a grid be the "right" way to design a page.

It was in Digitas LBI, Shoreditch in 2016. I would like to have another show early next year or late this year (2018), but I'm unsure right now what direction it will take.

In my broader design practice, I I try to disconnect as much as possible now from the Design Hivemind of Dribbble, Behance, etc. Instead I try to do more reading. But in day to day practice, I tend to hit up the usual blogs and online resources (pinterest etc), when I have to express something to a client or set a certain mood. When I'm really in trouble, I visit a gallery or spend time with Hoffmann's "Graphic Design Manual."

In development. I originally believed that a good designer should have a lot of flexibility in approach, to be able to handle a range of accounts and styles. Now I'm starting to care less, and focus on parts of the process that matter to me: deep research, a focus on concept and uniqueness, and then tenacity in the craftsmanship to constantly improve the concept.

I currently live in Amsterdam, and prior to that lived in London, Munich and Toronto. And I have to say absolutely. I've actively sought to live in places with strong design traditions - and I can see the fingerprints of each of these cities on my thinking, my stylistic choices, and my idea of what "excellence" is. I actively chose the Netherlands as a place to start building my business, because of the access to an incredible typographic history and the ability to improve myself through the people I meet. The classes, casual conversations, and other opportunities here and in the area are incredible.

I do my best to listen. I believe that design is a fraught process, and a good designer is a mediator and often times a therapist. But maybe you should ask them - they might tell you I'm a right jerk.

This is such a hard question, because so many designers are different, and have different skills and capabilities. A designer who can handle an open-ended brief might suffer at making 90 icons in a set, and a designer who makes amazing letterforms might crumble when getting a strategy briefing.So, I would say the hardest thing to be would assess what type of designer you are working with, and if they are a good match for the job - and that's not just matching work in the sector or seeing something you like. More look at the soft skills, their ability to question something. Not just challenge or push back - but question.

Often there is a heavy research phase, that involves interviews with a variety of people, a look at cultural trends and a bit of prediction work, and then into moodboards and overall design vision.

I have been living out of a suitcase for a while, so everything is fairly bare bones right now. ;)

Ideally it starts at 10:00 with a bit of exercise and going to the gym (or just a walk to a cafe), and by 11:00 then into design work and replying to emails. I try to do the creative heavy lifting from 11:00 to about 17:00. Usually the evening is filled with calls, but I'll stop work around 24:00 - and usually with administrative tasks or RFPs. If I have energy left i may set up a shoot or move into personal work until 2:00.

Don't get stuck to one location or place if it doesn't suit you. And if you haven't moved around - on an exchange, for an internship, etc - then you don't know if it suits you. Take as many new perspectives into your practice as possible.

Pros - designers are some of the few people who can see the fruits of their labour, for real, in the world.Cons - It's a very competitive industry, and I think the hours can get pretty long. Burn out is real.

It's OK to hang a question mark on something you thought was answered.

Self-reflection and communication.

It's always a struggle, I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask. I'm still learning this skill.

Depends on a lot of variables!

A range - from companies directly to agencies. A lot of small businesses.

Branding and packaging, but I'd love to do a bit more editorial and print.

I'm looking to work more with arts and cultures clients, and split my time more evenly between personal development and my art practice.

100% solo, but lately I've started to art direct others.

Yes, I've got a great bespoke suit company and a men's skincare company that I'm helping right now. i'm very excited to see them take off!

http://joelderksen.com - my site!