Interview with Martin Zouhar
Martin Zouhar worked for international clients (Nestlé, Heinz, Procter & Gamble, Molson Coors, Ahold, etc.) in various agencies in Prague, Bucharest and Moscow.
Designer Interview
2 April 2021
I spent my early childhood in communist Czechoslovakia, but even then I got from my mom a can of Coca-Cola... I was wondering why we don't have something so amazing here. Fortunately, before I finished elementary school, a Velvet Revolution came, and at the age of 14 I began studying graphic design at a private high school equipped with Apple computers. I also studied design at universities in the Czech Republic and Germany, and a stay in the USA was a great experience (student program Work & Travel). I think that thanks to my childhood, I look at design more deeply and it is definitely not just a matter of consumption for me.
I am a freelance for a relatively short time and I am just starting to build my name. So far I work from home.
From my point of view, design does not serve primarily to promotion and consumption. Design creates the environment in which we live. Of course, it should be attractive, but the joy of simplicity, functionality and honesty is important.
Because I like to do nice things and I've always been attracted to packaging, I prefer to make alcohol brands. There is really a lot of opportunities to enjoy the work - premium look and feel, fonts, detailed crafting, materials, printing effects, naming, shape of the bottle and cap, gift boxes, key visuals, ... Importantly, alcohol design is not so subordinate to the competitive environment of fast-moving goods. Although I also do such work.
The first was a leaflet for a jalousie manufacturer that I made at the age of 19. Nothing special, especially when I compare it with my first packaging, which appeared in all stores in the Czech Republic. It was a pack of crunchy corn sticks called Bersi. The funny thing is that this design is unchanged in stores to this day. Many of my packaging designs for large brands are already redesigned, but my first work is still in stores.