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Fonk for Thoughts: Julian Wade
Julian Wade is 180 Amsterdam's new Brand Designer. What are his Fonk for Thoughts?
 Julian Wade: "Never underestimate the power of the logo." BlogFonk: Who is Julian Wade? Where are you from? Wade: I was born in London some thirty-six years ago, and have so far lived and worked here in The Netherlands for ten of them. Seven where spent studying how to push shapes, words, pictures and colours around on bits of paper in the hope of one day getting a job as a Graphic Designer. Eighteen where spent growing up, and one I'm not really sure what happened. The year ahead though in my new role as Design Director here at 180 will I am sure offer another year of good memories. BlogFonk: You're 180's new brand designer. Do you love your work? Why (not)? Wade: Love is a powerful word and a stronger emotion - a heady mix of feeling and instinct that causes us to do rather than think. Graphic Design is what I do, and I don't think I could ever not do it. So yes I love my work.  BlogFonk: You were behind the design and development of the awarded Nike "White Label" ranges. What is it all about? Wade: In 2001 Nike decided to launch a probe project, which grew and became White Label. The aim was to try and create a new access point for the Brand by providing cutting edge products for early adopters and trend formers. Retail buyers are an incredibly powerful force in the Sports Industry - to some extent they decide which products we can all go in a store and purchase. So by making limited amounts of "special" product ranges that aren't sold in "traditional" Sports retail but in stores such as: Colette in Paris, Selfridges in London, Saks in NYC or Spoiled here in Amsterdam, was an opportunity to try out new things - to really push the envelope with materials, colour, fit, branding, and graphics - to offer consumers an alternative face of Nike. We started off as a small team: a Business manager, a product designer and myself - a rare and special opportunity to try and make something truly new within such a large and iconic brand. The products sold and gained traction, we grew as a team and it became a Global product range within Nike. Three years and 10 deliveries of products later it won "The Sportswear International Fashion Award" for the "Strongest interpretation of Sport style in a Men's collection". BlogFonk: Is there difference in mentality of creatives in the countries you've worked? Wade: This is a tricky one as almost my entire career has been spent in the Design team of a global brand and now here at 180 a truly International agency with global clients. So I don't really feel I have ever worked in a Country. Rather I have been fortunate enough to spend my time within teams of great people from many different backgrounds that just happen to be working together in the same place at the same time. Everyone unique and different; except for one defining characteristic - a deep passion for what they do. BlogFonk: What are the latest important developments you've noticed in advertising? Wade: It's not so much what I have noticed but what I'm waiting for. I guess it's all about telling "stories", messages that somehow get to the heart of an issue and touch consumers, that encourage them to look at things differently, try something new - stories with soul. We've been telling them to each other since the dawn of time, first orally face to face as a means of transmitting ideas to others, then for centuries as the printed word in book form as a way of archiving those thoughts for future generations - then of course came the web. In some ways still a desktop library, not in most cases hugely different to where we've been. In many cases this slow evolution is echoed in other areas - most houses are still built pretty much as they where before the Industrial revolution: bricks, cement, wood. Clothes are still made in the same way as in medieval times. Cloth, needle, thread. Style of course changes over time but the basis remains. Most Industries change dramatically as the result of true innovation, a catalyst - the valve computer led the way to the microchip and in 30 years our world of course has changed totally. I have every hope such a catalyst will help break us one day out of the confines of print, broadcast, web and empower us to go back to the start again, to telling soulful stories one to one and face to face.  BlogFonk: Which project are you most proud of? Wade: Having only been in my role here at 180 for a month it's a little early for me to feel pride yet - So to date it is the work I did at Nike. From 1995 until my move to 180 I was part of Nike's European apparel design team - pretty much every thing sold in Europe the Middle East and Africa is designed by that group, which is located here in The Netherlands. We worked in teams of two - a product designer and a graphic designer, after setting direction together and getting management buyoff on the range they would design the products, my role as Graphic designer being to make it "belong" to Nike via colour, branding, trims, details and graphics - basically Corporate identity and communication on product - making those items relevant to consumer trend and culture while safeguarding and evolving the brand. Though perhaps not an area one may expect to find a Graphic designer working, it was of course a good place to learn about the power of design in business and building a brand, being located right at the heart - making the product. Seeing your product on Athletes, or in the fashion press is of course a kick, but this was never as important for me as seeing it on 'real' people. The feeling as someone passes you in the street wearing your or a colleagues design is deeply rewarding - they of course will never know who you are, but you know that something that started as a sketch became good enough that they swapped their hard earned cash to own and wear. For me so far this is the ultimate compliment and causes a smile each time it happens. If you ask me again in a years time then hopefully the answer of course will be different. BlogFonk: If you'd be given the chance to do something over again, what would that be? Wade: I studied a Masters Degree in Graphic Design at the Royal College of Art in London - large periods of this time where spent in the letterpress workshop. Setting wood and metal type in frames, packing it in, inking and printing. To actually handle old type, feel it and go thru the mechanics of printing was a joy - for me much more liberating than working on screen. One day I would hope for a workshop with a press, trays of type - if it still exists by then, and the time to play and learn once again. BlogFonk: Finally, what is your motto, your "Fonk for Thoughts" (inspiration to be creative)? Wade: "Never underestimate the power of the logo." paraphrased from Mr. Darth Vader esq. |
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posted by BlogFonk: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 [#]