unfun

What's the story of your studio ? It sounds too cheesy to tell people that our studio results from a personal friendship in times before design, so let’s put it like that. We know each other since we were young guns and didn’t know anything about design. The closest we got to design at that time was tagging. Somehow we all ended up doing design abroad, and came back to where we knew each other from to team up. We then somehow blundered into starting our own studio. It all started with artworks and visuals we made for some local techno venues. We also used to have our first studio right inside of a techno club. When we came to the office on monday mornings, there was still a noisy, booming bass-sound from the basement and we could barely reach the entry to the studio while fighting our way through all the people sleeping on the floor. We were definitely well-advised to schedule our client meetings not before late tuesday (because you never knew how long the party would last). Meanwhile we moved out of the club but we are still an overgrown agency. While our team and the collaborators are increasing we want to keep that mindset.

What is the ethic/main style of your work ? Our work is rooted in the value of rather classic design principles and practices, even if we’re pretty much into new technologies. Combining both is pretty much what we are up for. It might sound a bit odd but we would rather work in the past or in the future than in the here and now. If we could broadcast a Super Bowl commercial it would say: unfun, design that makes you sad.

Do you think current graphic designers have to look beyond their domain ? Keep it simple and stupid: yes.

Do you think your work is connected to your locality ? Our studio is based in Nuremberg in Germany. We consider that our studio has a dynamic functioning, our team can work at different scales on demand. Nevertheless our work stays definitely connected to our locality. It is not so much about our clients, but more in how we work within a city less influential than a big metropolis. You certainly don’t get that ‘all eyes on me feeling’ here, it’s not like many people are either interested or even connected to design. We enjoy this state of existing below radar level at our own locality. It helps us to concentrate on what we really want to accomplish. Interview conducted in October 2015 ©ktlg