COMPUTERARTS.CREATIVEBLOQ.COMCan you tell us about a time when your
collaborator improved a project?
SB: I remember receiving a final from
Victo and thinking that something felt
off. Don’t get me wrong, it was a very
good piece, but knowing what she’s capable
of, I also saw that it wasn’t up to that
standard. So I just told her exactly that, and
we talked about what it was that made it
feel not quite right.
I think I also said that I was happy to
print as is, but if she wanted to go back
and work on it more then I would be able
to fit that into the schedule. And as you
can probably guess, she went back and
made it better!
VN: In this case, SooJin pointed out that
the water felt too solid because I overdid
the lines, and she was right. There’s a
Chinese saying that roughly translates
into, “You cannot know what the mountain
looks like when you are on the mountain.”
I think that this saying applies well to
making art, especially when you’ve been
AUGUST 2019 COLLABORATIONS
staring at a piece and fixating over the
details for hours while on a deadline – the
bigger picture can easily get lost. So it’s
always a good idea to build in buffer time,
which will allow you to pull back and
reexamine the work.
SB: What I’ve learned from Victo and other
artists I admire is that it’s important to
make a project that they are proud of and
to work hard to get there, even if the client
would have been satisfied with much less.
I sometimes find myself being lazy
in the way I approach some projects and
I remind myself how high of a standard
someone like Victo sets up for herself. And
this makes me try harder.“You cannot
know what the
mountain looks
like when you are
on the mountain’’
VICTONGAI
FREELANCEILLUSTRATOR
Victo Ngai is a Los Angeles-based illustrator from
Hong Kong and a Forbes 30 Under 30 (Art and Style)
honoree. Victo’s clients include the New York Times
and the New Yorker, NBC and DreamWorks, Penguin
Random House and Apple.SOOJINBUZELLI
SVPCREATIVEDIRECTORSTRATEGICINSIGHT
SooJin Buzelli has art directed and designed award-
winning publications since 1996. Her design for
PLANSPONSOR magazine has been followed by art
direction of many Strategic Insight products, including
PLANADVISER and Chief Investment Officer.WHAT TO DO
WHEN IT ALL
GOES WRONG- THRIVE ON DEBATE
“Sometimes we find ourselves
debating things or coming
from different angles, but
in a way that makes for
interesting conversation,” says
Superunion’s Katherina Tudball
of her collaboration with The
Poetry of It All’s Tom Sharp. “And
if we really can’t agree, it means
that idea’s not right for our
collaboration,” she adds. - START AGAIN
“When we worked on Fortnum
& Mason’s Piccadilly Biscuits
range, we went quite far down
the line with a route, and
then got to a point where we
all agreed it wasn’t working,”
recalls Design Bridge’s Chloé
Templeman. “After a very frank
conversation, we revisited
some of our early concepts and
started the whole project again.
I’m so glad we did because we
definitely got the best result.” - WALK AWAY
“If a collaboration isn’t working
at all, it’s better to stop it
sooner rather than later,”
says Non-Format’s Kjell
Ekhorn. “As long as it’s done
in a professional manner –
not leaving in the middle of a
project, for example – then I
can’t see any problem in walking
away from a dysfunctional
collaboration,” he says.
Even the best
collaborations have
their ups and downs.
Here’s how to deal
wi t h d i s a g r e e me n t s
and disastersBuzelli and Ngai’s initial sketch of the leopard was later
worked up for a different commission.