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Interview with Lana Raizen |
Home > Designer Interviews > Lana Raizen |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Lana Raizen (LR) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Lana Raizen by clicking here.
FS: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
LR: I have always loved drawing and traveling. But when it was time to choose a profession, I started to study at the hotel business and tourism management. After graduating from the Academy and having worked for several years in the field of tourism, I realized that I would not particularly succeed in traveling with this profession, and I don’t have enough time for creative work. Then I decided to become a graphic designer, but office work didn't attract me anymore, so I became a freelancer. So, I was able to both realize my creativity and travel.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
LR: I don’t represent a design studio. I am a freelancer; I find clients for myself and I contact them directly. Although my team has a video editor, he's my spouse. Some projects we work together.
FS: What is "design" for you?
LR: Design is too broad a concept. For me, this is first of all a technically correct, beautiful, unique and easy-to-read layout, since I specialize in print design and multi-page layout.
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
LR: I enjoy most of all the work on catalogs of some products or collections, where I need to think through every detail and its location, select photos or arrange special photo shoots to get the necessary photos for the catalog.
FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
LR: I do not have one favorite design, I put a piece of myself in each project, therefore large projects, on which I have long and painstakingly worked are my favorites. Although perhaps my own project stands out among all, the graphic book about Siberia. I came up with it by myself, and absolutely everything in this book was created by me.
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
LR: My first design, for which I received a monetary reward, was the design of a website for a beauty salon in Novosibirsk. At that time, I was just beginning to learn the scope of design and first decided to try myself in the web category.
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
LR: My favorite tool for the work is the InDesign program by Adobe. I love clarity and orderliness, and it is the program that helps to do everything on the grid, to comply with all the subtleties and in many ways simplifies the work on multi-page publications.
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
LR: Creativity is rushing at the nighttime from me, most often when I try to fall asleep, I have the brightest ideas that I embody in the project the next day. If I need a creative attitude during the day, then I take inspiration from the scenery outside the window or from photographs of nature. Nature shows the most beautiful sights.
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
LR: First of all, I try to create a perceptual structure by which I place all the information. Then I create the design - beautiful elements and a complete design that makes the project unique.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
LR: Concentration. I completely concentrate on the design, sometimes not even noticing what is happening around me. I immerse myself in work with my head, and if nothing distracts me, then I lose track of time working on the project.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
LR: First, emptiness, as if the design takes a piece of me, the feeling that children experience when their favorite toy was taken away. But after it, when I see and hear the positive reactions to my work by people, I feel joy and admiration.
FS: What makes a design successful?
LR: In my field, a well-thought-out design that is not only beautiful, but technically correctly implemented, unique and creative, will be successful. If we talk about catalogs, then just a beautiful catalog will not fulfill its function if it is not convenient for perceiving all the information that is in it. It is important to create it so that it attracts attention and brings meaning to the user.
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
LR: First of all, I evaluate the overall picture, whether it is clear to me. I compare what emotions it causes and what should it cause. Then I consider in more detail the entire technical part of the layout. Although if the emotions are negative, then I don’t even try to look further.
FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
LR: The design is constantly evolving. Every year new trends appear. Although the basis for the design was laid many years ago, we still use developments made at the beginning of the last century, nevertheless, each designer puts in his or her ideas, creates something new, thereby developing the design, setting trends. Design is everywhere now. In each area, there is a huge competition and it is the design that helps to make the company unique, to distinguish it from a huge number of competitors, and together with PR campaigns, it takes the lead in the market. There will be no uniqueness and recognition without design.
FS: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
LR: My past exhibition was in Russia, at my hometown Novosibirsk in February 2019. It was an exhibition of my most striking works, and there was the presentation of my book “Siberia”. The next exhibition, in which my work that took at the A’Design Award 2018-2019 participates, will take place from June 10, 2019 at The Museum of Outstanding Design in Como, Italy.
FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
LR: Most often, I am inspired by nature, natural colors and shapes. I received a huge supply of inspiration after traveling through the US National Parks. I traveled by car throughout the West States from south to north and back, visiting the best natural places such as the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Death Valley, Yellowstone, Olympic and many others. Each place was unique and created not by man, but by nature for many centuries. The received impressions and emotions still inspire me to be creative.
FS: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
LR: I design in different styles, it all depends on the project, its purpose and target audience. I prefer concise design that is not overloaded with graphics and text so that there is a lot of empty space for the design to “breathe”. When there is a lot of complex textual information, I try to use typography, turn the text into an interesting object that you want to consider, and thus the goal is fulfilled - the text is read.
FS: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
LR: Now I live in Russia, in the Siberian region in the city of Novosibirsk. In Russia, a special design and attitude to it. World trends come here with a very long delay of several years. Most people resist to everything new; they are holding onto the way they are already accustomed to; therefore, it is very difficult to implement modern design in Russian projects. Local companies do not give complete freedom of creativity to designers. The project created by the designer changes by companies in such a way that, as a result, there is no trace of the original correct, convenient and beautiful design.
FS: How do you work with companies?
LR: I work with many Russian and foreign companies; many have been my regular clients for more than eight years. As a freelancer, I can work from anywhere in the world with any company.
FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
LR: I offer a high-quality modern and unique design. My distinguishing feature is the high speed of work, while the quality of my work does not suffer. Absolutely all my clients say that they have never met such an operative designer as me.
FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
LR: I have my own work technology, which allows to make a design very quickly and efficiently. Of course, I will not reveal all the secrets of my work, I will only say that it is important for me to catch inspiration and concentration.
FS: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
LR: There are no unique design items in my house. Everything is simple, concise, without excesses and everything is in soothing colors, for me it is important, because I work at home.
FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
LR: The main thing that constant is self-development. Watch the training videos, read books, look at the work of other designers, and those that you like, analyze, try to break them down into small details to understand how the design turned out, what techniques were used, and then try to incorporate these techniques into your designs. Learn the trends, bring your ideas into them.
FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
LR: Of the benefits - it is the realization of my creativity potential. I like to create something new; I like the feeling of how my brain works, trying to think of something that does not exist yet. Of the minuses - design is a matter of taste. Someone likes my design, someone doesn't. Therefore, working with different people often encounter the fact that I have to do a design that will appeal to the client, but I don’t like it myrself.
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
LR: Plasticity, multitasking and creativity. You need to be able to work with different clients, in different styles, sometimes even in those that you have never tried. Often you have to work on several projects at once. To create a unique design is also very important.
FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
LR: I work with the Adobe software package: InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Premiere Pro. Well, the main tool for design is my brain, it decides what we will create, how and in which program.
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
LR: I try to distribute tasks correctly. Sometimes there is an overlay and I need to submit several projects in a short time. Then I have to work at night, sometimes until the morning. Sometimes I want the day to be not 24 hours, but at least 28, so that there is time for hobbies and recreation.
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
LR: It depends on the specific project. One catalog of 64 pages may take 1 day, and with another client 2 months. It all depends on the efficiency of the client, on the availability of the necessary content, for example, there are situations when the client does not have good product photos for the catalog, then a photo session is organized for the product, then it takes time to process the received photos. It all takes a lot of time, and work on the catalog is delayed. If all the content is provided by the client, and I only need to create a design and layout, then depending on the complexity, it may take only one day.
FS: What was your most important job experience?
LR: All the major projects I have worked on are important to me, since each of them gave me invaluable experience, in many of them I learned a lot of new things, overcame some kind of internal barriers.
FS: Who are some of your clients?
LR: In Russia they are large manufacturers of various products, for example, Kalitva - a manufacturer of kitchenware, whose catalog took the A’Design Award 2018-2019. There are also manufacturers of children's playground equipment, media agencies working with global brands such as Denso, KYB, Petronas, Bosal and others. International interior studios, Spanish nets manufacturer, American magazine and many others. I have dozens of loyal clients from all over the world.
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
LR: Most of all I like to make catalogs and magazines. I like working with grids, having clear borders and at the same time inventing and breaking these borders without creating gross violations in the design. In addition, I work on catalogs of different companies, I learn a lot of new things, for example, I know the technology for creating pans and what kinds of them exist; I know a lot about towbars and how to select them for a particular car, the same applies to wipers, roof racks. Thanks to the creation of catalogs, I know what kind of lifting equipment exists, how fixing tools are created and much more. I get knowledge that I myself would not have sought.
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
LR: Now I am considering moving to another country. In Russia, I do not see my further development, here I have achieved the maximum I aspired to. Therefore, I want to gain experience in another country in which the design is more developed, where there are more opportunities. I hope in the coming years to change my place of residence and continue my development in design.
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
LR: I work alone on projects. Sometimes I work on a video design with my spouse - he is a video editor. I can only rely on him in my work, since I tried to work in a team, but each time other designers broke deadlines. No one could work as fast as I did.
FS: How can people contact you?
LR: You can contact me with the Behance website https://www.behance.net/lanaraizen422d, there is my portfolio and the opportunity to send me a message. In response, I will transfer the communication to e-mail. It is an e-mail that is the most efficient way to communicate with me, since I do not always answer phone calls if I am immersed in working process. And I prefer to keep all questions on projects in correspondence, so that later there will be no misunderstandings or missed moments. You can also find me on social networks as Lana Raizen.
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
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