Creative Figures

Rebeka Arce on growing up in a steel town, sharing doubt as a creative director at Collins, and the "aesthetics of fear" in design."I feel like LLMs are built to please us, not to contradict us. And I think contradiction is a big part of a creative process."Rebeka Arce grew up in Barakaldo, near Bilbao, a town shaped by the steel industry. Her mother wanted her to become a doctor and her father suggested topography, so she studied that first, before committing to design. She went on to live and work in Berlin and Madrid, where she started her freelance practice, and moved to New York to join Collins as a creative director. She now works independently.She explains why she separates the creative act, the design practice and the design industry, why she doesn't want to call it AI, and how fear of being too different or not being enough is leading decisions in the industry. She also talks about cultivating curiosity outside the laptop, choosing to share her doubts with her team at Collins, and what her students taught her about being a learner.Timestamps00:00 Opening01:35 A life in constant flux03:03 Growing up in a steel town05:28 A doctor or a topographer07:36 Choosing design10:09 Working-class values and resilience13:57 Berlin, Bilbao and Madrid17:49 Moving to New York19:35 Diversity and being unfinished23:10 How the design world has changed23:56 The creative act, the practice and the industry26:22 Why she doesn't call it AI27:52 The aesthetics of fear31:42 Teaching and curiosity34:04 Where ideas come from35:08 Contradiction and working in a team37:35 Showing doubt as a creative director39:54 "The creative practice is a violent act"42:00 A big team or working alone44:20 Choosing her projects46:32 Coming back to Spain48:03 What she learned from her studentsRebeka Arce Website: https://byarce.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebekaarceLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekaarce/Behance: https://www.behance.net/rebekaarceCreative Figures Website: https://creativefigures.fmYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CreativeFiguresFMInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativefigures.fm/Hosted by Alen Kapetanovic.© Alen Kapetanovic. Madrid, Spain. All rights reserved. This work may not be used to train AI or for automated data mining purposes, including under Article 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790.

Designer Erik Herrström on why starting a project on Pinterest leads every designer to the same work, and the research his studio uses instead."If you start your project by going to those sites, you are gonna end up designing what all the other designers in the world are doing right now because it's fed to you by algorithms."In this bonus from his Creative Figures conversation, Erik answers what young designers should use instead of mood boards built on Pinterest, Savee, Are.na and other inspiration sites. Something can feel fresh on the morning you start, he explains, but most other designers are seeing the same thing at the same time. His studio starts with research instead: Reddit and YouTube to see how an audience talks and communicates, and sometimes Google Street View to understand a local area. That, he says, is often where the magic happens, and it makes more sense to clients than something that only looks shiny.Timestamps 00:00 Opening 00:13 What to use instead of mood boards 00:29 How algorithms make us design the sameIf you liked this episode, listen to the full conversation with Erik Herrström on Creative Figures.Erik HerrströmSTUDIO HERRSTRÖM: https://www.studioherrstrom.com/The Echo: https://the-echo-book.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herrstrom/Studio Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studioherrstrom/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikherrstrom/Studio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/studio-herrstrom/Creative FiguresWebsite https://creativefigures.fm YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CreativeFiguresFMInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativefigures.fm/Hosted by Alen Kapetanovic.© Alen Kapetanovic. Madrid, Spain. All rights reserved. This work may not be used to train AI or for automated data mining purposes, including under Article 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790.

llustrator and artist MURUGIAH on whether artists should reinvent themselves, and why he follows the fun instead."Don't let what you did last get in the way of what you want to do in the future."In this bonus from his Creative Figures conversation, MURUGIAH answers whether artists should reinvent themselves every few years, the way Madonna does. He describes how he moved from digital work to analogue painting through small adjustments, keeping his motifs and line style while changing the surface. He talks about a 3D animation projection project with a collaborator working in Unreal Engine, and why collaboration means letting go of how your work has looked before. And he explains why he lets his past digital work speak for itself while he focuses on getting good at painting.If you liked this episode, listen to the full conversation with Murugiah on Creative Figures.MURUGIAHWebsite: https://murugiah.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/_murugiah/Creative FiguresWebsite: https://creativefigures.fmYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@CreativeFiguresFMInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativefigures.fm/Hosted by Alen Kapetanovic.© Alen Kapetanovic. Madrid, Spain. All rights reserved. This work may not be used to train AI or for automated data mining purposes, including under Article 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790.

Illustrator Nick Liefhebber on paper cuts, woodcut printmaking, going independent one day at a time, and why limitations shape his work."When you just start making things you like, it doesn't feel like work."Nick Liefhebber is an illustrator, designer and printmaker based in the Netherlands. He started as a graphic designer, and his turning point came when he decided to make work he didn't have to explain, just for himself. He left his job gradually, from five days a week to four, then three, before going independent.He explains why almost all of his work starts with physical materials such as cut paper, how woodcut and linocut are pushing his colourful work towards black and white, and why he blocks time for personal work that later shapes his client work. He also talks about social media feeling more like work, why he compares the future of illustration to an artisanal bakery, and what he would tell his ten-year-old self: trust yourself.TimestampsIf you liked this episode, listen to Murugiah on Creative Figures.Nick Liefhebber Website: http://www.liefhebber.biz/Shop: https://liefhebber.bigcartel.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nick_liefhebber/Behance: https://www.behance.net/Liefhebber/Creative Figures 🔗 https://creativefigures.fmYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@CreativeFiguresFMInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativefigures.fm/Hosted by Alen Kapetanovic.© Alen Kapetanovic. Madrid, Spain. All rights reserved. This work may not be used to train AI or for automated data mining purposes, including under Article 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790.

Designer Erik Herrström on his book The Echo, why his studio never shows clients a mood board, and designing identities for Whitney Houston and Elvis Presley."We never show mood boards to our clients, ever."Erik Herrström grew up in a small village in the south of Sweden and built his first website at twelve. He interned at R/GA in New York on the redesign of Nike.com, later joined the team of a designer he had idolised as a teenager, and spent years at Spotify, where he worked on Spotify Wrapped. Six years ago he moved to Vienna, where he now runs STUDIO HERRSTRÖM.He talks about the David Bowie exhibition his team built in a SoHo subway station, creating identities with the estates of Whitney Houston and Elvis Presley, and why mood boards keep work measured against other people's references. He explains why he wrote The Echo, how beta readers changed its whole structure, and why he self-published it. He also shares his view on AI and brand design, and his advice for young designers: stay curious, avoid shortcuts, and ask to shadow someone experienced.Erik HerrströmSTUDIO HERRSTRÖM: https://www.studioherrstrom.com/The Echo: https://the-echo-book.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herrstrom/Studio Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studioherrstrom/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikherrstrom/Studio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/studio-herrstrom/Creative Figures 🔗 https://creativefigures.fmYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CreativeFiguresFMInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativefigures.fm/Hosted by Alen Kapetanovic.© Alen Kapetanovic. Madrid, Spain. All rights reserved. This work may not be used to train AI or for automated data mining purposes, including under Article 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790.