We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Krähenbühl Yves ("KY").

Graphic Designer from Switzerland. Focused and experienced in visual design of data and informations in all forms. This with the goal to make information more accessible, easier and faster to understand. Further constantly wrapping my head around all forms of print-, screen-, editorialdesign. Basically all forms of visual design. But never too serious. Too serious is boring. And 400 characters are quite long for a description like that.

Krähenbühl Yves Designs

We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Krähenbühl Yves.

Designer Interview of Krähenbühl Yves:

DI: 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?

KY : I could begin with the cliché that I always drew and crafted already back in primary school, but who didn't?In the end, let's say more crafting, producing than specifically designing, is the only thing that could hold my interest throughout growing up.One particular reason was when I realized, biology and chemistry is extremely interesting, still. But I'm just, let's say, not that profound in it. Thus I reflected and decided, why not doing what I like instead?

DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?

KY : Rather about me than about studios, agencies or working places. I don't have one on my own. That's why the place of work isn't the thing I'm willing to tell hourly long stories.

DI: What is "design" for you?

KY : Cheaply quoted: Form follows function. Design isn't first about looking good. It's about fulfilling a purpose. But the aesthetics are always one aspect of its purpose.

DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?

KY : Graphics, even more specific, data. I can motivate me with the fact, that someone, somewhere learnt something when they saw a piece of visualized data. If it's true or not is sometimes difficult to tell. Still, I like this aspect that you can actually gain knowledge out of it.

DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?

KY : I don't have one specific, I've multiple designs I really like, from graphics, over films, clothes, furniture towards architecture. And from time to time, they slightly drift in one or another direction. I couldn't even say if it has to be reduced to the max or the opposite that it's extremely opulent. I could write a book about this phenomena, but believe me, nobody would want to read that piece.

DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?

KY : Would have surely been some piece of advertisement. Wasn't really a big thing, one of a thousand.

DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?

KY : In terms of graphics still paper, paper in all sorts of colors, sizes and structures.

DI: When do you feel the most creative?

KY : Mostly, when I can get some sort of isolation, otherwise I get too distracted from what's happening all around me.

DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?

KY : First function, then the aesthetic formulation of its function.Or gibberish, sometimes just gibberish.

DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?

KY : All of them! Hopefully not in the order of the Dramatic Structure.

DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?

KY : The urge to celebrate the relief with a beer. Overall happiness prevails, but sometimes, it's also a big relief.

DI: What makes a design successful?

KY : When it makes something better than it was before. Not just looking better, or cheaper, or different, but when it's really improving something.

DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?

KY : I see, there'll be some repetitions in my answer. But hey, some dogmatic stuff isn't always bad, isn't it?Back on track. Design that was just made to look good won't win my heart. Context, function and how it's achieved is what counts for me.

DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?

KY : The utopia is that we could change something a make the world a better place. I think this is getting done. In tiny itsybity steps, but it's actually happening.

DI: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?

KY : Producing gets easier, access to knowledge gets further distributed and is also easier to access. So the field overall is growing at least as it seems to me. And that's a good thing.

DI: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?

KY : Haven't had a solo exhibition yet. The last one where I could show some of my work was in Lucerne, Switzerland. A small exhibition organized from students of the school I studied, for students and alumni of this particular school.

DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?

KY : Most of it from the web. Stuff that comes across my cursor. Nothing that I searched for, but something that pops up and gathers my interest. This also happens throughout everyday life, while commuting, working, eating, but less often.Overall, most inspiration comes from spontaneous appearances.

DI: 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?

KY : I really would have to ask other people, because apparently it's getting recognized differently than I think. I would describe it as diverse, but always bold and somehow still coherent. Well, let's skip that question.

DI: 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?

KY : Switzerland. Pro as a graphic designer: Swiss Style. Still a thing, won't die out I think. Con, design is still a niche, most of the country still looks a bit, I don't, let's say it exists. But it's coming more and more that also everyday goods are re-thought.

DI: How do you work with companies?

KY : For my work I don't have to cooperate with a lot of companies. But when I do, I hope it's pleasant. Stupid answer, sorry for that. But on one I've a joker, don't I?

DI: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?

KY : I think it would need more time than what the have to make a decision. What I encountered is, you can't judge someone just after one talk and an hour showing their work. You would need to see them in action to be able to make a profound decision.

DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?

KY : I try to break it harshly down, otherwise I get lost in telling. First, input. From clients, myself, where ever. Second, research. Thirdly, start with sketching, experimenting, exploring the possibilities. The last two points always play together until the design is finished then.

DI: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?

KY : USM single desk with an extensible tray. Very 90ies I know, but extremely practical. Electric tooth brush. Sounds stupid, but saves ton of time and gives a lot better results. Dyson wireless vacuum cleaner. Same applies, looks not so great, but works perfectly and also saves a lot of time. RAKO plastic boxes. Honest, stable, modular boxes to put in whatever stuff you have. Cost a fortune for just plastic, look, erm, not hideous, let's say not nice. But I don't want to miss them. Various books. Always nice to open one, browse through and let inspire you.

DI: Can you describe a day in your life?

KY : Monday to Friday: get up at something around 8, leave the house at something around 8. Work until something around 6, make some sort of sport or browse through (not always) very intelligent sites in the web. Sleep at something around midnight.Don't blame me for the boring answer, you asked the question.

DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?

KY : Don't always do what you're told. Well, if you're told to make a f4 poster then do an f4 poster and not a 100 paged book. What i want to say, what at least helped me a lot, is to not always listen to every suggestion and comment that's made. Filter what's relevant for you.

DI: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?

KY : In an optimal case: You can realize your thoughts, what's really fulfilling. Apparently, everyone seems to be a designer and knows everything better. That can get quite frustrating and destroys a lot (really a lot) of good stuff.

DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?

KY : Either you make it right, meaning you have the possibilities to make the task as good as possible, or don't make it. There's nothing worse than stuff that's just, meh, somehow-ish done.

DI: What skills are most important for a designer?

KY : Understanding of forms, aesthetics and functions as well as the ability to express yourself about your thoughts.

DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?

KY : Internet, pen and paper, most of the time Adobe Illustrator (depending on the task Indesign, Photoshop).

DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?

KY : Either I'm told to use this amount of time and not more, then I try to plan the project to fit in this time. Maybe not so much research, maybe not 500 different prototypes. Otherwise I work as long until I'm pleased with the result.

DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?

KY : For example Customer Value: Medium took around a thousand hours I would say. From research, getting the data, over design and production.But this is a question I can't answer generally. Every product need a different amount of time. A book needs longer than a flyer, obviously.

DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?

KY : Even after some well spent time getting something to drink, a snack and thinking about the question, I can't come up with an answer to that. Somehow, there are always different questions asked.

DI: What was your most important job experience?

KY : The first normally paid freelance job I could realize. Was a set of playing cards, where everything had to be handled on my own.

DI: Who are some of your clients?

KY : No big numbers which are very popular under designers such as nike, bmw or whatever. Mostly small local enterprises or private persons.

DI: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?

KY : Information design and data visualization. I really like the aspect of simplify a huge table of numbers into something understandable.

DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?

KY : Changing the agency am working right now, finish the obligatory service you have to do in Switzerland and then have a look. I can't plan further than half a year, so, let's see what the future will hold!

DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?

KY : When I freelance, I'm working on my own, very few projects are realized with a team.In the agency, it's half half. It get's interesting when I can combine knowledge from other field, like developing, 3D rendering or motiondesign.

DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?

KY : At the moment nothing bigger. More reproduction of completed work. What I'm on is to track my data from the working computer, to visualize those afterwards. This will lead to a longterm project further on. At the moment, it's just collecting data.

DI: How can people contact you?

KY : The easiest way over one of the presences in the web, over the website www.kif.graphics, behance or insta. Contacting is getting quite hassle free in times of the internet.

DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?

KY : Nah, I don't think it'll add more value, so, no in this case.