We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Impactplan Art Productions ("IAP").
Our team is composed by fantastic people, including designers, marketers, artists, curious, inventors, dreamers ... We all believe that creativity can change the world and we work focused on the promotion and development of public spaces, businesses and events, creating impact using beautiful and "instagramable" art installations that have a real impact on people's places and lives! Our star project is the “Umbrella Sky” which has spread all over the world due to its huge success in a location called “Águeda”, it has been a case study because it really changed the reality of the city by creating tourism, business and improving the daily lives of the local population, encouraging a sense of belonging. It has also inspired other artists to create this type of art in the cities, which is incredible and is what we argue that “art is for everyone” must be easy and accessible. Coloring the gray landscape of cities is always the starting point. In the process we use vibrant colors and unusual objects in unreasonable places to create an impact and provoke immediate feelings and reactions, after all coloring life is the company's motto!
Impactplan Art Productions Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Impactplan Art Productions.
Impactplan Art Productions Design - Golden Dot Invasion Christmas Decoration
Designer Interview of Impactplan Art Productions:
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?
IAP : My background is Marketing that's why I always try to apply art improving cities and businesses results. I never thought I would be working in this area, but I really love what I do!
DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
IAP : impactplan is a creative agency located in Portugal, working worldwide. Our team is composed by amazing people between designers, marketeers, creatives, thinkers, dreamers...We create instagrammable art installations to have real impact on businesses and in peoples lives!
DI: What is "design" for you?
IAP : For me design is about beauty and simplicity that make people fell something and improve peoples live's even if just for a moment
DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
IAP : I prefer the more colorful art installations because we can watch the effect they have on most of the people, it makes them smile or feel happier
DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
IAP : The Umbrella Sky Project because of its simplicity and utility, creating beautiful scenarios wile providing shade and protection
DI: When do you feel the most creative?
IAP : you never now when creativity can happen so I'm always prepared to write down ideas or take pictures of inspiring things
DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
IAP : if the installations will produce a good picture easy to capture
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
IAP : energy and enthusiasm
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
IAP : Happy and proud of my team's work
DI: What makes a design successful?
IAP : the impact it has on people and surroundings
DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
IAP : How do I fell when interacting with the design
DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
IAP : making the world a better place even with small acts
DI: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
IAP : The future and the challenge is being eco friendly in everything we do
DI: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
IAP : Last exhibition was in a shopping mall in Bordeaux, we have several new exhibitions schedule for this Christmas in Portugal, France, England, EUA
DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
IAP : a lot of research, trying new things and always be thinking in the problems even when out of the office ..to be creative we have to live and love what we do 100% because it never shuts down we can't program us to be creative just between working hours
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?
IAP : Me and my team work on visual art installations, based on color repetitions and miss placing objects to create impact. We search for the perfect photos to share on social media and that is noticeable on all our designs
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?
IAP : Portugal, because we are located in Europe we can travel fast an easy to different countries that are so different and were its easy to be inspired that is a enormous pro. The cons are related to how people in Portugal react to art work I think most of the population doesn't value art has in for example in France or England, specially different forms of art
DI: How do you work with companies?
IAP : our company found a way to apply art to business, so most of our costumers will look for us to use our work to attract people to local stores, or to bring life to a forgotten part of a city
DI: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
IAP : the best designers I think are the ones who listen to clients needs and improve their designs by adding they inputs without compromising the results of the work that is being done
DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?
IAP : I brainstorm and research with the team and altho sometimes its really difficult to come up with solutions, we try a lot of things that don't work until we find it.
DI: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
IAP : balcony swings, lego art of Marylin Monroe, monkey table chandelier, sculpture called Cactus man its a vase with a men with cactus air from a local artist, an enclosed terrarium from a French artist
DI: Can you describe a day in your life?
IAP : I wake up at 7:30 and rush to be at work at 8:30, have lunch at work or at home and work until 17:30 / 18H / 20h depends on the enthusiasm and need, sometimes I work out, but I would arrive home between 20h/21h eat dinner, read a book, search and search for random things on Pinterest or YouTube tutorials on how to make random things and go to sleep around 1:00
DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
IAP : keep it simple, don't follow the trends, listen more than you talk, focus on good, try, fail, try again, and again, never give up, things only happen for hard workers ...
DI: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
IAP : The positives is being able to have impact on places or peoples lives with what we do (I personally don't lose the opportunity to do so) and the negative would be that we never shut down from work we are always searching, observing or studying sometimes it can be overwhelming
DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?
IAP : simplicity, design for others not for yourself
DI: What skills are most important for a designer?
IAP : never stop listening, studying, be aware of what surrounds you
DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
IAP : pinterest, instagram, google, books, samples of different materials, talking to different people not necessarily designers...
DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
IAP : I love what I do, so when I'm researching or writing down ideas at home it feels natural, because I'm doing what I like. Its a 24/7 job to create you have to have your mind on what you are doing all the time, because ideias don't come just when we want them too, we have to keep alert
DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
IAP : depends on the project and the clients needs, but I think we work really fast and can build projects from the design to the execution in 1 month, but we have projects that are developed in years
DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
IAP : what inspired you?
DI: What was your most important job experience?
IAP : all my jobs made me how I am today, since working in coffee shops, stores, with fashion, events. I had a lot of different occupations before making my company successful and working full time in my projects
DI: Who are some of your clients?
IAP : Most are cities and malls, Promenade Sainte Catherine, Ritz Carlton Hotel, Carp, City of Coral Gables, city of Laon, city of Águeda...
DI: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
IAP : Outdoor Art installations, because they make art look easy and more accessible to everyone
DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
IAP : don't make big planes we go with the flow trying to innovate but always aware of what is happening around us
DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
IAP : as a team always try to use the best skills of everyone in the team
DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
IAP : we are experimenting a lot with recycled materials and creating a re-use system in the company so things can be used and transformed over and over again
DI: How can people contact you?
IAP : I'm always available trough Facebook, instagram, LinkedIn , e-mail, WhatsApp ... 24h/7 :)