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fogdpsu · 9 years

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Will Bryant: Exit Interview

If you were lucky enough to have Will Bryant as a professor, you already know about his exuberant personality and vibrant design/illustration work. Piper Hayworth recently interviewed him for Annex Zine, the Origins issue. After the jump, find out more about his path from student to professor, his professional work, family life (including poopy diapers!), and his relocation from Portland to Texas. Thanks, Will, for all of your contributions to the PSUGD community! You will be missed!

Describe your path to what you’re doing now.

Nothing really made sense or clicked until undergrad. But looking back you can see things personality wise, um, that were influential. So I was not one of those kids who was like always drawing. I drew some. Um, in middle school and high school combined I took a total of two art classes. I mean I played sports. That was like, my thing. I loved sports so much.

All sports?

Up until the point where you had to start choosing—didn’t play soccer, the coolest of sports. I mean globally it’s a big sport for everybody. Soccer players always have better fashion sense. Baseball players are terrible. Basketball players are hit or miss—mostly miss. Football players just can’t wear much because the body type is so strange. We’re still talking about sports—I think that from a work ethic standpoint you need to be competitive in any industry and in a healthy sense. The things that I did do is I drew uniforms and shoes and then I had a weird phase of guy profiles with facial hair. They were absolutely terrible.

I feel like all artists go through a phase of drawing the same thing over and over even though it’s terrible.

Oh it was for sure terrible and I still can’t draw people in a satisfying way. Then another influence, not knowing what graphic design was at the time and coming from a small town in east Texas, there wasn’t any source. Not even a screen printing shop. I didn’t even know what screen printing was. There wasn’t gig posters and hardly any shows. One of my influences was music packaging. I remember specifically buying records based on what they looked like. Radiohead was the first weird band I got into. I had older friends who were in the one band in town. They were a good band and um Stanley Donwood was the one who does almost every album cover for Radiohead and that relationship with the band was really interesting for me. Um, cuz a lot of the time someone from the band does the artwork. As a designer that’s kind of inconvenient because it fits so well. But that was the first form of design that was really interesting to me because I couldn’t play instruments really—I tried playing the base and it just didn’t work out. My cool friends who were older than me—I was like I want to be in a band, bands are so cool—uh, but I never could be. But really foundations classes at Mississippi State were interesting—way more interesting than any other classes I was in. Anything involving math or whatever is miserable. But it wasn’t really until I had Kate [Bingaman-Burt]’s class in Mississippi that I was like “What is this? What are you talking about? This stuff exists?” That was intro to graphic design probably. Design 1, something like that. I was going into graphic design but I had no idea what it was. I remember hanging out in this lounge area and i was buds with the office workers. I was sitting there one day and Kate walked by and I was like “Who is this person?” I mean I was in Mississippi and I was starting to dress as weird as I could to differentiate myself from everyone else that’s there, which doesn’t take much. At southern state schools there’s a formula. Guys dress a certain way, and girls dress a certain way. It’s not like here, which is hugely diverse. But anyway, Kate walked in and I was like, “This girl looks like she’s from Iceland or something.” I was like, “You look like you could play in Sigeros.” Everything came back to music for me. There was this other thing high school where my friend and I had a “t-shirt company” where we would basically make bootleg band shirts ‘cause we couldn’t go to shows because they weren’t near us. But we were obsessed with the culture around bands and we’d read about all these things and make things from their album art. We would cut out stencils with an x-acto knife on printer paper, pin that to a t-shirt with cardboard underneath and use fabric blow pens. And then we would get behind on orders, and by behind I mean by like five, and we’d like hyperventilate. Googling how to set up screen printing didn’t even cross our mines in 2003. I don’t even think there would have been any tutorials at that point. The internet is young. All those things came together in Mississippi. Similar to this program, Kate was bringing people in for lectures and things there. Early on, Mike Perry came shortly after he had left Urban Outfitters. He’d been working with Jim Datz and Damien Correll and all these amazing people working in this corporate yet independent feeling place. I was like, “You can do this for a living? You’re making all these things with your hands and they have so much personality.” The fact that your hands could be present in these things and they could feel finished was amazing to me. And then through Kate’s classes and being isolated in Mississippi with the internet—Twitter started when I was in school which was like a weird and complicated thing. Really having total creative freedom in a place that hadn’t had a lot going on for design was weird. We would an hour on a field trip for a print production class to Birmingham with Kate to go to something like a paper trade show of all things.

When was the moment you realized you wanted a career being a designer/illustrator?

Orientation in August 2004, in the Mississippi State business building. I was like, “I’ll major in business. That sounds smart and I’ll minor in graphic design.” That isn’t even something you could do. The building was super spacious and well air conditioned. They gave me these nice pencils and folders and stuff. Super dialed, and nice. Then they told me I’d have to take like four or five math classes and I was like, “Nah, not gonna work out at all.” I’m terrible at math. I had one year in middle school where math just didn’t click. My dad is a genius in math. he’s a bio chemist. Anyway, on the tour, we go to this building that’s still the art department today—what was supposed to be a temporary housing unit back in the 30’s-40’s-50’s, somewhere in there. This building was just totally dilapidated—worse than here—as soon as I walked in the door I was like “This place is awesome,” and I met Jamie the head of the graphic department in passing. She was super nice. Then we met with the dean and I was indifferent about the issue, but I just had this feeling. There was this energy.“This is what freedom feels like.” I loved every moment in that building. I had just finished a treadless project in on of Kate’s classes when Mike Perry had come and we got to sign up for one-on-one sessions with him. So I went in there with my whole portfolio full of terrible pen tooled things, no emotion, no feel for things. But I’d done this one shirt that was all drawn that was just kind of bizarre. It said “Lo-Fi vs. Yummy Pie” and it was like a tape deck thing with lightning bolts. Mike was like, “You should do more of this.” Not that that was the moment I realized I wanted to be a designer, but it was definitely a defining moment.

Considering this issue of Annex is centered around origins, I’d love to hear about your influences growing up. Was creativity a part of your childhood?

Music and sports definitely. I watched a lot of Pee Wee’s Playhouse as a kid. In watching it again in my undergrad and after that even, I was like, “Mom why would you let me watch this? This is so weird and dark and scary.” Like Tim Burton when he was good. It might happen to Wes Anderson too, which kills me. Influences that still affect me now are sports culture. I use a lot of color palettes from 90’s NBA teams. The Bulls in basketball is something that shows up a lot. An appreciation for nature stems from scouting—I was an Eagle scout so I did a lot of camping trips. That influence is still prevalent in my work. I don’t know why, but there’s a lot of California, LA, Hollywood, Orlando aesthetic and tone going on in my work. I haven’t spent a lot of time in those places, but the laid back chill aspect of the west coast definitely shows up in my work. I fit very well on the west coast. Maybe it’s from being stuck in front of the TV so much as a kid. I kind of realized that in grad school. Grad school made me aware of a lot of things, in a scary black swan kind of way.

What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

The past year and a half, I’ve rolled out of bed, I get my child and change her diaper. That is my role. It’s a mixture of high and low because I’m so excited to see her. She’s usually really happy and excited in the morning and then she has a really terrible diaper. So it’s like “Oh you cute little munchkin!” and then promptly like “Agh, it’s everywhere!”

What type of music do you listen to while working?

There’s a range. There are some days where I need like dancey/peppy music that you’d probably associate with my work, like Talking Heads. I used to be really into dance music in undergrad. Anything Diplo does is really interesting to me. He was born in Florida and raised in Mississippi. Some hip-hop—old school specifically. I’ve been very obsessed with Odyssey as of late, specifically The Good Fight—such a good record. So, so, so good. Then if I have to write emails or there’s reading or comprehension or focus involved, I have a playlist called Focus that’s all ambient music. My friend Berry makes this type of music and is very aware of what’s going on in the genre. There’s a guy here, White Rainbow who has an awesome album or two that I really enjoy listening to when I need to focus. My headphones are on, my flag is up, which communicates to my studio mates that there’s no talkin’ to me. But there are times that I’m in production zone away from the computer and that’s usually Talking Heads.

I’m curious about your path from being a student of Kate Bingaman-Burt’s in another state to being a professor at PSU and a studio mate of her’s here in Portland. Can you talk a little bit about that?

We (Sally and I) both graduated on the same day in December from different colleges. We got married on January 3rd. Portland just wasn’t working out. Neither of us had jobs and we were both thinking about grad school but didn’t know. Between housing and being so far away from family we decided to move to Austin. We lived there for two and a half, almost three years and then I applied and got into graduate school at Portland State in social practice. During that transitional time of being accepted to before it started I was like, “I don’t know if I want to do this. I don’t know what this is really. It sounds interesting.” I didn’t see a lot of work that I liked visually, but when people talked about it and gave it context it was eye opening. I knew I wanted to be in Portland, so we moved and it turned out that there was a spot in studio so I switched to studio. I was like, “I like making stuff, I know that. I want to make tangible things.” So I switched to studio. I think it was my second term that Kate let me teach early. I had a show in 2010 before I moved here and I was like, “We’ve got to get up here.” So we’ve been here for like four and a half years, and now I’m leaving again.” Probably the right decision though. It is, it’s the right decision. It’s the smart decision, long term.

How did working with PSUGD influence your career? (Maybe connections, people noticing work, working with students?!, blah blah)

I think it made me a lot of sharper than I would have been otherwise. Um, usually you just have to use whatever experience you have to change your perspective, to grow your perspective and see things from someone else’s point of view. Seeing things from students’ point of view is huge. Huuuuge. And those different dynamics between students, between teacher and student, figuring out that—each person has a different approach to the classroom, as a professor. And that’s what makes each class interesting I think, is the personalities behind those things. And you know, Kate being my mentor has never been from a point of authority, more a point of encouragement and permission giving and I definitely wanted to do that. I mean for me it’s just like… I feel like I got another school experience. I felt like a part of it rather than, “Oh I’m employed by this institution and go and I teach people things they don’t know.” That’s not the case at all. It is a very collaborative—“I don’t know what I’m doing. You don’t have any clue.” But there are so many possibilities. It was just always exciting—It was stressful and a lot to manage (a class and trying to make a living otherwise.) It’s not about financial compensation. Adjunct teaching—you have to do a lot of it and want to do it, but it’s an incredible experience. I feel bad for other schools ‘cause the people who are involved in PSUGD are really what make it because they all care. And then there’s a huge community that supports it as well, which I think is what makes the community within PSUGD so strong. I mean a lot of the things that are going on now, Kate would have conversations that she wanted to have happen in Mississippi to where there are student groups, upon student groups, upon student groups all with their own hierarchy where they’re like—Kate’s not here right now managing this interview. Those are the things she wanted to happen in Mississippi. There’s a correlation between those who have been really involved in PSUGD and take leadership roles and then go on to do really interesting and successful things here or elsewhere. There are so many examples. The people that I am excited to be around and want to see that were in this program chances are were very had some sort of leadership role and were very involved in this program. They didn’t just like, coast by. It is so rewarding in numerous ways. That makes me really happy.

What advice would you give to a graduating designer just starting out?

Being open and honest and curious is going to get you pretty far in whatever experience it is, even if it’s positive or negative. You gotta be open to doing it, whether it’s that new job, possibly moving. Entertain ideas. You can make an unformed or informed decision, but at least entertaining the idea, being open to those things. And I think that attitude goes with anything. You have a job. You gotta be open, at least at first you gotta give it a shot, ‘cause production work could be boring but you’re going to become so efficient in something in production. Later in your career you’ve built up all these different experiences. Go into everything like… “What can I add to this environment, to this experience?” and taking notes on what you’re going to take away. And your first job is not your last job. When you’re freaking out like, “This is the rest of my life!” No, this is just the first day of the rest of your life.

How did living in Portland impact your creativity and your work?

I feel like the overall attitude of the city aligns with my personality very well. You kinda get worked up about what most people would consider odd things, which makes it interesting. They’ll be like, “Why are you so obsessed with this?” For the most part I’m laid back and nice about things. Everybody is doing a lot of things. There’s never an instance where a creative here is like, “This is the only thing that I do.” All of these places here do such a variety of things. Since I’ve started here, that has always been my approach. I think in undergrad things looked a lot more similar. That is very supportive, seeing those examples of all the different things going on here even though this is a slower paced city than New York or LA. There’s down time here. You can actually have social interactions here. Every Sunday I play basketball with a group of guys from the local creative community here. People from Wieden, Nike, OMFG Co., Instrument, all these places. They’re athletic, fairly competitive, and really nice.

Those are actually some of the qualities in the creative industry that make people good; being competitive and hard working and nice. Those things get you really far.

Totally.

What was one of your favorite projects you were apart of while in Portland?

That’s like asking what my favorite project ever is. The majority of my career happened here. I don’t have a favorite. But most recently I’ve been really enjoying the Nick Jr. stuff.

Have you been doing mostly client work lately, or is there a nice balance of personal passion work and client work? Do you find that doing what you are passionate about finds you clients?

Mostly client. There’s been some… Mostly client work. The balance is skewed, sort of purposefully. Income counts. Personal work can get you plenty of jobs and you are a happier person doing so, but the majority of my bigger projects are client work. It seem like you are able to put your personal aesthetic into your client work though, which may help. The lines are blurred, which I used to hate, but I’m trying to like it now. That’s a good goal, maybe. No one else cares, so I might as well be happy, that’s what it comes down to. Whatever you’re not into about your own work isn’t usually noticed by other people. Or what you’re not into ends up being exactly what people love about your work. That is so true. The client isn’t always going to like your new aesthetic that you’ve been trying out. They’re more likely to go for the style of illustration that you’re known for.

Is there anything specific you’re interested in doing or exploring in the next 5 to 10 years?

I haven’t had a solo show in a while. In the next five years I’d like to show my personal work in a gallery. Kind of as a continuation of my grad school work. I’m still stuck on that. It’s like… It hasn’t made sense to do, so I haven’t made the time. As far as this move to Austin and this new studio, I’m hoping to incorporate more photography in my work. I’ve done a few projects since 2009 but it’s not something I’m able to every day because I don’t have the set up. That’s my excuse anyway. I’m planning on having that set up. I’m also moving in with two photographers. We did a good magazine cover and a book for Chronicle Books that involved that kind of aesthetic and then I moved… I am curious as to the new studio. Now that I have a rep, which is cool, I wonder if I can limit that to more ad based projects for that source of income. I’m interested in a more art direction oriented position in doing more design based work. Executing the design—vector based things—Not my thing, but talking about the ideas. I love figuring out what’s appropriate, that sort of thing.

What are you enthusiastic or excited about currently?

Two days ago I don’t think I could think I could find any enthusiasm about anything. I was in a bad place. Um, but I’m excited about doing a mural for Scout Books. They have this odd stairwell hallway space that is going to be exploding with color. I am finalizing the approach now. I’m very excited about that. Did you see the Design Kids RV? Stylistically it’s stemming from that. Laura was there when that event happened and she was like... “I love this! We should do something.” It’ll be in that vein. There’s going to be some type incorporated. Andy Lose has been doing a lot of rebranding for them and he’s a long time bud. I think he’s taking over my spot in the studio at Ford. So we’re going to work on the type together.

What will you do in Texas once you’re settled in?

I’m moving back to Austin and we won’t really be settled until January. I’ll be in the old studio I was a part of, called Public School. In March I am moving into a new warehouse space with some of my buds from Public School. It’ll be a lot bigger than I’ve been in. I don’t know if it will be called Public School though. It’ll be a lot bigger than what I’ve been in. I mean our studio space at the Ford Building is easily my favorite studio space I’ve been in. The Public School space after I left got a lot better. I am very excited about the new space in Austin though. If I don’t think about what I’m leaving and just think about what I’m going to… And we bought a house. I’m also excited about that. I’m doing all of the adult things right now. So much adult. Ugh. I’m basically relocating, but I’ll be doing basically the same thing I’m doing here. Austin is amazing, I’m just mad about it being hot. And they aren’t where they should be as far as urban planning. They’re doing well for a Texas city, but nothing compares to Portland.

What do you want your work to say or communicate?

From a commercial standpoint, I’d like my work to be exuberant and positive.

How do you think your career will influence Polly?

Whoa… For me personally growing up, there was one guy who was friends with my brother. He was doing a lot of web stuff and flash work. That was the only frame of reference I had. I think it’ll be neat for Polly to see that her dad doesn’t go to work at these set times and then comes home wearing a suit. My dad worked pretty standard hours and then came home smelling like a chemical plant. He’s a biochemist. I guess if it remains the same now that I have this extremely flexible schedule and I will be working weird hours, everything is very connected. There’s no turn off. As a creative, there’s no separation between work life and personal life. It’s very integrated, especially when you’re promoting yourself, which is like cool and very not cool. The work never stops. In this culture there is no standard anymore, there are just models you can use as examples of how you could have a career. Polly will not be forced, but she’ll need to stick some things out. I want her to be curious and engaged. I want her to try a lot of new things. I would love it if she was into a sport or physical activity. I would love it if she was a skateboarder. She was riding on Jason Sturgill’s skateboard last week. On it, like actually riding it. It was amazing.

Learn more about Will and his work at willbryant.com.

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