Pitch Bureau

My name is Boris Kislitsin and I am a creative director of Pitch (pitch.ru/en), a Moscow based creative engineering bureau, that works at the juncture of new media, multimedia technologies and art. The company was founded by me with Dmitriy Napolnov, my partner and our chief technical officer in 2015. Both of us have 2 MAs each: I have degrees in Russian linguistics and Law and Dmitriy Napolnov in English literature and Programming. My education gave me a good base to start, however, by the end of my studies I have understood that I want to do different things in life. So I set up a company but then took a year off and traveled on a shoestring in Asia, a hardcore trip that spanned from Russian Siberia to Mongolia, China, Nepal and India. It has completely changed my perspective: upon return I quit business and have decided to find my true purpose. So I have joined a German traveling theater, and things started to develop from that - then learned to juggle and unicycle, later - to paint. I thought that I found myself and for 5 years pursued an artistic career in London, though to a little success. After that I worked as a copywriter in creative agency, then for few years as a teacher in a temple school in rural Thailand, later taught in one of the Bangkok’s universities. Later I moved to Japan for a year, mostly thinking, taking care of my family and writing a book - but all this time I have considered myself as a self-taught artist, and still believe so. In 2010 I have returned to Russia joining a multimedia production company and then helped to set up a free online course on multimedia content creation. At some point I have recognized that I want to actually do something practical instead of teaching people how to do it and started to work as multidisciplinary producer with interests spanning from video mapping to interactive installations and from architectural light to AR and VR. In one of the companies I have worked I got acquainted with Dmitriy Napolnov, who was a CTO in one of the best Russian companies that created CG and produced content and developed shows for all kinds of events - from car presentations to music gigs. Before that Dmitriy was a technical director in a global music distribution company and a programmer in a film production company. He is a pure technical genius, so when I was commissioned to take charge of multimedia production in a huge museum project in development in St. Petersburg, Russia, I knew whom I wanted to make the most technologically advanced museum in Russia with. So we became business partners and were together since and that’s one of the best things that has happened to me. So generally speaking, we are both self-taught and learned design by doing, but, of course, it’s all a team work. Currently there are more than 30 highly qualified professionals in various fields in Pitch: from engineers to copywriters, concept artists and 3D modelers. Surely most of them have related education, but it’s not always the case. If you have passion for something, you can always learn things on your own, as in our case: we were one of the pioneers in multimedia design and engineering, and if we wanted to study it, there were simply no places where we could get our education as it was all brand new.

I do not really consider myself as a designer. I have rather considered my work to be a kind of public art practice, not matter what exactly I do – juggling, unicycling, painting, writing a book or playing chess. Honestly speaking, I wanted to be a native Indian chief or a marine biologist rather than a designer or an artist. My education gave me a good base to start, however, by the end of my studies I have understood that I want to do different things in life. So, I traveled to Mongolia, China, Nepal and India, which has completely changed my perspective. Upon return I decided to join a German traveling theater, and that is how it all started. I still do what I do enjoy most, dream of creating new ideas and ways to communicate and strive to do something that was never done before.

Three main aspects to mention will be improvisation, construing its results and elaborating a thorough plan. Tools are necessary no matter what type of them you are using – in the end, even a pencil and paper on which you made a rough sketch are pieces of technology, though basic. What concerns physical models and renderings, broadly speaking the difference is not essential if they help to visualize and implement your idea. Chosen tools always depend on the certain project you are working on, so in this case the idea has an absolute supremacy. But, again, I do not design on my own - the final product is the result of the Pitch's team work.

I would say I feel being in flux. It would be rather difficult to decompose the whole process into phases or stages, but for sure the final product creates the other sense of happiness than the process itself.

My ever present artistic past has essentially shaped my professional vision in a broader sense as I still think of everything to be discovered. I would say that all main skills that help me to produce successful project in the field of design are non-design skills per se. I would say the most influential were books. There are too many of them to mention depending on the field, but it’s always a good idea to start from basics and deep into related areas. Also, it’s very important to see things and experience them. I believe that impressions and life experiences are one of the best teachers.

We live in the times of personification and individually crafted objects and experiences. I would love to create a museum space based on experience that will be ever changing and would adjust the visitor path and contents provided - thus, every visitor will have a different experience from others and even from his previous visit based on what he has learnt and his interests.

I would suggest that any designer should dream big, be persistent, have ambitions and think out of box. The passion is the key. The most common mistake is to put it on a hold and just duplicate the pattern – of course if we are talking about ideas and not ornaments. Do not forget that regular practice brings you closer to the perfect, I do believe in 10 000 hours rule - that’s an amount of time one needs to spend to master something.

I suppose all things said above concern not just designers at the beginning of their career but are still relevant to any of us. What concerns fellow designers, artists and architects, the most important thing is cooperation. Though the importance of collaborative working is an old truth, sometimes it is still being not appreciated. Cooperation is the only way to create and implement the most daring and ambitious projects.

Routine is a good thing, especially when it looks rather like a patchwork than a hemstitch. Business mornings can differ a lot, however swift reading is a must. It should not necessarily have anything to do with designer news, as it is important to stay current in a broader sense, not focusing too much on conventional specialization. Apparently, the best thing in any boring business day is knowing that this, too, shall pass away. Reflecting on ever changing processes which should be somehow domesticated can really bring a relief throughout any work day no matter how successful it is.

Personally I do not believe in fruitfulness of “design trends” concept as I like out-of-box thinking and experiments, assuming that any trend should be changed and enriched – exactly this moves things forward. Though I prefer seeing things with my own eyes, sometimes I read magazines or design articles across different web resources.

Good design is something that serves its purpose and at the same time somehow breaks on through to the other side. The main criteria to judge a design as a good one is to estimate if it serves its purpose. However, a great design is not just something that serves its purpose, it also should trigger some broader reflection. A great designer is always a visionary, who somehow forms new theoretical framework for others, either express or implied.

Any practical work has some external limitations, especially in terms of time management. We always have to do our best to produce the project on a given schedule. We can measure the success of a project by some quantitative objections (the number of users, visitors, awards, or plausive reviews). A long-term response matters as well, although it is hard to be formalized. It is important to strike a balance between true and bad infinite if we put it in Hegel's terminology.

As Mike Jagger once said, he could not get no satisfaction but still tried to. Similarly enough, I am never fully satisfied with the designs that we produce, so I believe our biggest design work is yet to come. As for me, there is nothing more challenging, hard and compelling in the field than museum design that is always an experience design at the same time.

It would be untrue to say I have just one favourite designer, there are too many of them to mention depending on the field. I am convinced there can be no such notion as “the most iconic designer of all times”, as each period has its own prophets and own visionaries who beat the path for other designers. However, once I was really fascinated with an Austrian artist Koloman Moser. The scope of his work is really impressive – an illustrator, craftsman, interior designer. A person who carried out many examples of Gesamtkunstwerk, he was a forerunner of the modern age, presenting a linkage between ornamentality of Jugendstil and upcoming functionality of avant-garde. It also would be interesting to talk to one of his prominent contemporaries Adolf Loos, whom I consider to be one of the most influential theorist of modern architecture.

Cities have always inspired me, and I suppose it is important not to limit our inspiration to one spot as cities are constantly changing. So, I do think it is important to get back to where you once belonged to feel some changes outside and inside as well. The same goes for music as it is a capacious set of associations. Culture not just affects our design projects, it is probably more a kind of cradle or primordial soup for any project that can be classified to design. A good design is a step in reorganizing and reinventing culture as such, which drifts society and individuals even if they do not realize that at once.

Working for Pitch bureau is not easy but challenging. The company was founded by me and my business partner and our CTO Dmitry Napolnov. Meeting him was one of the best things that has happened to me. We are always looking for professionals that share our values and meet high standards, however sometimes it is good when our colleagues also demonstrate some inconsistency as that can challenge our routines and make a headway in reinventing our methods.

I do believe a good design impacts not just social environment but the way of individual living as well. Especially in case of projects aiming to transform urban environment. Surely, it is important to participate in humanitarian projects and to contribute our skills in convenience, comfort, usability. Supporting young professionals is another major goal for each design bureau as it challenges your own knowledge, experience, and way of thinking.

Spring 2020 was rather peculiar time, we all had to slow down and implement a philosophy of slow living as most of the countries were on lockdown, so I do hope there will be other awards and opportunities to attend A’ Design Award.

My name is Boris Kislitsin and I am a creative director of Pitch (pitch.ru/en), a Moscow based creative engineering bureau, that works at the juncture of new media, multimedia technologies and art. The company was founded by me with Dmitriy Napolnov, my partner and our chief technical officer in 2015. Both of us have 2 MAs each: I have degrees in Russian linguistics and Law and Dmitriy Napolnov in English literature and Programming. My education gave me a good base to start, however, by the end of my studies I have understood that I want to do different things in life. So I set up a company but then took a year off and traveled on a shoestring in Asia, a hardcore trip that spanned from Russian Siberia to Mongolia, China, Nepal and India. It has completely changed my perspective: upon return I quit business and have decided to find my true purpose. So I have joined a German traveling theater, and things started to develop from that - then learned to juggle and unicycle, later - to paint. I thought that I found myself and for 5 years pursued an artistic career in London, though to a little success. After that I worked as a copywriter in creative agency, then for few years as a teacher in a temple school in rural Thailand, later taught in one of the Bangkok’s universities. Later I moved to Japan for a year, mostly thinking, taking care of my family and writing a book - but all this time I have considered myself as a self-taught artist, and still believe so. In 2010 I have returned to Russia joining a multimedia production company and then helped to set up a free online course on multimedia content creation. At some point I have recognized that I want to actually do something practical instead of teaching people how to do it and started to work as multidisciplinary producer with interests spanning from video mapping to interactive installations and from architectural light to AR and VR. In one of the companies I have worked I got acquainted with Dmitriy Napolnov, who was a CTO in one of the best Russian companies that created CG and produced content and developed shows for all kinds of events - from car presentations to music gigs. Before that Dmitriy was a technical director in a global music distribution company and a programmer in a film production company. He was a pure technical genius, so when I was commissioned to take charge of multimedia production in a huge museum project in development in St. Petersburg, Russia, I knew whom I wanted to make the most technologically advanced museum in Russia with. So we became business partners and were together since and that’s one of the best things that has happened to me. So generally speaking, we are both self-taught and learned design by doing, but, of course, it’s all a team work. Currently there are more than 30 highly qualified professionals in various fields in Pitch: from engineers to copywriters, concept artists and 3D modelers. Surely most of them have related education, but it’s not always the case. If you have passion for something, you can always learn things on your own, as in our case: we were one of the pioneers in multimedia design and engineering, and if we wanted to study it, there were simply no places where we could get our education as it was all brand new.

Despite the fact that we were awarded for a large scale permanent light and sound urban show (actually first of its kind in Russia), our main area of interest is museum production. Both Dmitriy and I wanted to do some things that would be of cultural interest and importance, while being hard and challenging - and tried to go beyond one-off commercial shows. I guess we are still driven by the notion to make something more and more complex, challenging and on a bigger scale, something that contributes and gives something good to people. I like to believe that we aim to have a positive impact on others lives in all the projects we take: be it an outstanding museum visit experience or other projects, like the Heart of Siberia, for which we were awarded. And it seems working - the area that we have worked in Krasnoyarsk after the project’s completion has nearly immediately transformed from quite a dangerous place with a bad reputation into kind of a hype neighborhood and cultural hub. People come here with families now and feel proud for being locals. So our motivation is simple: we want to improve people lives and conditions while growing professionally and having fun in the process.

You do not get forced to do things you love. I believe that nothing good can come out, if you are forced to do it. So I wasn’t forced to become a designer, though I have never expected to become one and do not really consider myself as such. I rather thought about my work as about public art practice and just did what I enjoyed most, dreamt of creating new ideas and ways to communicate, ideally doing something that was never done before - be it things small or large. Years on, it seems like a valid approach.

Though we do all kinds of bespoke multimedia solutions - from record-breaking drone shows to huge urban installations, we mainly focus on designing permanent museum exhibitions and love to do it. In my opinion, there is nothing more challenging, hard and compelling in the field then museum design. You just need to take so many things in the account and create a unique experience as a result. So despite the fact that we are multi-disciplinary and produce more or less everything - objects design, light and scenic design, CG, AR, VR, etc. - you name it, I believe that these technologies are just tools for designing unique and immersive user experiences we are interested in most. So I would say, we do experience design.

Young designers should love what they do, dream big, be persistent, have ambitions and think out of box. There is a lot of hard work behind every success story and the passion is the key. There is no universal recipe for success, but if you believe in yourself and what you do and try to improve every day, it always comes with time. There is could be a luck, but never a miracle - regular practice makes perfect.

A great designer is always a visionary. His ideas are revolutionary or contagious - he/ she beats the path for other designers who follow it.

Good design is something that serves its purpose. A really good design enhances this purpose and makes people actually want to have, to use or to experience it.

The value of good design is experience. It shapes the purpose and shapes a message that should be delivered in the most enhancing and effective way. Good design is not necessarily an expensive design - such things like a fork or a spoon, for instance, are used for centuries, but still they do not change. If an object can not be improved and still be useful widely and for a long period of time, this is a good design. Investing in good design not only give you emotional feedback and pleasure of having it, but often can save time, money or simply last longer.

I dream of designing an immersive space or museum there people could have experiences that would work simultaneously with all sensory organs creating unforgettable sensations. As I was always attracted to travel, so I would like to design a car, a yacht or a spaceship. But actually I would be most happy to design something that people will find useful and could use every day. Something that you never thought you need but apparently can not live without.

Love what you do, do your best, improve every day and try to make it remarkable.

VW Beetle designed by Ferdinand Porsche - probably it is the most iconic and recognizable design object of all times. It is affordable, functional, has a distinctive look and individuality. Apart of it, it is the most mass-produced car in history, produced without revision of the basic design for nearly 70 years. Bauhaus chess by Josef Hartwig - for their characteristically reduced forms which, in symbols based purely on the function and form of the maneuver of each piece. Eames lounge chair with ottoman by Charles and Ray Eames. It’s one of the most instantly-recognizable pieces from the 20th century, very comfortable and still looks just as fresh now as the day it was released.

I never fully satisfied with the designs that we produced, so I believe our best design is yet still to come.

You need to think on how you can improve form and functionality. Take one object a day, no matter, what is it - a book, a car or a hat - and try to re-think it and make it better.

For me design is a physical form of a function that stays behind, an idea that takes a material shape.

We would never make it without a team. It is of utmost importance to work with the best and most talented people you can find and hire.