Interview with Krähenbühl Yves

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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