Barcelona-based Hey Studio has been one of my design idols for a little over two years now. I first came across their work when they were in the middle of a 365-day illustration project, which involved posting a character design on Instagram every day for a year. It was love at first sight (I mean look at their work! Rainbow puke!) when I stumbled upon their clean and minimal vector style, and once I did a little digging around, I was totally hooked. They use bold colours and stark geometric shapes to make really eye catching, delicious designs. One of their projects actually vaguely inspired one of mine.
Needless to say, I was stoked when I caught wind of the fact that they’d be speaking at Hello Fable 2016, a series of talks that brings great creative minds together. The program was organised by Fable, a local design studio, and the other speakers were Pann Lim of Kinetic and Theseus Chan of WERK Magazine, both of whom are industry heroes here in Singapore, and have produced some of my favourite publications over the years. One of the best insights I got from both Pann and Theseus’ talks was to first and foremost, only produce work that you love. That way, even if it bombs professionally, you’re left with something that, well, you love. Simple enough, but it was a vital reminder for me at this point.
I also loved the in-depth look I got of Hey’s work and process, the kind of projects they take on and how they conceptualise and bring the visuals of a brand alive. I enjoyed seeing their intricate vector drawings of maps, in contrast to their big, bold, statement-making patterns. The most interesting part was hearing about the importance they place on personal or side projects - an outlet that helps them explore various styles and methods of work that might not be possible when working for a client. They also spoke about tiny projects done for free that turned into happily cost-effective and innovative solutions to real life budget constraints, about simple solutions that coincidentally become unique, elegant designs and about sometimes using unexpected materials (like scrap paper, plastic, etc) and tactile methods to create big impacts.
The best part about the whole event (other than the fact that we got to browse through physical copies of all the work mentioned) was the Q&A session that followed the presentations. It was super insightful and inspiring and refuelled the dormant designer in me who I knew was in there, but wasn’t as motivated (the job hunt can really take you down a notch). I came out of the program feeling fresh and ready to not settle, to seek out avenues that may not seem like the only obvious answer, and to give time and attention to meaningful personal projects, no matter what.