THE BLOG

15
Aug

Benedetto [Mr Action]

BENEDETTO

Mr Action!

The man that makes things happen in a big and fast way. ‘Action!’ is his war cry. Never happier when pushing things to the absolute limit. This tiny tornado of energy is designer, sales-guy, make-shift copywriter and coffee-maker. A born-entrepreneur who leads an incredible team dedicated to bringing beautiful ideas to life.

What is your education background?

I am a ‘Master of Design’ in Transport Design which I got from Coventry University in 2005.

What design product or designer do you admire?

So many…. I got an amazing book from my parents in 1999 called ‘Pinninfarina & Ferrari, 50 Figurini’ and the book showed a range of renderings from designs of Ferrari form the fifties through to the late nineties. Many of them were signed Aldo Brovarone, at the time – a relatively unknown from Pinninfarina. Turns out he was, alongside his colleagues, responsible for classics such as the Daytona and the Dino. An absolute design genius. Giugiaro is a hero too but I grew up following Ian Callum and Walter De Silva who both inspired teams to design some beautiful work for both Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin. As a 3D designer – it was Richard Seymour who inspired me to wanting to become a designer, His TED talk – ‘How Beauty Feels’ is a classic. 

2083_b_Pininfarina_Ferrari

What is your favourite design tool? 

A white sheet of paper and a simple biro. I particularly love sketching on cheap printer paper, napkins or even toilet roll – most of my scribbles are incomprehensible to anybody but me. 

Your design specialities, strength?

An uncanny ability to see potential in just about everything.

Tea or Coffee? How do you take it? Favourite mug?

Coffee, white, any mug is fine. 

What’s your favourite Music? 

Anything that is full of energy – Nicky Romero, Hardwell, Dash Berlin. Love just so many different music artists…

What do you want to be when you grow up? I mean… when you’ll be 99?

Exactly what I am doing now, but in a bigger way, astonishing everybody at how sharp I am as a 99 year old. 

Why did you chose to do design? What motivates you?

I think design chose me! The journey from fantasy to reality is the most splendid one and one with which I never tire.

What is your favourite project you worked on for the Loft?

So, so many… The Altia Sub-brands, Digital Inclusion, Bridge2Business, Glasgow Chambers Of Commerce Infographic – projects that some people have never even seen such as Dalmahoy Whisky. 

If I could choose two – The Petroleum Experts advertisement, simply because of the incredibly journey we went on with the client in visualising their software and the lifetime’s work of their founder Hamid Guedroudj. Also, in 25+ years of existence, they had never worked with any creative agency. Quite an honour. 

Loft-Social

The second one is the loft brand, simply for the story behind it. It is an incredibly dynamic, elegant logo packed with tension and meaning. However, at 1 in the morning the night before we were about to launch the loft website and brand collectively – and after weeks and weeks of work. It was a mere triangle. Having failed to completely achieve what we wanted and the need to push on – we had settled. It was only after sending a preview of our new website to several friends and family members to give it a once-over that I received a call at 1 in the morning from my mum of all people who told me ‘your logo looks crap.’ She also wasn’t buying into the nonsense that it was the best we could do with the time we had left. Any-hoo, that kick in the behind impelled us to dig a little deeper – I had an idea – asked our designers at the time Ruth & Alejandro to have a look and when I came in the next morning – they had 5 beautiful options – all of them a huge step forward and almost identical to what we have now. Brilliant!

Loft-Social-2

What are you doing when you’re not designing?

Working, Reading, gym-ing, spending time with family & friends, always moving… 

12
Aug

Adèle [Born Adventurer]

ADELE

Born Adventurer!

Adèle is a curious, crazy and risk-taking creative. One with a dare-devil nature and incredible appetite for the challenging and new. An idea-generating machine with concorde levels of speed and brilliance – Adèle’s sketchbook and trail of post-it notes tell you everything that you need to know about this ambitious creative.

 

What is your education background?

I have done a Bachelor in Interior design in France at L’école de design Nantes Atlantique and a Master in Design of management and innovation in Shanghai.

What design product or designer to you admire?

I love “The Drinkable Book”, for Water is life. This project is really well built and serve a great cause. I admire that project for the work that have been done. I also admire companies like IDEO or Gravity Tank which take time to focus on user-cantered design process to create meaningful projects.

What is your favourite design tool?

My favourite tool would be my basic Bic pencil and a nice sketch book with some tracing paper, and then a scanner/printer.

Your design specialities, and strength?

I always design by thinking about the end users and the clients, and try to make everyone happy.

Tea or Coffee? How do you take it?

Coffee and Tea, depending of my mood, of the day, the weather etc… A Scottish tea, one sugar and a bit of milk. Coffee? BLACK! No sugar, please!!

What’s your favourite Music?

Like the tea and coffee, depending of my mood. But mostly electronic, house, tropical house.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I mean… when you’ll be 99?

I dream to be a super nanny full of energy, who have still the desire to discover the world and get inspirations from everywhere. I hope until this age I’ll be recognised as a pretty good designer. And that people will refer to me for advice.

Why did you chose to do design? What motivates you? Do you have a preferred quote which might illustrate that?

To help people, sounds dull, but so true. I like re-inventing the world. Creating things that make people think differently and provide them a bit of happiness, or at least help for it.

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”-Confucius-

What is your favourite project you worked on for the Loft? 

Even if this projects was quite scary, I enjoyed taking the challenge of creating Rothiemurchus website.

rothiemurchus

What are you doing when you’re not designing?

I am designing my life, or doing some rock climbing, practicing golf, and going out for a drink.

10
Aug

Reiss [The Gentle Giant]

REISS

Gentle Giant!

Our very own rock-star who marries a giant intellect with the most easy-going nature known to man. Simply brilliant at what he does – Reiss is a great conceptual thinker and wonderful team player, one who eats ideas for breakfast and masters all that he surveys. There is nothing that Reiss doesn’t do and do very well.

Want to get to know Reiss a bit more? Read what he answered to The loft’s questionnaire. We promise, it is not only serious questions. It is about design (obviously), but also about what we love, what we do, and where do we come from.

What is your education background?

I began studying at Woodfarm High School in the South Side of Glasgow. From there, I studied Architecture up in Aberdeen for 3 years. I am currently studying Ba graphic design in the Cardonald Campus at Glasgow Clyde College.

What design product or designer do you admire?

Designers that I admire: Luke Lucas, Alex Trochut, Stephan Sagmeister, Shigeo Fukuda and Mies Van Der Rohe. I admire them for different reasons; their aesthetics, their deign motives and their thought structure. However I would never force myself to like a design due to the name attached to it, or vice versa.

What is your favourite design tool?

When it comes to sketching, I always begin with pencil and paper (usually a good start). The pencil I use the most is a Palomino Blacking 602. Depending on the design, I trace over the pencil sketch with fine liners, brush pens or markers. When creating digital work, I use a Wacom Intuos Pen & Touch tablet. As for photography I use a Canon 5D Mark II with a 50mm f/1.8 lens.

Your design specialities, strength?

I love working on photoshop and creating explosive eye catching graphics. As I expose myself more to other areas of design (not literally, I’m a modest man), I’m finding myself enjoying the precise nature of typography and logo design. 

Tea or Coffee? How do you take it? Favourite mug?

Black coffee by day, green tea by night. My current mug is a bit rude, so I won’t be mentioning that.

But here’s a picture:

Favourite-Mug-Reiss

What’s your favourite Music? One style or one song or one instrument or one festival. Anyway, something related to music.

I have a soft spot for many styles of music, it really depends on my mood and what I’m designing. From classical to grime, deep techno to pop-punk, even reggae dub once in a while, I’m a lover of all things musical. You can probably tell I’m a hoodlum. But unlike the common hoodlum, I began playing the violin from a young age and picked up many others along the way. I’m currently playing the drum-kit in a band (Finding Argyle, check them out!).

What do you want to be when you grow up? I mean… when you’ll be 99?

When I’m old and weary, I’d like to be content with a simple lifestyle. Possibly living somewhere near the sea, happy and fulfilled. Full of wine.

Why did you chose to do design? What motivates you? Do you have a preferred quote which might illustrate that?

I feel my design influence came from my parents; my father creating print and design, my mother an interior designer. It’s always been something that I’ve enjoyed, and it really doesn’t feel like work, more of a brilliant hobby. I motivate myself always learning, placing myself outside of my comfort zone and seeing the world through other people’s perspectives. My family and close friends are a massive inspiration to me and I can’t thank them enough.

“Believe you can’t, believe you can. Either way, you’re right.” – Henry Ford.

“Just do it” – Shia LaBeouf

What is your favourite project you worked on for the Loft?

My favourite project that I have worked on at the loft so far has been the ‘Mini-Me’ photography for The Loft’s website and social media. I really enjoyed creating an exciting scene through photo-manipulation and I learned a lot in the process. Plus it also gave me a snazzy profile picture for my social media, two birds on stone, eh?

Website

What are you doing when you’re not designing?

In my spare time I read books, play with my wee brother (he can be very competitive for a 12 year old when it comes to the Playstation), and go on adventures with my girlfriend, but that’s usually because we’re lost and make the most out of it.

I’ve recently taken up skating, so my family are patiently awaiting for a time where I return home, arm-in-cast, just to tell me off for being such a big kid.

 

 

 

09
Aug

Jordan [Production King]

 

Production King!

Jordan is a digital craftsman and true aesthete with a great eye for detail. One with brilliant technical skills and an almost freakish ability to bend a Photoshop, InDesign & Illustrator document to the will of his command. Making the simple brilliant and the brilliant simple. A more stylish chap you will be hard pressed to find!

What is your education background?

I studied HND Visual Communication (Graphic Design) at Edinburgh College

What design product or designer do you admire?

 I like to attend design talks to hear from well known designers and hear their story, one that sticks in my mind is Paula Scher, I loved her work and her story really got me engaged.

What is your favourite design tool?

I have a graphics tablet which is really cool, I’m still learning all the features on it but its great in illustrator and photoshop. You have so much more control using the pen compared to the mouse.

Your design specialities, strength?

Attention to detail, I feel like I’ve got an eagle eye when it comes to making things look right.

Tea or Coffee? How do you take it?

Coffee,Coffee,Coffee,Coffee,Coffee!! and a splash of milk thanks 🙂

What’s your favourite Music? 

I could say anything by Beyonce but everyone knows that. I’ve recently got into a new band called ‘ZHU’. They are quite dancy but chilled… it’s good for zoning out and listening to when I’m working on projects.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I mean… when you’ll be 99?

I hope that by the time I turn 99 I will have specialised in not only design but some kind of film production, maybe teaching… definitely sticking in the design industry but I would like to try new areas and challenge myself along the way. 

Why did you chose to do design? What motivates you?

Design just kind of happened for me. It was my second option at college (My first was Drama) sadly I wasn’t destined to be the next Leonardo DiCaprio so I went along to my interview for an NC design College course and 5 years later I’m working away as a designer. I guess it’s fate!

What is your favourite project you worked on for the Loft?

My favourite project at The Loft has been working with Scottish Leather Group. We created a brochure for their annual Sustainability report which was good fun and now we are creating animated videos for their social media. Learning new software along the way has been a great challenge and its been a very enjoyable project.

Imge1

See the project

What are you doing when you’re not designing?

I love going to see new movies in the cinema and I do love a good night out as well. 

09
Aug

Aiste [Effortlessly Good]

AISTE

Effortlessly Good!

Reading, writing, thinking, doing. There is nothing that Aiste doesn’t do and do effortlessly well. A brilliant creative who marries an incredible love of design with a wonderful ability to make it work for people. Risk-Taker, decision-maker, leader – some might say little Miss Perfect.

What is your education background?

Degree in Business and Marketing as well HND in Visual Communications: Graphic Design. 

What design product or designer do you admire?

Apple. Saatchi and Saatchi, United Visual Artists, Paul Rand, Milton Glaser, Alan Kitching, Stefan Sagmeister, Paula Scher, Karl Gerstner and discovering many others every day, so the list is pretty long.

What is your favourite Design Tool?

Pencil I guess, because it all starts with the pencil… I have two of them one is with work “idea” that I bought in Berlin Bauhaus Museum and the Photographer’s Helmut Newton branded. Probably silly, but they help me to come up with better ideas… haha

I also love paper, because there are so many different once and they all tell a different story.

Your design specialities, strength?

Ideas. Branding, packaging, typography, print.

Tea or Coffee? How do you take it? Favourite mug?

Coffee: espresso or flat white, no sugar.

Favourite mug:

SONY DSC

What’s your favourite Music?

I love different styles as long as it’s quality music. If I have to choose only one, then JAZZ it is.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I mean… when you’ll be 99?

I want to be 99 year old me just a bit more known as a designer, not just a design maker.

Why did you chose to do design? What motivates you? 

Because it’s very rewarding, you always learn something new and it’s a great fun. Doing something fun as a profession – can’t be better than that. It makes me happy when users like my design decisions.

What is your favourite project you worked on for the Loft?

‘Disruptancy’ so far. The process was really inspiring and enjoyable.

Disruptancy-Business-Card_Aiste

What are you doing when you’re not designing?

Walk dogs, read.  I love going out for food, wine tasting… watching movies, visiting galleries and exhibitions, networking events. Travelling, going to concerts.