Mattson Creative

Mattson Creative is a design studio who specialise in brand and identity development. Their studio is based in Orange County, USA and they have worked for clients such as Coca Cola, Apple, Maroon 5 and Pepsi.

I first came across their work when i began research into can design and saw their recent redesign of the Vanilla Coca-Cola can. They always manage to put their stamp on it or work their style into it somehow. I admire designers with a strong personal style that doesn’t deter big name clients from working with them. For instance they took the Vanilla Coke can and made it their own and it really is quite different from anything Coca-Cola have done before on their cans. 

From looking at their online portfolio i realised they were behind the designs for some alternate DVD box sets and poster for the American TV series Dexter. I happen to be a huge fan of the series and so instantly enjoyed the illustrative style they had applied to the box sets. They really brought Dexter to life and they looked a lot cooler than the existing box sets. 

They produce work that I would love to have in my portfolio and if I ever move to America I will definitely be asking them for a placement! 

W: http://mattsoncreative.com/

Fear Of Failure - Designers Discuss

Link: Fear Of Failure Videos

This is a series of very short films from some of the top creative minds of our day (such as Milton Glaser, Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Wolff etc.) on surmounting the fear of failure. This was originally put together by the students of the Berghs School Of Communication in Sweden and I assume they did this because it’s a subject that worries every student. 

The fact that other designers feel like this, even successful designers such as Stefan Sagmeister provides some comfort to myself. I always feel like once i become a better designer, once i get a placement etc. I will feel confident as a designer. However, i don’t think this will ever happen. I think no matter what i do i will be afraid of failing and I won’t ever think of myself as a good designer. The fear of failure is something i have struggled alot with over this last year. I am always desperate to do better in my work, and sometimes my passion for graphic design doesn’t always translate it my work. This is because I am fairly new in the graphic design world and i have a long way to go yet and alot to learn. 

Milton Glaser provided an interesting insight into success and failure. He said “to be successful you have to create a brand, you become a specialist” to get here you have to “demonstrate you have something unique and that you can do it over and over and over and over again until you lose interest. Until the point at which it hurts you”. By hurt he means we will never develop or learn anything from being successful and surely as designers we always want to be growing and learning so that we become better designers. He ended by saying “embrace failure”. This is something I need to bare in mind when i leave university for the working world. I will not get everything right straight away. If I fail I will learn more and this will make me a better designer. 

Another quote which i will remember from this series was a quote by Stefan Sagmeister. He said “If you do not start it now you will not start it later”. This is a quote every design student should remind themselves of regularly. I am one of those people who leaves jobs right until the last minute when I am forced to work under pressure. I work well this way but it is not always the best way of working in terms of design. Good design should not be rushed.