We're huge fans of Magdalena Piehl's super-fresh Art Direction for brands including Cheap Monday and Topshop. We caught up with the Studio Piehl founder to find out what's got her excited and what advice she wishes she'd been given along the way.
Why do you love what you do?
With drawing and painting at an early age and later through craft and design, I have always had a creative output. For me, visual communication and graphic design are the best ways to express myself and they are necessities in my life.
What’s the craziest/most inspiring project you’ve worked on?
During my years as an Art Director for Cheap Monday I got the chance to do lots of inspiring projects. One of my favourites was the campaign for a new addition to the denim line called High Slim. The project was incredibly fast paced and I ended up doing everything from building the set and making the visual outputs to designing all the print documents.
My graduation project, Hello Thom Yorke, was probably the craziest thing I've worked on. I am a huge fan of Radiohead so I had an idea to create a viral campaign with hopes that it might reach Thom Yorke and elicit a response from him. I created a video and lots of other graphic elements such as t-shirts, pins etc. Again, it was a super fast-paced project where I needed to design and make everything myself.
What advice do you wish you’d been given when you were starting out?
First of all; take it easy, it is just a job and if you do not like it there are plenty more around. Also; you don't have to become good at everything instantly. You are going to develop your skills over a lifelong career so take one step at a time and make sure you have fun along the way!
Do you have any specific work habits?
I like working in what I call "creative chaos" with music to get me going and stuff all around me. I find clean and tidy environments uninspiring so my desk is always full of paper samples, pens, glue, books and whatever else has caught my attention. I also prefer working at night for some reason.
What's your all time favourite piece of creative work?
Our Hypnosis campaign and photo shoot is probably the project that I am most pleased with. It started with a very strong idea and a clear concept but the end result surpassed my initial expectations by a mile. It was something we achieved because we had such a great team working together and I was very fortunate to be working with some of the very best in the business including Boe Marion (photography), Nicole Walker (Stylist) and AnnSofie Back (Cheap Monday's Creative Director).
What's been the biggest challenge in a project you've worked on to date?
Doing the graphics for Topshop's Show Space at London Fashion Week was a big challenge. There were lots of different graphic elements including vinyl, print and signage that all needed a clear and cohesive theme. Together with the architects we developed a concept revolving around road signage which gave us both a colour palette to work from as well as a general strategy for how to apply the graphics to the various surfaces and the what the overall look of them should be.
What’s got you all excited?
I love paper and try to stay up to date with the latest products and print methods out there. I recently did the Recreate packaging competition organised by Stora Enso - one of the major paper manufacturers in Sweden. It was great fun as the challenge was to use a very specific set of cards and papers from their range and create something unexpected and beautiful with them.
