We chat with byHAUS founder & graphic designer Philippe Archontakis about his favourite podcast at the moment — The Observatory; his time working on his school newspaper back in the 80's, plus he shares some succinct advice for students wanting to open their own studio.
When did you fall in love with design and how did you get started?
Since a very young age, I’ve always had a fascination with hotels, seeing logos on different applications such as dressing gowns, pillows, chocolate, menus and the huge one on the building. But it hit me in my first year of College when I was introduced to a friend who was involved in the school newspaper. Being there most of my spare time, I’ve started to get involved and got interested with how layout, composition and production were made. They used to do everything old school by hand; cut, glue and paste. Calculating the length of each article by the number of characters and try to figure out how much space it would take on the page. Very long process and not so precise. We were in the mid 80’s and it was the beginning of desktop publishing. I convinced the team to buy a MAC (SE30 at that time) so we could save big bucks and time for each publication. I learnt QuarkXpress 1.0 and started to layout the newspaper twice monthly for 2 years. I fell in love right away with layout and composition. After 2 years, I’ve switched College to study Typography.
Give us the elevator pitch on what you do.
At byHAUS, we specialize in identity systems. We have an holistic approach for every projects. We strongly believe that design can be a powerful driver of success. We also take some packaging projects because we absolutely love it but our core business is creating identities for screens, paper and physical spaces.
What does a typical working day include for you right now?
Never in the same order: answering emails, clients meetings, press proofing, hands on work.
What do you look for in a great client?
A great client is someone who is venturous, passionate, brillant and devoted. The trust part is also very important. A great client should be as enthusiastic as me about the project. He’s a great listener. A great client is someone who believes in the power of design.
Go work to an agency or a studio for a while. Learn to work with others. Learn the business of design. Afterward, open your own studio.
What do you look for in a great portfolio?
Diversity, creativity and consistency. Keep it short.
What are your three must-read design books, blogs or podcasts and why?
I’ve just finished Now You See It and Other Essays on Design by Micheal Bierut. He’s a great writer and knows how to vulgarize graphic design. He writes with humour about how design shapes our world. Another crucial read is The Win Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns, about business practices for those who sells ideas. My favourite podcast of the moment is The Observatory with Jessica Helfand and Micheal Bierut where they have indepth discussions about design, events, news, products, …
What advice would you give students starting out?
Go work to an agency or a studio for a while. Learn to work with others. Learn the business of design. Afterward, open your own studio.
Drop the attitude. Listen to others advice. Don’t give up, it gets better with time. You get better with time.
Be nice.
