Following the typographic workshop that ran on Monday and Tuesday, Eike König gave a talk on his career and his work with Hort studio. Hort – the creative brainchild of Eike – is a world renowned graphic design practice with clients such as; Nike, Microsoft, Bauhaus, and Disney. The studio began in 1994 with Eike as its sole contributor, building up a solid client base and collaborative relationships over time. At the heart of Hort’s work is it’s mission to cultivate a creative playground. Hort is an environment designed to learn, grow, and to have fun as a designer. Eike preached the importance of working on the projects that you are really passionate about, working with clients, learning all the time, and building up relationships.
Of the projects Eike spoke about in his talk, the one that I took the most from was Hort’s work with Jazzanova – a well known German DJ collective. Eike showed a multitude of work that Hort did with Jazzanova in all stages of development and shared anecdotes about the production of these ideas and work with the band themselves. It was inspiring to see the development of a piece of work from a professional studio of that calibre. The final piece is designed around a logotype scheme, that changes certain elements for the release of each single of the album while maintaining a clear visual direction.
Jack McCabe 