Translator: David Hsu Reviewer: Seo Hyun Kim
I'm a graphic designer and visual artist.
And when you think of artist,
you often think that they were very talented at drawing as kids,
and, consequently, went to art schools,
or fine art galleries or academies.
Well, none of these was my case.
My career path was a bit more unpredictable
and consisted of a series of experiments
and, sometimes, random choices.
Some of them were bad;
some of them were good.
But, in the end,
they all helped me achieved artistic self-awareness and recognition.
So I grew up in a small town in Central Poland,
pretty much disconnected from the creative community.
And that triggered the need for me to learn by myself.
But when you are self-taught,
you don't have a mentor or teacher
who will instruct you,
or tell you how to do things,
which may seem bad in my case;
but it also meant more freedom.
And I started with my first graphic because of the dissatisfaction:
I simply was not happy with the way
the standard computer wallpaper looked.
And because I didn't have the internet connection,
I had to create my own wallpapers.
And from there on,
it's just a long way of experimenting with the different techniques and styles,
as I was still looking for something that I could call my style.
And as every young creative,
I dream of creating projects for big clients
because it seems like an ultimate proof that,
when you are working for those guys,
you have to be good.
So, at that point, I kind of gave up my personal way of thinking,
and started creating works that look like those big commercial productions,
so that those companies could hire me to do similar works for them.
And, eventually, I did it.
I started getting bigger and bigger projects,
and got a job at a renowned graphic studio in Warsaw,
doing work for high caliber international clients.
It was mostly advertising work there.
But, sometimes, it was other types of work,
such as designing the website for the Polish Exposition at Expo 2010.
And it was there that I realized
that all the extremely talented people that I was lucky to work with,
they all have their own unique way of achieving the same result.
So I learnt that there's no strictly right or wrong way of doing things
as long as the result was great.
But, at the same time, it stood in opposition to
how limited personal expression was,
in cases for those big commercial clients.
Even though those were dream projects,
such as the one here for Grammy Awards.
So, at that point, I decided I wanted to move back towards personal creation.
I become an independent designer.
I published my own ePortfolio,
with my commercial work and with a few smaller personal projects.
And one of those projects was sneaker cube.
As an avid fan and collector of sneakers,
I always wanted to create something that's related to this sneaker culture.
But I didn't want it to be just another illustration of sneakers.
Instead, I came up with
a quirky and creative way of collecting my favorite sneakers.
And I found the shape of a cube to be just perfect for that.
And I know what you are thinking:
because a lot of people thought that,
"I have no idea what it really is, but it looks so cool."
And, luckily, a lot of people felt in the same way,
including some collaborators and clients.
So this project went viral on the internet.
It received great press in the creative community
and resulted in several collaborations, such as the one here for Nike.
And the success of sneaker cube made me realize that,
those forward thinking people and clients,
they were far more interested
in those personal projects than they were in those commercial projects.
And no wonder:
because those personal projects are more authentic,
because they come from passion and genuine interest.
And I think people always sense the genuine interest behind your work.
And that encouraged me to experiment more with the different styles.
And each one of those styles that I came up with
ended up being used in some way in the commercial fields:
such as the one here for Sony PlayStation,
or the one that I designed for Google
which is their official wallpaper for Android system.
So, at that time, I felt recognized and safe.
I was doing work for great clients
who have given me great creative freedom while, at the same time,
I stayed true to my creative self expression,
which felt kind of like a luxury.
But instead of continue doing the same kind of projects,
I decided to move on and experiment further.
And why would I do that ?
I simply never wanted to repeat myself over and over.
I got quickly bored with the same type of work.
In the learning process, variety is better than repetition.
So, if you modify something in your approach,
every time you are mastering something,
you will learn faster that way.
So, I decided to create something new.
And, this time, the new thing was simply to take a step back:
a step towards the most traditional tool in creation which is the "paint."
And instead of just using the paint in the originally intended way,
on canvas;
I picked up pieces of transparent acetate sheets,
painted on them,
and then digitally composed them
to form those 3-dimensional paint sculptures, as I call them.
So, again, I tried to look at the paint from a different perspective,
and it resulted in a series of typographic pieces.
It become a huge success again.
And the success of this project
led to a number of collaborations,
such as the one here for Square Space,
Wired,
or Adobe.
But I'm already thinking of doing something more original.
So, as you can see in my career path,
I relied a lot on self-teaching.
And I think the best things came to me that way:
through creative experimentation and taking creative risk;
and, somethimes, abadoning something that already worked.
And I think, if you are self-taught,
it may be a longer and more winding way of getting there,
but you may be surprised how rewarding this process may be.
And I think success's a bit unpredictable,
and you often hear very successful people sharing their stories:
they often say, "It started with something very small."
and "I couldn't have predicted this to become so big and successful."
And I think we should all allow ourselves
to be surprised with those unpredictable turnarounds.
But for that to happen,
we need to create opportunities;
and I am trying to create mine through those creative projects.
And I encourage you to do so,
to create something new,
even on a small scale,
and you will learn something new,
and something unexpected will happen.
Thank you.
(Applause)