Codename: STRIPE - Graphic Design, Typography, Writing

20 Mar 2007 Category: Graphics, Illustration, Typography, Worldwide

Jon Sueda and Gail Swanlund, along with cohort Katie Hanburger are Stripe, a Los Angeles-based graphic design studio that creates stunningly original work for print and editorial design. Both Sueda and Swanlund have histories of involvement with periodicals that stood out in the design landscape of the 1990s in the U.S. Namely, Swanlund worked with design criticism magazine Emigre and Sueda with Speak, the tumultuous San Francisco-based art and culture journal. Here is a laid back afternoon conversation about collaborations, little design shops and the joy of self-initiated projects.

Written by Ian Lynam

Stripe’s work is unique in its sprawling, yet detail-oriented design sense – combinations of disparate images, saturated colors, immaculate typography, and quirky approaches to utilizing and making imagery. Stripe’s members are some of the hardest working designers I have ever met, as well as some of the nicest - no egos, friendly as hell, fun, and smart. Stripe raises the bar for their peers in the design community.

What does your combined current practice consist of?

We have the studio which is a combination of our professional work and our independent projects, and we both teach at CalArts.

How did you start working together in the first place?

Gail: I met Jon on a field trip to a Los Angeles cemetery. We already had a lot of friends in common: Martin Venezky, Geoff Kaplan, and Denise Gonzales Crisp, to name a few. I love Jon’s work - he’s a great designer and an awesome collaborator.

Each day is fun here at the studio - especially Fridays when we meet other designers for an Art&Design Lunch at Armon’s Cafe across the street from our studio.

Jon: Gail was one of the reasons I came to CalArts. Her work in Emigre and Snowflake was very inspirational to me.

Do you have a credo or mission of sorts?

Collaboration is key. It’s an essential part of our design philosophy and process and everything about the studio. The creative friction/discussion/energy generated by collaborating is a vital ingredient that opens up a place for the mysterious and unknowable to be made visible and physical. It’s really all about friends - and what could be better?

What did you each do in your formative years of learning your trade?

Gail: Working at Artpaper with Jan Jancourt opened it all up for me: I had no idea that the way you put type on the page could convey meaning beyond the actual content.

Jon: I had a similar “mentor” experience, working on Speak Magazine. While taking classes at CCAC, one of my favorite instructors, Martin Venezky, asked if I could help him design Speak Magazine. I loved working on the magazine! It was the perfect combination of design and art, form-making and typography.

What made each of you decide that you wanted to pursue a postgraduate design education?

Jon: I left Appetite Engineers in 1998 and moved to Hawaii to teach at the UH. The entire faculty there was from Yale and the syllabi they established was very theoretical. I was in over my head! And did a crash course in theory the summer before my classes started. Through all the reading, I realized that that I had a completely superficial knowledge of the ideas that my work was based on. I had a high level of form-making skills but no idea of how to implement these concepts in an intelligent and intentional way.

Gail: I have an undergrad degree in shearing sheep, Scandinavian literature and some graduate study in printmaking. I was hungry for something extraordinary and life altering, and wanted to study design. The CalArts faculty and students were making some of the strangest stuff I had had ever seen and I wanted to be there. I always considered myself exceedingly fortunate to be able to go to grad school, and the sequence of events leading up to something like that actually happening is huge and mind-boggling.

What is your favorite project that you have worked on, either in a collective or together?

Jon: I’ve really enjoyed the projects where we had the latitude to determine or rethink the brief for ourselves…write and or create our own imagery. Our first collaboration, ‘Buzz’, was really fun because we had the opportunity to do illustrations as well as the design.

The Graphic Design In The White Cube poster for the biennial in Brno, Czech Republic, was also an exciting process because the assignment was so open-ended and forced us to explore a very abstract idea in a visual way.

I also like some of the projects we do simply based on printing experiments and materials we use… split fountains, overprinting, weird bindings… these things excite me.

Gail: The self-published work we are making is the main reason we started the studio - definitely essential for the heart & soul.

Where do you see your work fitting into the historical design continuum?

Gail: We’re at a strange point in time where there aren’t that many little design shops in the U.S.. So in that respect, this studio model is nephew or niece of a studio like Reverb or siblings of small Dutch studios. I like to think we’re in a parallel universe: just making things and it will sort out somehow historically.

Why do you think that there are so few small shops in the U.S. at present?

Jon: I think it’s the economics. When most young designers get out of school, they are having $60,000 to $100,000 in debts! You have to pay back your loans and starting your own small shop just doesn’t make sense. It’s a pity, because a lot of young design talent gets chewed up by this machine every year. If every strong graduate had the opportunity to keep exploring their personal work beyond the classroom, I think, American design would be much more diverse and innovative.

Gail: It’s a struggle to earn a fair wage making the things that you love to make. It takes a long time and it’s a lot of work. How about you? Ian, you have a small and varied practice - is the small studio essential to how you sustain your creative life and happiness?

Err… reverse interview here! Frankly, yes. A number of the projects I take on wouldn’t work if I were at an agency due to the profitability angle, and I would lose many of the interesting projects that I take on. I’d shoot myself out of boredom if I were only doing one kind of graphic design…

How integral is writing to your design practice?

Gail: Essential - fully integrated into the process and the final product.

Jon: I use writing as a way to do research or think through ideas. I guess my motivation comes from wanting some form of autonomy as a designer. Traditionally, as graphic design is so dependent on other people to provide content, for our occupation to evolve and be more respected we need to be creators of content… contributors to culture beyond just mediating the content of others.

What extracurricular projects are you brewing up at the moment?

Jon: We are currently working together with Scott Zukowski to organize a student publication for CalArts design program, and we’ve also created a Los Angeles community lecture series called ATRANDOM with our studio mate Sean Donahue. I’m also working on a new art/visual culture publication called the ‘Task Newsletter’.

Sleeping these days?

Jon: Although we are always busy, I think those days are behind us now. I would prefer not to feel stress and deprive myself of sleep. There are a lot of other things we love doing besides work.

Whose work from both the past and contemporary times influences you?

Gail: Without a moment’s hesitation: friends.

Jon: I think living in Holland was where I found my current influence, not so much in a specific person, but in a way to practice. There are so many young artists, architects, and designers who are dedicated to developing their own work and fostering a highly innovative community. They don’t wait around for the dream project to magically land in their lap. They rather think about what that project is and make it happen.

What is your ultimate dream project?

Jon: An independent publication for sure… something that would be a free zone for research and experimentation. We really love the research part of projects, so this dream project might involve traveling to libraries all over the world - sleeping in the stacks - hiking, a little tennis, and good curries.

Gail: Being paid to observe bears or Tasmanian Devils would be incredibly wonderful. Really! I’m curious what’s your dream project, Ian!

The one that comes out of left field, involves travel, and is completely unforeseen. I love the idea of being a traveling design studio…
So where do you see your collaboration headed in the future?

More self-generated projects, a more collaborative relationship with publishers, perhaps proposing ideas for books… or publishing titles under our own imprint! No matter what there will be more ink on paper!

Stripe! Thank you for asking back.

And thank YOU for having us!

65 Comments

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3. Mooi Jon! Ga zo door! I wish I could have this for breakfast everyday!

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4. yeah, fonts and colors are cool

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5. really lovely work

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6. Inspiring interview! As a beginning student of design I’m fascinated by those already established in the industry who get to create Art, rather than simply regurgitating more of the same into our culture-o-sphere! I envy the designers on your team…how lucky they are to work with innovators rather than a paycheck design firm!

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