Good design is invisible: an interview with iA’s Oliver Reichenstein

Sam Byford interviews iA’s Oliver Reichenstein:

The main old-school design influences on iA’s work come mostly from typographers. I grew up in Switzerland, so Frutiger, Ruder, Tschichold, Müller-Brockmann, and Miedinger are part of my visual DNA. I discovered them in Tokyo, like you discover grammar after you can already speak. Meeting some of my design heroes in person, like Erik Spiekermann or Roger Black, let me understand that what made their work so influential was their unfailing passion and youthful spirit.

Working in Japan, I learned to see what I disliked about our design culture — the typical Swiss coldness, the lack of emotion and loveliness, the often clumsy use of color, the loneliness — from a slightly different angle. I learned to see its weaknesses and strengths, and tried to find ways to evolve it.

I think iA would not have been able to break out of this Swiss style, had I not worked with Japanese designers. I am deeply thankful for the beautiful work Mr. Tanaka, our lead designer in Tokyo, has done. I learn more from observing and discussing with him than from any book I have read in the last couple of years.