This recurring WNW Magazine feature will introduce you to creatives on our Membership Board. It will celebrate their work and give them the mic to offer advice on how to elevate your own WNW profile.
Read MorePay Homage to Your Passions to Improve Your Creative Career
It's unlikely that anyone else shares all of the same interests as you, and personalizes those interests in the same way. Switching over to following and pursuing work which aligned with my passions has made the biggest change to my career and work. I can’t say enough how important it was to me for my happiness as a creative but also for the purity of the work.
Read More
Working Not Working Heads to the Land of Hemsworths
We're touring Australia at the tail end of March to kick back with our members in Perth, Melbourne, & Sydney. WNW Co-founder Justin Gignac will be giving a talk at the Emergence Creative Festival. We'll also host two Drinking Not Drinking happy hours.
Read MoreDarren Oorloff Makes Album Art Melting in Nostalgic Futurism
Darren Oorloff Makes Album Art
Melting in Nostalgic Futurism
MIKE O'DONNELL / EDITOR
"Those flamingoes are out of control!" "Look at this! Are you fucking kidding me?!" "I can't stop looking! Is this Pink Floyd or from the future?" When WNW HQ first came across WNW Member and Designer Darren Oorloff's album covers, there was a fair amount of wonderment, disbelief, and profanity in the volley of our responses. So we decided to interview Darren to find out some of the secrets to his approach, his influences, and what's next. While we might describe the common thread through Darren's work as "super-awesomeness," Darren helps us find some more descriptive words: "I’ve carefully curated my art to create an illusion of consistency – largely through similar colours and type treatments – but look closer and you’ll notice the only real links between the content are a sense of nostalgic futurism."
Darren also opens up about the trend in music toward designs that challenge the boundaries of the music's genre, as well as the necessity of creative tension to open a greater dialogue. "I don’t think new trends catch on in a creative field unless there is a sense of tension, perhaps a conflict – people need to disagree in order to create a conversation that will propel the trends’ reach." Here's to Darren's portfolio and music design continuing to surprise and provoke.
Tell us a little bit about your creative background. Who is Darren Oorloff and how did he get here?
My name is Darren Oorloff and I’m an Art Director from Melbourne. More specifically I create identity, packaging and artwork for the music industry.
How would you describe your creative style? Do you recognize a signature style that links all of your projects, or do you try to excuse yourself and approach each project as its own entity?
Committing to one particular style has been difficult for me. I think it’s important to establish a distinct identity as an artist, but this has a tendency to limit one’s skillset. As soon as I’ve mastered a style or a technique, I’m no longer interested in it and need to move onto something more complex. I’ve carefully curated my art to create an illusion of consistency – largely through similar colours and type treatments – but look closer and you’ll notice the only real links between the content are a sense of nostalgic futurism.
What do you see as the turning point in your creative career and development so far?
The biggest turning point for me was when my approach to design changed from ‘how do I make this?’ to ‘how do I make this look good?’ Prior to this, the physical execution of a concept was my biggest challenge – stitching multiple images together to create realistic compositions. Nowadays I have a pretty versatile set of skills and access to excellent resources where I lack, so my focus has shifted to creating beautiful compositions without the restrictions of technical incapacity.
Can you give us a little insight into your process for designing album and concert artwork? Do you try to only allow the music itself to influence your visual response, or do you also draw inspiration from whatever you’re into at the moment?
Surprisingly the music isn’t my primary influence. I’ve found a lot of artists have a carefully crafted image that doesn’t necessarily align with their sound. In my initial steps, I identify how the artist wants to be perceived. Then, I find a middle ground between what inspires me and what is applicable to the artist’s image and branding.
Do you find that it’s easier to create album artwork if you’re a fan of the music, or does it not really make a difference in your approach?
I don’t believe it makes a great difference. I try to remain fairly objective and open-minded about every project. You would think the quality of work would be much better if I was a fan of the genre and had an understanding of the history. However, some of the most creative and influential art is born of contrasting design style with genre. There is a strange movement happening right now where rappers are using a ‘metal’ aesthetic, the metal-heads are taking influence from the ‘electronic’ aesthetic and all the genres are swapping styles.
Which of your projects are you proudest of and why?
The project that garnered the most attention was for a Japanese heavy metal band called Crossfaith. This is a perfect example of a strange genre crossover as mentioned above. Crossfaith has some electronic influence in their otherwise heavy sound, so we decided to go all out on a sci-fi, almost Vapourware aesthetic. The biggest challenge here was to introduce aggression into a typically vibrant, fun style (Vapourware) and I think there’s a very fine line in the sci-fi spectrum between being cool and being nerdy. Anyway, I think I managed to navigate all of this gracefully with this particular artwork and the response was just manic.
What would be your dream project?
I’d love to work on some kind of elaborate stage/set design with immersive projection mapping. I’m also totally fascinated by VR and augmented reality, so it’d be nice to get involved in something within that realm.
Who are some of your biggest creative influences?
Shusei Nagaoka
Doug Johnson
Hajime Sorayama
Roslaw Szaybo
Tadao Ando (Architect)
Jiro Ono (Chef)
What are your favorite album covers of all time and why?
My parents had a couple of Vangelis CDs and as a child they had the most intriguing covers, depicting strange sci-fi worlds.
I am completely bamboozled about how Doug Johnson created this series. His airbrushing skills and use of colour make me sweat.
In my opinion Neil Krug’s best work to-date. He captures so much momentum and drama in a still image.
Released this year, this is probably the most perfectly executed example of a crossover of metal design on a rap cover.
How would you describe the creative scene in Melbourne? Do you thrive off of being part of a creative community or are you more in your element as a lone wolf?
Melbourne has a very vibrant, ever-evolving creative scene. I particularly love this place because it’s young and still establishing its own identity as a creative city.
I surround myself with creatives every day for inspiration. However, up until now, I’ve designed solo, on account of having a very specific vision for developing my identity. Today, having established that style/aesthetic, I’d be open to collaboration with other artists where my technical abilities lack.
What do you do when Not Working?
I’ll try to get a skate in when there's time, and sun.
I also like to go for a run – I feel like I’m problem-solving 24/7 because I don’t – and can’t – apply a consistent method to each project. Running gives me an hour each day to focus on nothing, and to give me a break from that persistent problem-solving.
What’s some of the best creative advice you’ve ever heard or received that our members need to hear?
Ken Robinson said something that floored me in a talk about schools killing creativity: “If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original”
This isn’t something I’d ever considered. I feel like I’ve taken risks, but they’ve all been calculated risks. I don’t think new trends catch on in a creative field unless there is a sense of tension, perhaps a conflict – people need to disagree in order to create a conversation that will propel the trends’ reach.
Who are some WNW Members whose work you admire and why?
I’ve always been a fan of Anny Wang, her 3D game is on another level.
Discover more creative talent and projects like this on Working Not Working. If you're a WNW Member with new work, exhibits, products, or news to share, email us.
SHE-MOJI, A MUCH NEEDED GIRL GANG AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
SHE-MOJI, A MUCH NEEDED GIRL GANG AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
It's impossible for a person to reach their potential if they're not given the tools and language to express themselves. Three WNW Members took notice that emoji, while a fun, easy and increasingly popular tool for communication, offer a shortcut to a whole collection of troubling stereotypes. They've taken charge, creating She–Moji. It's an emoji keyboard, for women. We spoke to Melbourne-born and New York-based WNW Members Nirmala Shome, Noemie Le Coz and Karina de Alwis, who share the origin story of She-Moji and tell us why a miniature girl gang is long overdue:
"The standard emoji keyboard reduces female identities to brides, princesses and dancers, with female activities centered around getting nails or hair done. As professional women in the field of digital and design, we decided to put our skills to work and change all of this – as a small, yet globally-accessible move towards a better representation of women all over the world. Red-headed yogis. Blondes with sass. A black belt karate master with an afro. A latina astronaut. An Indian chef. Even an African-American goth."
The She–Moji keyboard for iPhone launched July 8 worldwide – available on the App Store. It includes 400+ original emoji, including women representing all shapes and colors, professions, activities, outfits and nationalities, plus a slew of powerful call outs like Slay All Day, Kween and Om. As if that isn't enough, they're also donating 50% of app profits from the App Store to the Malala Fund, which strives to ensure every girl has access to 12 years of free, safe, quality primary and secondary education.
P.S. They're calling all emoji users to help them build the She–Moji girl gang and tell them what you want to see in the next release. Use #MAKEMYSHEMOJI, or reach out via Twitter: @shemojiapp, Instagram: @she.moji, or Email: hello@she-moji.com
How was the idea for She-Moji born?
During a casual night in, we started talking about the need for a better range of female emoji, and decided that maybe instead of talking about it, we could actually make it! We’ve been working in digital and design for so long, we were excited to do something together and put our skills towards something we really cared about.
Why is it important that something as seemingly innocuous as an emoji keyboard be carefully considered and as inclusive as possible?
Emoji have grown into their own lexicon and we see them more and more in everyday communications. Even though they seem frivolous, emoji play a huge role in the way we communicate, and affect how we subliminally think about women. We understand that the native emoji keyboard can’t include everything, for everyone, but we’ve all become far too comfortable working around the skewed offering, and retrofitting our messages to work with the limited set.
We hope She-Moji helps reiterates the need for better female emoji in the official Unicode set.
What were some of the challenges in making sure no woman was left behind? How did you ensure that She-Moji reached its potential in this regard?
While we tried to make sure we covered many bases we just couldn’t get them all in – we had a list as tall as us and just had to focus on our MVP so we could get this to market. We spoke to friends and relatives and settled on the current set – but this is just the beginning.
We also knew that for this to succeed it needed to work well and look hot(!) so we enlisted the help of our super talented friends Devin Ross (iOS developer) and Blair Burke (3D animator).
Which She-Mojis are your favorites?
Bad ass skateboarder
Zen meditation
Baller astronaut
Black Belt Jiu Jitsu Master
BFFs in bathing suits
What’s your hope for She-Moji’s impact? What’s next?
Our initial intention with this first release was to spark a conversation around the lack of female representation in the native set of emoji – a conversation that people (including us!) have been too comfortable to ignore. Plus, we would love to be able to reach out to the Malala Fund with a sizable donation to help move their programs forward.
Beyond this first release, our plans are simple – to continue to expand our She-Moji girl gang! There are so many we thought of but didn’t get to include for launch, which we want to add in the next round. Also in the inclusive She-Moji spirit, we want people to send in their She-Moji requests with the hashtag #makemyshemoji – effectively empowering our audience to decide what’s included in the next generation.
As well as expanding the She-Moji options themselves, we hope to roll out to Android too, if we are able to grow our user base enough.
You’re donating 50% of app store profits. What makes The Malala Fund a fitting partner for She-Moji?
We knew we wanted to donate 50% of our profits to a women’s charity from day one. There are so many emoji apps out there now, we didn’t want to just add to the clutter without trying to make a real impact.
Malala herself is synonymous with inclusivity, and advocating for women everywhere. We all followed her story and her work long before we started this project, so she immediately came to mind.
The Malala Fund works to provide 12 years of safe, quality education for all girls. So we really felt this organization aligned with the philosophy and inclusive nature that She–Moji itself was built on.
What do each of you do when Not Working?
Nirmala
When I’m not working, I’m busy working on my side projects with my super talented mates. I also love being active and am a self confessed health freak who is addicted to yoga.
Noemie
I’m a nerdy designer at heart and probably never not designing up something ridiculous in my head. I also love laughing more than anything – I try to sneak in time for re-runs of Seinfeld and Absolutely Fabulous whenever I have couch time (which is less than I’d like these days!)
Karina
Every time I'm asked this question, I make a mental note to get a hobby! When I'm not working, I love a good girls’ night out, or even just having friends around for dinner.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Just this: