Larkin Werner, partner/creative director of Wall-to-Wall Studios, earned a BFA in communication design from Syracuse University and has over seventeen years of graphic design and brand strategy experience. His work has received accolades from various publications and organizations, including Print, Communication Arts, Graphis, Step, AIGA 100, Sappi International and The Ad Federation, among others. He was named one of Pittsburgh Magazine's 40 Under 40 in 2006, and has work exhibited in galleries nationally. He is a current member and past president of the American Institute of Graphic Art (AIGA), Pittsburgh Chapter and current adjunct faculty member of Robert Morris University's Media Arts Department. Larkin has been with W|W since 2000.
12.01.09
Stop Thinking And Let Your Mind Wander
If you have a degree in what field is it? A BFA, with a concentration in communication design from Syracuse University.
What’s the best site you've seen lately? What’s so great about it? I don’t have one answer for this, but the social-networking and community-driven content sites are changing so much the way we communicate and share all types of information. It’s addicting, fascinating, exciting and scary all at the same time.
If you were to change professions, what would you choose to do? Furniture maker, although I claim absolutely no skill in woodworking whatever. It must be immensely gratifying to use your talents to build something, say a beautiful chair, that people use and enjoy on a daily basis, and that will be a part of their life for a long, long time. You make it. Someone wants it. You make another one. No questions. No instruction manual. And it still works when your WiFi goes down.
Design or technology? Which is more important? Why? In a perfect world they serve each other. But I really think that technology is the client of design. To hit a home run, to make it (a product, service, app, whatever) an integral, must-have part of life, it’s design. What if an iPhone looked like a tin can, displayed information like a spread sheet, and was hard to navigate—would anyone own one?
From where do your best ideas originate? Talking it through with other people. Brainstorming, bouncing thoughts, challenging one another, can turn a good idea into a great one.
How do you overcome a creative block? When you stop thinking about it and let your mind wander a bit, that’s when ideas can happen.
In one word describe how you feel when beginning a new project? Anxious.
What well-known site is most desperately in need of a redesign? I would love to see Google take a real shot at theirs. But honestly, if they did I’d probably be pissed that they messed with the utterly simple and utilitarian aesthetic of their site.
Do you have creative outlets other than graphic design? Any extra creative energy I have goes into trying to be a better husband and father.
What music are you listening to right now? Right now? Someone is playing Beck over the office system. Part of it is laziness, but I found an old Lee Dorsey CD laying around and it's been playing in my car for about three months now; Grizzly Bear is the newest thing downloaded in my iTunes (they were simultaneously notified that they’d lost their indie cred); and The Awakening, Pittsburgh’s best zombie rock band.
What product/gadget can you not live without? The Chop-o-Matic. Man that thing can chop.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve bought online? Are kids gonna read this?
What’s your favorite quote? “Nothing happens until people get excited.” Not sure who originated it, the thought has been around for a while I guess, but I’ll always attribute it to my father, one of my biggest creative inspirations. That’s part of our job in this business—to get people excited.
Do you have any advice for people just entering the profession? Here’s the short version: Find a mentor. Be confident, but humble. Never stop being a student.
What’s one thing you wish you knew when you started your career? How to dress cool. Aren’t designers supposed to dress cool? Still haven’t figured that one out.