So, who is Axel Peemoeller?
I love birds, colors, air, mountains, paint, water, barefoot, loud music, composing, dreams, shapes, love, trees, snow, pens, reef, my dog; Bones, architecture, travel, different cultures, vespa, art, knifes, fish, city, streets, signs, mountains, oceans, mornings, waves, small creatures, black, technology, simplicity, material, abstract, space, freedom, fire, boats, machines, mechanisms, history, hugs, thinking outside the box, gifts, sun, moods, sayings, eyes, plants, diving, rope, table-tennis...
How long have you been doing what you do? What do you love about it? What do you dislike about it?
I started studying visual communications in 1998, I didn't really know that much about graphic design; I was more fascinated by art, big paintings and crazy installations. I didn't even know how to start a computer. But I quickly started to enjoy it, so after studying in Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Melbourne here I am about 10 years later with a muscular pointing finger (mouse finger). I love the complexity of design, I love the thoughts behind the design, the function and the challenge to find an original idea. I love that every job is different. I guess if I would have to mention something that I dislike about my job it would be that it is so hard to go all the way with good ideas, the best ideas die along the way or get twisted so many times that you end up with a clump of clay.
What is a typical day for you?
I am self employed, so either I work for my own clients or on projects I enjoy, or I get booked by other design studios for projects, which often means that I work a regular working day at their studio. But I also enjoy life and try to do as many things I can that have nothing to do with design, like taking my dog Bones for a walk along the river.
What are you working on at the moment? Are you still illustrating articles for Feld Magazine?
I just finished a job in Berlin last week and now I got a few projects up in the air waiting for them to land. Feld magazine has been taking a break as far as I know, but I'm pretty sure that I will keep on illustrating articles for them, it has been fun so far, and I think people liked what I did.
Your portfolio contains a number of corporate identities and branding work. You say you love to do this kind of project: Where did the interest in developing icons and identities come from? When you’re commissioned to create a corporate identity, what kind of process runs through your head?
Identities are the face of a company or ideology, they represent the nature and mentality of the work and people. It fascinates me to focus the core characteristics into a visual interpretation which hopefully hits the point. Similar to identities are icons, it's just that you have to pinpoint the the core message in an attractive and easy to decipher illustration. Furthermore, both need a lot of attention to detail to be just perfect and still interesting. When I get a commission for an identity the first step is to understand who they are, how they see themselves and how they want to be seen by others. Next step is to find different ways to show their personality in an original way. Then the biggest step is to convince them of your design. Many times just from talking to the people I start getting pictures, shapes and colors in my head.
Your work is very diverse – do you believe in blurring the boundaries between art/architecture/design or do you put a different ‘hat’ on to work on different kinds of jobs?
Well this is a really nice question, I believe that thinking outside the box helps any design, because first you have to understand what you want to do before you can find the right way to do it, and the further you distance your thoughts from the main topic you will find an authentic thought that might just be the right twist to the solution. So in a way, I am looking everywhere for input and inspiration which means that design/art/architecture/fashion all become one. But also every job is individual and therefore I believe that you need to find a system for each job on how to crack it. The perfection of the system (hat) is what makes the result interesting and individual (hopefully).
You’ve lived in a number of different places, and are currently based in Hamburg. Different cities often reflect different sensibilities… What have you found out on your travels?
In principal I would agree, but to me it seems like design boundaries (styles) are blurring, international design publications, design blogs/portfolio websites and the globalization of products and styles in general give access to anybody from anywhere to the work from anyone from anywhere. It seems like what used to be typical Russian design or typical Dutch design does not necessarily mean that it was actually designed there. People get inspiration from anywhere. Melbourne, New York, Berlin, London, Hamburg, Paris, Barcelona, Sydney, Tokyo, Amsterdam... they are all different cities but still they are somehow all the same. A city is a city. Still, I have noticed that countries and their people have a different awareness for design, some fancy great thoughtful design, others want it to be extra large and in bright colors. (I could say much more to this but I better stop here, I'm starting to bring in 10 thoughts at a time).
Of all the projects you’ve completed, which ones were the most fun/challenging/frustrating?
Oh, I have had many projects that I enjoyed, so it would be very difficult to point one out. Let's just take the one which draws the most attention at the moment - the Eureka Car Park in Melbourne. I designed this in 2006, I was contracted by Emery Studio. I love the work of Felice Varini and also had the idea of distorted type in space for quite some time. When I got the brief on my desk it took about 10 minutes to get the idea on paper, another 10 to get it all right, and 10 more to explain the idea to the client. Job done in 30 minutes - my personal record at the moment.
Quite a lot of your work involves typography. If you were a font, what would you be and why?
Beautiful question, but so hard to answer, maybe because of what I said before, I like to come up with something "new" on every job, I don't like to repeat myself in design. Maybe I would be a generic font which changes shape and appearance all the time.
Is there something that you would love to design? What is in need of a drastic makeover in your opinion?
Oh everyday I see things which make me think: "What a nice job but terrible design solution." It even makes me sad to think of the potential of the job, worst case it makes me angry to see how little love someone put into it. But you also find the great ones here and there everyday, often disguised as not being designed. There are a million things I would love to design. I would love to do more environmental design, design in space, three dimensional. Here is one thing where I have not seen any nice design solution ever, and I keep seeing them almost everyday. Hamburg has a pretty big harbor, many container ships and cruise boats like the love boat come through. You name any of the cruise boats they all look awful: I wish I could design a huge ocean liner like the Queen Marie or Aida, outside and inside.
What’s next for Axel Peemoeller?
Tell me if you know!
Above: Eureka car park signage, Melbourne.
Have a look at more of Axel's work at: www.de-war.de
