FAIRspot

Interview

The Hejz

Everyone that takes design seriously knows that managing your vision all the way through a project is easier said than done. Obstacles like the client that wants it done their way, or an insane deadline that causes the concept phase to be ignored are just a few of the reasons our true intentions seem to crumble and crack the closer they get to completion. So it makes you wonder, how do some people manage to get it done more often than not? A perfect example is our man Peter "Hejz" Jaworowski. Hejz has been cranking out some serious work for some serious clients for several years, all without letting a peep of mediocre work slip by. Is it natural talent or a ton of blood, sweat and pixels? You might just be surprised.

FAIRspot: What does "The Hejz" mean?

Peter "Hejz" Jaworowski: A few years back - shortly after my journey with design started - I was playing loads of multiplayer games. One day, I tried to think of something that was short and had a few nice letters (so that I could use them as a my game nick name. My friend and I came up with 'haze' and 'hejz' is just a polish pronunciation of this word, nothing more or less. Some people call me "Hejz" on a daily basis, that's why [when I started my journey with design] I thought I would stick with it - plus, the domain was still free. My surname, Jaworowski, is hard to spell as well, even people in Poland can't write it correctly.

FS: Who's involved with your studio, Ars Thanea?

PHJ: Ars Thanea was started in 2007 by Bartlomiej Rozbicki, Pawel Piotrzkowski and Radoslaw Krzepkowski. From the beginning we were working as a group of four. After one year, I become one of the co-owners. Right now our team consist of 10 people; 1 Creative Director, 3 Designers/Illustrators, 5 Flash/Flex developers and 1 admin - who is also a really good server-side programmer.

FS: How do you manage your freelance business while running Ars Thanea?

PHJ: I'm not doing freelance anymore, I stopped a couple months ago. Every inquiry I receive I produce through Ars Thanea (AT). I'm really happy that this method worked out for me. I go to the office every day in the morning, do my job and later on I have more free time for myself, of course if I don't need to stay after hours.

FS: What is your long-term vision for Ars Thanea? The Hejz?

PHJ: From now on, The Hejz will only be my personal showcase - just to have something that's 100% mine. A new version of hejz.com will be finished very soon, probably at the end of the month. I concentrate all my powers on AT right now. As I mentioned before, our team currently consists of 10 people, which is a great number if you want to produce quality projects, focus on details, have some order and feel more like a family. Long-term Vision? I'm sure we would like to continue creating with pride, fun and still earn some money for a living. Our goal is to create a team of people (I'm sure we'll grow sooner or later) who have the same attitude, vision and understand each other. Also, we would love to stand strong in the market and not worry about future prospects. I'm sure these are the visions of most of our people. For now, everything is on the right track and we hope to keep it that way!

FS: Do you like the business side of design?

PHJ: I do like meeting new people and the business side of design is definitely one of those places where you can meet them. In small companies like AT you need to make many different things at once and only a little part of it is related to design or illustration itself. In the beginning it can be frustrating for people who only like to create, but after a while I got used to it and I'm really starting to like it.

FS: What has enabled you to work on mega-brands such as Nike, Bacardi, Nokia and Oakley?

PHJ: I got all those projects from recommendations, so I assume the quality work I've done in the past was the main factor. I try to make every new project the best work I've ever done. The first big project I did was Nike Air Lab back in 2006. After that I felt like a couple of doors opened for me. The fact that you can make a beautiful image for a client is not enough, they need to be sure that you can cooperate, obey the corporate rules and be punctual on deadlines. As soon as you make something for one big client that trusted you, it's much easier [to get new jobs] later on. Now I just regret having so little free time to make stuff for myself.

FS: Do you self-promote?

PHJ: The only self-promotion things I do are interviews, news on different design portals (Reform&Revolution, Cpluv, The FWA) or some magazine features. I never really needed more. I receive a couple of interesting inquiries every week, so I have the privilege to choose what I would like to do. Promotion is really only necessary if you don't have much to do. If that changes, I'll think of something else.

FS: What advice would you give to designers wanting to become full-time freelancers?

PHJ: Choose your projects wisely and don't take everything that comes up. Remember that work is not everything and it's easy to get swamped and sit 24/h at your computer. It's hard to divide your living and work place, so if you have a chance, rent a small space as your office, that would really help.

FS: What's your work area like?

PHJ: In April we moved to a really nice two-floor apartment. Our location didn't change much - if you compare it to the old office - we are still in the center of the city (although our neighborhood switched from an Old Town into a beautiful street with loads of green trees with a park and only a few steps to the subway station). Almost all designers in our office use new 24" iMacs with 4gb of additional ram, Wacom tablets plus, of course, Adobe software. I couldn't live without Photoshop, which is my main tool.

FS: What's the favorite part of your job?

PHJ: When the client is happy with a project we produced for him and he sends an email with a congratulations to the whole team. It's a really nice feeling that someone can appreciate the amount of work you put into it. Parties after some projects are good as well ;)

FS: Do you code all your own Flash sites?

PHJ: Ah, not at all! Actionscript is my biggest enemy. For anything needing Flash, we have really skilled and experienced Flash developers. They are very helpful with everything we need and are always looking for the best solution to the problem.

FS: What's the most important lesson you've learned since becoming a designer that you'd like to pass on to everyone?

PHJ: There's quite a few actually, with being more patient as one of the most important ones.

FS: What's your favorite piece of work you have finished so far?

PHJ: I'm really happy how the whole series of Martini Asti - Elements came out. The client was really nice on those, not too many revisions. Plus, I had some freedom and time. I felt really good when it was finally finished and I saw them hanging on the walls around the city.

FS: What's happening in the Polish creative scene?

PHJ: I'm really impressed by the quality of work that is showing up lately from Poland. A couple of studios are doing a really great job - both on concept and the realization side. More and more people are changing their jobs from big advertising agencies to small studios and I think that's the factor. Clients are starting to look for more quality work. I hope it's not going to change back again.

FS: In your opinion, what country produces the best designers?

PHJ: I was always the biggest fan of productions that popped-up from Sweden. I admire work of North Kingdom, as well as Kokokaka. I think that having schools like Hyper Island or Beckmans are really helping good designers to grow. I'm not sure how the situation with design education looks like in other countries, but I'm sure there is no such term as 'design education' in Poland. So yes, I would give my vote to Sweden.

FS: What do you like to do when you are not working?

PHJ: I am working 24h/day, okay, I'm kidding, but most of the time it's close to it. When I finally get out from the studio, I spend as much time as I can with my girlfriend. Besides that, I like hanging out at the swimming pool or watching all the crap that appears in the cinema - I find this really relaxing and sometimes inspiring, depending on the movie. I used to read a lot of books by Terry Pratchett, but lately I've given up on it because of the lack of time.

FS: You're turning 23 in December... would you consider yourself an "old" designer by today's standards? What do you think will be happening in your life by age 30?

PHJ: I still need to learn a lot in this field. I'll think of myself as an 'old' designer when I have at least 10-12 years of experience. I live day by day, project by project. I never really thought about how it will be by age 30. Please ask me in a couple of years :)

FS: What design trend(s) do you expect to see emerging in 2009?

PHJ: I think everything will move towards minimalism. You can already see a lot of people are trying to make much simpler things, but polished. 2008 was a very colorful year for illustration, I think it will change as well. That's how I see it. If it comes true? We'll see.

Thank you for the interview... it was a pleasure.
Peace!

- Pete

 

Like what you see?
All works above are produced by and copyrighted by Peter Jaworowski | The Hejz. To view more of Peter's work, please visit his online portfolio at hejz.com.

 

6 Comments

Other Stuff

• » Spotlights
  • Interview: David Kamp
  • Interview: The Hejz
  • Interview: Hillman Curtis
  • Interview: Timo Boese | Lowerground
  • Interview: Radim Malinic | Brand Nu
  • Interview: Tom Muller
  • Feature: Noah Kalina
  • Interview: Joshua Smith | Hydro74
  • Interview: Stefan Lucut
  • Interview: Carole Guevin | Netdiver
  • Feature: 2007 Year End Highlights
  • Interview: Carlos Fabián Camargo
  • Feature: Emil Kozak
• Competitions
• FAQs
• About FAIRspot.com
• Submission Guidelines
• Newsletter
• Terms & Conditions
• Privacy Policy

Link to Our Spot

If you find this site useful and want to tell others about it, we encourage you to link to our site. It's easy! Just create a text-link written as "FAIRspot.com" or download our logo and buttons below:



Download the FAIRspot.com Promo Pack

 

Contact

FAIRspot.com
14770 Caminito Orense Oeste
San Diego, CA 92129

hello@fairspot.com