Interview: Designer Adam Spizak

Adam is a Polish designer and illustrator who is currently living in London, UK. He is also the co-founder of the design blog artisnavi.com, „an outlet for presenting inspiring, promising and basically great things.“ We talked to him about inspiration, work and life in general.

Adam Spizak – The Last Guardian

print24:

Hi Adam,
Thanks for taking time to answer our questions. You were born in Poland, what brought you to London?

Adam:

Work, London is a great place for designers as the market is very vast.

print24:

When did you decide to start a design career? Did you know it from an early age or was there another deciding reason?

Adam:

I started from doing some freelance work and after at some point got a job in a agency working on vinyl design, but always felt that I want to do more. I was 13 years old and was very interested in amiga demo scene, since then I knew I want to design as well.

print24:

What inspires you and influences your artwork the most? Are there any favorite books, movies, moments etc. you constantly get your inspiration from?

Adam:

Pretty much everything – I listen to a lot of music that would be my main inspiration. I love movies and video games as well – they are a big inspiration for new ideas. When it comes to books – I try to vary, really liked Don Winslow’s Savages, but my all time favs are Frank Herbert’s Dune books and Orson Scott Card Ender books – both universes are almost always present in my mind and included me more than any other thing.

Adam Spizak – Darth Vader

print24:

Your illustrations are really unique, colorful and have a high recognition value. How did you develop your own style and what advice would you give to newbies?

Adam:

Thank you, recognition is very illusive and I try to keep it at bay. I experiment a lot, even these days I still try new things. The style is something that I think comes from two places – your inspiration and naturally from you. I always liked colours, but also had a natural obsession for detail. At first when I started working on illustration I did struggle with getting the right vibe, narrative was what helped me make them come to live. I always try to combine these two – quality and narrative. Advice to newbies would be: don’t force the style, let It come out naturally from what you feel makes you most happy about your work.

print24:

What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made and what would you have done differently?

Adam:

Biggest mistake would be that I worried to much what would people think if I try something else and experiment – expectation that others have of you can be very limiting. If I could make something different I would push myself to try experiment more.

print24:

Do you have any role models regarding work and life in general?

Adam:

Not many, not that there are many role models – it’s just that I never felt I need a role model apart from my mum.

Adam Spizak – Pin-Up 3000

print24:

What accomplishments are you most proud of?

Adam:

Just doing what I like and getting paid for it. Most people never get that luxury.

print24:

What’s does a typical day of Adam Spizak look like?

Adam:

I wake up at 7am, do some gymnastics. Shower, get a morning coffee on my way to the office. On my morning train I read some light news. Once I’m at my computer I try to check out my favs blogs to see what’s new out there, after there’s work I need to focus on and just try to do my best to make things better than I did day before. Most days I try to do some personal projects as well – so some time in the evening I’ll do some experiments with new stuff. My day finishes around 2am.

print24:

And what are you doing to relax?

Adam:

I try to keep my body in shape – so gym is one thing, but once I’m home I would say: music and video games are two things I relax with. And a glass of porto :)

print24:

Thanks for the interview Adam and all the best for you!

Adam:

Thank you very much.