826LA believes that a beautifully designed and produced publication transforms homework into a tangible product of a student’s imagination and creativity — inspiring students to write more and more and more. Since 2005, 826LA has been partnering with amazing artists and designers who believe in our mission. verynice has been one of those partners.
verynice is a global design-strategy consultancy based in Los Angeles and has designed four different 826LA chapbooks and the Time Travel Mart website. Most recently, verynice designed, Never Read It, for Mr. Molnar’s 10th Grade English Class at Miguel Contreras Learning Complex. We sat down with Alisa Olinova, Art Director, to talk about the creative process and visiting Mr. Molnar’s class!
Read on to hear what Alisa had to say!
How long has verynice been involved with 826LA and how did you first hear about us?
The first person who was part of our Entrepreneur-in-Residence program introduced our Founder and Managing Director, Matthew Manos, to Joel Arquillos, the Executive Director of 826LA, when he happened to be visiting the HUB for an event. That was in 2013 and we began collaborating shortly after that. This is our 4th book design project with 826LA, but we’ve also worked on the Time Travel Mart website, and a range of products for the store.
verynice has designed multiple chapbooks for 826LA (If I Knew Then What I Know Now: Narratives and Profiles of Food Justice in Boyle Heights, The Fields of Our Minds). What does the journey between the kernels of an idea and the final product look like?
A brainstorm, meeting, or workshop with our clients (aka the experts on the topic at hand), inspires not just the kernels of an idea, but the evidence that those ideas make sense for the project. Once we grasp visual elements that can represent those ideas, we experiment with getting them down on paper and into words for our design directions. Experimenting helps us understand which ideas are actually possible to produce and which ones are best left in our minds. Sometimes this happens easily and quickly and other times it comes over time. This discovery phase gets narrowed down based on client feedback and constraints like printing costs, etc. As we flesh out the rest of the design, we use what we learned from the design directions as a guide to make sure we’re sticking to a strong concept and creating something functional and beautiful.
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verynice’s mission is rooted in the intersection between social awareness and design. Why is design important in today’s political and cultural climate?
Design is the medium with which organizations communicate their cause to others.
Design is what makes the invisible, visible.
And design thinking is an important tool for anyone trying to solve today’s problems. By working with passionate, deserving, and inspiring clients, we can help get more donations, increase awareness, and communicate their missions to more people, while they focus on the cause. Through collaborations like this we can be proactive in affecting today’s and tomorrow’s social climate for the better.
What inspires you?
Everywhere you look there is something to be mad about, sad about, happy about, or excited about. Current events, places, and people are the inspirational drivers for creating good work. As a designer, there’s an endless supply of inspiration on design blogs, in the work of other great agencies, designers and artists, and of course…Wikipedia. As a creator, it seems like the more you listen, look, and learn, the better and more diverse your ideas and experiences can be.
What was one of the highlights of visiting Miguel Contreras Learning Complex for the design presentation for the newest book Never Read It?
Seeing and hearing the student’s reactions and feedback to our concepts was wonderful for the design of the book. Sharing our process and ideas with the students was a highlight because it felt like, perhaps, they experienced something they hadn’t before. It’s fun to think about the possibility that maybe one of them will be inspired by that moment to learn more about design in their future. They also made me feel cool.
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Thank you for us showing the endless possibilities of design, verynice!
For internships, design volunteer opportunities, or other creative inquiries, email Rachel Mendelsohn.