DAVID: DRUNK AND DESIGNER

Designer: Andrew Hagon
Company: WATERBOMB
INTERVIEWER: David Christie

Andrew Hagon has been studying and working as a graphic designer over the last ten years, he has been a close personal friend of mine all of this time. Andrew is self-employed and works on a freelance basis, he is contracted to several high-end advertising companies and does a lot of magazine work. Andrew is the person that told me that graphic design and graffiti are very different, while one compliments the other, there is so much more to learn by viewing both separately.

DAVID: How did you begin your career in graphic design – formal study or otherwise? Where did you study and how long for? Would you do that again or is there another alternative?
ANDREW: I was a graffiti artist long before I even considered graphic design, I often wondered how I could make my love of shapes and colours into money ha ha ha, it was mostly 80’s poster art that got me thinking about graphic design, any way I decided that I would give it a try, I enrolled in a private college as so I could do a degree in as little time as possible and have the best resources available to me, Two year and a few jobs later I graduated and begun selling my ass… Can we say that?
DAVID: I Guess…
ANDREW: Anyway to finish answering you question, it was a hard slog for sometime, and NO I would not do it again, I would just by magazines and cut out all the boring theory.
DAVID: You’re a top roll model mate ha ha ha… Now! How did you feel when you handed your first job to your first client?
ANDREW: to be honest with you at that particular moment I didn’t care it either was or wasn’t, but the days before hand and the late nights were fear filled, it something you can expect plenty of my friend.
DAVID: Get bent…
ANDREW: stop interrupting you interview or we will be here for hours. So when the final job was done, I knew that I had done my best with my interpretation of what my client wanted, I had back up options at the ready and I expected them to say it was shit. I had nothing to lose.
DAVID: You’re so brave ha ha ha… what are the Influences and inspirations of your design career?
ANDREW: I would have to say that my greatest inspiration is the stupid idea that I am about to discard when I am first given a design brief, there is always this far out random idea, that usually I would discard, but on the few occasions I have used it, there has been success. Other than that, the world, my surroundings, they are great influence, I just get around town doing my business with one subject on my mind and the answer generally comes. This may seem a little strange but it how I do my thang baby!
DAVID: Do you prefer to work within a team or on your own?
ANDREW: On my own generally there is more money in it, fortunately for you and me we have some very talented artists and designers as friends so when we are stuck it easy to find outside opinion and influence. In teams there always ends up being on part of the design that I am not satisfied with and it eats away at me. For example we did some stuff for INSIGHT me and a couple of other contracted designers, we all had different styles and INSIGHT wanted all three combined for the job. Whenever I see this particular campaign in mags or on bus stops there is a striped bit in the corner I fucking hate it kills me AAARRGGHHH!!!!
DAVID: dude my teacher is going to read this so please watch you language.
ANDREW: sorry… sorry miss….
DAVID: that’s better
ANDREW: good, now get on with it…
DAVID: wait did you want another beer?
ANDREW: Yes thank mate…
DAVID: What strategies do you have to cope with creative blocks?
ANDREW: um beer an pot… ha ha ha


DAVID: c’mon now… seriously!
ANDREW: I will take my mind of the subject for 24 hours, and toward the end of this period, generally while I’m falling asleep, IT COMES TO ME! And I just put it in my Dictaphone.
DAVID: What kind of design work have you found to bring in the bread and butter?
ANDREW: I do a lot of photo touch up, I call it image pimping, for magazines, basically I get a dull image of a car and a city scape and I make it look like the shiniest most amazing picture you have ever laid your eyes on, mostly just stuff I have learned messing around on Photoshop.
DAVID: What does your pricing structure include; e.g. fuel costs, hourly rates, materials cost, advertising etc…?
ANDREW: I believe that as a successful designer you obviously have a talent, which means that everything that you design is unique, this is where its value is derived from, it has a certain Andrew Hagon feel to it.
Generally I am very generous to my self when it comes to quoting, because I put a lot of time into my work, if I am given a deadline that mean crunching my time, I will charge accordingly, I was told once that if I did a cheap job for a man he would be the only the one who told everybody.
DAVID: How do you sell yourself? Do you have a website or regular advertising channel?
ANDREW: It’s kind of a weird thing, it seems to me that the more you advertise the worse the jobs are, I am more reserved, I believe that by being 100% for the client, your work speaks for itself, I know I have asked about who had done someone’s graphic work before, have you?
DAVID: Yes.
ANDREW: well then, that proves my point; your work should speak for itself.
DAVID: I have learnt an incredible amount doing this interview and I thank you for you time.
ANDREW: Gees your full of it.
DAVID: Why yes I am.