Graphic designer Liz MacInnis on the creative process and how purpose unlocks fresh ideas
Liz MacInnis isn’t afraid of a challenge. For this self-taught graphic designer, delving into the unknown is business as usual. “Design requires a leap of faith”, she says. “You don’t know until a piece is out in the world if it’s going to work.” Beneath her unflappable approach to the process, MacInnis doesn’t leave design to chance. Each of her works is studiously crafted to “serve the function of the piece”. Drawing on equal parts technical precision and meticulous research, MacInnis uncovers the essence of a design problem to free her imagination for creative solutions. Last month she joined CultureRISE to chat about what makes great design and where she turns for inspiration.
CR: How did you get started as a graphic designer?
LM: It goes back to university. The first time I ever saw somebody laying out a publication on a computer I thought, ‘I want to know how to do that.’ At the time I was studying international development — far removed from graphic design — so, in my spare time, I sought out publications to learn about publishing and the production process. My first real design experience was laying out the campus newspaper twice a week.
CR: Did you always have an interest in creative pursuits?
LM: A part of me had always loved art class. When I was younger I loved making stuff with my hands — collages and that sort of thing. I was never great at painting or drawing but I loved making things. Once I figured out there was a profession that brings together images and text in an interesting way…and that this could be an actual job…I wanted to figure out how to do it.
CR: How did you transform this passion from an interest into a career?
LM: It just sort of grew. I took courses, I did research, tried different things. My whole design career has been self-taught. Technically, I don’t have a fine arts background but I’ve done a lot of self-initiated studies in print production and the technical side of design.
Design Projects by Liz MacInnis
CR: What most surprised you about design?
LM: Design is as much technical as it is creative. There’s a lot you have to understand in terms of design principles, but you also have to design for the end-use of the piece. You can’t have good design if you’re just interested in how something looks. You also have to be able to understand basic principles of contrast, texture and balance, as well as the final use and interaction of a piece. Whether it’s a book layout or a website or outdoor branding, you have to be able to design for that final purpose.
CR: How does that affect you artistically?
LM: There’s a big debate about the line between design and art. Personally I don’t consider myself an artist because my work is always in response to a client’s need or the needs of the organization I’m working for. Of course design can have artistic elements and be beautiful to look at. But it has to be serve the function of the piece, whatever that is. Otherwise, you’re just making art for art’s sake and it doesn’t actually achieve the desired outcome for the client, in which case I think that’s a design fail.
Text and collage-based alphabet poster series by Liz MacInnis
CR: Does having this clear design purpose help or hinder your creativity?
LM: With design, I feel more comfortable with limitations, in a way, because then you’re forced to narrow your scope — for instance, the size of the piece or the number of colours you can use. You start from a few set guidelines, then in the first brainstorming it’s important to be totally blue sky. At that stage I do a lot more visual research to get a sense of the landscape. For example, when I started to work on the Inside Out Film Festival campaign with my design partner on the project, I looked into the queer community: the iconography and symbols, colours, important historical events and language around queer identity. This helped me to start narrowing down a design approach.
CR: That sounds like a lot of prep work!
LM: The more research you do, the better you will understand what other people have done in the past around a similar design problem — and the better your work gets. It’s always better to have references for your own sake, even if it’s not clear for the end user or anybody else. It’s much more interesting when you have those secret meanings within your work. And if other people get the reference, that’s great too!
CR: Where do you find creative inspiration for your projects?
LM: Over the years I’ve built up a design resource library, a collection of books by other designers and writing by critical thinkers in the design world. I look at a lot of websites. I read a lot. I think it’s important to read about current design trends, as much as it is to look at them, and figure out what you like and what you don’t. Understanding historical references and the evolution of design is important too. While I do love to look at pretty pictures on design blogs, I also read about the development process behind a piece.
Liz’ design resource library: some recent faves on her bookshelf include How To by Michael Beirut, In Progress by Jessica Hische, and The Anatomy of Type by Stephen Coles.
CR: Once you have finished the research, how do you turn this insight into a final product?
LM: There are a lot of different ways to interpret a design brief. If I were given the exact same project last year and today, I might come up with totally different ideas. I like that about design. Sometimes it feels like you’re never done. It can be hard to stop working on something because you want to add an element or tweak this thing or try a different colour. But on the flip-side, there’s no wrong answer. There are certainly wrong approaches but there are so many different ways to solve a problem. That’s a good way to think about design…as problem solving.
CR: Do you have any personal design projects in the works?
LM: Most of my creative energy these days is focused on professional projects. I would rather step away from the computer when I don’t have to be in front of it! But I do have one project I’ve been working on. It’s a series of posters — a text and collage-based piece — one for every letter of the alphabet. I am interested in the etymology of words, especially odd words that I’ve never heard before. I pick the most obscure words for each letter of the alphabet and design a poster using images of these words in a collage form.
CR: What do you most like about your work as a graphic designer?
LM: It’s a great way to use two very different parts of your brain. If you’re going to be good at design you have to do a lot of research, and you have to be able to communicate your ideas with your clients or colleagues. You use a lot of different skills every day. No two days are the same. I also really like that there are a lot of days I can listen to music at work!
Check out Liz MacInnis’ website for more creative ideas.
(All images courtesy of Liz MacInnis)
