Take Five with...
Ken Deegan, Associate Partner & Designer / Typography Lecturer at School of Visual Arts, Pentagram New York
What is the most unusual project you’ve ever worked on?
A robotic cocktail bar that was first displayed at Milan Fashion Week and then Google IO in 2014. Currently I believe it can be found on the Quantum of the Seas cruise ship floating around Asia We were approached by MIT to design an identity, mobile application, and large screen-based data visualization that integrated with the Kuka robots—most commonly used for manufacturing cars. There’s always a catch with a fun project like this, we had 28 days to complete it all. Fortunately we did. It worked, was a hit with users and the press, and I got to sample a few of the drinks at Google IO. They weren’t quite at a mixologist’s high standard but they were tasty.
Who is your creative hero?
Otl Aicher for the full 1972 Munich Olympics design package
James Murphy for his subway turnstile music project: http://subwaysymphony.heineken.com/agegate/
Jonathan Glazer for all his work but particularly for his latest shorts for channel 4: http://youtu.be/aWvUJATjJDE
What would you do with a spare €100?
Most likely I’d check out what new Unit Edition is coming out or scour online for some original Aicher or Brockmann posters.
What piece of work do you wish you had created?
The Norwegian passport. It’s by far the most tastefully designed passport I’ve come across. Britain and the U.S should take a page out of their book—theirs are design atrocities.
http://www.neue.no/pass/
What’s your soundtrack?
I’m on a Joy Division binge at the moment, but a few other artists to add to it would be:
Talking Heads
LCD Soundsystem
Mmoths
Miles Davis
Blood Orange
Run the Jewels
D.R.A.M
Future Islands
Nicolas Jaar
Washed Out
New Order
