MacDirectory Magazine

TURE FEA Part 2: T echnique L > Tell us about your favorite tools: (devices, software…) D > For efficiency reasons, we basically both work on the same computers - that is the last generation of iMac 27". This allows us to have optimized exchanges when we collaborate on the same projects. I think many other freelance graphic designers also choose this equipement, which is one of the best possible machine/screen combinations. Other than that, we both own a tablet, which is, absolutely necessary in our business. We chose Wacom Intuos 4, but we also have a Cintiq 21", which is very interesting for certain illustration projects. S > About the software we work with the Adobe Creative Cloud, and mainly with Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign, but we also use a lot Painter by Corel. Naturally, the only constraints to our participation in the 2nd Season of the TEN Collection was the exclusive use of Illustrator, we only used this software to create our visual. But usually, we'd rather mix those various softwares, to get the best out of each of them. L > What feeling or idea, did you intend to convey through your creation? Your work shows several levels of depth: can you explain the different "layers" in it? D > Since there was no imposed theme by Fotolia, Sosoa and I had decided to work on a more personal subject than planned : the upcoming birth of our child. Obviously, the idea wasn't to talk about ourselves specifically, but rather about the feelings that arise inside all future parents when opening this new life chapter. Doubt, excitement, love... S > In this visual creation, entitled "Unfinished Sympathy" (a reference to Massive Attack), we are face two opposing forces, confronting each other and converging towards a single central element. They represent our most primary instincts, experienced during this pregnancy. The left hand, "Unfinished", symbolizes the material side we all have inside. This attraction we have for possessions, greed and appearances, which give us this perpetual feeling of incompleteness. While the right hand, "Sympathy", rather embodies a form of spirituality, which we would rather wait to receive, rather than take. Finally, since things are never black or white, there is no moral in this visual. We wanted to show a balance between these two forces. L >The Fotolia creative brief called for creative freedom. Do you like to work following a defined art direction, or would you rather have carte blanche? S > The trap would be to think it is easier to create when you have a "carte blanche", rather than with a constraint. For the TEN project, it seemed obvious to us that we should work on this theme, which we were directly living together at that moment. But in general, and more particularly in our daily work, we are suspicious about "cartes blanches". It is not rare that we are asked to work on something in which we are totally free and on which we are totally trusted, but which doesn't really please the client in the end. MacDirectory 99

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