Interview with Ruud Winder

Ruud Winder ("RW") interviewed on Monday, 12 June.

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?

RW : Actually, I've been rebranding since I was 6 years old. On my birthday I made it clear to everyone that from that moment on I would no longer be called Rudy but Ruud, everyone adapted to this and my first rebranding was history. As a child I already collected work from Total Design, saved stamps from certain designers from whom I later took lessons at the Rietveld Academy. There I discovered my conceptual side and fell completely in love with the profession of Graphic Design. After completing my studies, I immediately started bureau gras, together with my colleagues Bart Keuzenkamp (text / copy) and Marius Hettema (programmer). The agency grew quickly, too quickly in my opinion, and in 2007 I changed the business model to a fully networked agency. This made the quality and speed of work much better, and not unimportantly, the pleasure in the work returned completely. I have now been working for more than 15 years with my loyal and wonderful network of independent experts. In 2018, we rebranded bureau gras to Rebrandt, as a remotely organized organization with a full focus on burning and rebranding.

How did you become a designer?

RW : Inspired by the work of Total Design, Grapus and Anton Beeke, I fell more and more in love with the Graphic Design profession. Making posters, good advertising, cool books, that's what I dreamed of. But when the internet came up as a gift during my graduation, I grabbed this opportunity with both hands. A new medium to play with as a designer. The pioneering of technology had begun, resulting in a series of apps, interactive campaigns and hundreds of sites.

What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?

RW : I've always said that as a designer I didn't want to have a 'style'. Just like an actor that plays a role in a movie, the designer should play the right role for the specific client, regardless of my preference for a design language. A nice statement, and when I look back I also recognize a breadth, but certainly also a 'style', or rather a way of working. And well, an actor also interprets the role in his own specific way. Objectivity is not something for designers, leave that to AI *;-), how wonderful it is that as a designer you can give your own personal interpretation to an assignment that makes what you make special.

Which emotions do you feel when designing?

RW : During my design process, after I have completely cleaned up everything around me, I sink into a kind of trance; sketching, associating, looking for images, making tests, everything with an almost manic focus until the sublime concept is written down on paper. And don't let me drive a car after this, my body feels completely drunk afterwards.

What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?

RW : I was never able to perform well in primary and secondary school, I managed, but I had many difficulty getting my diplomas. At the age of 13 I felt more or less 'rejected'. A very bad feeling and it's painfull to see that this is still felt today by many advantaged young people, purely by measuring a very selective number of skills within the current school system. However, it eventually brought me to where I am today. Been "rejected" brought me autonomy, self-reliance and the 'F#ck it' mentality that has brought me a lot in my career as a designer. I am always open to comments, but as a designer you must also be able to stand up for your own ideas and believe in them. And that is not always easy in a world where everyone thinks they know everything. Fighting until it finally becomes what I really support as a designer. I therefore believe in the power of the individual, innovation, optimization, it is in ourselves, we just have to want to listen to it and go for it.

What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?

RW : After hundreds of rebrandings, I can still warm to beautiful passionate organizations, large or small. An organization or brand can grow strongly through rebranding, which is always nice to see how entrepreneurs flourish when they are surrounded by the right communication tools and branding. For a rebranding, no matter how complicated, you can always call me awake at night.

What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?

RW : Do not make designs that you do not support yourself.

You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?

RW : Determine the quality level yourself and do not let it be influenced by the sometimes lower level of the client.

What is your day to day look like?

RW : I never really start very early, build up slowly, arrange practical actions first and then switch to 1 project, which I spend my full time on, through brainstorming sessions with colleagues, or sketches, detached from the world outside. No mobile phone nearby, always full focus on the problem.

How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?

RW : I don't. I live, read, see and experience and pick those things from life that inspire me, regardless of whether this is hot or not. I don't like hypes, then you can be sure that you are not making anything new.

How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?

RW : A design is successful when it achieves what was intended. And since we already get so many stimuli around us, it is nice if the design is consistent and fitting in all its expressions and forms.

How do you decide if your design is ready?

RW : The moment when I decide, yes this is it, I almost leave it until the next morning. I then judge with a fresh look whether it is good. In most cases I then continue to refine it, and in the end there is a presentable model, which after presentation still withstands some fine tuning, even though it was approved. Until the same moment will come the next morning.

What is your biggest design work?

RW : I am proud of many designs. Some were created in headwinds, others during enjoyable collaborations, and sometimes a design falls out of the blue and it feels like you didn't do much about it. I experience the latter as the most magical. And if you ask me which were these, the first METIS_NL booklet, with the flipped cover that made it a bag instead of a book (Red Dot Award 2015). PrimaveraQuint's house style remains one of my favorites, but unfortunately this fantastic company no longer exists and is nowhere to be seen. And more recently the house style of Koopmans, SYNQ, Roger That and the Letizia Battaglia book production still give me a warm feeling.

Who is your favourite designer?

RW : What my favorite designers are... I mentioned them earlier, my inspiration started at: Anton Beeke, Frank Beekers (Wild Plakken), GRAPUS (Paris) and the old Total Design.

Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?

RW : I do not live a conscious lifestyle or according to a certain culture, I live consciously, look critically at the world and at myself, make choices, ask myself every time whether the decisions taken were okay and that is how I develop myself in my life. A lifestyle or culture is not a starting point, but a consequence, a consequence of the choices you make.

Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?

RW : With the reorganization in 2007 from a classic agency model with staff and management to a 100% creative independent network, was one of the best decisions of my life. In the end, it's about under what conditions you can do the job well and keep it up. The way our team works together, I could happily continue it past 90.

What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?

RW : Our team helps cultural and socially relevant organizations with strong branding, for which they would normally never have had the budget. We spend about 1 project per year on a good cause, usually free of charge.

What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?

RW : It is nice to also make contacts outside the Netherlands with organizations for which you can also work remotely. Borders are fading, with our NL time (CET) we can serve many countries between 8:00 AM and 10:00 PM. And when this is more convenient, we travel to the client, it's a small world afterall. *;-)

Ruud Winder Profile