Symmetry, Barcelona and Some Impossible Shapes
An Interview with Austrian Graphic Designer Birgit Palma
Graphic designer Birgit Palma is originally from Austria but living and working in Barcelona at the moment. Besides doing graphic design work, she also designs typefaces. She is working on a new alphabet right now.
How did you first get in contact with illustration, typography and graphic design?
Thanks to my very vivid imagination, I already got in touch with ‘design’ as a child. Nowadays the imagination is still here, I just combine it with illustration, type and design.
You are originally from Austria. Why did you decide to resettle in Barcelona, Spain? If I may ask.
To be honest, if you would have asked me some years ago, I would have never imagined living here in Barcelona. Plainly said, my vision of Spain was the typical “Northern paella–holiday–Ibiza” one. During my internship in New York, I got to know the work of Vasava, and I immediately liked their style and knew with them I could improve my skills and learn a lot. So I decided to apply to work there after finishing my university. Yeah, that’s how I got to Barcelona, a city that now I truly love.
I usually ask people who have gained experiences in more than one country about the differences between those countries they have lived and/or worked in. Please talk about in what way Austria and Spain differ from each other considering illustration, typography and graphic design. Which one is better, if so, and why?
Actually, I can’t tell you which one is better as I have never worked in Austria. I studied there, but besides freelance work, which was more based on graphic design, I gained all my experience in the US and Spain. Still, I guess there are differences between the rigid structures and systems of Austrian design vs. the ‘let’s do it my way’ of Spanish design. But that depends on the studio itself. Barcelona is a culturally rich city with a lot of welcoming, highly motivated people doing great work and that motivates me to do the kind of design I do nowadays.
How would you describe your style and yourself?
My style is on one hand very organic and on the other a gestural one, combining the tradition of fine art with avant-garde design. Ah, and I’m the happy, active one.
You have designed a typeface called Oxymora based on Escher’s impossible shapes. How did you start off the project? What was the greatest challenge to overcome and what did you learn during the design process?
Actually, I admire Escher’s work a lot and use him quite often as reference. I feel the solutions he offers are extraordinary and go beyond normal graphic design. When a client came to me and asked to reinterpret the word MAX in a graphic way I immediately got fascinated by the fact that all the letters are symmetrical. The symmetry and Escher’s impossible figures were the base to develop the two different views of each letter and merge them. The project itself wasn’t realized in the end, but I got so addicted by the system that I decided to make a complete font out of it.
Which is your favourite letter to draw and/or design, and why?
I prefer all symmetric, straight letters over the round ones.
How do you divide your time between client work and personal projects? What do you do in your free time actually?
Plainly said, I take it as it comes. I am an active person, and being that much in front of the screen makes my brain freeze sometimes. Best then is to go outside and do something that has nothing to do with my actual work. If I’m not doing design, you can bump into me on some corners in Barcelona, running, doing capoeira, enjoying the beach or having coffee with some friends.
What are you working on right now?
On this interview of course! Joke aside, I’m doing a T-shirt design for a capoeira event, I got an idea for a new alphabet project and a logo. Everything written down is neatly on my to-do list.
What are your plans for the future?
Enjoying life, doing more work, being happy, getting rich, and finding a husband and a house. And a dog, of course, don’t forget about the dog!
