WIF 2008 - webdesign international festival - France

Every fortnight, wif team, in collaboration with the Pole Excellence e-Design, invites you to discover an interview of an interactive designer. This week, Jesper Bentzen : Motion Designer & Art Director from Denmark.

wif : « You don’t become a designer just like that. What makes you come in the world of design? »
Jesper : I think it all started when I was a child. Like other kids I spent a lot of time drawing. I was also the lucky owner of an Amiga 500 computer and I had a small program called Deluxe Paint. I quickly began pushing pixels around and found it quite satisfying creating stuff on the computer. I collected a lot of the notorious Amiga demos wishing I could create something like them. I remember “hacking” Amiga games in order to repaint my own gaming elements.

I didn’t start doing real design until much later. It was when Winamp was the hottest media player. I learned that I could create my own Winamp Interface skin and I made one just for myself – just like I did with the Amiga games. I had just installed internet at home so I though it would be fun to upload and hear peoples reaction to it. A few days later I started to get a lot of emails from people telling me that they liked my Winamp skin, and when I looked at the site where I uploaded the skin I was extremely surprised to see that it was downloaded over 1 million times and counting.

At the same time I discovered Flash 4 and I immediately picked up a Trial. I never really liked web design but Flash seemed quite attractive with its fluid animation capabilities. I remember how quickly I created a website for myself presenting the Winamp Skin. The Winamp Skin was a great “flyer” and right away I was contacted by a person wanting to buy my newly created website for his own creations. Since then I have been doing all kinds of design related work, attending design courses, design schools, working in the industry and now freelancing from my website Anova.

wif : « According to you, to what extent do the technological overhangs, particularly the man-machine interface, tactile supports, contribute to the e-design innovations? In other words: what is the place of the design in these overhangs? »
Jesper : I think that we are only just starting to see what interactive design could become. I think that we are starting to se that if we design for humans instead of technology we will see the real benefits of interaction design. Right now people mostly think of computers when they think about interaction design. Let me concentrate on that. The way we interface with the computer today is a huge limitation. I would imagine that breakthroughs in tomorrow’s interaction design on the computer would come from new ways to interface with the computer rather than new technology inside the computer. I expect people to see interaction design in a much wider perspective once people see that the computer becomes more physical and when its use starts to resemble our everyday interactions.

wif : « Taking your experience into account, can try you to imagine and tell me what your job and works will look like in the 5 next years? »
Jesper : Tough question! I really have no precise answer. I have been working in so many design-related areas. Right now I am most active as a director of motion design & animation. But I keep switching back and forth between that and interaction design. It’s really a matter of mood and motivation. The diversity might not be such a bad thing after all as there are many indications that both areas are starting to merge. I hope that I will find some way to get the most out of working with both areas.

wif : « For you which is the media or the innovation which most stood out recently? »
Jesper : I would say the internet as media, without question. It keeps posing potential and possibilities. More specific I would say video. It has become available to everyone to easily create, share and watch video over the internet. Video as a way of expression is really starting grow and I expect a lot from it.

wif : « A contrario, which is the most useless innovation which can be described as “failed revolution” »
Jesper : I would say “The idea that the more options you have, the better choices you make”. The increase in user-customizable content, allowing a lot of options, attracts a lot of attention but mostly leads to confusion and no choice at all. Designers “handing over” all the decisions to the user in form of user-customizable environments should think twice about doing so. I think users had their fun being designers and making most of the choices themselves and the results are stating to show. People want the help the designers provide giving them only the choices they need when they need it. Designers should make the choices for people based on their knowledge and expertise. That’s basically what makes them designers in the first place.

Discover Jesper’s work on : http://www.anovadesign.com/

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