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Q1 What made you decide to be a illustrator/graphic designer?
My dad is also a graphic designer, so I was always around his drafting table and markers. When I was little I would often get in trouble for not putting his supplies back after I was done playing. I also saw my dad use computers for design—we got a Mac Plus in 1986!- so that transition from paper to computer seemed pretty natural to me. But I didn't really realize that I wanted to do this professionally until about midway through high school. |
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Q2 What inspires you to design?
Wow, there are so many things. Cereal box packaging, comic books, street art-I love ephemera. But I find anything that truly inspires me also intimidates me, and it is a great balance between the two that allows me to want to push harder. I also am very inspired by my wife, Sarah, and the things she does as a Production/Interior Designer and my many creative friends. A lot of them are also designers and illustrators, but some are photographers and writers, and so creative in ways that I am not.
Q3 What's a highlight of your recent design career?
Last year at Funny Garbage we won an Emmy for on online project we did for The-N.com. That was really fantastic. Recently, I would say it would be setting up a table on the streets in NYC and selling my cards and prints. It is really fun seeing how people react. |
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Q6 Tell us about a project that you are working on right now
Right now I am really focused on growing my company. I am finishing up a bunch of new cards designs and working on some new prints. |
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Q7 Is there a dream project that you'd like to do?
I have an idea for toys that I would love to do. It isn't a vinyl toy, though that would be a lot of fun too. It involves wood and that is really all I can say at the moment.
Q8 What's coming up in 2008? Any plans?
In 2008 my goal is to expand my card line, create more prints, try and get into more stores and sell more on the streets and in craft fairs. I also want to experiment with creating some pop-up card designs. I have a lot to learn so it will be challenging.
Q9 Favorite store?
I don't like shopping very much, so the stores I like best are really for inspiration. One is a small shop in the East Village called John Derian. It has home décor items with a kind of amazing feel: vintage, scientific, beautiful and creepy all at once. Along the same lines, I also love going to Anthropologie, a larger chain home and clothing store that carries many products with fantastic package design. |
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Q14 What is your aspiration?
I hope to one day be able to print my own cards and designs. I live in a small apartment, so I don't have the room to do the printing myself here. But not doing the printing myself does allow me to try more processes—I have cards that are offset, letterpress and screenprinted. Still, I would love to be able to get a little more hands on with that part of the process. |
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Andy Pratt is an illustrator and designer living in NYC. By day, he is a Creative Director at the digital entertainment studio Funny Garbage. There he has worked on several award-winning projects, including ones for Cartoon Network, Noggin, School of Visual Arts and National Geographic Kids. In 2007 he was part of a team that won an Emmy award for his work on an online project for The-N. By night he runs Andy Pratt Design, the eponymous greeting card company and design studio. His designs are notable for their whimsy and sense of humor. They are also unique in their portrayal of his adopted hometown, New York City. In Andy's work, New York is a land of promise and beauty, far removed from the harsh grit so often associated with that place. |
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Q4 Can you talk about the various creative aspects of your job?
As a creative director, I come up with ideas and strategies for clients as well develop different designs. Because I'm more involved in management now than I was an Art Director, I find I need to be creative in other ways besides just graphic design. I need to be able to strategize ideas, lead an internal team, maintain great client relations, and of course creatively manage our team's needs and the clients'. Andy Pratt Design has become an outlet of expression in which I am the main client. I always felt a close relationship between design and illustration and looked for opportunities to integrate the two. I feel like I am a designer who illustrates as opposed to an illustrator who designs. An example of this can be seen with my process: instead of drawing a scene from start to finish, I draw the pieces of the scene and compile them together. This allows me to have more control over the composition |
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Q5 Who is your favorite designer (or an artist)?
Lately I've been really into Miroslav Sasek and Abner Graboff. They are both amazing children book illustrators from the 60's. I have also been trying to find more about an old 60's animator from Croatia name Dragutin Vunak. I saw a little of his work in a small town in Croatia recently. I fell in love with it and desperately want to find out more about him! |
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Q10 Music to live by
I am really into the energy and fun of The Go! Team. They are out of England and are great. They get me up when I need to go.
Q11 What do you see about Japan?
Not enough! I have never been to Japan and want to go so badly. It is high on a list of upcoming places to visit. It is hard because it is so expensive to get there from New York. But I love pop culture and Japanese design and illustration has been such a huge force with that in particular.
Q12 If you could rewrite your history a bit and take on a totally different career or lifestyle, what would it be and why?
I think I would be a professional bowler. I am not very good at bowling, but it seems that if I were to put forth all my athletic prowess I might be agile and focused enough to compete professionally.
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Q13 What is your favorite guilty meal? Any good restaurants?
I really love sweets and candy. I feel really guilty after I have eaten way more ice cream than I should have. But it is soooo good. New York is filled with so many great restaurants. I really love this place called Mama's, which has great southern-style comfort food. |
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