Dizaina Studija. Telpa Forma Laiks

Graphic designer and artist MĀRTIŅŠ RATNIKS talks to ANDA BOLUŽA

There is not much talk about graphic design in Latvia. It seems to be clear to everyone what an advertisement is, but graphic design is valued and recognised only by the rare few as a much wider and more diversely expressive form of visual communication. Advertising is only one area of activity for designers, other areas are much more innovative and significant: the design of art catalogues, posters for musical events or programmes for theatrical performances. By working creatively in the cultural environment, designers have the opportunity to experiment with form, and as a result, produce more artistically surprising and braver works.

The graphic design of Mārtiņš Ratniks is colourful, uncommonly sensitive and at the same time carefully balanced, which creates for many an impression of digital culture in Latvia. Due to a long-term and successful collaboration with the client, in this case – the new media culture centre RIXC – Mārtiņš Ratniks is one of the few graphic designers in our country whose changes in style can be followed. Speaking with Ratniks, you often hear the phrase “it simply happened that way” or “it’s not because of me”: these are an indication of the self-critical attitude and his high professional criteria of the designer. Ratniks’ successes are not an accident or a coincidence, this is his everyday work. His sensitivity is hidden in the same way – the result which we see printed on paper seems convincing and rational, although the finer detail, for example, how the combination of bands of colour and the image on the invitation to his personal exhibition Lauki in August this year, reveal the author’s ability to visually express the most intangible nuances of feeling. If I imagined the work of Mārtiņš Ratniks as paintings, then I would say that in the last few years he has painted wide, robust fields of colour onto canvas. He has subordinated graphic design in publications to the specific task of presenting information in a clear and easily understood form, relegating a proportionally lesser place to the composition of decorative elements, as can be seen, for example, in the catalogue for the exhibition “Waves”. Thereby his first works – the series “Acoustic Space” created in the late 1990s – gives the impression of a fine collection of games. It could be said that this is the digital environment at close-range – various graphic elements create a pattern or net: they are organised into a specific structure, into a particular interpretation of the current specific features of the experimental field, which is innovative and not yet completely understood. The dense coverage of graphic text hints at the author’s interest in the world around him, his amazement and his wish to understand it. His conclusions can be found in his later works – art exhibition catalogues, cultural project publication or book designs. Some of these can also be read in the following excerpts of our conversation.

THE VISUAL LANGUAGE OF THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT
Dizaina Studija: How is your graphic design created?
Mārtiņš Ratniks: My advantage is that the client does not give me any limitations: it is a completely uninhibited creative product. All of these publications are specific and appropriate to this kind of design creation. The content is that which defines how the publication will look. For example, I designed the publications “Acoustic Space” and “Waves” for events which had a clear structure and idea: there was an exhibition, a conference, a well-composed programme. That, which I do – I simply take the content and superimpose the graphic design in a practical sense. There have also been unsuccessful outcomes – in solutions that I myself don’t like, but I think that this failure could be predicted at the very beginning. For example, if the event itself is an artificial construction, if it doesn’t have a well-defined ‘skeleton’. That is what design is based on – on the concept of the event.  
DS: I think that it is no accident that you are the person who creates the design for the publications which relate to complicated themes, such as the specific features of web art or the significance of electromagnetic waves.
M.R.: I study this myself, and I am interested in how technology influences art. I am interested in the fact that programmes, for example Photoshop or Illustrator, which have been created by programmers, also influence graphic design both directly and globally.  
I remember when I designed the first edition of “Acoustic Space” in 1998 – I had just begun working with the computer and I had not seen what and how things were made elsewhere. This was my first interaction with the digital environment, my reflections on that. Then I had a lot of free time, I wasn’t working anywhere: I took it and designed it. When the participants who came to Riga (under the framework of the international new media cultural festival “Art + Communications” – A.B.), they expressed their recognition, I was surprised and decided that it was probably because they were being polite. A few years later I realised that at that time, everything related to graphic design in the computer-related subculture was conceptually similar. Then I began to analyse the work I could see, and realised that it was only possible because of the tools. This is purely a programming and computer thing, a special computer aesthetic, which has been built based on the principle of modernism. Squares and frames; a two-dimensional environment in which graphic elements are used, to create the illusion of space. You see, people who are associated with some kind of field and who work in a narrow field have their own visual codes, their own language which is also understood internationally. If you examine it, the early 1990s was an interesting time for graphic design, when everything was clear, although nothing really new was introduced. In a magazine I saw some of the forms made by one of the most significant designers of the 1920s – those forms were so contemporary, it is fantastic, as if they had been created today using a computer.
DS: How do you explain this?
M.R.: The first computer interfaces were conceptually based on the tradition of modernism. The interface is that which we see on the monitor. A computer has its own language, and at first all you could see on the screen was rows of numbers. The interface was invented to give people assistance in visually understanding, it acts as a translation. It is an intermediate stage, for people to be able to receive coded information. If I was a programmer, I would have made a similar interface.  
I remember the concept which I developed when I was designing the first “Acoustic Space”: to put some stupidity in each work to which contradicts the basic laws of composition. Something which contradicts the generally accepted standards of what should be right. No, I didn’t want to rebel.  It was all justified through the digital affair itself. Imagine, a computer – it has been built, it works apparently without a fault, only with digits. Nevertheless in terms of programming it is not possible to make an absolutely precise computer which works without any mistakes. All machines have been built taking into account the possibility of error in to some millionth degree. It’s the same in graphic design – you create some kind of perfect thing, at a high professional level, everything is alright, it is all clear. However, those things which change something in the general situation, which are interesting after a certain period of time, are always those in which there is some displacement or error. This is a humane moment. And this is why at the beginning of graphic design I decided to introduce some kind of error, to create the design as generally functional, but at the same time to envisage an element which could be considered as an error: an intentional error.
Each culture demands its own visual code. Personally I like to create party flyers the best. These flyers – are an intellectual game. Because each trend of music or event has its own codes, which are generally accepted, although it is as if they were hidden – letters, which are used, or images. Not a standard, but in an intelligible language nonetheless, which addresses a particular target group. By playing with these codes, it is possible to achieve various trends.
DS: Do you mean clichés that work? For example, the most simple version – if you see a poster with a long-haired man holding a guitar, you understand that it means rock?
M.R.: Yes, yes, yes. I am less interested in rock, I know more about electronic music. At the moment everything has changed again, because culture is like porridge, a mixture, everything exists equally, any kind of style is accepted. But ten years ago... It could be that in ten years time there will also be a clearer view of that which is happening now.  

EDUCATION AND SENSITIVITY
DS: How do you follow global design trends?
M.R.: In no special way, it takes the form of coincidence. In one way, of course, it is good if there are opportunities, if you can become saturated with and see something, however at the same time I think that there could be situations when you are completely indifferent about whether you know or don’t know something. If you have a feeling inside, then it is independent. Of course, education is very important. It is possible to work professionally in graphic design even if you don’t have a feel for it, but if you have a good education instead. This is necessary, it is of primary significance. But in any case, I think that the thing which changes the situation or can generate something new is not based on education. It occurs independently, it can be found more or less in the general cultural situation, your location is of no importance. It is the same for art and science – groups of scientists work in various institutes and discover one and the same, not knowing that they are doing so in parallel.
Those interesting things are elite, no matter where. That is for a narrow audience, it is not a mass product. There are two million of us, who speak Latvian – therefore the circle is particularly small.  

A PLEASANT JOB
DS: Have you ever imagined that you would like to live somewhere else – New York or London, where the circle of people who share your views would be wider, where you would be valued? Don’t you sometimes feel that you lack circulation in this field?  
M.R.:  Well, I think that this is an illusion. It is only a job, which does not touch any kind of deeper existential meditations.
DS: Therefore we have come to the question, what graphic design means to you?  
M.R.: It is simply a job which I am good at and which I enjoy.
DS: You also work as an artist. Graphic design and art – they are still two different fields. Are both equally important to you?
M.R.: Graphic design is design, it is a functional affair: for the sake of comfort, to have a more comfortable life. It is a timely thing. It is important today, perhaps for a week or so, but after that it is no longer important.  

A FUNCTIONAL SIGNATURE STYLE
DS: How do you evaluate designers that have their own signature style?
M.R.: Well I represent the school that believes that you need your own style, it is very valuable. The designers which I admire – some, which are globally known – they absolutely have a very powerful signature. Regardless of what they create.  
DS: Here again we encounter the topical question about functionality!  
M.R.: Yes, however there are instances when they don’t exclude the other, when the signature is not contradictory to the functionality. Visual perceptibility is more important, for the content to be easy to DS: If an artist has such a powerful signature, doesn’t it mean that their style is noticed more than the message of the book?  
M.R.: Well, if the message of the book is so weak, then that’s the way it is (laughs). There are a lot of books where the form is more significant than the content. When I begin to read the text, I’m disappointed. That’s the way it is, however, the visual image more often damages the message or makes it unattractive.  

POSSIBILITIES AND RESULTS
DS: Don’t you feel restricted in terms of printing material – do you use the best paper, do you appreciate how the printing and publishing industry is developing?  
M.R.: Well, in this case I am a complete victim to marketing. I don’t know much, I am very lazy and don’t specially look for anything. I use that which is available here. Of course, when I am abroad I go into book stores, I appreciate typographical things or paper, but here in Latvia no one offers anything like that, no one works like that. No one produces technological-type things here, because as it turns out, these things can only be ordered in China and their minimal run is 50 000, which is totally beyond any kind of local figures – here we have print runs of one thousand catalogues. We have a very small market here – if you want to add visual value, then this increases the cost astronomically. Generally I don’t perceive anything inspirational in the every day. I don’t know why, for example, in Holland every tenth party flyer is excellent, but this year there are only a few good ones here. Possibly it is an insignificant thing, a small detail, but the whole cultural situation is becoming more commercial, it all somehow... I can no longer sense the enthusiasm or initiative, the feeling that something is created because of a passion.