02 June 2017
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Chi-Long Trieu (*1988) is a polyvalent graphic designer with a focus on typeface development. After graduating from the Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne (ECAL) in 2013, he worked in Geneva at Gavillet & Cie/Optimo for three years. In 2014, he was awarded with a design residency from the Canton of Fribourg and spent six months in New York. He currently lives and works in Lausanne, and has been teaching editorial and graphic design at ECAL and EPFL+ECAL Lab since 2013.
At this years Swiss Design Awards he presents his typeface ‘Basel’, a sans-serif typeface developed from 2014 to 2016. Combining both formal and contextual approaches, the focus lays on the functional and global approach to type design. Basel’ is already being used by the brand Uniqlo for their new collection called ‘Uniqlo U’.
What is the task of design?
To provide design solutions in a societal context.
Is design always interdisciplinary?
Interdisciplinary has always been a key element in design, but in the past 20 years there has been a shift. I feel like design education and design jobs became more and more specialised. The urge of professionalisation, the number of designers increasing every year and the Internet played a big role in this change.
When does design reach its limits?
When it’s reduced to a number of rules.
Is good design invisible?
The concept of “invisible design” being good or bad is purely cultural. I think it’s important to evaluate design in its context. If we take Swiss design, it is often described as invisible, minimalistic or whatever adjective describing a design with few elements. Even if I would understand this position, I feel like it’s more suitable to describe it as objective design and not as invisible.
Which designer influenced you?
Adrian Frutiger’s work, especially his writings, influenced me.
