{"id":80660,"date":"2024-10-08T15:15:41","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T22:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creativemarket.com\/blog\/?p=80660"},"modified":"2024-10-08T15:15:43","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T22:15:43","slug":"adam-nienow-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creativemarket.com\/blog\/adam-nienow-interview","title":{"rendered":"Skate, Surf, Create: How Adam Nienow\u2019s Passions Shape His Fonts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to our latest edition of Behind the Shop<\/a><\/strong>, where we dive into the creative minds behind the most captivating shops on Creative Market. Today, we\u2019re excited to feature Adam Nienow<\/strong>, the creative force behind Nienow Brand. Based on the West Coast, Adam’s designs are heavily influenced by surf culture, skateboarding, and the coastal lifestyle. His journey from a hobbyist to a professional designer has been fueled by a passion for making things and a deep curiosity about the creative process. With a focus on typography and illustration, Adam has created fonts that are not only visually striking but also deeply connected to his personal experiences. Let’s explore how Adam’s love for surfing and skating informs his art and how his unique design style has caught the eye of major surf brands like Billabong, Ripcurl, and Quicksilver.<\/p>\n\n\n

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<\/span>What inspired you to pursue graphic design in the first place? What were you working on before?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I have always loved making things and the idea of creating something out of nothing. I grew up painting, drawing, and just being all around curious about how things were made. However, it was really just a hobby until I went to college. I was pretty unsure about what I wanted to pursue when I got to college and went in without declaring a major and just started chipping away at general education classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my second semester of my first year, I decided to declare as an art major on a bit of a whim just to see how I would like it. I ended up being really surprised how much I loved design, typography, and illustration. I really loved the next 4 years of university and learned a lot. However, most of my growth started to happen once I graduated. I really pushed myself to create as much as I could because I knew the most growth would come from experience and repetition. I didn\u2019t want anything to be off limits, so I explored different styles of illustration, dabbled in animation, and started making fonts. Illustration and type design have really become my bread and butter over the last few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/span>When creating a new illustration or font, where does your creative process start? What inspires you?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My creative process is pretty similar for both type and illustration design. For my type design work, a lot of my inspiration comes from a scrap of type I saw around town. I love hand-painted sign work, especially if it is really old and worn down.<\/em> I feel like I find a lot of interesting ideas in signs where type has been naturally worn and has taken on a more organic feel. Once I have my inspiration and an idea in my head, I either sketch out a few letters or words on the iPad, or if I am feeling confident enough in the direction, I will just move right into Illustrator and start designing out the whole font.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as my illustration work goes, I am always really inspired by vintage psychedelic poster design. I love the fluid line work and the colors that can be found in these pieces.<\/em> I am also so inspired by other artists and designers both past and present. My illustration process always starts on the iPad. I typically have a creative brief outlining a few key elements that should be involved in the piece and I try to start with those. Once the sketch is complete, depending on the desired illustration style, I will either finish off the illustration on the iPad or if a more vector style is wanted, I will finish it off in Illustrator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>How would you define your signature design style?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

These days I have just been calling it Coastal Inspired. As far as the fonts I design, I have always been inspired by west coast surf and skate brands, and I love making fonts that those brands could see themselves using in their clothing and campaigns. I have been lucky enough to spot some of my favorite brands like Billabong, Ripcurl, Quicksilver, and O’Neill using my fonts in their apparel design.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/span>How do you bring your passion for surfing and skating into your art?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Surfing, skateboarding, and my art practice all kind of inform each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surfing and skateboarding are just as much a creative outlet for me as making art is.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There is a lot of creative freedom in how you can surf a wave or how you skate. They also both have the problem-solving factor that art and design have. Figuring out how to land a new trick surfing or skating requires a lot of repetition and practice. In the same way, one of the best ways to get better at illustration and design is repetition and exploration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/span>Out of all the products you\u2019ve designed, which one is your favorite and why?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At the moment, I think I am the most proud of the Desert Rope Typeface.<\/em> I had the idea in my head to make a script font that looked like a continuous rope for about 5 years, however, the way I envisioned the font working was pretty difficult to make and I didn\u2019t want to put out the font unless it was perfect. I circled back to the unfinished typeface several times over the 5 years, but couldn\u2019t seem to figure out a way to make it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted the Rope Font to seamlessly link together no matter the word you typed out without showing any of the rope links between letters. It was also important to me that the last letter of each word had this frayed rope look.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last year, I finally figured out a way to make it happen using contextual character alternatives. Within the single font, there are actually 3 glyphs per letter of the alphabet. As you are typing, the previous letter will inform whether to end the letter with the frayed look or not. See the example below as a reference. As you can see, without the contextual alternatives, the letters will not link correctly and will not end with the frayed rope look at the end of the word. However, each of these different letter variations is necessary for the font to work seamlessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/span>What are the top 5 features\/quality markers a customer should look for in a great font?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I think the quality markers when looking for a font will vary depending on the project. For example, if you are working on a corporate design identity project, you are probably not going to be looking in the funky display font category. But for the style of work that I do, here are a few guidelines I typically stick to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Is the font unique?<\/strong> We have so many fonts to choose from, try and find something new and funky!<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Is the font going to help balance out your design?<\/strong> It\u2019s important to find a font that won\u2019t overpower the piece you just spent hours making. At the same time, don\u2019t use a font that is too subtle that it gets lost in the design. (Unless that is what you\u2019re going for.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Is the font going to help communicate something in your design?<\/strong> The power of a good typeface in a piece of design can be overlooked.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Will the font be functional for your specific case?<\/strong> Use the Creative Market type preview box to your advantage and make sure you like the specific letters and punctuation that your piece requires.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Make sure YOU are excited about it!<\/strong> Trust your gut. A lot of the time we will have dozens of font choices at the end of exploring what font to use in a project. Try and recall the one that just felt right the second you came across it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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    <\/span>Links to Learn More and Follow Along<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Here are some useful links to learn more about me and my work:<\/p>\n\n\n\n