Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Bojan "Logoholik" Stefanovic, the brand specialist and corporate identity magician. Bojan really needs no introduction, his web presence is solid and instances of his brilliant work can be found not only on his own websites but also on numerous showcase and inspiration websites.  You cannot help but feel slightly intimidated by him and his work, but when you interact with him, the intimidation vanishes as he is a really friendly and humble guy. What comes across instantly is his passion and love for the work he does and his suave and up-to-date business sense which makes him much sought after in this profession. He is not only extremely reliable but very helpful and thorough, personal qualities that expand and spill over into Logoholik and Brandsteam, Bojan’s innovations.

Bojan was kind enough to set aside some time in his crazy schedule to answer a few questions for us and give us an insight into what makes him "Logoholik".  
 

Thank you Bojan, for doing this interview. It is a pleasure to have you as a guest on this blog.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself. Bojan Stefanovic, the person and the brand specialist.
All time optimist, all things life. Living and working in the wonderful city of Belgrade, Serbia. Constantly struggling to find a way to spend more time with my loving wife and adorable two something little princess, Lana. Sharing my love between them and my occupation becomes quite a task to fit in 24 hours everyday. Being a freelancer and my own boss for the last three or so years has helped a bit.

2. How was your own brand Logoholik born? What was the inspiration for it? What vision did you have in mind for it when you started out?
Knowing my passion for logo design and visual identity building, it was a natural choice. I am really a logoholik, you see?

3. Brandsteam is yet another brainchild of yours. What does it symbolize? Was it always meant to be an extension of Logoholik?
If I ever decide to evolve from one man band into a full service branding agency, Brandsteam will be my next stop. I am still struggling to decide whether I am capable of running an agency/studio along those proportions (whether I am ready to lead a team of employees). I do have past experience in directing and organizing creative teams, but doing that in your own agency raises some concerns, as I cannot see myself as a successful "Boss" at the moment. Will see what the future brings though.

4. Before Logoholik, you were an Art Director at Srebrn & Tus. What was your role in that organization? What made you follow the path of brand identities?
I started my career in the professional graphic design industry back in 1993. Before that I spent every spare minute drawing letters and symbols, or playing with early personal computers and their quirky graphic applications (some of you may remember DPaint III on Commodore Amiga). I first started work in a small print shop behind an offset machine, with my hands covered in ink from washing those rubbers to prepare the press for a second color pass . Then early DTP applications emerged and I quickly advanced to DTP/prepress operator. As my skills got better I started to practice expressing my creativity through working with numerous small businesses, creating collateral material. Occasional identity projects where handed to me. I also attended a lot of art classes in my spare time. The goal was to be accepted in the prestigious Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, but since Serbia’s economy was ruined during that period, I never got enough time/courage/will to actually fulfill that dream. My day job was in fact a bit more like day/night job in order to make a decent living then. Thankfully, it proved that professional experience later on gave me similar fuel/self confidence/knowledge and foundation as a traditional 5 year education program.

I managed to advance from DTP/prepress operator to junior designer at Profi Design Group and later on to senior designer at Kreativa, Belgrade, where I was a part of various creative teams building identities for many local and international brands. Next stop was Junior Art Director at A01 Studio. Belgrade really proved to be a breaking point in my career. By that time I enjoyed the fact that I was given the opportunity to work in fantastic creative team with clients such as Pepsi, Volksbank and Lotto.

My final role before I decided to take control of my life again and switch back to freelancing was the title of Art director at Srebrn&Tus, Belgrade. Excellent atmosphere, clients and creative team kept me there for three years. Although the majority of work there was mostly related to classic advertising, rather than visual identity, I did get occasional requests for my main discipline. By that time I had already built up a network of referring clients who were hiring me to create identities for their business in my spare time. Further more, I must admit that I somehow committed a crime (at least in my eyes). My passion for logo design led me to enter various contest sites off and online worldwide. That also opened my eyes to the possibility of offering my services via a worldwide market. Later on I realized that contest sites were actually hurting our industry and that there were better ways to practice stuff that you liked to do, while not falling in the shady spec work hype (best example for young designers would be Incspring – I wish it existed in my time) One morning I realized that if I had to answer all requests for proposals, I would never make it on time to the office at Srebrn. That was a clear sign for me that I must fulfill my passion and Logoholik was born.

5. What was your very first logo? Tell us a bit about it.
It was my attempt at the local contest for BK television – one of the first large prize contests in my country. After i sketched my perfect concept, i constructed my logo proposal on Amiga’s Page Stream and printed out the proposal on my Epson LQ matrix printer. The initial idea was ok I guess, since the winning design was more or less of the same quality concept, but the final realization was nothing to be bragged about. I am sad that I didn’t manage to keep the original proposal in my archive though, it got lost eventually. Really.

6. How would you describe your logo style? Do you follow trends or set your own trends?
Although I try to avoid getting inspiration from various logo showcases (online or in a  printed book), I am certainly under the heavy influence of today’s fast paced information served world. Hence I would like to be seen somewhere in the middle here. I try to follow the KISS [Keep It Simple, Stupid or the more polite Keep It Short & Simple] rule and am always struggling to concentrate on the final message being clear and precise, rather than design per se.

7. Your play on custom type is nothing short of brilliant. How did you set out creating custom types? Do you feel as a logo designer, that there is a huge market for logos with custom type?
Typography was always one of my main passions, hence I try to bring the best from it into my creations. I am not always satisfied with the end result, but thanks for the kind words I try my best! You cannot beat a perfect catchy brand name with a custom wordmark, right?

8. Where do you source your inspiration for your designs?
Practically everywhere, and no, it is not a cliché

9. Do you always follow a pattern while designing logos .. research, sketch, design … or does it vary depending on the project at hand?
I cannot see how it can be any other way? Sometimes the sketching part could be replaced by playing with forms in Illustrator, but design cannot live without research or at least some form of information drawn from past experience to back it up

10. What is the biggest logo trend that you see emerging in 2009-2010?
I like the work of Moving Brands, that will probably be something we can expect in future more often.

11. Besides branding, what are your other creative passions?
I really enjoy working on everything related to graphic design. I also spent a lot of spare time in my younger days composing and sequencing. Music is my second love for sure. I keep my Korg SP-250 keys handy just to stay in shape, plus it’s a real life saver for occasional stress moments in day to day designer-client relationships.

12. When you are not hard at work, what would you be doing that truly makes you happy?
Besides watching my daughter grow up, I enjoy playing table tennis (but find it hard to find a decent opponent these days – it’s not interesting at all when you match a table tennis and ping-pong player, you know). I also enjoy watching all kinds of sports, especially soccer, basketball and tennis (Go Novak, Go! )

13. What has been your biggest creative triumph?
I will let you know when i find out as I think I am not quite there yet!

14. What can we expect to see from Logoholik in the coming months? What other creative processes have you planned out for your websites and business?
I am certainly planning to upgrade my Serblish to decent written English and trying to jump on the Blogodesigners bandwagon Don’t wanna let you have all the fun (and probably the clients from all that traffic) in future Ha!

15. Would you like to share some advice and pearls of wisdom for budding logo designers and design creatives?
Be an optimist. Practice. Create. Don’t be bored. Be active. Be honest. Believe in yourself. Follow your passions. Make mistakes. Learn from them. Underpromise. Overdeliver.

Thanks!

Thanks once again Bojan, that was a very enlightening look at your personal and professional life, your brand and your aspirations. It was lovely to have you do this interview. We wish you all the very best for your future endeavours.

Bojan Stefanovic’s work can be seen on his Logoholik & Brandsteam websites. He can also be found on Logopond and Incspring. Furthermore, Bojan is an active tweeter and can be found on Twitter.