In order to gain an understanding of Christies background, I started by asking what the intentions for Pitch were and how it has evolved. The answer showed it was a little more complicated than I thought, a work in progress over years, building from a small publication.
What were the intentions for Pitch and how has it evolved?
Initially we started as a publication in 2014, lasting about 5 years. This was a chance to self brand, find people in my creative community, connect with like minded people and discover work that I resonated with. We started writing daily content and partnering with brands and it was all going really nicely.
Initially it was to support the Australia creative industries, and it slowly grew as Australia is kind of small so we began to run out of people to talk about. Eventually it became a more international magazine.
I had built a small team with writers, stylers, and we eventually decided to take a break as it was very much a passion project with not a lot of money coming from it. We all had different skillsets, mine was graphic design, visual communication and art direction.
For two years I went and got more experience working at agencies, inhouse freelance gigs. Then I decided to create a studio, Pitch, as nothing was sticking with me. I wanted to focus on visual communication in more of traditional sense as that is what my experience had been.
I was interested in what she learnt in the two years of experience that had lead to the creation of Pitch, whether this is when she started experimenting with 3D. She talks about how she didn't get taught the software for 3D in school, which has been evident that there is a lack of this from the other interviews and also from my own experience, which has been entirely self taught. Knowing that other designers who work in this field have been through the same experience and have been successful in their career is very comforting.
Did you learn how to create 3D during that two year period?
'Yes. When I went to school we didn't learn anything to do with that, it was very traditional. But when you have the internet you start to know what's out there and I found that digital spaces was a lot more interesting to me and more sustainable in a sense.'
In order to gage the way Christie looks at designing in a virtual world, I asked where realism comes into play. Her answer demonstrated that with her work, reality isn't being recreated, but expanded upon. We discussed how it intertwines with art and the role of functionality. From understanding her outlook that functionality should be more considered on where it is needed has helped me understand how to approach a piece of virtual work.
When creating 3D and VR do you design with the intention of it looking realistic?
We never try to make things look super realistic. There may be a market for it, but we have more of a conceptual outlook that doesn't require it to look realistic as we are not trying to emulate reality. It's okay that it exists in this unknown utopian place. We definitely take ques from realism, but it's far more surrealist.
So it's kind of like a surrealist art form in a way...
We look at art that is very much intertwined with design, so obviously it needs to be functional but I think there is a place for it to be artistic and exploitive.
So with this new form of design being used as a means of communication, do you think there is still a need for function?
With this kind of design there are still users; people in mind that are intending to use the work in some way. So in that aspect it is very important to have function. For us our work is more about the emotional integrity of it; how it makes you feel, and it's not trying to force the person to step out of reality but add another layer to reality.
As I am still to design in this medium for a brand, I wanted to get some insight into how it works. Since virtual reality is still new to many people, my thoughts were that it could be very easy to get clients, or very hard. In a way, I was right that even a big studio like Pitch have to do work for people they don't necessarily enjoy, or they are approached by clients who give them an amazing opportunity. This has taught me that even when successful you have to compromise and do work that isn't necessarily ideal.
How do brands react to working with such a new form of communication?
It takes a lot of trust. We do work that provides a service that is not always what we intend to present to people.
So with the something like the Snapchat deal how did that come about?
Well, some people come to us or we come to them to help with branding communications, such as for a campaign or an event, and in these situations it is more about helping the client bringing something to life. With this particular project, which is pretty rare, the spectacle department at Snapchat came to us and gave us essentially what was an open brief. The department had made these sunglasses that you can create augmented reality for which they wanted to sell as an innovative product. They invited Pitch out to LA along with other groups of creatives from all over the world who work with 3D and AR to create augmented reality for the sunglasses. We came up with a concept that we felt connected to and it was really fun. But these projects are like the dream ones and you don't get them very often. But when you do, you try to make the best of it you can.
Like in the interview with Hanna, I asked what Christie would do if she got stuck in VR. She had a very similar answer that she would explore then escape. She explains how she would only do this if it was somewhere interesting, like a vibrant world of some sort, which Hanna also mentioned. This made me think how little of the design we want to see is out there. That when searching on Youtube, for example, there is still mostly 360 degree camera footage and roller-coaster simulations. This is both disappointing and exciting, as it is a shame the medium isn't being explored as much as it should be, but it leaves plenty of opportunity to explore the medium in my practise.
What would you do if you got stuck in VR? Would you escape or try and explore?
I'm a very inquisitive person, I'm very curious, so I would probably explore and then I would realise that I know it isn't reality and try to get out. I'm one of those people that doesn't get motion sickness from VR so I think I could stay in there for as long as I wanted. Ideally it wouldn't be a rollercoaster or something but if it was a really interesting, vibrant world or something I would want to explore.
As 3D and VR are relatively new forms of design, I am aware that new technologies and software that is even more advanced than these will slowly start to be introduced, changing the form of art and design in the future. I wanted to see what Christie thought the future of design would be like in order to speculate how my own practise may shift and mould. It is interesting how Christie talks about using tools as a way of helping our work rather than tools that make our work. I think when learning these software's and tools it is important to remind myself of this as I sometimes find myself relying on the form of the design rather than focusing on the design itself. This is also something I am for with my work; to get to a point where the form isn't the spectacle to the audience, but the design is.
How do you see the future of design changing with the growing use of software's and technology?
I think AI is going to make more of an appearance, helping with things like render engines, improving capacity of computers, more real time graphic use. I think creatively we will all have to think really differently, I'm not saying that printed collateral won't exist but we are defiantly straying more towards digital. So we are really going to have to understand these new tools and how they can help us rather than thinking that they are just tools; which is something we as a studio talk a lot about. These products that we work with are a tool that helps us reach the end goal but they aren't these 'gods' that we should worship, they are fundamental to helping us get somewhere. Other things like 3D fashion is already becoming a bigger industry but that will be huge, we will see more avatars and digitally created stuff.
Do you think this is a good thing for design and art?
I don't see a problem with it. Sustainability always comes into factor; 3D fashions are great because the manufacture process becomes digital and we aren't wasting materials. But on the same token, if we focus solely on the screen we are going to change our habits very rapidly have to adapt very quickly. As we can see from social media anxiety, knowing more isn't always a good thing.
When Christie talks about past experiences with VR, it is interesting to note that the first was scary to her, informing her practise. I think in general people find VR a very intimidating thing. I agree with her that there are better benefits to VR than scaring people, and I think that it needs to be a space that people trust in order to get the most out of it and for people to except it as a platform. I will consider this in my practise, making sure I design with the user in mind in order to make the VR more user friendly, so that it is more accepted and therefore the design is more appreciated.
Could you describe a virtual experience you have had that has inspired you?
The first time that I tried VR at a playstation pop up you were in a shark cage getting dropped into the deep sea, then a shark comes and attacks you and you die. I found this very traumatising and I had to take it off halfway through. I realised that if I were to make anything in VR I don't want to be scaring people or traumatising them in anyway. I think there are better benefits to VR than doing that. I found this useful to understand that I wanted my VR creations to not be like that.
Another VR experience that has inspired me is a piece by Sabrina Ratte where she created this audio visual mixtape that was very strange and immersive, making you feel like you were stepping into another world with sounds and things moving to the sounds. It was pretty lo-fi; it wasn't beautifully rendered in any way. I just genuinely like looking at it. It's quite dark and scary but also not scary.
LEAVEOUT
Christie suggests an idea where you can emulate touch through technology, which reflects the work that she does. Her 3D design focuses a lot on texture and movement, almost as if she is trying to emulate touch visually.
Would you be able to describe a technology or software that you wish existed?
I would love to see something where you could emulate touch, like a touch pad where you can feel what you are looking at. I think with 3D you could create some really amazing materials that don't exist in real life that you could touch in real life.
LEAVEOUT
LEAVEOUT
What specific place inspires you online, and what place inspires you in real life?
I love the platform Are.na, which is a research tool where you can put all of your thoughts about anything and collaborate with others. I don't know if it inspires me but I get inspiration from it.
I am inspired a lot by relationships; plutonic, romantic, work related, professional. I think you set a tone or mood in real life that is really hard to replicate, which is really interesting to me.
Do you see any connections between the two?
I suppose it being a collaboration tool is a big connection, but also with Arena you have to do a bit of work to get what you want out of it, which is the same with a relationship to gain trust and I like that about the two.
LEAVEOUT
I agree with Christie in that face filters are very much like makeup and a form of expression online. They may distort our faces and there should be care taken into how they are used, but I don't think that filters should be designed with this in mind, they should be designed to be used, not abused.
What are your thoughts on the way that filters distort our face and the growing use of them?
I think we are questioning the way we look digitally a lot more now. What struck me is the new policy and guidelines around plastic surgery and the ban of any face deformation. I think they are trying to play god a little with this, and ethically they don't really have the right to do that. But on the other side, are we shaming people with plastic surgery?
But it's a really fun way to express yourself, like wearing makeup. I think self expression is important but we need to be careful about the way that we do it and if we distorting ourselves so much that we can't recognise ourselves, that is when it becomes an issue. But I think that using your face as a an environment or surface is really exciting and interesting.
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