Interview with Silvia Weinzettelova

Silvia, you are not only a BA student at Prague College, but also an active participant in the Prague College Research Centre ... could you tell us what your co-operation is about and which projects are you working on?

So far I've worked on the lastest issue of the Prague College Research Centre Bulletin and the Underground City XXI catalogue. Regarding these projects, I usually participate in the meetings to get a better idea of what is needed and then work on my own. We're about to start working on a brand new issue of the Bulletin so stay tuned!

You also created a poster and the whole graphic identity for the 'Secret of Ciphers' conference which took place at Prague College at the end of May 2011. What inspired you?

All of the promotional materials stemmed from the design of the conference poster. It took me some time to come up with a final idea, especially since I looked at many possibilities. However, the final design was inspired by Saul Bass's artwork in its early stages. Research revealed that Caesar was the first one to use ciphers, so I used his silhouette as the main element of the poster. The last thing I was struggling with was the speakers' names which were required to be there; I used hand-lettering to make them a bit unclear and "squeezed" them into a brain. I was really glad to see that it worked well for the target audience (speakers and participants of the conference), and some of the speakers even took the posters home.

You represent the School of Art & Design in the new campaign which is running in the Prague metro right now. What goes into the preparation of the posters? Did you enjoy the experience?

The shooting was fun! When I went there, Dima (graphic designer and student of Prague College) showed me sketches and explained what was needed from me. Then we made test shots (wearing different tops and hairstyles) to see what worked the best. Finally, the photographer directed me to get the pictures he wanted and what would work the best for the poster. It took about 45 minutes altogether, and it was really interesting to see how a metro poster is born.

You are starting the third year of your BA (Hons) Graphic Design programme … how are you preparing yourself for your studies?

To be frank, I'm not getting ready for the BA at all! Of course I've thought about my dissertation topic, but I've been so busy that I could not really focus on that. But I'm quite excited to be starting my final year.

How do you enjoy the summer?

I haven't enjoyed summer much yet. I went back to my homeland, Slovakia, for a couple of days -  but other than that I haven't had a chance to relax as much as I wanted. However, I am going to enjoy myself around the time of my birthday in mid-August!