Bartolome Graziana aka Barty Bart is a discreet character. In a crowd, his work never goes unnoticed but he easily could. On a sunlit afternoon, we sit down to talk about the hottest job in the world, the big names in advertising, and eye candy.
You moved to Montreal after your studies, how long ago was that?
It was four years ago. I had the choice between going to Paris or come here to Montreal, but I had no contacts at all in Paris. And I knew Paris was really expensive to live in on a day to day basis. So I decided to come to Montreal. I knew a couple of people here. They told me the nightlife was good, that the city was cool too.
Did you come here to continue your studies?
No, I did an internship at the end of my studies at Publicis Ad Agency here and after that I decided to come here to live.
Is graphic design something you necessarily have to study for?
No. You have to know Photoshop, Illustrator and maybe InDesign, but you can learn those by yourself. If you have a good eye you can spot good things, make it by yourself. Web design is more difficult though.
How do you find Montreal for working in the design industry?
It’s great. They have a lot of different agencies, big ones like Sidlee or Publicis. The only thing is a lot of time you have to work with Toronto for English translation, so sometimes it gets complicated but it’s okay.
Is it a small market for design jobs?
No, it’s pretty big actually.
Can you tell me more about how you started out your career in Mtl?
I did an internship and the guy who hired me for the internship said that I should come back to work with him. Actually when I came back a few months later there were no jobs available but I decided to stay anyway. I started to work in small shops on St-Laurent. I worked in the AMC forum, small jobs like that, and I was doing freelancing as a graphic designer at the same time. I did flyers, logos, stuff like that. Finally, I got hired by a small French studio, 123Klan.
It’s pretty famous, they do graphic design, toy designs, t-shirts… It was really cool, a small studio, 5 people who were working really fast, lots of ideas. They are really good at design so I’ve learned from them.
Who was your first client?
We were doing a culture site and web videos for Saputo, they have snack brand called Joe Louis and we were working on that brand, creating the What’s Up Gangstaz website and web videos.
You are currently working at Bob Communications. What are your main tasks as Art Director there?
I am working for the Hyatt right now, they have a restaurant inside and they wanna make it look cool so I did posters and all ad campaigns for them, website and everything. It is basically 360 degrees, to do everything from the logos to the website, to posters, everything.
Do you delegate a lot?
I’d like to delegate more (chuckles) like everyone I guess. It’s like a chef you know: even if you’re a big famous chef you still have to cut the vegetables sometimes!
If you had to describe your own style ,instead of me telling you what I think it is and asking you to expand on that…
Well, it’s a very hard question for me. I don’t like to spot what I do, or what my style is. I don’t know… I just like to do drawings and type[ography] and stuff like that, colourful things.
What is your main inspiration?
I have been always interested by images, my first passion was cinema. I still watch a lot of movies, but it’s just to have good references. Everything I see, film, paintings, website layouts, magazines. It’s everything. In design, for me it’s a mistake to be interested only in design. You have to have a good range of things you are interested in.
You say that you don’t like to follow trends in design, what would you say is the current trend?
Ah well, I have no idea because I am not following them. I just do what I like because I guess if you do what you like, in ten years you are gonna still like it and have good memories about it. But if you just do what’s hype now, it’s gonna lose interest really quickly. Most of the time clients are ten years late on trends, they ask you to do something that was cool in 1998. I fight for what I want to do, but sometimes I tell myself, okay I’m gonna do it their way, and it’ll be over sooner.
When you say that you were freelancing is that when you did most of your work with DJs on mixtape covers, flyers and logos?
Exactly, yeah. I still do that sometimes. Last week I did a mixtape for DJ Cosmo at Blizzarts. It’s just that when I am working at my agency, it’s more corporate and when I want to do more fun stuff to put on my website, it’s better to work with young people, DJs and artists.
Did you ever direct or design a music video?
I’d like to, but a lot of people that I work with don’t have the budget to do music videos. (smile)
Do you take your own photos?
I am not considering myself as a photographer but I can do small pictures like objects; it depends what I need. Like I said, when there is no budget, you have to come up with something quick and for not a lot of money so that’s when I take the pictures.
What is your experience with big creative agencies?
When you are freelancing you have more freedom. People let you do what you want because they have faith in you. In big firms, there are tons of people involved, a lot of people are gonna see your design and judge it.
You say that you like to talk a lot with clients, is there a lot of that going on in big firms like Sidlee and Bob?
It depends, sometimes the client wants to meet the art director, sometimes they just want to speak with the accounts guys. It’s really up to the client in fact.
Current projects are you working on?
A few small things like flyers. I have a full time job now and when I come back home I like to walk my dog and have fun with my friends and not be in front of a computer all night.
Do you have an ultimate career goal of did you achieve it being art director now?
I would like to open a ranch or something like that. Sometimes its just boring to be in front of the computer all day. When you are in school everyone tells you about creativity, and you are going to do what you want, no boundaries, but the day to day job is corporate and boring. So I guess like everyone else sometimes I see myself in a completely different world.
Where does your nickname Barty Bart come from?
It’s when I was rapping… No, let me try that again. It’s just a nickname that I invented back in the days and some of my friends call me that.
bartybart.com
@barty_bart
Bartolome Graziana aka Barty Bart is a discreet character. In a crowd, his work never goes unnoticed but he easily could. On a sunlit afternoon, we sit down to talk about the hottest job in the world, the big names in advertising, and eye candy.
You moved to Montreal after your studies, how long ago was that?
It was four years ago. I had the choice between going to Paris or come here to Montreal, but I had no contacts at all in Paris. And I knew Paris was really expensive to live in on a day to day basis. So I decided to come to Montreal. I knew a couple of people here. They told me the nightlife was good, that the city was cool too.
Did you come here to continue your studies?
No, I did an internship at the end of my studies at Publicis Ad Agency here and after that I decided to come here to live.
Is graphic design something you necessarily have to study for?
No. You have to know Photoshop, Illustrator and maybe InDesign, but you can learn those by yourself. If you have a good eye you can spot good things, make it by yourself. Web design is more difficult though.
How do you find Montreal for working in the design industry?
It's great. They have a lot of different agencies, big ones like Sidlee or Publicis. The only thing is a lot of time you have to work with Toronto for English translation, so sometimes it gets complicated but it's okay.
Is it a small market for design jobs?
No, it’s pretty big actually.
Can you tell me more about how you started out your career in Mtl?
I did an internship and the guy who hired me for the internship said that I should come back to work with him. Actually when I came back a few months later there were no jobs available but I decided to stay anyway. I started to work in small shops on St-Laurent. I worked in the AMC forum, small jobs like that, and I was doing freelancing as a graphic designer at the same time. I did flyers, logos, stuff like that. Finally, I got hired by a small French studio, 123Klan.
It's pretty famous, they do graphic design, toy designs, t-shirts… It was really cool, a small studio, 5 people who were working really fast, lots of ideas. They are really good at design so I’ve learned from them.
Who was your first client?
We were doing a culture site and web videos for Saputo, they have snack brand called Joe Louis and we were working on that brand, creating the What’s Up Gangstaz website and web videos.
You are currently working at Bob Communications. What are your main tasks as Art Director there?
I am working for the Hyatt right now, they have a restaurant inside and they wanna make it look cool so I did posters and all ad campaigns for them, website and everything. It is basically 360 degrees, to do everything from the logos to the website, to posters, everything.
Do you delegate a lot?
I’d like to delegate more (chuckles) like everyone I guess. It’s like a chef you know: even if you’re a big famous chef you still have to cut the vegetables sometimes!
If you had to describe your own style ,instead of me telling you what I think it is and asking you to expand on that…
Well, it’s a very hard question for me. I don’t like to spot what I do, or what my style is. I don’t know… I just like to do drawings and type[ography] and stuff like that, colourful things.
What is your main inspiration?
I have been always interested by images, my first passion was cinema. I still watch a lot of movies, but it’s just to have good references. Everything I see, film, paintings, website layouts, magazines. It’s everything. In design, for me it’s a mistake to be interested only in design. You have to have a good range of things you are interested in.
You say that you don’t like to follow trends in design, what would you say is the current trend?
Ah well, I have no idea because I am not following them. I just do what I like because I guess if you do what you like, in ten years you are gonna still like it and have good memories about it. But if you just do what’s hype now, it’s gonna lose interest really quickly. Most of the time clients are ten years late on trends, they ask you to do something that was cool in 1998. I fight for what I want to do, but sometimes I tell myself, okay I’m gonna do it their way, and it’ll be over sooner.
When you say that you were freelancing is that when you did most of your work with DJs on mixtape covers, flyers and logos?
Exactly, yeah. I still do that sometimes. Last week I did a mixtape for DJ Cosmo at Blizzarts. It’s just that when I am working at my agency, it’s more corporate and when I want to do more fun stuff to put on my website, it’s better to work with young people, DJs and artists.
Did you ever direct or design a music video?
I’d like to, but a lot of people that I work with don’t have the budget to do music videos. (smile)
Do you take your own photos?
I am not considering myself as a photographer but I can do small pictures like objects; it depends what I need. Like I said, when there is no budget, you have to come up with something quick and for not a lot of money so that’s when I take the pictures.
What is your experience with big creative agencies?
When you are freelancing you have more freedom. People let you do what you want because they have faith in you. In big firms, there are tons of people involved, a lot of people are gonna see your design and judge it.
You say that you like to talk a lot with clients, is there a lot of that going on in big firms like Sidlee and Bob?
It depends, sometimes the client wants to meet the art director, sometimes they just want to speak with the accounts guys. It’s really up to the client in fact.
Current projects are you working on?
A few small things like flyers. I have a full time job now and when I come back home I like to walk my dog and have fun with my friends and not be in front of a computer all night.
Do you have an ultimate career goal of did you achieve it being art director now?
I would like to open a ranch or something like that. Sometimes its just boring to be in front of the computer all day. When you are in school everyone tells you about creativity, and you are going to do what you want, no boundaries, but the day to day job is corporate and boring. So I guess like everyone else sometimes I see myself in a completely different world.
Where does your nickname Barty Bart come from?
It’s when I was rapping… No, let me try that again. It’s just a nickname that I invented back in the days and some of my friends call me that.
bartybart.com
@barty_bart
