When illustrators, designers, and artists first decide to go into creative pursuits as a career, it can feel pretty romantic. We have a true passion for visual communication and the power it has to influence the world. We have something we want to say, and we are finally getting the tools we need to say it!

At some point a divide happens - and this often comes when these beautiful intentions meet other people with their own beautiful intentions. Briefs are as diverse as the creatives charged with bringing them to life. Budgets, goals, and a customer's needs force a project to be about more than just the vision a creative has.

This often splits designers into two groups:

A) Those who believe that others, including non-creatives, have valuable perspectives and believe that diversity is a strength.

B) Those who believe that their ideas are important and qualitative enough and should be left alone from outside intervention.

Some creative projects involve teams of people with many different backgrounds, opinions, tasks, and goals. These teams believe that we go further together even when we disagree - perhaps even because we disagree. Being challenged is what can make design go from good to great. When we collaborate across fields, we are creating solid, sustainable, and healthy growth so that everyone can be included.

On the other hand, designers are the right people to do the job: to design. Award winning design breaks through the average and often requires designers who are able to trust their own instincts despite what others could advise. They want to avoid generic approaches, and many illustrators and designers prefer to work alone to purify their own creative process and have unparalleled success with this approach.

Are projects better when designers compromise? What battles can designers let go, and when do they stick to their guns and fight for their vision? Can a designer be uncompromising regardless of the scope of a project?

What do you think?

Panelists:

COMPROMISE:
Erika Barbieri
Samra Avdavic
Martin Asbjørnsen
UNCOMPROMISING:
Torgeir Hjetland
Sergio Haisch
Johannes Jellum

Fight Night
Fight Night is a playful, informal, and quite possibly loud discussion between professionals who are actually affected by the themes being discussed. Grafill wants to create an arena where there is room for different perspectives and strong opinions, where diversity is considered a strength and not a threat. And hopefully, we can all get a little smarter.

This event isn't just a passive debate on stage - we encourage the audience to get involved and be a part of the discussion! Not only will we take questions beforehand (for those who may be too nervous to ask in person), but all audience members will be encouraged to ask questions during the event.

Fight Night is free for everyone and all participants are volunteers. No registration – first come, first served.

Date: Tuesday May 23, 2023
Time: 1800 - 2000
Place: Uhørt, Torggata 11 Oslo