He/him | #tommy #motiondesign #emergingtechnologies
Hey Chris, first of all how are you?
I’m gooood thanks, busy but gooood Hope all is well :)
Give us five fun facts about yourself!
1) I’m a musician and truly humbled and blessed to have travelled to some interesting places around the world to play :) 2) I LOVE grindhouse & BMovies 3) I met Harry Styles once, he came over to my desk and shook my hand. I had absolutely no idea who he was haha 4) I have an unhealthy relationship with French fancies haha 5) I’m currently learning Jazz guitar and it’s mental haha it’s like starting again.
Who is Chris Hillier- Forshaw?
I'm a designer and I love it! generally these days I work with 3D & immersive tech and have been (& still) learning C# to make my work truly interactive. I do a lot & I feel you have to, to be able to create anything I can imagine and chisel through the never ending list of ideas that keep me awake at night. I think I’m an alien haha.
So what interests you about motion design?
It’s graphic design without boundaries. There’s so many aspects and so many styles you can jump into / produce and above all its fun :)
You graduated from the University of Bolton how was your time there?
It was great. The tutors were great. I treated university like it was a job. I was already designing before I started but wanted to study to basically get better, open my mind up to intricacies and new possibilities but the best thing about it was the freedom for self-discovery :)
You now work for Tommy, are you enjoying it?
Yeah, I tend to work on the 3D/augmented reality side of things these days for some really great brands, which is brill :)
You do a lot of work in emerging technologies such as VR and AR. How do you tackle this differently compared to regular motion/graphic design?
The future is exciting! The world of computing is moving at a fast pace and is becoming more spatial as time moves on. Moving from a 2D realm to a spatial realm requires extra thinking and a deeper understanding of the user, so planning and ideation are certainly dealt with differently. It requires more ‘out of the box' thinking as your not just showing people what you do, you’re making people feel what you do. You're shifting your audience from mundane spectatorship to actual participation so you need to consider that throughout the whole design process.
What do you believe the future of graphic design to be? Does it involve emerging technology?
I see Graphic design as an umbrella and other disciplines hang from it so it’ll always be there as the fundamental placeholder of standards. XR really elevates a campaign. It literally adds an extra layer to your work, it allows the user to become more immersed in it which in turn means they become more immersed within your brand.
Due to its accessibility, It’s easy to get started and implement so if it’s not a part of your campaign, why not? It’s exciting to know that brands can include the users in their creative strategy and output.
I want to start featuring more people on this platform so with this in mind, is there anyone in the creative industry that you would like to shout out?
Oh man, I’ve worked for and alongside so many talented & amazing people over the years! If I had to pick it’d be Matt Turnbull & Jamie Innes, I worked with both at MelodyVR, they are two genuine, talented & knowledgeable dudes and it is an absolute pleasure to know/work with them.
For my final question, what's next for Chris Hillier- Forshaw?
Good question haha, I have a few XR experiences in the pipeline and some killer collaboration that I can’t talk about yet but aside from that, I’ll still be earning my crust, exploring and pushing my own boundaries :)
