Into the Archives: An Interview with Folder Studio
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Into the Archives: An Interview with Folder Studio

Archives have long been a source of interest for graphic designers and artists alike. The Walker is itself an archive. Our library is a favorite archive of the design team. Even several works in our collection take the  form of an archive (see Danh Vo’s I M U U R 2). But an archive is only as useful as its means of organization and display. As designers we hold a responsibility to not only make archives accessible, but also engaging—providing context and various entry points for the user.

Folder Studio, a design studio based in Los Angeles, has developed a body of work that seems almost specialized in archives. Their various projects present specific moments in time with a unique, contemporary framework that reaffirms the materials relevant to today. Below I chat with the studio (Takumi Akin, Wesley Chou, and Jon Gacnik) about four of their archive-based projects, covering topics from used books and post-punk to riots and the legacy of Tupac.

 

 

ARCHIVE 001: INFORMATIONAL AFFAIRS

Informational Affairs is an ever-growing index of books collected by Folder Studio. The collection consists largely of books sourced from nondescript locations such as bookstore dollar bins, libraries, and garage sales.

 

Ben Schwartz (BS)

How did the project begin, and how has it evolved? Was there an end goal in mind when you started documenting the books?

 

Folder Studio (FS)

We’ve always looked at it as an ongoing activity, so there isn’t a defined end goal for the project. It started a few months before we even got our first studio space. The three of us were living in the same building and were working out of Takumi’s dining room.

We had just bought an oversized scanner for documenting work (the same one we still use for IA) and started scanning books to test it out. Somehow it’s since taken on a life of its own and has grown into a collection that fills up walls worth of space in our studio.

 

BS

What are your criteria for determining which books are documented?

 

FS

The collection isn’t about seeking out rarity or about any sort of set completion. The items that make it into the selection each have something we react strongly to, whether it be subject matter, imagery, or design—we’re not seeking out anything in particular. Over the years the collection has grown to reflect certain ideals and idiosyncrasies we have as individuals and as a studio.

 

BS

A personal collection or archive can say just as much about the archivist as it does about the subject matter in the collection. If someone were to find and study IA 100 years from now, what would they better understand about the studio’s practice?

 

FS

As a whole, the collection represents many of the qualities we hope to capture in our work. It might communicate our appreciation for working with collections and making available the richness of archives.

Our style of collecting is guided by a sense of passing interest. It’s that feeling of curiosity when you catch something out of the corner of your eye, prompting a second glance. When this is combined with a facilitative format, it’s a natural formula for engagement.

 

 

ARCHIVE 002: RBMA ENDLESS 80s

Independent record labels thrived in New York City during the ’80s. Their eclectic tastes and genre-melding releases laid the groundwork for experimental genres such as new wave, no wave, post-disco, post-punk, dance-rock and hip-hop. Endless 80s NYC highlights 10 labels whose unique aesthetic defined the decade. Hijacking the idea of the image blog, we created an endlessly remixed stream of content that pays homage to the vibrant energy and blending of cultures that took place in the city during that decade. Made with our friend Jon-Kyle Mohr.

 

BS

Through image quality, effects, and typographic treatment Endless 80’s immediately establishes a particular atmosphere. How important is it for you to establish a context through the form of the archive? How do you balance those design moves with presenting the content?

 

FS

Image quality, effects, and typographic treatments are all ways of giving the viewer a baseline impression of the content. The homepage situates the individual labels in an overall context, making the specificities of each easier to relate to the whole scene.

Typographic cards that highlight artists from each label

 

BS

It seems that every time you return to the site you are presented with a completely new set of images. How are you achieving this effect? Is there just a massive archive of imagery you are pulling from?

 

FS

Yeah, there is. It was kind of a technical requirement for the format. We wanted the homepage to express the attitude of the whole scene, so it was crucial to limit the repetition of assets on the page. The most straightforward way to do that was to continually add assets until we felt it had hit a critical mass of variety.

 

BS

Through the random ordering and diverse imagery on the site, the interaction feels almost abstract. When creating an archive, how do you balance a unique user experience with information accessibility?

 

FS

In this instance it was more intuitive and useful to encourage choice based on visual response rather than by textual information—it isn’t an archive in the traditional sense. This abstraction is ultimately a way to broaden accessibility.

 

 

ARCHIVE 003: TUPAC

This is an editorially driven website preserving the legacy of Tupac Shakur through personal stories from his friends and contemporaries. Canonized at its most potent, Tupac’s legacy remains powerful and relevant to this day. Visuals are generated in real-time on the site.

The project was launched in this format alongside the 25th anniversary of 2Pacalypse Now. The Estate has since chosen to redevelop the site as a store. You can find an archived version of the site here.

 

BS

How do you even begin to approach a project like this? I imagine as exciting as this project sounds, there is also a bit of intimidation or pressure?

 

FS

At first it felt as if we were tasked with something monumental. Everyone has their own idea of who Tupac was: rapper, actor, activist, thug, poet, rebel, visionary. Representing all parties was something that didn’t seem realistic. So instead of trying to create the “ultimate fan resource,” it made sense to us to publish content in a way that added to the existing fan dialogue rather than to summarize it.

 

BS

With 2Pac’s massive and mythic stature, there are no shortage of unofficial sites dedicated to documenting his life. How did you plan on differentiating 2pac.com from other fan pages?

 

FS

These unofficial fan sites were a great resource for us when working on this project. The reality is, they are the primary repository of 2Pac-related content and we kind of think it should stay that way. There is something about not having a definitive resource that adds immensely to the mythic stature of 2Pac.

We thought 2pac.com should be a place that commemorates his memory. This includes intangible elements including a sense of ’90s nostalgia that his music still brings up in us today. We approached this with a series of vignettes that exhibit music video editing techniques of the era, using simple effects chained together in unconventional ways. These sequences are entry points into editorial content provided by the Tupac Estate, reflecting on important moments in Tupac’s life.

 

BS

What do you feel an editorial approach to an archive provides as opposed to an index of media and ephemera?

 

FS

An editorial format can represent varied perspectives and is something that noticeably changes over time. An index of media and ephemera suggests a definitiveness that can feel monolithic.

 

 

ARCHIVE 004: K-TOWN’92

K-Town92 is an interactive online documentary that explores the impact and legacy of the 1992 Los Angeles uprising. We devised, designed, and developed a custom documentary format that systematically juxtaposes perspectives while maintaining a comfortable and intuitive watching experience, as one would expect from a film.

A deep archive of materials from ‘92 and present.

 

BS

The LA Riots are a well-covered historical event, yet the K-Town‘92 site feels like a unique perspective in both content and approach. How did you hope to shape the story through modes of presentation—video juxtaposition, mapping, etc.

 

FS

The riots have been covered many times over the last 25 years. Images of burning buildings and looters permeate our memories of the event. African Americans, Latinos, and Koreans have been portrayed as both victims and perpetrators of violence, locking each group within a stereotype.

K-Town‘92 has a unique focus on minority perspectives and is centered around Koreatown, LA’s largest and most ethnically diverse neighborhood (over 50% Latino and 32% Asian). Project director Grace Lee interviewed community members and organizers about their first-hand experiences of the riots. Visual Communications, an Asian-American film archive in Los Angeles, provided us with unaired interviews and B-roll footage shot in the aftermath of the uprising.

We wanted to take advantage of the duality in the footage. By including multiple perspectives on a single frame we allow for the juxtaposition of current and archival footages to provide the film with its own context and commentary.

Other perspectives have been ignored. Los Angeles 1992. Who gets to tell the story?

 

BS

What I find interesting about the site is the combination of the extremely contemporary interface and interaction mixed with the most rudimental means of storytelling: oral tradition. In many ways it takes a large-scale event and makes it feel personal. I’m curious about your thoughts on that. As archives become more reliant on technology, how important is it that they still feel personal?

 

FS

Not all archives need to be brought into this intimate space. But in this particular case, it was important to place the viewer in a position that gets as close as possible to a first-hand experience.

Chance and choice are big parts of how we understand and relate to an experience. By presenting multiple perspectives in the same frame, we ask the viewer to choose who to listen to. There is no real definitive storyline, and your opinion on the subject is colored by who is telling the story. The film creates loose connections between these perspectives, surfacing similarities and differences in the shared experience.

 

BS

What projects are you currently working on, and what do you have coming that you are excited about?

 

FS

After 20 years of digital publishing, Archinect launched Ed, their first printed quarterly. We recently designed the initial run of this hybrid journal wrapped in a magazine. The inaugural issue excavates the “Architecture of Architecture” through a diverse set of glances from various angles—a self-portrait of the discipline and profession. We’re currently busy at work on Issue 2, “Disaster.”

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