Interview with Graphic Designer Mathias Nösel

How did you come up with the concept for your thesis project, Wildkatz?

I love cats … and of course I grew up with a cat. The first called ‘Stanzi’ died on cancer and the second called ‘Leo’ is still hunting mice in fields.

I noticed that cats get very lazy when they become older. Unfortunately they aren’t as funny as when they were youngsters. So I wanted to create a midpoint against the boredom of older cats and invented the cat food ‘Wildkatz’ – where wild animals with wild genes, like the tiger, get mixed into the cat food. But of course, it’s not literally a tiger! The cat food is prepared with vitamins. Just check this project on my behance site. It is my favorite project (together with the ‘Pencil-Sharpener-Ventilator’ project!

Can you tell us about your experience in creating for dmma online star 2011?

That was a lot of work! We have planned several motives. An exploding hard disk drive, a flatscreen, a old mac pro and a computer-mouse. But the client wanted just the mouse. We destroyed the other things nevertheless … That was fun!

The shooting took a long time. Never thought that would take so much work. The lighting was very difficult. The design of the poster was very time consuming, too. All the details … We had so many different versions. I was never happy with the design. But after every version it became a little bit better.

Design is a process and this process was arduous.

Are you working on any new project right now?

The-Pencil-Sharpener-Ventilator! I just finished this project and uploaded it to my profile at behance. You have to see this! Check the film, photographs and the making of! It was a lot of work and I hope you like it! And yes I’m already working on several new projects, of course!

Can you give any word of advice to our readers?

There were already some good advices in the text above. But I have some more:

Never give up and never be satisfied with yourself! That’s very important.

When you think you’re done with your work, sleep one night and watch it again. And make it one step better again. Watch your work from different angles, turn the work upside down. That helps to find new ways doing it better. And of course: always do tutorials. you never stop learning.