Eva & Marta Yarza are twin sisters running the award-winning London-based graphic design studio Yarza Twins. At Yarza Twins, they combine creativity, concept, and strategy to give their projects that special spark. They believe that design is an opportunity to provoke change and to inspire audiences.
Designer Interview With Eva & Marta Yarza @yarzatwins #designerinterview #branding #graphicdesign https://t.co/rAKfF4SfdO pic.twitter.com/HhyJsAnc3U
— The Logo Creative™ (@thelogocreative) December 12, 2018
The Twins were Born in Vigo (Spain), they have worked in Madrid, New York, and London, where their studio is currently based. This wide international experience has allowed them to gain knowledge and to see things from different perspectives.
Among their design achievements, together they have been awarded a prestigious D&AD Pencil in Packaging Design 2018 and also been selected as 1 of the 15 most exciting designers under 30 by Print Magazine in (2016)
As precocious children, they learned to draw before they were able to walk, they soon developed a big interest in arts and, as twins, they had the chance to explore their creativity together since the very beginning, bringing and developing together new artistic ideas and tools that helped them develop and discover their work as artists.
Eva studied Fine Arts and then MA Communication Design at Central Saint Martins, she has interned for Sagmeister & Walsh in New York. Marta studied Construction engineering and later studied the same master as Eva. Their work has been featured in It’s Nice That, Étapes, Yorokobu and Page Magazine among others.
The Logo Creative – Thanks to the both of you for taking part in our Designer Interview
Yarza Twins – We are thrilled to be taking part in this interview Thank you very much.
The Logo Creative – What was the turning point in your life when you decided to become a designer and how did you proceed?
Yarza Twins – When we were 18, we didn’t know what Graphic Design was, so Eva studied Fine Arts and Marta Architecture. It was on a Graphic Design lesson, that Eva discovered Graphic Design and decided to do a Communication Design Masters in Central Saint Martin(London). When Marta graduated, Spain was suffering from a very big economic recession, finding a job was almost impossible for young people, so Marta followed Eva and decided to do the same Masters in Central Saint Martins.
The Logo Creative – What does your day consist of?
Yarza Twins – We both wake up, have breakfast and try to be at the office at 9:00 am if there are no meetings. On Fridays, we have lunch outside the office. Normally around 18:00 we pack up and go home.
The Logo Creative – Are you a morning person or night owl and is there a reason why?
Yarza Twins – We are both morning people. There is no reason for it, but we tend to be fresher to develop ideas in the morning.
The Logo Creative – What was the first logo you ever designed?
Yarza Twins – Our first professional logo was probably Panificadora. Panificadora is an old factory in the city of Vigo that we saved from demolition when we were 18 years old. Years after, as the building remained abandoned, we created a fictitious branding imagining as a museum. This branding started to be published in many prestigious design magazines, until it reached the local newspapers and, now there is a real plan to re-use the building. This identity made our career grow.
The Logo Creative – What is your favourite logo you have designed?
Yarza Twins – Lately, we have been really exploring conceptual logos, we have 2 or 3 that haven’t been launched yet that we absolutely love, but we also love the logo for a Barcelona based musician called Supermeganada. His name is a Spanish word game that means super mega nothing, so we played with the super mega being huge, and nothing small. As well, we have it a superhero shape, which matches the guitar pick shape. 3 in 1. As well this logo works very well with crazy colours, and as a patter by itself, so we love it.
The Logo Creative – What is your favourite logos of all time?
Yarza Twins – Our favourite logo is the one that we recently created for Neo2 Magazine, a Spanish culture magazine that recently suffered our rebrand and re-concept of their editorial design. The concept behind it comes from the multiple typefaces that are being used in the editorial design, we couldn’t see any of those typefaces being enough powerful for being the logo at the front cover, so we created a new one that joins all of them together. It ends up coming very modern and dynamic.
And in the industry: General Electric, PSOE and Chupa Chups.
The Logo Creative – Can you describe or give us an overview of your logo design process?
Yarza Twins – We first start by choosing a base font. We don’t like to just create a logo that is a font, so we trick it and give it a meaning and a sense. We always try to make them in one or two colours and to keep the simple but contemporary and original.
The Logo Creative – What brands do you most admire and how do they influence your creative thinking?
Yarza Twins – We love brands that collaborate with the best creatives as Adidas, Nike, Smirnoff, HP and MTV. We had the pleasure of working with some of them and it was awesome. They create some kind of creative conversation between the best designers worldwide and for us, it’s all very inspiring. We loved Nike Air’s campaign and it inspired us to better while at uni.
The Logo Creative – What do you consider your most successful design project, and why?
Yarza Twins – We love all of our projects, but the campaign for Hp x Smirnoff was our first project with a big client, so for us, it was a real challenge to do it right. We created more than 900 artworks for that project, so we worked really hard on it. Our main purpose was to experiment with HP’s software, the D4D using a Smirnoff 21 bottle. We wanted absolutely every bottle to look different, and we kind of archived it.
The Logo Creative – How long does it take to complete the average logo design project from start to finish?
Yarza Twins – It depends. If the client is open minded and loves your work, a logo can take up to 4 weeks, the result will be amazing and we will adjust it until it’s perfect.
The Logo Creative – What are you recommended design books to read?
Yarza Twins – Design as art by Bruno Munari, the philosophy of Andy Warhol by Warhol, Tibor, and Sagmeister books
The Logo Creative – Which software do you use frequently and is there any you would recommend to designers?
Yarza Twins – We normally use Adobe programs. First of all, because they are very easy to use, but secondly, because they are the most average formats.
The Logo Creative –What is your favourite style of logo design? And why?
Yarza Twins – We like logos that are simple and modern. If they have a concept behind it’s even better. We think that a logo should be new, that’s why it needs to be original.
The Logo Creative – What is your daily inspiration when you design?
Yarza Twins – For us, Instagram is a great source of inspiration. You can directly follow the people that you admire, and even interact with them!
The Logo Creative – When you’re not designing do you have a favourite free time activity you like to do?
Yarza Twins – Marta: I love cooking and food, as well as hiking in nature or going to museums and art galleries.
Eva: I love cooking as well and doing sports, I also love reading and watching movies.
The Logo Creative – What was the biggest challenge you ever faced on a project?
Yarza Twins – Probably the biggest challenge is time. Some projects have deadlines of almost a year, but others, a couple of weeks. And we want to give the same result to both, so it’s a bit stressful when you are a perfectionist and the day hasn’t got enough hours!
The Logo Creative – In your opinion what’s the best and worst part of your job as a designer?
Yarza Twins – The best part is to do what you love!
The worst is probably interacting (or trying to) with designers/ artists with very high ego. And with this, we want to say that we had the chance to meet all the biggest designers on earth and the big and talented ones are the ones that are kindest and nicest. That taught us a lot about egos.
The Logo Creative – Who is the most inspiring person to you and why?
Yarza Twins – Probably Sagmeister is a great inspiration for both of us. Eva had the chance to intern for him in New York some years ago, and he reached her many of the things that we both know now. As well, we believe that Sagmeister gave a design lesson to the whole industry.
The Logo Creative – Who is your favourite graphic designer and why?
Yarza Twins – Sagmeister, Carson, Paula Scher and, of course, Tibor Kalman. Because each one in their style, they broke boundaries and made from this industry what it’s nowadays.
The Logo Creative – What’s your favourite design quote or quote in general, and do you have a mantra or saying you live by? (This can be included)
Yarza Twins – Less it’s more. It’s more of a music quote but applies very well to graphic design and we use it as a motto.
The Logo Creative – In less than 10 words what is graphic design?
Yarza Twins – Graphic design is a way of influencing people. If it’s good, you will make them happy or positive without knowing why, if it’s bad, they will feel angry without knowing why.
The Logo Creative – What steps did you take to start your graphic design business? Did you have to make any sacrifices on your journey?
Yarza Twins – We launched our design studio a year ago and yes, we did a lot of sacrifices in our journey. Before no one would give us a graphic design opportunity, we spent 2 years studying and working in restaurants and shops at the same time. As we didn’t lose faith, we kept doing graphic design personal projects at night, we spent 2 years with no money or a day off, but at the end, someone finally gave us a chance and we could enter into the industry. Sacrifices are something normal in any industry, for example, Sagmeister was a Design Director in Hong Kong until he got the chance to open his own studio.
The Logo Creative – Do you have any regrets? Is there anything you would have changed early on in your career?
Yarza Twins – No, we don’t have any regret.
The Logo Creative – If you could go back in time, what would you tell your younger self?
Yarza Twins – To not go to that Indian restaurant in White Chapel. As well, that the world is as big as you see it and a small as you want to make it. Go an explore it as soon as possible.
The Logo Creative – What’s the most important piece of advice you have received as a designer that’s helped you?
Yarza Twins – Collaborate with other creatives, even if any of you don’t have money. Our teacher Andrea Lioy told us that at Central Saint Martins, and that sentence gave us the courage to not be scared, be brave and to use the resources that we could afford at the time.
As well, Sagmeister once told us to add a ‘banana’ to each of our projects. A banana is something unexpected. A special typography, a rude photo, an illustration… something that would make people stop and look.
The Logo Creative – What would be your advice for new Logo and Graphic Designers?
Yarza Twins – To look beyond and to work hard to create your own opportunities.
learn more about The Yarza Twins | yarzatwins.com