Interview with Kiel Danger Mutschelknaus – Fight For Kindness 2024 Guest
- TypeCampus
- 6 ore fa
- Tempo di lettura: 4 min
Kiel D. Mutschelknaus is a motion and generative designer from Maryland.
His studio specialises in crafting generative tools to create bespoke typography, images, and motion outputs. His coding project, Space Type Generator (STG), is an open-source tool that enables users to create their own kinetic type experiments. With 20 variations already available and more in development, STG has been utilised worldwide for applications ranging from music videos to magazine covers and large-scale murals. Space Type Generator has been featured in It’s Nice That, Eye Magazine, étape, and Novum Magazine.
Variations of STG have been exhibited internationally, from Hong Kong to New York City to Taipei. Kiel has presented his work and hosted workshops at major events, including INTL, OFFF Barcelona, Tipografía México, and OFFF Tel Aviv.
Kiel’s clients include Nike, Google, Apple, Spotify, The New York Times, The CW, YouTube, Adidas, and Bloomberg. His editorial work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, MIT Technology Review, Columbia Engineering, The Verge, and The New Republic.
In your career as a motion and generative designer, how has your personal project, Space Type Generator, influenced your professional development and the way you approach client work? Can you share some insights on the importance of personal projects in the creative industry?
I actually credit the entire state of my career to Space Type Generator. It has sparked countless conversations that have opened so many doors. Documenting and sharing its developments has put me on the radars and feeds of numerous art directors and creative directors. When a project comes up in their work that aligns with what I’ve done, they reach out. I’ve found myself in many meetings where my work is featured on the mood boards. Personal projects are hugely important to me, and sharing them is just as crucial. They attract jobs and gigs that align with the kind of work I want to be doing. They also create a fantastic feedback loop. I learn things during freelance gigs that often serve as R&D for my studio practice. It all generates great momentum, keeping everything feeling fresh and exciting.
"I think typography has become looser and more fun in the past decade or so. It’s so much more flexible and expressive."
Can you share a bit about your journey into graphic design and the role of typography in your work?
I actually started with almost no formal education in typography. I studied Studio Art as an undergraduate and was drawn to graphic design, but I had no real understanding of what typography was. After graduating, I started a job in advertising and was absolutely terrified of typography—I gave it so little thought. In hindsight, it’s incredibly embarrassing. I used to think graphic design was just about drawing cool pictures and then slapping some type onto it at the last minute.
A few years into advertising, I left to attend Cranbrook Academy of Art in their 2D Design Department. Cranbrook is all about challenging typography and exploring it through an avant-garde lens. And yet, at the time, I didn’t even know what typography really was! I still don’t know how I ended up there. It wasn’t until I became a graphic design teacher at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) that I truly learned to understand and appreciate typography.
Ironically, I learned typography while teaching it. Don’t tell my former students! Now, typography is a core element of my practice. That’s partly because I’ve grown to appreciate it so much more, but also because typography has become looser and more fun over the past decade or so. It’s much more flexible and expressive now. The rules can be tweaked, broken, and experimented with, making it an incredibly dynamic and exciting tool.
Which project has been the most rewarding you've worked on so far, and why is that so?
I had the opportunity to collaborate with Work-Order on a generator for The New York Times' Climate Forward conference. I was brought in early to sketch and conceptualise in code, ensuring that what we created was truly generative in nature. The final visuals we were able to generate were incredibly beautiful. After handing the tool over to their team, it was thrilling to see what they were able to produce. They created outputs I hadn’t even considered. The collaboration was fantastic, the tool worked brilliantly, and the visuals turned out beautifully. It was an ideal generator project from start to finish.
"At the start of my design career, I was terrified by everything I didn’t know. I felt paralysed by new challenges and mediums, constantly worried about the skills I lacked and the things I hadn’t yet done. It has taken years, but now I embrace those unknowns."
How would you describe your design philosophy, and how has it evolved over the years?
At the start of my design career, I was terrified by everything I didn’t know. I felt paralysed by new challenges and mediums, constantly worried about the skills I lacked and the things I hadn’t yet done. It has taken years, but now I embrace those unknowns. Rather than fearing them, I see them as exciting opportunities for new experiments. Learning and experimentation have become core elements of my design philosophy.
What impact do you hope your work has on the world and the design community?
For a long time, I think generative code has been seen as a quaint, “cute” addition to a designer’s process. But generative code can be so much more than just a weekend workshop exercise. I hope Space Type Generator and my practice have demonstrated that it can be a truly impactful cornerstone of creative workflows.
This interview is part of the Now More Than Ever 2024 Fight for Kindness Annual book
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