jjsscc

Intelligent solutions and excellent craftsmanship have characterised the work of Jean Jacques Schaffner and his wife Silvana Conzelmann for over 40 years. When their daughter Delphine joined the agency, this quality standard was continued in numerous commissioned freelance projects. The series “Iconic Chairs Posters” is an apt example of jjsscc’s keen sense for presenting design classics in a large format.

Interview with Jean Jacques Schaffner

Red Dot: This poster series puts design icons centre stage. What criteria did you use to select the subjects?

Our private and professional careers are characterised by a passion for collecting. This also includes design objects and chairs, so the inspiration for our posters came primarily from our own collection.

One special feature is the scalability of the motifs. Was this a central aspect of the concept?

Since we also offer our posters in our art shop and produce all purchased items on demand, we can create any format with our vectorised data – even very large copies. This way we keep all options open.

Why did you decide to use vectorised illustrations?

Scalability wasn’t the only reason why we created the illustrations in Illustrator. Vectors allow us to construct technical shapes and patterns very precisely. Our drawings also enable us to easily modify colour schemes and the environment. Pixel files or manually created images would make this very difficult.

The poster as home decoration – at one point in time, this function held more importance than it does today. Why should designers reclaim this space?

It is currently very popular among young people to hang up new editions of old advertising posters in their homes. Nobody really seems to like current posters, whether focused on advertising or culture. Advertising posters are becoming more and more pragmatic, without humour and lacking any particular aesthetic appeal. We thought it made sense to offer our own designs through freelance work and to sell them via our shop. This and communication through social media opened new doors for us. Peer-to-peer, as they say.

Posters also play a recurring role in your commissioned work. Is the impact of posters sometimes underestimated?

Targeted poster campaigns make sense, also for large brands. Even online shops like Zalando actively advertise with posters. Our experience with regional campaigns has been extremely positive and successful. That’s why we continue to attach great importance to clear design solutions in order to position products or events in line with the brand. Although posters are not the only medium, they are still an important one.