Editor’s note: In France, Vincent Perrottet is a leading voice on the graphic design scene. You can always count on him to speak up against corporate imperialism, cultural elitism, and the commercialization of the visual language. It sounds intimidating, but in fact Vincent is an endearing idealist always ready to help friends and have a good time. We recently spoke around cheese and wine, nibbling away while he leisurely picked his way through ideas and concepts.
VV Tell me again: in what way is your own graphic design work—most of it at the service of cultural institutions and worthy causes—the result of your political analysis?
VP For me, political action is just another word for implementing the values that motivate me. And what motivates me is the prospect of working with people I love, in the best possible conditions for them but also for their colleagues on the project.
VV Are you saying that you mix politics with friendship?
VP Political action is not personal, if that’s what you insinuate. It’s the opposite. It takes into consideration groups of people. A group can be very small. For me it begins with the people I live with, my loved ones, my friends, my family. They are my political base, so to speak. I need to know that what I do doesn’t alienate them. Only then can I extend my work to include other communities I belong to: my next-door neighbors, the residents of the small town where I live, graphic designers who have a studio nearby, printers I visit occasionally, regional art schools where I give workshops, plus the extended network of colleagues and clients in Paris and elsewhere.
My political convictions are the result of observing how all the people around me function together. They have taught me the importance of sharing. The crucial role of empathy. The respect of differences. In the process I have developed a real distaste for authoritarian and exploitative systems that promote rapacity and contempt for the most vulnerable people among us. Unfortunately, these offensive values are ubiquitous, and they are the source of much suffering around the globe.
VV As a designer who is actively engaged, what do you do to “make a difference?”
VP First I try to understand the mechanisms of greed and exploitation to reduce their harmful effects on me and on my entourage. By the way, I do not dissociate my professional life from my personal life; they are one and the same thing for me. I use the same logic to solve problems large and small, public or private.
One of the rules that works for me is to be as transparent with others as I would like them to be with me. I don’t try to “convince” people of anything. Georges Braque once said that “evidence exhausts the truth.” I agree with him. I prefer to share thoughts than offer long explanations. The problem with explanations is that they are designed to dominate the conversation and suppress objections.
You asked me how I try to make a difference? I do so by refusing to enter into relationships where there is no dialogue possible, where the outcome is preordained, and where the only thing you can do as a designer is make things look slightly better. When I find myself in a situation in which someone tries to impose his or her will on someone else, I simply quit. I walk out the door. It’s a political choice for me.
VV Isn’t it cowardly to quit when things get tough?
VP In my opinion, it’s naïve to think that a designer, acting alone, can pretend to make a difference. The awareness of the situation has to be shared with others otherwise the problem will persist and it will become even more difficult to uproot it. Let’s make a difference by resisting oppression collectively.
My work is always the result of a relationship with a person, a group of people, or an association that matters to me. I react to them. I seldom initiate work on my own. When I have some free time, I read and think about what I just read. Thinking keeps me busy!
One of the things I like to think about is people. For example, before meeting someone I might be working with, I always try to speak to them on the phone. I make sketches to psych myself up for our encounter. By the time I meet them, I am ready to give it my all. I am already on their team, whether or not they know it.
VV In America, we call this people stuff “schmoozing.” In France you call it political action!
VP Wait! Ordinary relationships between people are at the heart of what political action is all about! Yes, I am politically engaged when I put my talents and my convictions at the service of others, or when my actions contribute to making other people’s life better.
I happen to be a graphic designer, someone who thinks about the meaning of signs and their influence on our daily existence. Someone who studies their symbolic but also political impact on our urban environment and on our mental landscape. It is as a graphic designer that I try to serve the community in which I live, because that’s the best thing I can do.
Anyone who chooses to do something rather than do nothing is politically engaged. Anyone who fights rather than suffer. Anyone who engages in spirited subversion rather than collaborate with tyrannical forces.
Personally, I feel politically engaged when I take full responsibility for a project that others depend on—if I share their values and if I know that I can honestly complete it with whatever skills I happen to have.
VV So, serving good people is not the only thing that matters. It has to be for a good cause.
VP As my friend Gérard Paris-Clavel likes to say: “I’d rather work for a good cause than a good fee.” In other words, it’s the topic, not the client, that drives the creative process.
VV OK, so tell me what’s a good cause!
VP Let’s say a good cause is a cause that’s good for me—one I can identify with, one that requires I give the best I have to offer, one that forces me to question my existential, professional, and artistic values. I have to be motivated to engage in a collective project freely, enthusiastically, without reservations.
The main rule, as far as I am concerned, is to avoid power struggles between members of a team. You have to be able to have arguments as part of constructive criticism. The quality of the outcome has to be everyone’s priority. If that’s not the case, I protest. I take issue. I make myself unpopular with the client. As I said before, I am willing to walk out on the project rather than play “politics.”
VV There is a huge difference between “politics” and “political action.” Would you say that the two terms describe two diametrically opposed approaches to problem solving?
VP Political action is often derailed when people play politics. One thing political engagement requires is taking the time to talk. You can’t rush the process. You have to let others talk and you have to listen to what they have to say. You have to make sure that no misunderstanding sneaks in, that no covert resentment or frustration gets in the way. It’s difficult—but there is no reason to despair. Collective engagement is our best hope.