Company,+Bio,+Style

I'm going to be comparing work from Lumbago to Epicentre so I'll mainly use work shown on the website portfolios : []

Here's the general structure of what I'm going to say:


 * **School** - transitioning from art to design and meeting Louise
 * **Lumbago (1981 - 1996)**
 * began with Picard doing posters for a friend who worked for a gallery (freelance), then joined with Louise
 * a revolutionary company that created posters for cultural organizations and events
 * This also was an influence on future design companies, as Lumbago was one of the first design companies to be known as a name rather than the designer's name. I.e: nolan designs
 * style was very creative
 * small company, low budget so they had to use many crafty layering techniques to save money (can see this in the early works before early 1990's, and how this has influenced the later works when they started using Photoshop)
 * Most materials used were things like oil paints, crayons, pencils, lots of paper. He would often joke that some of his best work had been due to purchases from dollarama.
 * I will show here comparing early works (before computer) with later works, and pointing out techniques they used. [[image:Picture_5.png width="368" height="307" caption="Picture_5.png"]]
 * wasn't preoccupied with money, but to get the posters on the streets.
 * Lumbago didn't have a style, but a process
 * When they worked with theaters, they would ask for the script and details about the show and set.
 * last five of the company, started doing more serious work (museums, corporate) and generate more money. But it was because of this that the two partners split.
 * They way that Lumbago became known was through media such as magazines & tv. They also won numerous awards in Quebec.
 * They would often argue over how much they should charge for bigger corporative clients, which eventually led to their split
 * **Epicentre (1996 - current)**
 * Over the Lumbago years, Picard learned the limit of clients and the company took a more corporate route
 * Usually comes up with the concept and lets his designers control the graphic elements
 * At times he feels bad for his designers as most are fresh out of school and believe that they could change the world with their ideas.
 * He often has to explain to them that the corporate clients are less flexible and open with their designs. Picard makes sure that his designers understand the reality of the corporate world of design because in the end the client pays for the service. (This also links to the concept of design vs. art, design is for a client, while art is much more open and abstract)
 * the style is less experimental (I will show a couple examples from their website)
 * Picard explains that a client will often come up to him and ask to be different from their competitors
 * Upon showing his clients the unique and abstract concepts, the clients usually have a positive reaction however they quickly back step and say that "it's too much for their identity and they have to stay true to their cliental"
 * He does however think about going back to his roots of Lumbago. Call up some of his old clients from the theatres and ask if he could design some posters for them under their budget. He craves the expressive creativity from creating their posters.
 * This give him an huge sense of freedom to play around with concepts and layouts.
 * **Conclusions**
 * he's the type who likes to stop to smell the roses, a free spirit, but at the same time he is realistic.
 * With Lumbago, he tried to push the boundaries, but he learned the limits of the business for Epicentre.
 * Picard says that he would like to go back to the arts because there's more creative freedom there
 * It seems that he doesn't like to take himself too seriously but rather really enjoys and takes pride in his more creative work.