Hassan Rahim
Interview (2022)
Starting with a few questions about your origins. You are from Los Angeles, please tell us about your background, including what kind of environment you grew up in, and what you were into at that time.I grew up in a suburb outside of Los Angeles called Orange County. Being a “second city” kid but growing up with access to internet, it was a challenge trying to surround myself with culture that I found interesting and inspiring. We moved around quite a bit due to financial reasons, so the environment was a toss-up between decent and rough, depending the situation. I was into skateboarding heavily, which kept me out of trouble while simultaneously exposing me to a new world of art, music, and culture.
Not limited to only design or art, which people and works have influenced the development of your sensibilities and values?A few names in no order:
Barbara Kruger,
Kahlil Joseph,
John Baldessari,
Chris Bangle,
Paul Bracq,
Atiba Jefferson,
Spike Jonze,
Gerald Donald,
James Stinson,
Samuel L Jackson,
Arthur Jafa,
Hiroshi Fujiwara,
Madlib,
Bell Hooks,
Daido Moriyama,
Trish Keenan.
How did you become interested in graphic design and art?The easiest introduction I can pinpoint was skateboarding, because at a certain point it was clear I cared more about the graphics and art than I did throwing myself down sets of stairs. There wasn’t a specific trigger beyond really wanting to make the type work I was obsessed with. I didn’t have a specific understanding of how that process worked but I had a computer and an internet connection, so I downloaded a cracked version of Photoshop and started figuring it out. All the early work was extremely DIY and projects were mostly self-initiated.
I read that you are self-taught, how old were you when you first started and what did you start doing?I started making collages when I was in middle school, cutting up fashion and beauty magazines that my mom was subscribed to and running them through her cheap Office Depot fax machine. But like I said, once I got a computer, it was a wrap. I started looking up tutorials online and learning how to use all the tools. Some of the earliest works were just me tracing photos with the polygonal lasso tool and making these weird little photo illustrations of people I thought looked cool. Like literal fan art. Eventually, I got to a point where I was making full graphics that utilized typography, imagery, and iconography. Wasn’t super hard to figure out when you just look at your favorite t-shirts or skate decks as a general template of how various pieces of information coexist in a single graphic.
What sort of individual perspective or way to see things as a designer that you have been able to establish because you are self-taught?It’s actually hard to pinpoint what I’ve gained from a purely visual perspective, but from a process-based perspective, I think being able to ignore some of the core “rules of design” has made my work more interesting. There are some decisions in my work that some of my peers who went to school would never make; and once I figured out that was my strength, I started to harness that way of thinking more and sometimes even exaggerate those specific decisions.
After that, how did you go about working as a graphic designer?It was natural in some ways. I started uploading my work to Myspace and people started asking me to make stuff for them, or referring me for projects. I was still young and working retail jobs to actually pay rent, but simultaneously doing t-shirt graphics for skate and streetwear brands and building my skills. Eventually I quit retail and got my first full time design job at 20 or 21, and started doing my thing independently from there.
How have your preferences or views towards graphic design changed/matured as you’ve gained more experience?Graphic design used to be my life, but as I’ve matured it’s become more of a tool or asset that I can employ for larger ideas. I hate the idea of “designing for designers” and rather enjoy making work that speaks to a larger audience. And what that typically means is less focusing on flexing your technical skills and more flexing your communication skills.
On the other hand, is there a philosophy you have maintained from the start of your activities until the present day?Impossible to think of something I’ve maintained since I was 15 years old, but one philosophy I stand by for the last decade or so is concept over aesthetic. It’s a thin line though because you can easily fall into a trap of overthinking every little decision just for the sake of being conceptual; but once you strike that balance, the work starts to have so many more layers you can peel back and appreciate.
Which of the projects or works you have created so far has been a turning point in your career?The biggest turning point in my career was actually taking a terrible full-time job for a huge brand. I learned so much about myself in such a short amount of time, and at the time it pushed me far away from commercialism to develop a much stronger sense of personal style. It’s funny how the worst circumstances tend to lead to the best epiphanies.
When you look back on your previous works, how do you perceive your own transition?Slow and steady always wins the race. I try to be less of a toggle switch and more of a rotary mixer, gracefully blending from one body of work to the next.