PhilWeavers · The Philippine Webdesigners' Network · Weaver Spotlight

Interviewed by Jose Illenberger / Published December 7, 2006

Team Manila was born from our desire to start a graphic design scene in Manila and be recognized locally and internationally. The studio was also an avenue where we could put the Philippines on the Graphic Design map.

Joe and mon, for those unaware, could you give us a brief biography?

Jowee Alviar and Mon Punzalan are the founders of Team Manila. They started out in UST College of Fine Arts, Advertising as blockmates. Even before, we worked on group projects during our freshmen year.

After graduating from college, Mon went on to work for a small design agency and then later on for a music magazine as art director (PULP and MTVINK) while Jowee went to pursue MFA Graphic Design in CalArts. We formed Team Manila when Jowee came back from the States.

Team Manila was born from our desire to start a graphic design scene in Manila and be recognized locally and internationally. The studio was also an avenue where we could put the Philippines on the Graphic Design map. We are continuously working on that goal even after years working.

You currently work at Team Manila, could you tell us a little bit about your roles there?

Both are in charge of the creative direction and product development of Graphic Designed Lifestyle, the merchandise line of Team Manila. We are pretty hands-on at work, we both ply the side streets of divisoria carrying rolls of materials for the products. We also work with clients on meetings and presentations. Multi-tasking is very much prevalent in the studio.

How did you manage to take part in such a fantastic opportunity to establish and create Team Manila?

It was our passion and desire to contribute to the local graphic design. Right after college graduation, we listed down our dream clients whom we want to work with. Fortunately, with hard work and much persistence, we managed to work with the clients we listed. Every year we create more challenges for ourselves to meet. Its a never-ending push to do something with the opportunities that are given to us.

What's with the name?

Team Manila Graphic Design Studio... simply put... we came from Manila. MANILA REPRESENT!!!

Where do you see your careers heading now? Any specific plans for the future of TM, such as projects?

We are slowly learning the business of design. It is very important for a design studio to grasp the business side of things. Our plans for the future include more collaboration with local graphic designers and artists. More commission-based projects such as the series of Nike projects. We are also talking to MMDA for possible a collaboration on the MMDA ART vs. TEAMMANILA. Hopefully we will get to transfer our graphic design and positive messages to the streets of Metro Manila.

For the Graphic Designed Lifestyle brand, we are looking at the international market. The Pinoys and Pinays are all over the world, we
hope to bring GDL to them.

As you’re using the Internet as one of possibly many mediums to show off your work, would you say there were any other websites out there that have perhaps opened your mind to aid in creating your brand of graphic art?

http://designobserver.com has a lot of interesting articles and good discussions on the role of graphic design in a society. There's not much of 'style' seen on the site but more on the 'content' side of things. It's a good critique on international graphic design.

Of all the work you’ve created for team manila, can you name the four that you have a special love or connection to?

One, Slapshock's Music Video (Numb)- It was one of our first projects as Team Manila and our first music video project. It was also a challenge because the previous music videos of Slapshock were really good, all of which were made by FurbaLl. We were fortunate enough to have been helped by so many talented people, that's why we pulled it off. We won MTV Pilipinas Best Director Award that year.

NIKE PROJECTS / ODM SUPER PILIPINAS WATCH / OUR NEW BUSINESS WHICH IS THE GRAPHIC DESIGNED LIFESTYLE STORE

Who would you say have influenced you the most? Is there anyone that you look up to especially?

When we were in college, we read the Typographics One by HBI Publishing and we wanted to design like them. The designers who were featured there were Tomato UK, Designers Republic, Attik, Why Not Associates, Mr. Keedy, Neville Brody, Peter Saville, Calarts, David Carson and Chris Ashworth.

I noticed that most TM creations have typography somewhere. Is this a concious effort?

We want to create works that express messages and typography is great way to get ideas and thoughts across.

MAC or PC and why?

In our studio, we have the same number of computers for mac and pc. Both has its pros and cons, MAC is native for graphic designers and print production. And they dont create that much viruses for macs. The PCs are being used by Ramon and Ryan, the web masters.

Favorite Softwares? and why.

Freehand for its multiple page layouting.
Illustrator for vector control and typography.
After Effects for the motion graphics
and Photoshop because theres nothing else that compares.

I really love your work with shoesalon. whats the inspiration behind it and what are your thoughts about that project?

Shoe Salon commissioned us to create their website. The primary purpose of the site is to catalog the shoes that they carry and feature new designs every month. We created a modular system thats easy to navigate.

So, you guys really love Helvetica right?

Opo... Jowee loves adobo more.

Tell us more about Team Manila the clothing brand. whats your business model and malaki ba yung risk na pera with this venture?

Team Manila created Graphic Designed Lifestyle, a lifestyle brand. It was born from the idea that we want to be our own clients and create what we like to wear. Creating and spreading graphic design thru another medium also appealed to us. We are not business people so we just pulled our money together and invested on starting the other business.

And you have a store at powerplant mall at rockwell. wow. how hard was it to put up and what are the sordid details. clue us in.

It was hard. It was just us and a couple of carpenters working on the store. No architects and no contractors. That means, after work and mall hours we had to carry construction materials to the mall and put it up ourselves. We built and painred the space ourselves. It's a good thing that Mon is such a perfectionist so it turned out really well.

Any last words?

Lets all inspire and motivate each other to pitch in for positive change.
Tama na ang hilaan pababa. Di na uso yun!