Response from Claudia Chanhoi (@brainxeyes)

Questions from me in bold, responses from Claudia in normal:

1. Do you think it’s important to consider the clients’ culture through research in order to create work appropriate for them? If so, in what way?

I think it is. When it comes to design, most of the time you receive or set up a brief to answer or to solve the problem for the clients. It's always to important to understand where will you publish the design how will your design help your clients.

2. Do you feel that your culture and background has impacted your design process and work aesthetic?

I do not think my heritage has impacted my aesthetics much but I think my background might have made me the way that I am. It might not be culturally, but the fact that I went to Art School when was 17 and took a graphc design course at LCC did change my creative processes.

3. Do you feel that when working for clients, the work you create is an integration of both who you are, what appeals to you and what you think will appeal to the targeted audience?

I believe most of my clients would at least have a brief understanding of what my style and content would look like as an illustrator. I am thankful that I would still receive creative freedom from my clients even when it comes to commissioned projects.

4. Have you ever faced any difficulties or communication issues when working internationally? If so, what were they and how did you overcome them?

Only twice so far. I was in Tokyo preparing my solo show, the gallerist and I did not share any common languages, so the situation became a bit tricky since we had to discuss a lot of small details about the setup. I am glad that I had Google Translate installed on my phone. It was not ideal but it really made things easier than it was supposed to be.

5. Do you think cultural appropriation needs to be considered within design? If so, in what way?

I personally find "cultural appropriation" a bit inappropriate because I don't know what culture seems more or less appropriate to the majority. However, we are living in a commercial world where everything is commercialised including topics like feminism, racial discrimination or any controversial subjects. Since we can easily get called out by things that we say and everyone has become overly politically correct, it's safe to think about the objectives of the design when it involves any cultural content but not to let creativity be limited by it.

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