Jan Nuckowski

A photo from the Krakow Planty Park, near the pond
with a fountain that was illuminated in the evenings,
and the color changed cyclically according to some
algorithm. Wow! A place for walks that took place
under my mother's supervision.
It was also a time of gradual learning about the city's
urban layout and its most magnificent monuments.

I envy those who remember their childhood in detail and can recount it vividly. I'm not blessed with that. Of course, I remember some things, but it's relatively little, and it's chaotic, to boot. I have absolutely no idea what or why determined which moments I remember, why these and not others in my already long life. I think it was in fourth or fifth grade that I started declaring that I would one day be an architect. Where did this come from? No one in my family was an architect or had any connection with one. Perhaps the fact that my father made a Krakow nativity scene every year, which he exhibited at the annual competition organized by the Krakow Historical Museum, had an influence. I myself became involved in this otherwise wonderful tradition of Krakow culture. I made nativity scenes for years, until my second year of university. It's embarrassing to admit, but at the time, it seemed inappropriate for me, a future artist-creator, to engage in such a frivolous activity. So, so embarrassing. I regret that I was unable to pass this wonderful tradition on to my children and grandchildren. I had some surprising success in this endeavor. The last klezmer of Galicia, Leopold Kozłowski, pianist, composer, and conductor of the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Kraków Military District, who made an extraordinary contribution to Polish culture, but especially Jewish culture, bought my nativity scene on one of his trips to China, which he gave as a gift to leader Mao Zedong.

Designing packaging graphics has always given me great satisfaction. It wasn't a stress-free activity. The times we've just passed have been a challenge for all of us. Poor technologies, materials, political conditions, and so on. Incredibly, these last factors played a significant role even in the field of graphic design. I completed my first project in this field, for a company, not as a college assignment, in 1969, while still a student.
I don't remember the subject. It was a commission from Miraculum, one of the cosmetics giants at the time. It didn't go smoothly. The woman responsible for collaboration with artists at Miraculum gave me a level of proofreading I'd never experienced from a professor at the academy. My first instinct was to take offense and withdraw from the assignment. How can this be? I'm about to graduate, I'll be a certified designer, and my work has flaws! However, the prospect of earning money for my student budget was such a strong argument that, after overcoming the insult and implementing the desired changes to the design, I gradually achieved consensus and the adoption of the revised version. Thus began my over twenty-year collaboration with Miraculum. That was until a conflict arose, and another revision, and the rejection of my design, though the designer had already achieved some achievements, by a factory official. I never forgave that, and with a hidden pain, I ended the collaboration.

In bygone times, the widespread shortage of everything was not only acute but also, in some cases, bizarre. Wanting to brighten up a child's life, you'd buy, for example, a chocolate-like product. I'm not making this up, making it up, or exaggerating. You'd buy something that reminded older people of a chocolate bar, and if not for the taste, it was far from the original. Furthermore, for those consumers who are particularly sensitive to the appearance of an edible product, the slight white coating of this oddity raised doubts. Not to mention the taste. Besides, needless to say, many artifacts around us could easily bear the suffix similar. There were products that resembled clothing, furniture, and so on. Unfortunately, we also had life-like fates in many respects. This was also the case with toys. Hence, one example: a toy I made for Maja and Mateusz, my two children. I am still convinced that they do not deserve the mentioned suffix!

The title should be supplemented with "workshops, methods, and procedures of those years."
The project is still being developed according to the familiar pattern, which I'm reminding you of in its seven key points.
Design Process - Pattern
» Defining the Design Problem
» Data Collection
» Analysis
» Synthesis
» Design Concept
» Documentation Preparation
» Documentation Submission
All of these require our full intellectual commitment. This, of course, also applies to the last two points of this pattern, although they may seem like purely technical stages. Personally, I believe they are the ones that determine the project's success and whether the concept will be understood and accepted.

At first glance, it might seem that nothing has changed in this regard over the last 50-60 years. Only at first glance. However, it has changed, and significantly, especially when we consider the last two stages of design. Simply put, visualizing design thinking involves creating shapes using colors and using text with appropriate lettering. This is, of course, a gross oversimplification! For this to happen, a specialized workshop is necessary.

Originally, this word meant a craftsman's workplace. Over time, the interpretation broadened to include skills and tools. You know perfectly well what our workshop looks like today.

Currently, thanks to computers, various programs, printers, and so on, it's possible to complete several versions of a design in a relatively short time. Of course, this depends on the complexity of the design problem. Comparing two eras, the past one and the present, is not easy. The results may seem similar, but the speed of completing several concepts, which can be compared for verification, has reduced this time immeasurably. In my opinion, this is an invaluable benefit.