The design purist

After his apprenticeship, Fredy Espejo did not work a single day as an electronics technician. "Having to make a career choice at the age of 15 is a thankless thing," he says in response. At that age, you haven't really developed your passions and skills. He himself would not have discovered a great love for design until he was 18. Fortunately, DVD technology came onto the market at that time, and with it the combination of graphic design, moving images and technical implementation. It was through this medium that the then street artist entered the world of graphics. After six years of post-production and graphic design for the film production company Frame Eleven, Fredy Espejo became self-employed in 2005. At that time he founded the design agency Gemdesign. Eight years later, he joined forces with Emanuel Gürth to found January Designbureau. They specialize in branding, visual communication and web design. Emanuel Gürth's path led him from graphic designer to art director of a Zurich-based full-service advertising agency. In 2010, he set up his own business under the name Gürth Design.

From chance to perfection

Before starting his own business, Espejo was increasingly commissioned by major record labels to design artwork for CD covers, posters and cultural flyers, which ultimately led him to start his own agency in the first place. "I simply didn't have enough time to take on all the project requests alongside my job, " he explains. But he enjoyed this work so much that one day he took the numerous calls for his own agency seriously and set up Gemdesign. Today, Espejo says, he hasn't had any more such cultural assignments for a long time. And he's glad about that, too. "That kind of design was always very arbitrary. All it had to do was look good. There were rarely specific briefings or conceptual approaches. "The way we work today is much more content- and concept-driven, more sophisticated and, especially for our customers, more sustainable as a result. The creation of a new corporate design pursues a very specific purpose, has a solid foundation and is ultimately based on an overall design concept. We first have to understand the client holistically with its strategic intentions, services and brand values before we start the creation phase," says Espejo, describing his enthusiasm for puristic design that is all the more perfect for it. As an example, Espejo compares a poster design that is conspicuous for its exaggerated Photoshop effects with a design that simply shows a logo with a headline that stands alone in empty space. In the latter case, the focus is much more on the details, Espejo said. "Any slightest disharmony would stand out and disrupt the overall image - the essentials stand out all the more for that. This reduction to perfection is what fascinates me." Espejo and Gürth both like to focus on maximum reduction. This same philosophy can also be seen on their own website. Only one font style ("light") of the geometric sans-serif font Effra is used, no "bold", no "regular" and certainly no "italic". The only structure is a small number of font sizes and a lot of white space - this creates a sense of calm and puts the focus on the content. There is no competition between the two. On the contrary. Although they both like to leave out anything unnecessary, their lines usually leave a different impression. "We like to inspire each other. During a design process, there are many conversations and looks over each other's shoulders, which decisively influences the level in each case." He also sees this design exchange as an important driving force of January.

In the beginning there was a blind date

With their different personalities, the two complement each other perfectly. "I'm not a salesman," Fredy Espejo says about himself. Agency presentations often make me nervous. Emanuel Gürth takes over this part with his self-confident and light-hearted manner, bringing ease and open-mindedness to every meeting. "As soon as it comes to presenting the actual design work, I feel extremely comfortable again." When talking about design and branding, Espejo is very extroverted and his fascination with design comes through. He talks at length and with enthusiasm about upcoming assignments and the merits of different design concepts for the same client. "We have some financial clients who seem to be attracted to our style and signature. That makes us happy, of course, because this industry allows for high-quality and purist design." Currently, for example, January is working intensively on the rebranding of a life insurance company and the brand communication of a Zurich multi-family office. The two corporate design specialists met a few years ago through Xing. At the time, they were looking for business synergies on social media platforms. "In that sense, our first meeting was a blind date," he explains with a grin. "We had many exciting conversations about design, workflows and design trends at that time." Topics that are still relevant and discussed at January today, "We like to observe national and international design trends when it comes to typography, branding and web design, and spend a lot of time on design blogs, awards sites and watching the international competition. Even in our sparse free time, this passion doesn't let us go. In the last few years, for example, the Scandinavian design style has had a strong influence on us," says Espejo. From their point of view, the Scandinavians are the most progressive when it comes to graphic design.

Ursina mason

Design and realization of a contemporary responsive website for the traditional international family office Marcuard Heritage. The chosen design language was perfectly adapted to the upscale demands of the target group.

A self-confident rebranding makes the software company Qumram fit for international expansion. The creation of the abstract imagery combined with a striking color palette promises an independent and convincing appearance.

The Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV) has entrusted the January Designbureau with the redesign of the "Strategy Report 2018-2021". In it, concise colors and icons combine with meaningful infographics to create a high-quality publication.