Miltos Bottis: From graffiti in Athens to designing for good

17 Aug

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INTRODUCTION

Miltos Bottis is a Greek, London based graphic designer with a methodical approach to identities, printed matter, websites, and visual communication. Content-based research and typography-led design justify his approach to every project.

Miltos began his career as a graphic designer at G Design Studio and after a scholarship by the Greek EBGE Awards he went on to complete an MA in Visual Communication, and became a designer at Semiotik Design Agency. He is now based in London, where he has been part of Narrate, SEA and Pentagram, and is currently working as a freelance designer.

This interview took place cycling through Victoria Park, followed by questions over email in July 2020.

How did your journey to becoming a graphic designer start? Have you always been creative/interested in design?

I was actually thinking about this myself recently and I landed on the memory of our neighbourhood newspaper, which I was the ‘director’ of! I couldn’t track down a copy of it, but it was around 10 pages, designed by 10-12 year olds in Microsoft Word and handed out to all our neighbours.

A pretty priceless memory to be honest, but the first conscious connection with graphic design I had, or more particularly with letter forms was through graffiti. This again started as something unrelated around the age of 15 but some years later I was very knowingly designing letters, which later got me into typography and graphic design.

What do you love most about your line of work / industry?

The diversity of the clientele. I don’t handle routine very well, so the fact that usually each project comes from a different field, and allows me to meet people from that field and learn about their activities, is the thing I appreciate the most about being a designer. Plus a lot of opportunities to learn different things while also being asked to contribute to them.

Euréka © Miltos Bottis — Euréka © Miltos Bottis

Tell us more about MAMA Silkscreen...What is the story behind the project? And why did you start?

MAMA Silkscreen was a big part of both my life and professional activity. Going on between 2011 and 2017 in Athens, in collaboration with Angelina Panagiotopoulou, it started as a personal experiment on the technique of screen printing. This was another influence that came through the graffiti world, and which actually replaced it as my main way of expression and experimentation.

Soon, by moving fast through Athens' networks of designers, promising imperfect print results coming from two self-taught screen printers, getting paid in equipment and inks instead of money, we managed to build a good enough studio, which allowed us to excel our skills on the matter very fast.

Through the years we had some really good experiences, like printing live in Druck Berlin (a biannual European screen printing festival), teaching on several workshops on smaller events, working with Slanted magazine and Noviki studio on a PosterRex season and wrapping up the whole project by teaching for half a year at the same place I learned how to print. Since it was always a side project, it made sense to pause it when more important career paths needed to be explored. Maybe there is space for it again in the future.

How did you find the move from Greece to the UK? Did you face any obstacles along the way?

It was both tough and exciting. Moving abroad was something I always wanted to do and with the financial crisis in Greece and its social effects, it made sense to do it at the time. I had a place to stay and a small group of friends in Glasgow, so I first moved there, with only a couple of clients to sustain me, but with the cost of living in Glasgow - that was good enough. Then a couple of months later I started looking into moving to London. I applied to a couple of jobs, and when I got one I moved here.

There was no particular obstacle in the move no. But I feel it would have been easier if I’d done it sooner. I believe doing something like that at a younger age (I was 28) is easier, at least emotionally and in terms of responsibilities you have to deal with.

“I first moved there, with only a couple of clients to sustain me, but with the cost of living in Glasgow - that was good enough.”

How did you start growing your network after the move? Did you already have a bit of a base here?

This was the hard part actually. I had no professional base in Glasgow or London, and the Glaswegian accent didn’t help with networking! My move to London was actually just the second time I ever visited. I was working in a small studio at the time - Narrate, look them up and follow them - they were really helpful with everything so we did stuff all together.

Then through events, either by just visiting, taking part or presenting something. The first one was TypeThursday, where I presented some work I had done on a typeface and was really nice to interact and listen to people’s thoughts about it. And of course through randomly approaching people on IG, which felt a bit creepy to do at first but the response was always positive!

Is there anywhere you regret ever working at or projects you wish you hadn’t taken on?

Regret is a strong word. Of course everyone comes across situations and projects that they might not like or even disagree and stand against for various reasons.

But I choose to think of such things as experiences that I can build on to go forward, and learn how to stay clear of them in the future. It is something you have to experience with an open mind until it’s over, and then reflect on it and evaluate it as an experience, to decide if it was worth it or not. I would definitely regret prolonging such a situation if I had already realised it wasn’t worth it, but this is something I never do.

Also, moving from Greece to the UK, was and still is a big lesson for me, and that is the whole point of it. So I definitely think twice about evaluating situations, everything needs time and you need to experience and test different things in order to find the one that suits you best, whether that is a job or a sector to pursue working on.

Where do you stand on working for free?

If we’re talking about unpaid positions like the usual internship, I stand strongly against it. I believe that if anyone is supplying any kind of service as an employee or collaborator, that helps in the financial growth of a company, they should be compensated for their time and effort, regardless of their level or the produced outcome. At the end of the day it just feels wrong to try and get motivated by an industry if you start working in it without feeling you are being appreciated.

On the other hand, working for free, can mean pro-bono work, which I actually support and practise myself. If there is a cause that needs my support and I can afford to do it, I think it can only lead to a better situation for both the cause and myself. Personally I try to support people and businesses that actively try to help our environment, so lately I collaborated with a small company producing some really nice wooden toys, pushing against plastic consumption in that sector, and joined Two Degrees°Creative, a global network promoting pro-bono work to support environmental causes - look them up!

“I believe that if anyone is supplying any kind of service as an employee or collaborator, that helps in the financial growth of a company, they should be compensated for their time and effort, regardless of their level or the produced outcome.”

What is your best advice for someone considering working for free?

I believe they should ask themselves what they are getting out of the situation and balance that out with what they are putting into it. “Building a network” or “getting the foot in the door” is not a good enough excuse to work without any compensation. I would consider such thinking more a lack of self-respect, than willingness to join a company.

Everyone has their own thoughts on this, but if they do it, then duration is also something crucial to consider. You have to know when you will see the results or benefits.

Cinobo brand identity © Miltos Bottis

How do you balance your time between studio work, freelance and self-initiated projects?

Studio and freelance work is quite tough to balance, especially if you’re lucky enough for them to both go well. I have done it in the past, but found myself quite a few times, approaching a burnout.

I personally try to focus on one of the two at a time, so I mostly freelance if I am not part of a team. This is harder to manage when joining a team though, because clients will always keep coming back for more work and the schedule always overlaps until the project wraps up and lets me focus on my full time position. Trying to bring self initiated projects and “life” in the equation, you need some really good time management skills in order for it to go well or you just blend some of those. For me a lot of self initiated projects were based on or became personal interests, which allowed me to also interact with people related to them.

Since you’re asking about time though, I’d say a normal day includes around 10-12 hours of work, split between 8 business ones, and the rest working or thinking about something else.

“Studio and freelance work is quite tough to balance, especially if you’re lucky enough for them to both go well. I have done it in the past, but found myself quite a few times, approaching a burn out.”

What resources / platforms would you recommend to our readers for help finding freelance projects?

I believe the best thing to do is approach people, studios or clients directly. If not, then recruiters do a pretty good job for that. I have also used some online platforms but the work was never satisfactory so I wouldn’t say I recommend it as an approach.

You mentioned approaching a burnout, has your heavy workload ever resulted in this? What do you do to get through it? Or how do you think you avoid it?

No it hasn’t yet. I think I have been quite a few times on the verge of it though, having lost track of time or days, and having become a burden to other people in my life because of the workload. I mostly deal with such pressure with immediate breaks or holidays. I am about to go on a long one!

I have experienced it though through designer friends of mine, and it definitely is something that should be taken seriously.

What’s your relationship with Instagram like?

It’s up and down. I'm constantly on it for some months then completely off it for some. As a platform for showing your work, I think it is my favourite. I quite like the fact that it all happens through the device anyone uses anyway, and through social media, with no need to build a website or profile on another platform. It is very well known by everyone already, not sector specific which helps to intersect with a lot of different people and businesses and quite challenging, since it can very easily become a form of publishing or anything more than just showing work.

Where do you see yourself in five years time?

Running my own studio, definitely. I don’t know where, Covid-19 has proved that location is not actually an issue for our line of work so I definitely see myself moving around more in the future.