#flying classroom

Designer/Author Oliver Uberti Creative Ann Arbor, Michigan

oliveruberti.com theinformationcapital.com

Oliver Uberti is an Ann Arbor-based designer specializing in book design and information graphics. His clients include Penguin Books, National Geographic, Literati Bookstore, Science House, and the National Park Service. Oliver recently returned from an expedition in Southeast Asia and Australia, where he served as resident photojournalist aboard the world’s first Flying Classroom, piloted by Guinness record holder Captain Barrington Irving. He is also the coauthor and designer of London: The Information Capital, a new book of 100 original maps and graphics that illustrate why London is the most ‘open’ city in the world.  From 2003 to 2012, Oliver worked in the design department of National Geographic, most recently as senior design editor. He is the recipient of numerous awards from the Cartography and Geographic Information Society, Pictures of the Year International, The Society of News Design, and The Society of Publication Designers. He has also presented twice at TEDx on the topic of creativity. In 2010, Oliver designed 826DC’s Museum of Unnatural History—a novelty gift store and non-profit tutoring and writing center. He currently volunteers for 826michigan and is working on designs for their new center in Detroit. Oliver resides on the west side of Ann Arbor near a tree full of squirrels.

FAVORITES

Book: A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again and Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace. There aren’t many books I’ll read twice, but I revisit these essays again and again.

Destination:  Delicate Arch, Arches National Park. 

Motto:  As long as it takes.

THE QUERY

Where were you born?

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

What were some of the pastimes and passions of your earlier years?

If outdoors, I was hiking and camping. If indoors, I was drawing and painting. Finally as an adult, I’ve found ways to combine the two.

How did you get your start as a designer/illustrator?

It seems so clear in retrospect how I got from point A to point B.  Along the way, I was just figuring it out as I went. I studied fine art and design at the University of Michigan, which included studying abroad in New Zealand during my junior year [shortly after 9/11]. That experience opened up my world. I was living in an apartment complex with students from India, Brazil, and China, and it felt so vital to me at that age that whatever I did with art and design, it had to be about the world. It had to be about taking my experiences—the stories of things I got a chance to do that a lot of my friends and family couldn’t do—and sharing them to open other people’s worlds. And so when I came home from that semester, I knew that National Geographic was where I had to be. My career in visual journalism unfolded from there.

Why does this form of artistic expression suit you?

I enjoy making the complex simple.

Do you have a particular creative process or routine?

I walk around Ann Arbor and drink coffee to generate ideas, carrying notebooks and sketchbooks to capture thoughts when they come.

Is there a designer/illustrator that you admire most?

No. I get most of my inspiration from painters and photographers that try to flatten and structure vision instead of replicating it. Paul Cézanne and Alex Webb are fine examples.

How would you define your aesthetic?

Structured. My thought process is anything but that. My work is my way of finding order and simplicity.

What types of projects are you working on these days?

In late October, Penguin published London: The Information Capital, which I was working on all year at an absurd rate of something like one graphic every three days. Looking ahead, I’m eager to dig into new work for Literati Bookstore and The Espresso Bar; branding for a stand-up paddleboard company; designs for the new 826michigan tutoring center in Detroit; and new wayside graphics along Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Is there a project that has provided the greatest learning curve?

The Museum of Unnatural History. I had to learn how to weld. I had to learn how to articulate animal skeletons. Most of all I had to learn how to manage a massive team of volunteers and contractors on a tight deadline and even tighter budget. That project gave me the confidence to attempt everything I’ve done since. 

What drives you these days?

You look at the portfolios of some designers and they have many examples of one thing. This makes them very marketable. I tend to have one example of many things, so I think people have a hard time grasping what Oliver Uberti Creative does. They may not see the connection between a book of infographics, a storefront sign, and drawings of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. My service is a way of seeing. I want to show people things—a city, a bookstore, a landscape—in ways they’ve never seen before. If I do my job, the results will feel both surprising and inevitable. 

Who in your life would you like to thank, and for what?

I’d like to thank the friends and mentors that remember who I aspired to be when I was a young art student. They have helped me stick to that vision.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?