M — N Associates - Designers.org

About M — N Associates

M — N Associates is a Saigon based boutique design consultancy, started with M — Lan and Duy — N, from a dream to create meaningful cool brand identities. We approach creativity differently. We believe that great designs are not only creating sustainable system but also maintaining intelligent strategy. Our works embrace a diverse range of creative solutions across brand and graphic system, products and packaging, websites and digital experiences, architecture and interior direction.

Winner of Graphic Design Award.
Specialized in Graphic Design.
2 Featured Original Designs.
Highly Creative, Diligent and Innovative.

Interview with M — N Associates

Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?

Duy — N studied Multimedia Design at RMIT University Vietnam and started freelancing before graduated. After graduated and freelancing for agency for a while, he met M — Lan, together they found M — N Associates. I was a multimedia skillful designer who experience from video production, interactive to graphic. Therefore he has great aspects when come to visual system.While M — Lan was a great designer on management, packaging and print production. Graduating from Hoa Sen University and had a MBA, she is one hardcore business manager, but creativity is in her vein making her stepping up into creative industry.

Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?

The studio is boutique and small, currently located near the airport, away from Saigon's downtown hustle and bustle. Started with just the duo, M — N Associates works closely with startup clients to create new and meaningful cool brands in Vietnam. The association concept of the studio is all about connecting best creative minds on their fields collaborating on projects to produce best quality rather than collecting them under one studio, give them more freedom to innovate.

What is "design" for you?

Creation and innovation to serve daily wants and needs for particular criteria of humanity.

Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?

Developing the right concept before developing the visual system, and refining the right visual concept to adapt and solve client's needs.

What makes a design successful?

Its logic, the content and the visual perfectly match to each other.

Can you talk a little about your design process?

We discuss and research first about the concept development, it could take really long time before digging into the visual system but it saves more time when into visual development and eliminate many unnecessary ideas.

Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?

We discussed all the issues and direction as a team to come to a refined solutional system them execute it individually according to personal styles and understandings. And work again together as a team to peer review each solutions to make it better before presenting to clients

Extended Interview with M — N Associates

Could you please tell us a bit about your design background and education?

I studied Multimedia Design at RMIT University Vietnam and started freelancing before graduated, since right after graduated I started M — N Associates with M — Lan.

What motivates you to design in general, why did you become a designer?

The whole journey happens when I started to draw typography back in high school and later fall in love with technology when on RMIT Tour for high school students

What do you design, what type of designs do you wish to design more of?

Mainly we're focusing on branding in our studio, so it's not only about visual system, but more about how the identity designed within discussed brand strategy and how the visual involve into different kinds of communication medium. Personally I'd love to learn and practice more on product design to understand more about human behavior

What should young designers do to become a design legend like you?

Keep learning everyday, break things up and put back together in your way.

What distinguishes between a good designer and a great designer?

Great designer can foresee not only the details but the whole system and make it greater together.

What makes a good design a really good design, how do you evaluate good design?

In many reality aspects, seeing how people response to your design.

What is your secret recipe of success in design, what is your secret ingredient?

I travel, as much as I can, to have more materials, seeking for new / old ideas