Benoit Challand

Hello! I'm a French Digital Designer, based in Lyon. I've worked in interactive design for the past six years.

Ben is a creative image maker focused on digital art, 3D illustration and typography. His work encompasses a large range of 3D field creation, design, CGI retouch and art direction. He begins as digital art director then devoted himself entirely to digital art. He has evolved into agencies such as Publicis, Anonymous and recently Serialcut. At the end of 2013 he moved back to France to start working freelance for international advertising agencies and magazines.

10 questions for Benoit Challand:

• What did you do before becoming a designer?

  I’ve always been a designer.

• Where do you turn for inspiration?

  Tumblr, Pinterest, Behance, and some other blogs such as Oculto.

• Which are your favorite studios, designers or agencies?

  I really like agencies like ManVSMachine, Zeitguised, Dvein, Hello monday, Les 84, Plenty, The makerie, Saw Dust and the work of people like Zim & Zou, Rami Niemi, Gmunk, Malika Favre and Romain Lenancker.

• Is your city a good place for designers?

  I moved between 3 differents cities in the last 3 years (Paris>Madrid>Lyon) and while I’m pretty new to Lyon, it’s a nice city and seems to be good for designers.

• Which technologies are you excited about in 2015?

  3D printing and WebGL.

• Do you listen to music while you work? Describe your playlist.

  I’m definitely a music addict. At my studio it’s UK garage, grime and D&B in the morning and classic 90’s hip hop in the afternoon.

• What are you cultural influences? (Music, books, films, ideologies, etc.)

  I’m a 90’s kid, so the Nike Huarache, Last Action Hero, Michael Jordan, the Wu Tang Clan, Duke Nukem, Kurt Cobain, Napster, Pulp Fiction, Cindy Crawford, The Game Boy, Code Quantum, La Haine, Les Simpson, L’école du micro d’argent, Mario Kart, The Pin’s, MTV Raps are all a big influences in my life.

• Have you got an academic background or are you self taught?

  Yes, I did an Art Direction master degree in Lyon.

• What do you do in your free time?

  Have fun with my son, hangout with my friends and watch soccer.

• Where do you see the industry in 5 years?

  I hope the industry will get stronger and stronger. With all the new technologies around, we’ll move towards a lot more interactions and a focus on high quality content.

• Are you working on any personal projects?

  Always. I used to do 1 personal project for every 2 professional ones - minimum. Research and development are the most vital parts of my job, the personal projects are the showcases I need in order to sell my work.

• If you could give one piece of advice to newbie designers, what would it be?

  Never release the pressure, never watch the clock, and learn from your mistakes.