Daniel Vojtíšek disrupts his design process using small, distinctive details

Currently based in Prague, graphic designer Daniel Vojtíšek’s portfolio varies in both style and content but is always focussed on highlighting the contrast between order and disorder. Originally from a small village in the north of the Czech Republic, Daniel moved to Prague to study at the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design where he received his bachelors and is now working towards his masters in graphic design.

Daniel was introduced to the design world by his father who had an avid interest in cars. “He would often show me bold concepts for car designs,” he recalls, “seeing these everyday objects transformed into extraordinary pieces of design was fascinating to me.” It was this fascination that eventually lead him to graphics: “I started designing and customising cars, first on paper and then in MS Paint and after that, in Photoshop.” During high school, Daniel began creating posters for himself and friends and discovered a love for “the instant outcome of making something on a computer.”

Since high school, Daniel has developed an approach that sees him working with restrictions and disrupting those restrictions during the design process. “When approaching a new project, I take some time to try and comprehend what is at the core of it and I look for distinctive details within that,” he tells It’s Nice That. More often than not, Daniel finds these details end up playing a major role in the final outcome.

This was certainly the case when he began working on the visual identity for the Graphics of the Year –or Grafika Roku – in 2015. The annual event is both an exhibition and a competition to find the best contemporary work in the Czech Republic’s graphic art scene and features a series of categories in which designers and artists can be awarded.

In order to reflect this process and technique-driven approach to categorising work, Daniel chose to pick a different technique every year from which to design the exhibition’s identity. In 2015, he began by screen printing the initials of Grafika Roku, creating a set of variable posters which were also “cut up to make invitations for the opening.” Since then, he has continued to work with the ‘G’ and the ‘R’ using letterpress, linocut, woodcut and, most recently, digital printing to create a series of graphically bold posters.

With inspiration found in archives of magazines and photos of his everyday surroundings, among many other places, Daniel’s work is broad in its output. “I like to think that I don’t have a style because I want my designs to reflect the essence of each project,” he explains. However, it is this attitude to design that is helping him carve out a distinctive portfolio of typography, editorial design, print and visual identities.