Here’s the third installation of the Weapons of Mass Creation video interview series featuring designer & illustrator Mark Weaver. Not sure what this is all about? Read the kick-off article to get caught up!

You’ll find both the video interview & the transcript (to make up for poor audio quality) below. Enjoy!

GoMediazine: How would people know you?

Mark Weaver: I’m a graphic designer & illustrator. And basically, I started doing this project called “Make something Cool Every Day”, which was started by Olly Moss who is kind of a famous graphic designer. I started working on this project doing designs every day. Eventually people started blogging my stuff. It got kind of, I don’t know, it got on some big graphic design blogs. I started getting some work from it. Did some work for Wired recently. I got some recognition from that project – just a personal project.

GoMediazine: Who are some of your clients?

Mark Weaver: Paste Magazine.

GoMediazine: Wait, did you say Paste?!

Mark Weaver: Paste.

GoMediazine: Oh, I love that magazine.

Mark Weaver: Oh really, I used to work there. I worked there for two years. Yea, it’s good. I did some layout for them. We did the whole magazine redesign. I’ve done work for NASCAR.com through Turner Interactive. They do all the NBA, NASCAR – all that stuff. Georgia Music Hall Fame, I did some work for.

GoMediazine: So, what was your favorite project?

Mark Weaver: Definitely Wired, because recently they asked me to do an illustration, just whatever I wanted as long as it had the date in there. So it was really open ended and really fun.

GoMediazine: So why did you come to the Weapon of Mass Creation campaign?

Mark Weaver: I just thought it was a really cool idea, and some good exposure to get my name out there. Seemed like a fun thing to do.

GoMediazine: What’s your opinion on stock art & design resources?

Mark Weaver: Well, a lot of the stuff I do is based on public domain images. I take a lot of different images & create something new out of them, kind of like a collage style. So I think it’s great to have stuff like that out there for designers to use & be creative with.

GoMediazine: So how did you get started as a designer?

Mark Weaver: Oh man. I mean, I’ve always had a love for drawing. Started drawing at an early age. It was just a natural path for me to go in that direction – to do illustration & design. It’s not something I really chose. It was natural to do.

GoMediazine: I would doodle on the side of my math homework.

Mark Weaver: Yea, I’d rather be drawing!

GoMediazine: What is your ideal project?

Mark Weaver: Oh man. Probably my ideal project would be doing a series of posters for the White Stripes.

GoMediazine: Who are your inspirations?

Mark Weaver: Like, artists? Or?

GoMediazine: You know, you could name artists, or just whatever inspires you?

Mark Weaver: I would have to say Stanley Kubrick is kind of a big inspiration for me. Just, the way he shoots film. Everything is very structured & precise & really clean. I feel inspired by his work and I try to emulate that in my work. Especially ‘2001 A Space Odyssey”, which is like my favorite movie.

GoMediazine: Your work has a nostalgic vibe to it, what draws you in that direction?

Mark Weaver: You know, I’m really not sure why I’m drawn to that. I really like vintage looking mid-century style things. I just love clean typography – like Swiss typography style. I can’t really explain it. I just feels real. It feels … I don’t know. I really can’t explain it. I just love it.

GoMediazine: Lately there seems to be an abundance of people latching on to the style of retro-futurist-modernist-whatever. Do you worry that’s a passing trend?

Mark Weaver: Sometimes I do think about that. I have seen a lot of people doing that sort of style. But even when I started doing this ‘Make Something Cool Everyday’ thing, it wasn’t even close to what I’m doing now. My style is evolving even from when I started back in January. So I’m just trying new things. I could be doing something totally different next year or next month. It’s just an experiment.