Boris Ljubičić: Painting Does Not Exist, and Design is a Way of Thinking

The world’s largest publisher for graphic design and visual communications, New York’s Graphis, awarded designer Boris Ljubičić four awards – three golds and one silver at the Protest Posters2 competition a month ago. The international jury’s inclination towards his rich oeuvre is not new, and the fact that his works are awarded regardless of the period in which they were initially created does not surprise the designer. – My goal is to create works that are timeless. Absolute categories. Just as the Mona Lisa does not need to be placed in the Renaissance, it is simply the Mona Lisa – said Ljubičić, a designer of incredible condition who has provoked, questioned, undermined, and debated with his works for almost seven decades.

Key Phases

This enormous oeuvre, Ljubičić divided into four phases. The definition phase began after he completed his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts when he decided to 'tie his hands' and, instead of painting, engage in discovering the definition of design. This period ended with the now-famous symbol of the Mediterranean Games in Split (1979), and continued with provocative projects in the sports, cultural, and, as he calls them, 'sensitive politics' arenas when his work actually announced the disintegration of Yugoslavia. His third creative phase was inspired by profound social and political changes, and then he decided to take on the burden of creating the visual identity of the new state of Croatia. Squares – in this case, red, white, and blue – are, as he claims, the most visible graphic design, the clearest visual concept, clearer than the pleter or Glagolitic script, and they have been present in Croatian history since the earliest days, older than heraldry. To become part of Croatian identity, this visual code, reduced to two squares, needs to be persistently repeated, and he did this by integrating the squares into a considerable number of logos he created in the nineties – from HRT to HAK. The designer is currently in the realization phase, which contains elements from previous ones.

He shared stories with Lider about his key works awarded at the global level, revealed how his hometown Sinj defined him, what his first drawing looked like, who painted his first oil on canvas, and why for him painting is a finished thing, while design is a way of thinking. Check all this in the new printed and digital issue of Lider.

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