Long game: A conversation with 2018 Distinguished Alumnus James Sholly

Each year, the Herron Alumni Association recognizes an alum whose service, dedication, and achievements have exceptionally contributed to the school.

The recipient of this year's award is James Sholly (B.F.A. Visual Communication '87), co-owner of Commercial Artisan. Founded in 1990 and operated in unison with his brother and Herron alumnus Jon Sholly (B.F.A. Visual Communication '03), the Indianapolis-based studio has designed for local nonprofits and Fortune 500 companies with clients as diverse as the Humane Society of the United States and Under Armour, Inc.

He is highly engaged with Herron, having served on the Herron Alumni Association's board of directors from 2006 to 2014; supported the school's development efforts; and designed several publications including exhibition catalogs and the latest viewbook.

We spoke with Sholly about the roots of his design life, home-grown entrepreneurship, and how each new project brings creative opportunity. 

HERRON: Let's start with your backstory. What originally piqued your interest in pursuing a design profession?

JAMES SHOLLY: My brother and I grew up being exposed to beautiful Scandinavian design. Our mother was from Sweden and she and our dad (a Colonel in the Army) filled our military base homes with Danish modern furniture and all types of decorative Swedish objects and textiles. Having beautiful, functional items as part of everyday life was a fantastic introduction to the strong role that design can play in enhancing someone's life.

My own childhood fascination with comic book art prompted me to investigate art classes in high school. One senior class offered a design component, which was a revelation to me. I couldn't get over the fact that making posters and album covers could potentially be a profession! My high school art teacher told me about Herron and encouraged me to learn more. So, I soon began to reinforce my portfolio and initiate the application process.

HERRON: What key lessons did you learn at Herron?

SHOLLY: I was fortunate to have a number of influential professors during my years at Herron. Two stand out as being particularly important to me.

Candace Lorimer taught typography during my junior and senior years. Her background was in type, printing, and book arts, but she was also completely plugged in to current trends in music, art, and fashion. She was a smart, tough instructor who didn't reward mediocrity. In her class, we strove to go beyond what other instructors might have accepted and to push the boundaries of conventional typographic communications. She eventually opened a textile and fashion design business from her apartment, which showed me that I didn't necessarily need to work in an office or follow a traditional career path to move ahead in design. I admired the fact that she took decisions about her work and creativity and (independently) put them into practice.

I also met Paula Differding in my junior year, which happened to be the first year she taught. Her background was graphic design in the Indianapolis design and advertising community. As her student, I was exposed to the most talented figures in the local creative community, as well as the most skilled printers, typesetters, and color separators. Her warmth and enthusiasm were only exceeded by her depth of knowledge about professional practice and print production. She provided a kind of practical, real world entry into the possibilities graphic design could offer.

HERRON: How would you describe your aesthetic and approach to design?

SHOLLY: I appreciate simplicity and gravitate to it as much as possible. Design is most frequently a problem-solving exercise for me, but I still attempt to bring a sense of strength and elegance to the projects we care most about. The majority of my studio's work is printed, so I take advantage of the tactile possibilities that can be achieved using that process. 

HERRON: As the owner of your own design studio, what does a typical day look like for you? What do you enjoy most about working with Jon?

SHOLLY: I've worked out of a studio in my home for almost 30 years, and I still love it! My brother lives about ten minutes away, so he shows up at about 9:00 a.m. and we review what needs to be done that day. It's typical for us to have 15 to 20 projects going at any one time. They're all at different stages and range from fairly straightforward (a business card) to more complex (corporate literature).

Jon and I work really well together. He's extremely adept at figuring out how to visualize the concepts that we generate together. He's lovely and I'm very lucky to get to work with him.

HERRON: Is there a project you're most proud of or had the most fun with?

SHOLLY: The project of which I'm most proud is our "Commercial Article" series. It's a printed publication we produce outside of our regular studio work that aims to document the lives and work of design figures from Indiana who we feel haven't received the attention that they deserve.

It's surprising to some people, but Indiana has an extremely rich design history and "Commercial Article" is our modest attempt to try to preserve it. We've produced ten issues with at least two more on the way. "Commercial Article" has been featured in Metropolis magazine and has connected us to other individuals who are similarly concerned with the preservation of regional design history.

HERRON: What would you say are your strengths as a designer? Similarly, how have you honed your talent over the years?

SHOLLY: As a young designer, I was much more of a formalist than I am now. It was important for me to be visually expressive in a way that was personal and symbolic. Over the years, I've developed the ability to distill the requirements of a project into a more direct type of visual language. I no longer find it necessary to use a lot of typefaces either. I love to see new styles and design, but I also know what I can do with the more familiar classics.

HERRON: Earlier this year at an Indiana Modern event you spoke about the "strokes of genius and deliberative process" behind Commercial Artisan's work. Give us the highlights from your presentation.

SHOLLY: It was really a lecture about my process, my inspirations, and how my life and work have been impacted by modern design. It felt a bit like reverse detective work – I had already solved the problem, but then had to retrace my steps to find the clues that had gotten me there.

I can't speak for anybody else, but I had a great time re-figuring it out. I showed lots of work including interpretations of classic film posters and how they had been influenced by the band The Smiths. And for the record, the words "strokes of genius" were not what I would have chosen to describe the talk. That said, I'm also not going to argue with them if that's how they see it!

HERRON: You traveled to Sweden and Germany on a Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship to research the design disciplines of those countries. Tell us about the trip!

SHOLLY: I received a Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis in 2009. It afforded me the opportunity to return to Sweden and Germany and reconnect with my family there. I arranged to spend the day with Henrik Nygren, a personal design hero of mine in Stockholm.

But perhaps the most memorable part of the trip was visiting Sweden's Ice Hotel located 200 km north of the Arctic Circle. I stayed in the structure that is essentially an art installation made entirely of ice and snow and rebuilt every year. I came home with a renewed sense of purpose and began focusing on independent projects I had been neglecting. 

HERRON: Looking ahead, what are some of your goals for the future?

SHOLLY: In addition to continuing to be active and relevant with my client-based work, I'd like to continue documenting Indiana's design history and potentially arrange to have the stories collected in a book. I'm also interested in exploring the same type of documentation on a larger, perhaps national, scale.

HERRON: What is the best piece of advice you've received in your professional career that you can share with young designers in the making?

SHOLLY: As an independently operating graphic design studio, I think the best advice I've received is to simply keep going. Clients and work will come and go. There are times that we're incredibly busy and other times that we're scary slow. The lives of small studio owners and freelancers may be filled with uncertainty, but I've discovered that perseverance counts for a lot.