ALTPICK.COM

It started as a diversion from boredom: while working as a graphic designer in New York City, Henrik Langsdorf, AKA Otto Steininger, began making doodles on his notepad during staff meetings. At the time, Langsdorf's illustration career consisted of only a few after-hours freelance assignments and his meeting notebook. That was until he took his sketches and began to experiment with Photoshop, creating a completely new illustration style based on single line drawings. The result: a new style, a new career, and so long Hendrik Langdorf, hello Otto Steininger, his newly created moniker. "One of the first three calls I got was from the Three-In-A-Box agency in Canada who wanted to represent me. They signed me without any published work as Otto Steininger," says Steininger, who is still represented by the firm.

The success of Steininger experiment and reinvention of himself is evidenced in a client list that includes American Airlines, BBC, Bloomingdale's Kodak, Swatch,United Airlines, Wired magazine, Business Week, Conde Nast Traveler, Forbes Magazine, MacWorld, and The New York Times.

It seems that Steininger has always had a knack for reinvention. Although he loved to draw and make models as a child growing up in Germany, his first passion was music. But by the time Steininger - then Langsdorf - reached college age, he felt that his skills as a musician would not translate into a career. So instead of pursuing music he attended art school in Hamburg. "For the first few years of art school I was more passionate about music and design," he says. But after moving to New York in 1990, and taking an internship with Seymour Chwast's Pushpin group, his focus, he says, shifted.

When it comes to unusual experiences and assignments, Steininger is also no stranger. Last year he journeyed to East Timor to work on publicity for the former Portuguese colony's first free election, and while there created a logo for the country's major electric company, "It was incredible," Steininger says, "no one had paid for electricity in a year. I had to come up with the name for the company as well as a logo to go with it."

When he is not reinventing himself or assisting third-world countries with their infrastructures, Steininger continues to evolve his style: from a complex layered approach to a more graphic one. "I frequently revisit aspects of my earlier work," says the artist. "Since the unifying element is the line drawing, I have more room to experiment with what's going on beneath the line drawing."

Altpick spoke to Steininger about his work and the future.

Now that you work fulltime as an Illustrator, can you see yourself doing Graphic Design again?
If it was a project where I could do my own thing, I don't see myself joining a design firm or being an art director. I don't think my strength lies in directing others. I find my graphic design training makes me a stronger illustrator.

How did you get the assignment in East Timor?
A friend of mine was working for the United Nations and was on a mission in East Timor. She called and said we need a graphic designer and illustrator, and asked if I had the time, and would I consider coming over. At the time I thought it was interesting but was really involved in my work here and was a bit hesitant. But I decided to go and it was the best thing I ever did.

What was your assignment?
I was designing posters and doing publicity for their first election.

Given the circumstances in East Timor, you must have faced a new set of creative challenges.
Very much so. This was a country that had never seen democracy and so the democratic process and its importance was new to its people.

How did you approach the assignment?
In some ways it was guess work because you don't really know the people and you are only there a short amount of time. That is why I was initially hesitant. I thought this is going to be a really hectic schedule, bang-it-out-kind-of-work where no one probably cares about good design. They just want to get a message out there real quick without a lot of concept behind it.

Were you able to get any public response before the final printing?
Sometimes we showed it around locally to people who worked in the offices trying to get their reactions. That was a bit difficult because they are not used to giving open and direct criticism and would often just smile and not say much.

Do you think your efforts were successful?
They had a 97 percent voter turnout. People would walk five miles in the heat to the polling station. Quite amazing. The success of the election had a lot to do with the poster campaign. It was an instance where the feedback is direct, something I don't get here very often.

What's next?
I would like to do more animation and work on children's books. I am in the process of completing a children's book that I've written and illustrated.

- Contributed by Mary-Beth Holland