Published by Leonardo Calcagno
Who are you?
Located in the heart of Toronto, Boltz & Hase is a boutique design studio founded by two Bauhaus-educated Germans, Philipp Boltz and Sascha Hass, offering graphic design, web design and illustration services to small to medium-sized businesses.
Your current job?
We are the founding partners and design directors of Boltz & Hase and watch our business grow every day. Additionally, Philipp holds a full-time position as Designer at Canadian House & Home, Sascha is a Senior Designer at Zync Communications Inc.
In which city are you located?
Toronto.
A word to define what kind of worker you are:
Efficient.
What tools are essential to your life (app, software, etc..)
Adobe Creative Suite, Wacom Tablet, pen and paper.
What does your office space look like?
Tidy, of course! And quite eclectic: Reclaimed wood, bright walls, blue and orange accents. And a large banana tree.
What kind of music do you listen when you are working ?
Our go-to would be electronic music — Caribou, Moderat, Booka Shade. For easy-listening: M83 or Jazz FM.
Do you have a way to organize your day to maximize your work ?
Procrastination is a way of organizing your time, we feel. Sometimes the best things happen under pressure.
What tips would you give to improve productivity?
Think big and then edit it down to the very essence of your initial idea.
What is the best advice anyone has given you?
“Breaking the rules is part of the fun”, is how we try to look at things.
What is your best tip for saving time?
A detailed client brief goes a long way. We try to ask as many questions as possible before we start creating for a project; it keeps us focused.
What is your routine start and end of the day?
9am to 5.30pm to 11.00pm
Aside from your computer and your phone, what gadget can you not you go
without?
Philipp: I love my iPad Mini. I read my magazines and blogs on it, which are my main source of inspiration.
Sascha: The coffee maker.