Edi Berk - KROG: Follow Your Feelings and Emotions
Art Director And Graphic Designer
by Elizabeth Lavis
|14 Feb 2024
Edi Berk, Art Director, Graphic Designer, and owner of KROG is fueled by good food, excellent wines, a love of Harley Davidsons, traveling, and design. “My personal philosophy is to be sincere,” he says. “The best advice I can give aspiring designers is to follow your feelings and emotions, and get to the core of the problem to try to understand it.”
Berk hails from Ljubljana, Slovenia, the home town of Joze Plecnik. “He (Plecnik) influenced every architect and designer in Slovenia,” Berk says. According to Berk, he always wanted to be a designer, even if he didn’t realize the trajectory his true passion would take as a child. “I discovered my love for design in high school,” he says.
Berk begins his design approach by having a comprehensive conversation with the client where they discuss the scop of work and the anticipated time frame the project will take. “Then, I get to thinking and sketching on paper, researching similar tasks, and thoroughly thinking about the solution,” Berk says. After he’s come up with a few game plans, he approaches the client with proposals and ideas. “The most important aspect of a design is that it be timeless,” Berk says.
"Agricultural Institute of Slovenia", Edi Berk
He also feels that balancing strategy and creativity is integrated in his process, allowing him to proceed with the planning and design with the help of some trusted tools of the trade. “I can’t live without Illustrator, Photoshop and QuarkXPress,” Berk says. His average design campaign takes roughly three months, but can extend as long as two years. Despite the fact that the client is either minimally or not involved with the day-to-day work, Berk operates from a foundation of trust which allows everyone to remain at ease. “I establish trust and rapport with my clients through sincerity, reliability, and honesty,” he says. This allows him to work on the vision and come up with a truly revolutionary product.
Berk’s biggest design influences are old masters and luminaries in the design world, plus design books. “I keep myself apprised of the latest design trends through books, books, and internet,” he says. He also derives inspiration from a unique, but utterly innate source. “Talent is an inspiration in itself,” Berk says.
Despite his measured and effective approach, Berk has dealt with the dreaded design burn out before. “I burned out in 2007,” he says. “Now I’m calm and in my mature year where there is a little less work, or shall I say, just enough as I need or want.” Berk has three distinct goals moving forward. “I want to be an excellent designer, help my two daughters get their own apartment, and leave something after me that people will recognize as quality work that has enriched national art,” he says.
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