Pavel Fuksa: Very centre of Prague is visually appalling, a Wild West
If you’ve been to Prague in recent years, chances are high that you’ve encountered the work of Pavel Fuksa. The graphic designer is behind a series of official posters welcoming visitors to the city – and encouraging them to be on good behaviour. Fuksa, who is 42, has in the past worked for several of the world’s largest brands, including Nike, Facebook and Lego. What’s more, he is deeply interested in football, so when we met in the downtown area I also spoke with him about which Prague club has had the most visually impressive strip, and when.
We’re speaking right in the centre of Prague, at Můstek, and you were just telling me that you don’t come to the centre of town often.
“No, not really. I used to come here when I was, like, 16 or 15, because it was the centre where everything was happening: shops and just walking down the streets.
“But right now, when I’m in my 40s, I try to avoid those streets. I don’t like the hassle, I don’t like the crowds, and it’s probably because I’m too old now.”
The reason I wanted to speak to you is that you’ve done some campaigns for Prague City Tourism. Visitors to Prague will know your work. What are some of the campaigns you’ve worked on?
“Yes. For the Prague City Tourism project, four or five years ago we worked with Dora Pružincová, who’s a brilliant, fantastic copywriter, as well as Ivana Fuksová, who became my wife.
“The three people together create our studio and we kind of wanted to develop a consistent visual language for incoming tourists to Prague, to inform them about what to do and what not to do, in a friendly and non-preaching way.
“We wanted to do similar campaigns to those that are in Tokyo or Barcelona, where tourists come to the city and there’s a friendly reminder of, for example, Don’t do this – we’d be happy if you didn’t do this and that.”
Wasn’t one of them saying, Prague is the mother of cities – treat Prague like you would your own mother?
“Yes, that’s actually my favourite visual from the campaign: Treat the mother of cities as you would your own mother.
“It actually doesn’t inform about anything in particular – it’s just an overall feeling that you just keep.”
But why is there a need for that? To be perfectly honest a few times I saw that and thought, Do other cities also tell people how to behave? Or tell them to be quiet, and so on?
“We are lagging behind in the amount of rules and information that we are trying to pass on to tourists.”
“They actually do. I was in Japan in August and we saw so many posters reminding mainly foreign tourists what to do, what not to do, how to behave on public transport, how to stand on moving escalators, what level of volume to maintain in a tram or subway car.
“I was quite surprised that we are somehow lagging behind in the amount of rules and information that we are trying to pass on to tourists.”
What’s your sense of how effective that kind of campaigning has been?
“I have no idea how effective this campaign was or is. But I just keep hearing and reading that the campaign is clever, that it’s interesting, that it’s nice – and that both tourists and locals enjoy it.
“It’s not threatening, it’s not overwhelming.
“We sort of aimed for a limited colour palette where we wanted each of the visuals to be instantly recognisable, that both tourists and locals will know it’s the City of Prague who’s talking to them.
“We always aim for pairing the clever and also very witty visual with a text of the same wittiness, if I may say.”
I presume also this is a project running for several years? Because otherwise it makes no sense, right?
“Yes. On the way here I was counting and I think we’ve created 12 or 13 visuals so far.
“We prepared some new ones for New Year’s Eve and there are some long-lasting ones welcoming tourists at Prague Airport, from the basic ‘Welcome to Prague’ to ‘After 10 keep it down’ or ‘Don’t drink alcohol in the streets’ or ‘Don’t stack the electric scooters everywhere you fancy’.”
It must be a cool feeling when you arrive in Prague, when you get off the plane and see your own work?
“It is, it is. Even fancier is the amount of pictures my friends, and sometimes enemies, send me when they land in Prague.
“It’s either ‘It’s Fuksa again, ha ha’ or ‘Pavel – look at that, you’re here, we like it’; it’s always a nice and warm welcome for them.”
You’ve worked with huge international brands: Lego, Nike, Google, Facebook. You’ve even worked with Barack Obama. How does working for Prague compare? I presume they pay you considerably less?
“They pay me considerably less, but on the other hand it’s a wonderful team we work with at the Prague City Tourism office.
“So it strikes a nice balance.”
Do you have a kind of sense of mission that you are helping Prague to be better?
“I don’t know if there’s some sort of a mission. I’m trying to do the best work I can.”
But I mean do you want people to be quieter? Do you want people to behave better, personally?
“Personally, again as I’m getting older I am leaning towards those sorts of rules and actions, yes. So I presume I do, yes.”
You’ve also done work for Prague 3, where I live, and I’m happy to say that I possess copies of some of the work you’ve done for them. Could you tell us what you have created for Prague 3?
“That was in 2021, at the high peak of Covid. The same year Prague 3 celebrated the 140th anniversary of Žižkov being promoted to city status.
“So we decided to have some fun with it and we turned the celebration into a sort of cheeky game, by declaring Žižkov a micro nation.”
Which some people already consider it, right? They call it the Republic of Žižkov – people are proud of their neighbourhood.
“Exactly. We created passports and transformed 30 Žižkov landmarks into ‘national’ landmarks.
“We then invited people to walk around and collect passport stamps. Then you had your passport filled with all 30 stamps you were eligible for Žižkov ‘citizenship’.
“We created passports and transformed 30 Žižkov landmarks into ‘national’ landmarks.”
“Then you received a ‘birth certificate’, you received a folder with stamps, with postcards, with stickers and everything that a true Žižkov citizen should always have on him or her.”
It’s such a great idea – I presume people loved this stuff?
“Yes, they did. The game ended with over 2,000 ‘citizens’ – meaning that over 2,000 people actually finished the whole game.
“We then created some extra stuff like city/country maps, with a circular subway line with over 30 stations, which were all fictional.
“My favourite was HFK, Hroba Franze Kafky [Franz Kafka’s grave]. We created tourism posters, T-shirts, hats everything. It was a nice game.
“And despite my long-standing, I must say, aversion to Jára Cimrman’s works and plays I have to admit I felt a little honoured that people compared this project to the work of this intellectual giant.”
Souvenirs are obviously big business in Prague, you see them everywhere you go. With your very cool, semi-retro style I think you could clean up. Have you tried that kind of area, selling tourist souvenirs?
“Unfortunately I have not. I haven’t been approached by any institution or anyone.
“I think I’d do good, but I just didn’t have the time or opportunity yet.”
I wanted to ask you about the look of Prague. You mentioned earlier you’ve been to Japan, you’ve been all over the place and have lived abroad. When you look around, what do you think of the standard of, for example, shop fronts in Prague?
“It’s obviously very wild. Because despite the fact that we hate it, we’re still part of Central to Eastern Europe, and the visual standard actually reflects that.
“We’re still part of Central to Eastern Europe, and the visual standard actually reflects that.
“I must admit I envy and enjoy the work of [campaigner against ‘visual smog’] Veronika Rut, who’s a keen fighter for the quality of shop front, shop windows and overall visual standards and visual levels of not just Prague but all Czech city streets.
“I must say I find it appalling, especially when I walk in the very centre. It reminds me of a circus, it reminds me of a Wild West where everyone can do anything without any repercussions.”
The worst for me is the Royal Way [from the Powder Tower to Prague Castle], with all the tourist shops – that’s really a horror.
“Yes. And we pair it with those vendors offering photos with wild animals…”
Which you have also campaigned against.
“Yes, we also made a campaign against that. So yes, I wouldn’t say that’s the reason [for avoiding the centre], but I don’t enjoy walking down the streets when it’s that overcrowded and over… visualised.”
Why do you think it is though? Prague is based on tourism. They need people to keep coming back, but still they seem to not care that a lot of the city centre is ugly.
“Yes. I think that the people responsible for that are happy with the influx of tourists and once they enter Prague, once they’re here, they believe that the amount of historic buildings and historic… geist alone all around will somehow overwhelm them, and they sill somehow forget about that.
“They will see it as a whacky and quirky part of one of the most beautiful cities in the world.”
In Ireland, where I come from, you can’t just put up any kind of shop front. There’s some kind of a commission and if you put up something really garish and ugly… well, you won’t be allowed to put it up [most shop fronts require planning permission].
“There are no repercussions for that [here], are there? There are no fines. People just push the envelope, they push the borders of what they can do, what’s allowed.
“It may be frowned upon but not removed, and there will be no effect of their bad or unpleasant behaviour towards the overall face of the city.”
Also Pavel, one of your interests is football and some time back you did a great project creating football kits for an imaginary 1918 World Cup. So I wanted to ask you, which Prague club has the best strip?
“Well, I was doing my homework before I came here and I realised that my favourite of them all is the 2018 Bohemians Praha 1905, where the stripes were surprisingly turned vertical, which I like very much – it’s a very simple design.
“I was checking all the historical, and pseudo-historical, kits of Prague teams and I’m not a big fan of those hyper-retro approaches, such as having a laced collar.
“I believe that this time has already passed. I’m a big fan of very simple, clever pieces, not overwhelmed by sponsors’ logos.
“So yes, Bohemians are probably my favourite…”
But aren’t you a Slavia fan?
“I love Slavia, but I’m not a big fan of the actual kit.”
“I am, I am. However, there approach is very rigid and very historic.
“I love the club, but I’m not a big fan of the actual kit.”
You also do album covers. You’re a music fan. What are your favourite Prague bands?
“Obviously, Ecstasy of St. Theresa [whom he works with].
“I’ve always been a big fan of Tata Bojs, who I have listened to from 15 years of age to now, and I’m in the middle of creating a nice project with them. So if both sides have enough time, I presume there’s going to be an interesting outcome.”
Aren’t you also doing album sleeves for reissues of Ecstasy of St. Theresa records?
“Yes, I am. That’s something that’s going to come out in the spring of next year. They will be rereleasing three albums of theirs and putting them in a nice collectors’ box – and I’ll be designing the box.”
Are there any other bands that we haven’t mentioned that we should?
“I’ve been working for a long time with Navigators, which is a now defunct band that turned into Android Asteroid. I also did all the designs and sleeves and posters for them but unfortunately they also broke up.
“But I’m approached by many small or big bands, not just from Prague and not just from the Czech Republic.
“Together with film posters and book covers, that’s like a triangle of my favourite design works.”
As I said earlier, you’ve worked for some huge international brands. Are you limiting your career by living here? I know you lived abroad previously.
“No. Every now and then I’m invited by the client or an agency to come abroad and work with them there on a particular project.
“But in recent years and due to Covid-related changes in corporate behaviour I’m not working solely from Prague, from my desk and couch, for clients for all around the world.
“I’m actually looking forward to being invited somewhere by a client or an agency to actually see how work is abroad.”
I also saw a comment from you where you said that Czechs are particularly bad when it comes to doing ads for beer. Surely not?!
“Yes, they are. Unfortunately all of the visuals, all of the posters, all of the TV ads are the same.
“Unfortunately all of the visuals, all of the posters, all of the TV ads for beer are the same.”
“It’s always aiming at an ungraspable emotion that the corporate workers want you to achieve.
“They’ve made their Excel sheets and they’ve created a sort of result dream – they want you to feel this and that while drinking the beer, and then they push this emotion through the TV ads or posters.
“Unfortunately, in my professional opinion, it doesn’t work, at all.”
And there are usually, like, four dudes having a beer together.
“Exactly, four dudes, or an unexpected couple, or maybe a family celebrating Christmas with a beer bottle and everything.
“It’s been the same for the last 20, 25 years.”
Maybe the Czech beer is so good it sells itself?
“Exactly. So they could maybe donate the broadcast time to someone else.”
If you could do any campaign for anything Czech-related or Czech, what would it be?
“I would actually enjoy very much working on a book or a large project connected to Czech or Czechoslovak football.
“Also I’ve just realised that what I have always loved were those typically Czech tourist markers, those [hiking] trail marks, especially the three-coloured ones.
“And also the very vintage Krkonoše walking trail marks. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with them? I suggest you have a look at them.
“They are simple, violet symbols describing what trail you are on or what landmark you are facing towards.
“It’s very clever and very interesting and I’ve never seen it anywhere else in the world.”
