Jan Domaradzki has worked at the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre since 1973. He specialises in graphic design; he prepares invitations, catalogues and posters. But he is best known for designing graphic symbols—not only for the BOK. He created the logos for the International Ceramic and Sculpture Symposium, the Bolesławiec Enthusiasts’ Association and the Blues nad Bobrem festival. He also designed the masthead for “Głos Bolesławca”.
The symposium logo was created in the early 1980s. It is still in use today. Interestingly, Mr Domaradzki needed only a compass and a set square to create this symbol. “Sometimes an idea comes almost immediately,” Jan Domaradzki tells IstotneInformacje.pl. “Simple things are difficult to make,” he notes.
The distinctive BnB graphic symbol was also created without the help of a computer. That does not mean, however, that Mr Domaradzki designs everything by hand. He has been handling computers very well for 14 years, and graphic-design software holds no secrets for him. “At first, I had no idea how to operate this device at all,” Jan Domaradzki admits. “I learned everything through trial and error. I never even attended a course.”
BOK employees are deeply impressed by the graphic designer’s creativity. What is more, Mr Domaradzki also performs typically editorial work—he prepares, among other things, volumes of poetry for printing.
Why graphic design?
“I like my work,” Jan Domaradzki says unpretentiously. Even in his youth, he examined textbooks very carefully. He was interested in who had written them and who had designed their covers. He also read many books devoted to the printing industry. And, just as with the computer, he taught himself everything. He is a self-taught graphic designer with a distinctive style of his own. Once, an acquaintance of Mr Domaradzki’s, who now lives in Canada, came across the Blues nad Bobrem logo online. She was almost certain that it had been created by the BOK graphic designer.
Not His Only Passion
Jan Domaradzki comes from a musical family. On Sundays, he can be found at the church in Bożejowice, where he accompanies the congregation on the organ during Mass. He learned to play... by ear. In addition, Mr Domaradzki is interested in history. He collects books about the south-eastern borderlands, where his parents came from. “I very much want to go there,” he stresses. All the more so because, as research into his family’s past has shown, he has noble roots.
(GA information)