MinaLima celebrate 20 years of graphic design with the Wizarding World

MinaLima庆祝平面设计与魔法世界20周年

https://www.wizardingworld.com/features/minalima-celebrate-20th-anniversary-with-the-wizarding-world

 

As the first Harry Potter film nears its 20th anniversary, we spoke to the graphic design masterminds behind the iconic props you see in the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films. Join Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima, as they reminisce over 20 years of surprises.

在第一部《哈利波特》电影上映20周年之际，我们采访了电影《哈利波特》和《神奇动物》中标志性道具的平面设计策划者。加入Miraphora Mina和Eduardo Lima，因为他们回忆超过20年的惊喜。

It has been 20 years since fans first were first spellbound by the first Harry Potter film, but it’s also been 20 years since many of the talented people who created that film first met.

距离《哈利·波特》系列电影第一部的上映已经过去了20年，而制作这部电影的天才们的初次相遇也已经过去了20年。

This includes graphic design team Miraphora and Eduardo, who came together to create their studio MinaLima after working together on the Harry Potter films. From Daily Prophet newspaper covers to the infamous Marauder’s Map, the pair have designed and developed some of the most memorable Wizarding World pieces you can think of. Next year, the pair will release a book, "The Magic of MinaLima", showcasing some of their favourite memories, and continue to work on future Wizarding World projects. But before we go too far forward, let’s go back in time as the pair reminisce about the last two decades, in their own words.

这包括平面设计团队Miraphora和Eduardo，他们一起创建了他们的工作室MinaLima在一起工作的哈利波特电影。从《预言家日报》的封面到臭名昭著的活点地图，两人设计并开发了一些你能想到的最令人难忘的魔法世界作品。明年，两人将出版一本名为《MinaLima的魔法》的书，展示他们最喜欢的一些回忆，并继续为未来的魔法世界项目工作。但在我们走得太远之前，让我们回顾一下过去的二十年，用他们自己的话说。

How we met

我们如何认识

Eduardo: I arrived in the UK from Brazil in April 2001 and I think I contacted Mira around May or June. She was doing graphics here in the UK, working for a “wizarding boy film”. At the time I had no idea what it was! So, I contacted Mira, explaining who I was and where I came from – we have a mutual friend – and a short time later she sent me a very lovely reply saying she’d just finished working on this Harry Potter film and she was starting the second. So, I went to Leavesden where the Harry Potter films were made to meet her just for a chat, and met Mira and set decorator Stephenie McMillan, and since then, we just didn’t stop talking. 20 years later, we are still joined to eachother! But that memory is so good because I was surprised that Mira replied to me. She was so kind and lovely.

Eduardo：我2001年4月从巴西来到英国，我想我大约在5月或6月联系了Mira。当时她在英国从事制图工作，为一部“魔法男孩电影”工作。那时候我根本不知道那是什么!所以，我联系了米拉，告诉她我是谁，我来自哪里——我们有一个共同的朋友——不久之后，她给我发了一个非常可爱的回复，说她刚刚完成《哈利波特》电影的拍摄，正在开始拍摄第二部。于是，我去了《哈利·波特》电影拍摄地利维斯登见了她，并和米拉和布景师斯蒂芬妮·麦克米兰见了面，从那以后，我们就一直聊个不停。20年过去了，我们仍然连在一起!但那段记忆很美好因为我很惊讶米拉回复了我。她是那么的善良和可爱。

Mira: That word “surprise” keeps coming up over the past 20 years. Looking back, you think, “Gosh, that was a surprise, getting the gift of eight films for the best franchise ever!” And it was a surprise to work with someone that you actually completely 150 million percent connect with. And then we set up our own studio, another surprise. At the end of the films in 2010, people would ask us if we were sad about them ending, because it was like a real era, and those eras only happen once you get to the end of them. But it was clear to us that this was just the beginning of a new chapter. And again, with that element of surprise: a MinaLima studio just happened! And then between the bookends of 2010 and 2021, we started growing a team of three people to 30 people... and becoming a business that’s a craft.

Mira：“惊喜”这个词在过去的20年里不断出现。回顾过去，你会想，“天哪，这真是个惊喜，得到了有史以来最好的八部电影的礼物!”和一个你有1亿5千万联系的人一起工作是一件令人惊讶的事。然后我们成立了自己的工作室，这是另一个惊喜。在2010年电影结束时，人们会问我们是否为电影的结局感到悲伤，因为那就像是一个真实的时代，而那些时代只有在你走到它的尽头时才会发生。但我们很清楚，这只是新篇章的开始。再一次，伴随着惊喜元素:MinaLima工作室诞生了!从2010年到2021年，我们的团队从3人扩大到30人……成为一门手艺的生意。

Life after the Harry Potter films

哈利波特电影之后的生活

Eduardo: When we wrapped production on the last film, a few months’ later, we opened up MinaLima’s studio in Fitzrovia, London, our first little office. We thought the Wizarding World was done – but we didn’t know there was still going to be so much more. We had the opportunity to work for the theme park at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Parks & Resorts – and then another surprise – Fantastic Beasts came along!

Now we have a space in the new store, Harry Potter New York and we have our sister-shop in Osaka. There are still people now who ask us if we get bored working on Harry Potter, but that’s never the case because to our "surprise" – that’s definitely the right word! – every time it’s something completely new and completely different.

Eduardo：几个月后，当我们完成最后一部电影的制作时，我们在伦敦的菲茨罗维亚开设了MinaLima工作室，这是我们的第一个小办公室。我们以为魔法世界结束了——但我们不知道还会有更多。我们有机会在环球公园和度假村的哈利波特魔法世界主题公园工作——然后另一个惊喜——神奇动物来了!

现在我们在新开的哈利波特纽约店(Harry Potter new York)有了一个店面，我们在大阪也有店。现在仍然有人问我们是否厌倦了拍摄《哈利波特》，但事实并非如此，因为让我们惊讶！每次都是全新的，完全不同的东西。

Connecting to the fans

与粉丝的交流

Mira: Getting to know the Harry Potter fans was a big part of our evolution. Once you know who your audience is, you start to have a conversation and a dialogue. It builds momentum, the more you understand what they want, they get excited, and it motivates you to do more. So, there’s a really lovely dialogue that we’ve built up with the fans. Had we never gone to that first fan convention; we would never have understood our place in the franchise. So, we took a different tangent and hopefully deliver meaningful work. I saw two girls in Slytherin robes the other day and just wanted to wind down my window and say something to them!

Mira：认识哈利·波特迷是我们发展的重要组成部分。一旦你知道你的听众是谁，你就可以开始对话和对话了。这会形成动力，你越了解他们想要什么，他们就越兴奋，这会激励你做更多的事情。所以，我们和粉丝们建立了一个非常有趣的对话。我们从没去过第一次粉丝大会吗?我们永远都不会明白自己在这个系列中的地位。所以，我们选择了一个不同的方向，希望能够交付有意义的工作。有一天，我看见两个穿着斯莱特林长袍的女孩，真想摇下我的窗户，跟她们说几句话!

How our work evolved across the Harry Potter films

我们的工作在哈利波特系列电影中是如何演变的

Eduardo: I remember until up to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, we weren’t sure if there was going to be another film. But then all the books started becoming films. Looking back, now we have all the books printed, and we all know these stories, but at the time we didn’t. At the end of each book, we asked, what is behind that door? Then we go through that door into the next book. But you have to make that door beautifully. And with graphics, we had to make some sort of legacy.

Eduardo：我记得在《哈利·波特与阿兹卡班的囚徒》之前，我们都不确定是否还会有另一部电影。但后来所有的书都开始被拍成电影。回首过去，现在我们有了所有印刷出来的书，我们都知道这些故事，但当时我们并不知道。在每本书的结尾，我们都问，那扇门后面是什么?然后我们穿过那扇门进入下一本书。但你得把那扇门做得漂亮点。而对于图像，我们必须创造一些遗产。

Mira: As designers, it’s very natural now to be helped with technology. But on those first films I didn’t know how to use Photoshop!

Mira：作为设计师，得到技术的帮助是很自然的事。但在第一批电影中，我并不知道如何使用Photoshop!

Eduardo: On the first few Harry Potter films, we just had an old computer.

Eduardo：在最初的几部哈利波特电影中，我们只有一台旧电脑。

Mira: But more importantly, we just didn’t have the learning. I just had never learnt the technical things that I now know. And having learnt them on Harry Potter, I now do them. But if you ask any designer if you’ve improved over 20 years, you’d hope they’d say yes. Just by ‘doing doing doing’ every day. If you ask any collaborative partnership in design, or the arts, in any way, they’re always sharing, springing information, ideas, and energy between them. And those are the things much harder when you’re on your own. We’ve always said the sum of the parts is much greater than us as two individuals. Now we have a fantastic team and they help us to learn. Every day you’re learning a new bit of something – we never thought we’d be designing Harry Potter books for example! That’s coming completely full circle.

Mira：但更重要的是，我们没有学到东西。我只是从来没有学过我现在知道的技术知识。从《哈利·波特》中学到这些后，我现在也会做。但如果你问任何一个设计师，20多年来你是否进步了，你会希望他们会说是的。只要每天“做某事做某事”。 如果你问任何设计或艺术方面的合作伙伴关系，他们总是在彼此之间分享、迸发信息、想法和能量。当你一个人的时候，这些事情就更难了。我们总是说各部分的总和要比我们两个人的总和大得多。现在我们有一个很棒的团队，他们帮助我们学习。每天你都在学习新的东西——我们从来没有想过我们会设计哈利波特的书!这是一个完整的循环。

Eduardo: Now when young people come to us and say they want to do graphics because of us, what can you say?

Eduardo：现在，当年轻人来找我们，说他们想做图形是因为我们，你能说什么呢?

Mira: Even if one person says that to you once, that’s pretty awesome.

Mira：即使只有一个人这样对你说过一次，那也是很棒的。

Eduardo: That is the main reward.

Eduardo：这是主要的回报。

Our role models

我们的榜样

Eduardo: Without doubt, the people we learnt the most from was production designer Stuart [Craig] and set decorator Stephenie [McMillan]. They were our Dumbledore and McGonagall. And in Leavesden, it was like Hogwarts, actually. You arrived there like me, brand new to this country, and brand new to creating graphics for film. Leavesden was kind of a school where loads of amazing people came and because of Harry Potter this was allowed to happen – and because there were so many films – people were learning on the job and improving. So, you have amazing painters and propmakers and costumes.

Eduardo：毫无疑问，我们从美术设计师斯图尔特和布景设计师斯蒂芬妮那里学到了最多的东西。他们就是我们的邓布利多和麦格。在利维斯登，就像霍格沃茨。你和我一样刚到美国，对这个国家一无所知，对电影制图也一无所知。利维斯登是一所学校，有很多了不起的人来到这里，因为《哈利·波特》，这才得以发生，因为有这么多电影，人们在工作中学习，提高。你们有很棒的画家们，道具师和服装师。

Memories with the cast and crew

与演员和工作人员的回忆

Eduardo: There were so many situations before smartphones that I wish we could’ve recorded while working on the films. I remember one very well: Helena Bonham Carter turning up in our office in full costume with the teeth, wig and everything, and she sat with us for hours just chatting about design and graphics. I remember it was hilarious – we laughed for two hours and she was asking us questions. So those moments were amazing. Alan Rickman walking around in full costume talking to everyone, and in full character, telling children to eat their greens in the canteen... Dumbledore with his beard in a bag... And seeing Emma, Rupert and Daniel coming to our office asking for help with their school art projects. We used to lend them scissors and stuff. So, it was an amazing family atmosphere. That was the No.1 thing about the Harry Potter films – we were between friends, and we were all thinking, let’s do the best we can to make these films better and better.

Eduardo：在智能手机出现之前有那么多的情况，我真希望我们能在拍电影的时候记录下来。我记得很清楚:海伦娜·伯翰·卡特出现在我们的办公室，穿着全套服装，戴着牙齿、假发和其他东西，她和我们坐在一起聊了几个小时设计和图形。我记得当时很搞笑——我们笑了两个小时，她还问我们问题。所以那些时刻是令人惊奇的。艾伦·瑞克曼穿着全套服装到处走动，跟每个人说话，以完全的个性告诉孩子们在食堂吃蔬菜……邓布利多的胡子装在袋子里……看到艾玛、鲁伯特和丹尼尔到我们办公室来请人帮他们完成学校的美术作业。我们经常借给他们剪刀之类的东西。所以，这是一个很棒的家庭氛围。这是《哈利波特》系列电影最重要的一点——我们是朋友，我们都在想，让我们尽最大努力把这些电影做得越来越好。

Some of our key pieces across the films

电影中的一些关键片段

1.Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s  Stone

1.《哈利波特与魔法石》

Mira: By coincidence, the first dabbling we had with the Wizarding World was Harry’s Hogwarts letter.

Mira：巧合的是，我们第一次涉足魔法世界是哈利写给霍格沃茨的信。

Eduardo: Mira had to be McGonagall and think how McGonagall would write that letter.

Eduardo：米拉要变成是麦格，想想麦格会怎么写那封信。

2.Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

2.《哈利波特与密室》

Mira: Gilderoy’s books! They were so tacky, but it was the first time we had to think: “how can a book convey the personality of the character?” That was a real opportunity to show his fraudulent character.

Mira：Gilderoy’s的书！它们太俗气了，但这是我们第一次思考:“一本书如何传达人物的个性?”那是他显示欺诈性格的真正机会。

Eduardo: Those characters... him, Rita Skeeter, Umbridge... are so over the top and layered and rich so it was great designing graphics for them.

Eduardo：这些字符……他、丽塔·斯基特、乌姆里奇……是如此的夸张，层次感和丰富，所以为他们设计图形是很棒的。

3.Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban

3. 《哈利波特与阿兹卡班的囚徒》

Eduardo: It’s the Marauder’s Map. It was a very layered piece of work because Alfonso Cuaron was very involved on the design. That was great. When you have that strong relationship with a director – we would talk directly with him – you can see it in the props. This film is also the first time we see Honeydukes, as well!

Eduardo：这是活点地图。这是一件非常有层次的作品，因为阿方索·卡隆参与设计。这是伟大的。当你和导演有了牢固的关系——我们会直接和他交谈——你可以在道具上看到这一点。这部电影也是我们第一次看蜂蜜公爵!

4.Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

4.《哈利·波特与火焰杯》

Eduardo: All the Quidditch props for the World Cup.

Eduardo：所有世界杯用的魁地奇道具！

Mira: Which A lot of which, you didn’t see! But it was a real endeavour.

Mira：有很多，你都没看到!但这是一次真正的努力。

5.Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

5.《哈利·波特与凤凰社》

Eduardo: The Daily Prophet: the film has a sequence of newspaper headlines and the film narrative is dark – so we needed to create something a little more serious.

Eduardo：《预言家日报》这部电影有一系列的报纸标题，电影的叙事是黑暗的——所以我们需要创造一些更严肃的东西。

6.Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

6.《哈利波特与混血王子》

Mira: The Potions Book and the props in Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes shop.

Mira：《魔药书》和韦斯莱魔法把戏店的道具。

7.Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1/Part 2

7.《哈利波特与死亡圣器》

Eduardo: There were loads of books, actually. Beedle the Bard, The Life and Lies of Dumbledore... and Hermione had an amazing bag full of books. We don’t see them in the film, but we designed those too!

Eduardo：其实有很多书。《诗翁彼豆故事集》、《邓布利多的生平和谎言》……赫敏有一个装满书的神奇书包。我们没有在电影中看到它们，但我们也设计了它们!

And what about a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment?

那眨眼就错过的时刻呢?

Eduardo: Mira wrote an alphabet poster that Lily Potter makes for Harry to decorate his bedroom. It was a lovely A-Z with lots of picture drawings, it’s gorgeous.

Eduardo：米拉写了一张字母海报，是莉莉·波特为哈利做的，用来装饰他的卧室。这是一个可爱的a - z，上面有很多图画，太漂亮了。

So, how are MinaLima celebrating 20 years in the Wizarding World?

那么，MinaLima如何庆祝在魔法世界的20周年呢?

Eduardo: We want to travel and see our space in the shop in New York, and celebrate with everyone in New York. We’ve only seen it online so far! We also want to see our home and friends in Osaka again!

Eduardo：我们想去旅行，看看我们在纽约的店铺，和纽约的每个人一起庆祝。目前为止，我们只在网上看到过它!我们还想再看看我们在大阪的家和朋友!

Mira: None of us were prepared for the pandemic, but we designed two books and published two books during lockdown – and we worked on Fantastic Beasts 3! We moved buildings too. So, lots of things happened, we were on survival mode. But the best thing was seeing our team’s resilience and commitment to making things work, despite all the personal challenges, it was absolutely awe-inspiring to see how everyone stepped up.

Mira：我们都没有为流感做好准备，但我们设计了两本书，并在禁闭期间出版了两本书——我们制作了《神奇动物3》!我们也搬家了。所以，发生了很多事情，我们处于生存模式。但最好的事情是看到我们团队的韧性和对工作的承诺，尽管个人面临种种挑战，但看到每个人都在努力，这绝对是令人惊叹的。

Eduardo: As creatives, we do need to be next to each other to properly draw and talk – so that was a little bit of a challenge with our designers. But we can’t wait to all come back together.

Eduardo：作为创意人员，我们确实需要在一起适当地画画和交谈，所以这对我们的设计师来说是一个小小的挑战。但我们等不及一起回来了!

After so long, can you believe it’s been 20 years working on so many magical projects?

过了这么久，你能相信你花了20年时间研究这么多魔法项目吗?

Eduardo: I sometimes am still amazed. I come from a little town in the middle of Brazil and sometimes when I put that in relation to everything else I’m like, “oh my god, I’m working on this big franchise that everyone knows all over the world – even people in my home town!” – When you have a dream and you put all your energy into it, sometimes I say to myself, “Well done, me.”

Eduardo：有时我仍然感到惊讶。我来自巴西中部的一个小镇，有时当我把它和其他事情联系起来时，我会想，“哦，我的天哪，我正在为一个全世界所有人都知道的大品牌工作——甚至是我家乡的人!”-当你有一个梦想，并投入所有的精力去实现它时，有时我会对自己说:“做得好，加油！”

MinaLima will be revealing future projects, including their upcoming book "The Magic of MinaLima", on their official website.

MinaLima将在其官方网站上公布未来的项目，包括即将出版的新书《MinaLima的魔力》。