Martin
Pulicar
Basics
Born in 1984. Currently living in Brno, Czechia.
Education
Bc. in Cartography and geoinformatics at the
Masaryk University.
MgA. in Graphic design at the Faculty of Fine Arts of BUT with diploma project recognised as The Most Beautiful Czech Book of 2014.
MgA. in Graphic design at the Faculty of Fine Arts of BUT with diploma project recognised as The Most Beautiful Czech Book of 2014.
Experience
2022—present • Product designer at MapTiler. Pushing and dragging prehistoric GIS and mapping tools into 21st century. Once for all.
2015—2020 • Joined a location intelligence startup CleverMaps as a full-time lead product designer. Substantially improved the overall user experience of the entire product, dragging it from a usability hellhole towards a professional platform.
2010—2015 • Together with a friend, co-founded Geographics. A tiny studio of two (designer and developer), that was exclusively focused on information design, interactive maps and data visualizations. Geographics lasted for 5 years and has produced several award-winning and internationally recognized projects.
2013—2014 • Switched to print for a while and helped a prominent photographic magazine FOTO to become a reality. Designed and typesetted every single page of 20 issues and even contributed to some of the written content.
2012 • Designed the early versions of Analytics and Builder tools for the social media giant Socialbakers back when it was still just a couple dozen people.
Actively freelancing side by side to Geographics and getting hands dirty with other shorter and longer term digital and print projects including web design, cartography, data visualizations and books.
2015—2020 • Joined a location intelligence startup CleverMaps as a full-time lead product designer. Substantially improved the overall user experience of the entire product, dragging it from a usability hellhole towards a professional platform.
2010—2015 • Together with a friend, co-founded Geographics. A tiny studio of two (designer and developer), that was exclusively focused on information design, interactive maps and data visualizations. Geographics lasted for 5 years and has produced several award-winning and internationally recognized projects.
2013—2014 • Switched to print for a while and helped a prominent photographic magazine FOTO to become a reality. Designed and typesetted every single page of 20 issues and even contributed to some of the written content.
2012 • Designed the early versions of Analytics and Builder tools for the social media giant Socialbakers back when it was still just a couple dozen people.
Actively freelancing side by side to Geographics and getting hands dirty with other shorter and longer term digital and print projects including web design, cartography, data visualizations and books.
Top shots
Data visualization project Czech Crime received nationwide coverage and hit the gold in the international data visualization competition held by On Think Tanks. It was also shortlisted in a high-class competition Information Is Beautiful, where it was suggested by David McCandless himself. Czech Crime has also appeared as a part of the Big Bang Data exhibition in Prague's Centre for Contemporary Art DOX.
Map of night skies was selected by Stamen as part of their Mapmaker Manifesto exhibition at the Istanbul Design Biennial. It has been also selected by NACIS as a part of their fourth edition of Atlas of Design which features “the world’s most beautiful and intriguing cartographic design“.
Hic Sunt Leones—a book that I wrote, designed and produced—has won the first prize in The Most Beautiful Czech Books of 2014 competition. Other two books I designed, Úvod do současné trapnosti and Chinese Diary ended up second and received honorable mention by the jury respectively, in the same competition two years later.
One of the two books of my father's photography, which I both co-edited and designed, has been recognized as the Photographic Publication of 2020. Both books contributed to my father's recognition as the Personality of Czech Photography of 2020.
Back when it was cool, my friend and I created an interactive map visualizing friends on Facebook. It got featured at various information design blogs and has won the first prize in the international student competition held by NACIS. A decade later, eager users still ask us to resurrect this walking dead.
Map of night skies was selected by Stamen as part of their Mapmaker Manifesto exhibition at the Istanbul Design Biennial. It has been also selected by NACIS as a part of their fourth edition of Atlas of Design which features “the world’s most beautiful and intriguing cartographic design“.
Hic Sunt Leones—a book that I wrote, designed and produced—has won the first prize in The Most Beautiful Czech Books of 2014 competition. Other two books I designed, Úvod do současné trapnosti and Chinese Diary ended up second and received honorable mention by the jury respectively, in the same competition two years later.
One of the two books of my father's photography, which I both co-edited and designed, has been recognized as the Photographic Publication of 2020. Both books contributed to my father's recognition as the Personality of Czech Photography of 2020.
Back when it was cool, my friend and I created an interactive map visualizing friends on Facebook. It got featured at various information design blogs and has won the first prize in the international student competition held by NACIS. A decade later, eager users still ask us to resurrect this walking dead.
Approach
Understanding the bigger picture as well as designing the tiny detail is equally important for a successful outcome. I'm well aware of their place within the design process.
Simplicity, usability and clarity of information are the main pillars upon which I build any design.
Both pros and cons to any solution always need to be considered and properly reasoned.
Content and function always supersedes feel and form, but real progress happens when all of these elements are carefully combined.
My philosophical approach to the purpose and direction of design is generaly outlined by the 2000 edition of the First Things First and the DesignX manifestos.
Simplicity, usability and clarity of information are the main pillars upon which I build any design.
Both pros and cons to any solution always need to be considered and properly reasoned.
Content and function always supersedes feel and form, but real progress happens when all of these elements are carefully combined.
My philosophical approach to the purpose and direction of design is generaly outlined by the 2000 edition of the First Things First and the DesignX manifestos.
Profile
Curious, honest and friendly. Always full of constructive criticism and always open to one too. Not afraid to change my mind when solid arguments are on the table. A goddamn perfectionist to my good and to my demise. I laugh a lot, often at things that rarely pass as funny, climb rooftops when no one watches, collect ugly postcards and obsess over weird scenes.
Contact
martin@pulicar.xyz
+420 777 077 693
+420 777 077 693